Video Streaming

Computer Networks Seminar

Topic

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An Introduction
Video Streaming is the action of
sending encoded (digitized) audio
and/or video data out across the
internet as a series of small data
packets that may be viewed by
the end user in a real time fashion
through the use of a Media Player
What is Streaming Technology
A technique for transferring data such that it can be processed
as a steady and continuous stream, client does not have to
download the entire file to view it.
Data
Source
Network

The portion in the buffer

The portion client is viewing
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 How streaming works?
When audio or video is streamed, a small buffer space is
created on the user's computer, and data starts downloading into
it. As soon as the buffer is full (usually just a matter of seconds),
the file starts to play. As the file plays, it uses up information in
the buffer, but while it is playing, more data is being
downloaded. As long as the data can be downloaded as fast as it
is used up in playback, the file will play smoothly.

A computer connected to the internet over a local area network

(LAN) or a modem.
A web browser with the proper player or plug-in installed.
A plug-ins works in conjunction with the browser to play
streaming encoded files in a particular format.
Continued..
A web server stores web pages or HTML files.
Streaming media files normally reside on a separate
dedicated streaming server.
A media link is clicked on a web page the browser
reads the HTML code, and the player/plug-in take
over.
The player negotiates with the streaming server and
gets the target media file using a path statement.
Continued.
 A few seconds of buffering the media file
begins to stream within the player onto screen.
 Advantages

It reduces download time

It provides steady service

Slower systems can take advantage of streaming technology

Provide service on demand

Applications utilizing this technology are:

Streaming Video, IP telephony, Internet Radio, Distance
learning, Videoconferencing, Interactive games and so on
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 Disadvantages

It is difficult to keep the service steady if the bandwidth

is low

The maintenance of streaming server is relatively

expensive

Packet loss may occur during the transmission

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3 types of delivery methods of
streaming media

Streaming Stored Audio and Video

Streaming Live Audio and Video

Real-Time Interactive Audio and Video

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Types of video streaming

Live Streaming
Video on Demand
 Media Player or Helper
Application
Three main streaming media companies or
products are:
RealPlayer (RealNetworks),
Media Player (Microsoft) and
QuickTime (Apple).
Three basic tasks of media players:
Decompression
Jitter Removal
Error Correction 11
Video Streaming Architecture

Content Creation/Capture
Content Management
Content Formatting (Compression)
Delivery
Distribution
Presentation (Viewing)
View Control
Codec
(Compressor/Decompressor)

Coding techniques to compress video data

The newest codec change their sampling rate as
they run
Choice of codec is the biggest factor to determine
the bandwidth needed to connect the server and
receive content
Many of the codecs follow international standards
Content Compression
MPEG (A working group of ISO)
- The most common standard for video
compression and file formats
- Generally produce better quality video than other
formats
- High compression rate
- MPEG1, MPEG2 and MPEG4
Protocols

RTSP: Real Time Streaming Protocol

RTP : Real-time transfer Protocol

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Streaming Protocols
Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP)
RealTime Transport Protocol(RTP)
Real-time Control Protocol (RTCP)
User Datagram Protocol (UDP)
Session Description Protocol(SDP)
RTSP

RTSP is a industry standard Internet application level

protocol

RTSP is a framework for delivering and

transmission of multicast data stream

RTSP is a protocol that allows a media player to

control the transmission of a media stream for
exchanging control information

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Accessing Audio & Video
through a Web server

Web
Browser HTTP
Web Server
Client
With Audio
Files
Files
Media
Player

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 Accessing Audio & Video
through a Meta File

Web HTTP request /response

Client
Browser
for meta file Web
meta file Server
HTTP

Media Audio/Video file

Player requested and sent
using HTTP

A meta file contains information of URL, type of encoding, etc

about the audio/video file that is to be streamed.
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 RTSP Diagram

HTTP request/response
Client Web
Browser Web
Server
meta file
RTSP Streaming Command
Streaming
Media Server
Player RTP Audio / Video
Content

HTTP is insufficient for user interaction. With streaming server

audio/video file can be sent over UDP,
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RTSP Features
RTSP works in the conjunction with RTP to
deliver streaming audio & video content

RTSP maintains a server state during

transmission unlike HTTP
Client-Server architecture

Overcome the limitations of HTTP. RTSP

enhance HTTP functions

RTSP provides the synchronization of events

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 RTP

RTP is used to transmit real-time data

RTP encapsulate segments

Payload Sequence Timestamp Synchronization Misc

type number source identifier

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RTSP Operation
HTTP GET
Web Web
HTTP
Browser Presentation Description File Server

Setup

Play
Media Media
Media Stream
Player Player RTSP
Pause

Teardown

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Different Applications
Video Conferences
Event broadcasting
Online TV or Radio stations
Trainings
Advertisements
 Different Streaming Methods
The User Experience
On-Demand: user can start, stop, pause, FF, RR, etc. (VCR)
Broadcast: user can join and leave (TV / Radio)
The Delivery Mechanism
Unicast: user-initiated point-to-point connection to the server
Multicast: point-to-multipoint connection from the server
Myths
Unicast delivery implies on-demand experience
Broadcast experience implies multicast delivery
On-demand experience implies unicast delivery
Fact
Multicast delivery implies broadcast experience
 Unicast Streaming

N Streams
across the
network

Content

Server Network N Clients

 Multicast Streaming

One copy
across the
network
Content

Server Network N Clients

Forward Error Correction

Original
1 2 3 4
stream

1 1 2 2 3 3 4
Redundancy
Internet

1 3 4 Received
1 2 LOSS stream

1 2 3 4
Reconstructed stream
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 Interleaving
Original Stream

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

1 5 9 13 2 6 10 14 3 7 11 15 4 8 12 16
Interleaved Stream
Received Stream
1 5 9 13 2 6 10 14 LOSS 4 8 12 16

1 2 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 13 14 16
Reconstructed Stream 29
References
http://www.rtsp.org/
http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/jmanner/Courses/seminar_pape
rs/rtsp.pdf
http://www.javvin.com/protocol/rfc2326.pdf
http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~hgs/rtp/
James F. Kurose, Keith W. Ross. Computer Networking,
2nd Edition, Addison Wesley Longman, Inc, 2003.
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RTSP.html

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