The Source
The facts about 'HD'
It's interesting to be a part of the discussions in the market at the moment, relating to 'HD' as some form of industry 'Standard'. We thought we'd provide you with a few facts, followed by an explanation of the resolution we are using and what's possible.
Here are a few facts -
- HD refers to High Definition and the principal accepted standards are 720p, 1080i and 1080p
- The 'p' stands for progressive and gives a higher quality picture
- The 'i' stands for interlaced, refreshes faster but is more prone to flicker
- Most TV stations are using the 720p standard rather than the 1080p/i standard
- Until you move to a screen larger than 80cm, it is effectively impossible to see the difference between 720p and 1080p
- 'Old' TV used either a 576i or 576p standard – and many people still have these TVs.
Where live streaming is concerned, the issues associated with so-called 'HD' streaming are that the minimum upload speed required for 1080p is between 2 and 3.5mbps – a speed that is not achievable using a 3G modem and in fact is only possible with a very fast dedicated internet link. Streaming at HD is therefore very restrictive and very expensive in terms of data cost. In reality the vast majority of viewers cannot download a true HD stream – their download speeds just aren't high enough.
Where archived Video-On-Demand is concerned, it is relatively easy to provide an HD download, but if you are streaming (to keep your data secure) rather than downloading your content (in which case users can take the content from their browser cache), most viewers don't have the download speed to allow them to view it. Download of longer content in HD format also consumes a very large amount of data (making it expensive for both you and the viewer).
HD content can be 'downsized' to a lower resolution to allow secure streaming of VOD content (rather than caching) – and also to compress the amount of data used. As with any form of data compression, there is a compromise between video quality and data usage. The format chosen by rivusTV for live streaming is flash video – which gives us very economical data consumption and a reasonably high quality picture. Part of our reason for choosing this resolution is that we provide a true wireless streaming capability and don't need expensive, dedicated internet provisioning to allow our clients to stream.
Where archived video on demand is concerned, you can choose to use either the same format as for streamed data, or to convert to a higher quality format – we currently use either VP6 in a flash wrapper or h264 in an f4v/mp4 wrapper – which uses about 30% more data and gives a proportionately higher quality view – on a large screen. Full HD content uses four times as much data as our standard sports quality streamed content.
Our experience tells us that while there is a lot of noise about HD, people looking to access content that they can't get anywhere else are not nearly as fussy about HD video quality as they are about good audio quality and not having their viewing interrupted by buffering or pixelation. Our solution – by design - provides consistently high quality audio and video – at an affordable price. Experience also suggests that owners of video content are also more concerned about the security of their content and the price they pay to show it, than whether or not it is in true 'High Definition'.
Our focus at rivusTV has been on creating a solid business model to allow all our clients to generate and monetise video content at a price that makes doing so affordable – and accessible to the majority of the market. From time to time we do supply HD streaming for clients with a specific requirement, but most opt for a better balance between quality and cost once they understand their options.
We're happy to provide whatever solution you are looking for, so if you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.