We speak to Thierry Fautier, senior director of convergence solutions at Harmonic, about the evolving definitions of HD video services, the added challenges that multiscreen and place-shifting bring, both technically and in terms of content rights, and the challenge of rationalising the over-the-top (OTT) ecosystem.

What major progress have you witnessed for video encoding in the past 12 months?

In talking with our customers around the world, we are seeing a blurring of the line between the encoding requirements for delivering broadcast-quality video to the main screen and the video targeted for the second- and third-screens.

Driven by the adoption of gaming consoles and high-resolution tablets, the viewing expectations of consumers are causing our customers to think in terms of 720p30 for second-screen deployments today, with plans for 720p60 and even 1080p24 in the not too distant future.

In many cases, service providers no longer think in terms of a broadcast offering and a multiscreen offering, but rather a single ubiquitous service that spans the gamut of screen sizes, from 4 to 65 inches.

At IBC last autumn, Harmonic introduced the Electra 9000, the first universal broadcast and multiscreen encoder that can replace any existing deployed broadcast encoder and add mobile and web capabilities. New generations of hardware-based transcoders are increasing density and therefore reducing CAPEX. This is mostly for mobile- and Web-only applications.

How close to ubiquitous availability do you think we are for HD online video services?

To start, it is important to define what is meant by HD services. In traditional pay-TV use cases, HD refers to full-resolution, full-frame-rate 720p and 1080i services. Today HD video in the online video world typically peaks out at 720p, but at only 30 frames per second.  

In light of this distinction, we believe there is still work to be done in the area of video compression, such that full HD services can be delivered at bit rates used today. The proliferation of HD-capable consumption devices and adoption of HD in the content creation chain has made both ends of the ecosystem ready.

Unfortunately, the unmanaged notion of the open Internet and the lack of high-speed continuity across subscribers makes it difficult to provide a consistent HD experience at the rates required for true HD video.

We believe this bandwidth challenge is the last major hurdle. Harmonic continues to invest heavily in video algorithm research to drive compression efficiencies.

What added challenges do you think multiscreen and place-shifting bring to the picture?

Multiscreen, independent of place-shifting, still faces several challenges both commercially, with content rights and business models, and technically, with multiple and competing streaming standards, varying connected device platforms, and a proliferation of encryption solutions.

Early place-shifting solutions like Sling have circumvented many of the content rights issues by leveraging the personal use exemptions. But this solution can be problematic due to the higher cost of placing a transcoding device in every STB and the quality of service limitations of the consumer’s home broadband link.

At Harmonic we believe that to achieve scale and profitability for place-shifting services in the multiscreen environment, a centralised infrastructure is critical. The technical challenges can be solved today, but the industry is still hindered by content rights.

What do you see as the major challenges to be tackled by the OTT video industry in 2012?

One of the challenges is to rationalise the OTT ecosystem. MPEG-DASH is the natural choice to provide standards-based adaptive streaming that supports common encryption, enabling a single file/stream to be encoded for multiple DRMs.

The next challenge is the capability to scale the infrastructure on the head-end side with dense transcoders that support: single encode/multiple encapsulation, generic HTTP servers to cache the content, unified DRM systems and maximum numbers of clients served.

On mobile devices we already see HLS being the de facto standard, as it is now supported on Apple and new versions of Android. On connected TV/IP STB, HLS is already being deployed with a 30% market share, while on the PC there is a fight between Adobe HDS and Microsoft Smooth Streaming.

Will consumers ever fill their super-fast broadband pipes?

History has shown that each time bandwidth is increased, consumers will find a way to use it.  While service providers who employ data caps will highlight the small percentage of users bumping against the limit, the maths shows that if people start consuming a typical amount of video via OTT services, they will easily surpass these caps.

What really counts is the availability of content. We see this with Netflix in the US, which uses an average of 20% of the network, and as much as 40% at peak. This is a good indication how easily the network capacity can be filled, in this case with 720p30 content.

What do you think will prove the killer application that creates demand for super-fast broadband?

Live and VOD have already been available in the home and on-the-go for some time. What is popular today on PC is catch-up. We believe that once this becomes available on all devices, including connected TVs as well as mobile devices and game consoles, we will have a much higher take rate and will also be able to monetise the content.

The second application that seems to attract consumers is sideloading of DVR content, where consumers can record content and take it with them on the go. The success of such a service relies highly on the content rights.