NETINT Blog

Transforming the viewing experience with Quadra

NETINT Technologies
September 12, 2022

The future of live streaming is taking shape. NETINT Technologies, RealSprint, and Oracle deliver the world’s first AV1 4K 10-bit HDR live streaming solution at sub-second glass-to-glass latency globally. At the core, NETINT’s ASIC-powered Quadra T2 Video Processing Unit (VPU) is utilized to supercharge the encoding of the AV1 stream profiles.

Quadra VPU to supercharge AV1 4K live streaming solution

NETINT Technologies partnered with Swedish RealSprint earlier this year to leverage their combined expertise in ultra-low latency content distribution using Vindral Live CDN by RealSprint, and ASIC hardware encoding solutions from NETINT. The solution’s browser and device compatibility are ensured by close collaboration with the Chrome team at Google, and with Oracle’s infrastructure, it’s ready for global scale-out. Together, the three-way partnership sets off to showcase future industry standards in live streaming.

Transforming the viewing experience

The ASIC-powered Quadra T2 Video Processing Unit (VPU) transforms encoder throughput for live streaming, making it more future-proof as the demand for higher video quality is rising. With AV1, compression is up to 60% more effective than H.264, which is critical for live streaming high-quality content over the internet. But high quality is not enough; To guarantee enriched user experiences, the content must be delivered at ultra-low latency. Verticals such as live auctions, live sports, and game shows, also require all viewers to be fully synchronized in order to secure compliance and enable a high degree of in-stream interactivity. By this, RealSprint’s streaming engine Vindral Live CDN augmented with NETINT Technologies’ Quadra cards marks a significant advantage over real-time-based solutions, unable to guarantee quality retention when scaled.

Compared to CPU-based encoding, NETINT ASICS reduces CO2 emission to 1/80th and TCO to a factor of 1/40. The ability to attain low power consumption while maintaining broadcast video quality further strengthens NETINT’s offering.

The solution is available at https://av1demo.vindral.com/ as an ABR live demo stream in 4 profiles, ranging from 360p to 4K 12mbit/s. Users with legacy playout devices will automatically resort to H.264 playback.

A side-by-side comparison between AV1 and H.264 is available at https://av1comparison.vindral.com.

The solution is available at https://av1demo.vindral.com/ as an ABR live demo stream in 4 profiles, ranging from 360p to 4K 12mbit/s. Users with legacy playout devices will automatically resort to H.264 playback.

A side-by-side comparison between AV1 and H.264 is available at https://av1comparison.vindral.com.

Partners

Realsprint
Contributes with the streaming solution Vindral Live CDN, guaranteeing 4K video quality at sub-second latency with synchronized playout.

Oracle
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure contributes with the cloud infrastructure necessary when scaling the solution globally.

“The market for live streaming is growing rapidly and requires highly performant infrastructure. Our clients rely on us to deliver services for data-driven real-time applications as a foundation for growth. With live streaming demanding high throughput, broad presence, and resilient architecture, it is a perfect match for Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. We aim to power a transformed viewing experience at scale and push the envelope for interactive applications. This constellation of leading companies allows us to move forward in our partnership with a unique position on the market.”, says Michael Ritchie, Group Head of Media, Streaming & Gaming at Oracle.

Google
Contributes with decoding-capable browsers and operating systems.

NETINT Technologies
ASIC-powered Quadra T2 Video Processing Unit (VPU) for real-time AV1 encoding.

“Live streaming video platforms are demanding more efficient and cost effective video encoding solutions due to the emergence of new interactive video applications which can only be met with ASIC hardware encoding. Vindral, the industrys first 4K AV1 streaming platform and powered with NETINT’s Quadra T2 real-time, low-latency 4K AV1 encoder, is a game changer. We are really excited about the amazing video experiences that Vindral users will bring to their customers as a result of this breakthrough in latency and quality.” says Alex Liu, Chief Operations Officer, NETINT Technologies.