New MC-IF Guidelines and Best Practices for Implementing VVC in Streaming and Broadcasting Environments Presented at Mile High Video 2024 — Media Coding Industry Forum
Versatile Video Coding (VVC) offers new options for delivering immersive digital entertainment experiences and serves as a future-proof strategy for navigating the constantly evolving technological landscape.
VVC presents an opportunity to streamline and optimize current challenges faced by the broadcast and streaming sectors.
VVC provides on-ramps for integrating next-generation entertainment experiences, including virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR).
Versatile Video Coding (VVC) will provide broadcasters and streaming service providers with new options for delivering the most compelling digital entertainment experiences while providing decision-makers with a future-proof strategy for navigating a constantly evolving technological landscape, according to Lukasz Litwic, Research Leader at Ericsson and Chair of the Interoperability Working Group at the Media Coding Industry Forum (MC-IF).
VVC, states Litwic, offers a path forward for streamlining and optimizing current challenges faced by the broadcast and streaming sectors as well as on-ramps for integrating next-generation entertainment experiences, including virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR).
The question is: How?
It is a question that Litwic will address at this year's Mile High Video conference in Denver on February 11-14 during a session that unveils guidelines and best practices for implementing VVC for Next-Gen Video Experiences. (Editorial Note: Those attending the event can catch the presentation on Feb 12, 2024, between 9:00-11:00 at a session entitled "Video Coding 1: Recent Advances in Video Coding Standards and Coding Schemes.")
"The guidelines were created by MC-IF to provide broadcasters and streaming service providers with a reference point for understanding how VVC can be applied to their specific situations," says Litwic.
Putting Versatile Video Coding into Operational Context
VVC offers state-of-the-art compression efficiency that surpasses other legacy and emerging formats. "What sets VVC apart from alternatives in the market is its compression efficiency as well as rich functionality and toolset, which provides a wide range of features and capabilities," says Litwic. Those include:
Improved compression efficiency: VVC provides substantial compression improvements over legacy codecs, allowing for better video quality at lower bitrates. This allows streaming service providers to deliver high-quality video content with reduced bandwidth requirements, resulting in cost savings and improved streaming performance.
Versatility and flexibility: VVC provides built-in support for various video formats, such as UHD 4K resolution, high dynamic range (HDR), wide color gamut, and high frame rates. The versatility allows streaming service providers to deliver immersive and high-quality video experiences to their audiences.
Flexible resolution coding: VVC introduces a more flexible way to handle resolution coding. It enables the encoding and decoding of videos at different resolutions within a single-layer stream. This flexibility is particularly useful for adaptive streaming, where videos can be streamed at different resolutions based on the viewer's device and network conditions.
Enhanced support for new video formats: VVC supports new video formats like UHD 4K resolution, high dynamic range (HDR), wide color gamut, and high frame rates, delivering more immersive experiences to viewers.
Low Latency Capabilities: VVC introduces tools and techniques to reduce encoding and decoding latency, making it suitable for real-time applications such as live streaming and video conferencing, ensuring minimal delay between the source video and its playback.
Future-proof solution: VVC is designed to support emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), making it a future-proof solution for delivering immersive content.
Simplified deployment and interoperability: VVC follows a similar architecture to previous codecs, making it easier to integrate into existing workflows and reducing deployment costs.
"VVC, in short, significantly improves compression efficiency, video quality, flexibility, and scalability compared to previous video codec standards. Beyond this, VVC also supports emerging immersive formats like VR and AR applications," asserts Litwic.
While these applications may not be widely available in the market yet, VVC provides a future-proof solution that can be utilized for these formats. This is because the compression efficiency of VVC allows for the economical delivery of immersive formats to audiences with high-quality visuals.
"By offering substantial compression improvements over legacy codecs and additional functionality -- new hooks, so to speak -- that enhance these applications, better experiences can be delivered to the audiences, resulting in a positive impact on the demand side of the equation," he says.
Working with the Guidelines
The purpose of the implementation guidelines for broadcasters and streaming service providers is to provide clear and practical guidance on integrating and implementing VVC technology into their operations.
"The guidelines demystify VVC and demonstrate its viability by outlining the necessary steps for adopting and incorporating VVC into their roadmap. They also highlight the strategic importance of VVC and emphasize the urgency of its implementation in order to keep up with evolving consumer expectations and technological advancements in the video streaming industry," he concludes.
The guidelines are available for free on the MC-IF website. Click here to read the QA and listen to the full interview with Lukasz Litwic Research Leader at Ericsson and Chair of the Interoperability Working Group at MC-IF.