7plus has taken advantage of the flexibility of the Brightcove video platform using the latest features Context Aware Encoding (CAE), Delivery Rules driven when driven by the 7plus automated quality assessment (QA) ingest workflow to mitigate common compromises to deliver better video experiences for our users I presented at Brightcove PLAY May 2019 (suffering severe jet lag), thanks to everyone involved this was a fantastic event

1. OPTIMISING VIDEO DELIVERY
JEREMY BROWN
HEAD OF VIDEO ARCHITECTURE | JBROWN@SEVEN.COM.AU
WITHOUT COMPROMISING QUALITY

2. I’M JEREMY BROWN
HEAD OF VIDEO ARCHITECTURE
HI!

3. Sydney Video Technology Meetup
2,200 members
CO-ORGANISER
ALSO

4. San Francisco, London, Boston, Sydney,
Paris, New York, Seattle, Tel Aviv, Denver,
Barcelona, Los Angeles, Stockholm, Taipei,
Tokyo, Norway, Melbourne, Berlin & more..
TO A VIDEO TECH MEET
COME

5. WE DO A LOT OF LIVE
53 CHANNELS 24 X 7 X 365
BIG TV EVENTS IN SPORT, SHOWS & NEWS

6. WE DO A LOT OF VOD
AD SUPPORTED BROADCAST CATCH UP
SERVICE
~200,000+ VIDEOS PER YEAR

7. OPTIMISING VIDEO DELIVERY
...IS UNDERSTANDING WHERE
WE OFTEN MAKE COMPROMISES

8. WE MOST OFTEN COMPROMISE
WORKFLOW
SOURCE FILES
PUBLISHING TIMES
QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE

9. COMPROMISES FLOW
DOWNSTREAM

10. COMPROMISES FLOW
DOWNSTREAM
WORKFLOW COMPROMISES
IMPACT PLAYABLE VIDEO

11. TYPICAL WORKFLOW
Edit broadcast
source file
Create mezz file
to upload
Transcode final
renditions

12. TYPICAL WORKFLOW
Edit broadcast
source file
Create mezz file
to upload
Transcode final
renditions
~120mbps ~10mbps ~2.5mbps

13. TYPICAL WORKFLOW
Edit broadcast
source file
Create mezz file
to upload
Transcode final
renditions
Quality drop for reasonable file size
~120mbps ~10mbps ~2.5mbps

14. TYPICAL WORKFLOW
Edit broadcast
source file
Create mezz file
to upload
Transcode final
renditions
Roadmap for
1080p or UHD?
~120mbps ~10mbps ~2.5mbps

15. TYPICAL WORKFLOW
Edit broadcast
source file
Create mezz file
to upload
Transcode final
renditions
Encoding three times, impacts
publishing time & quality
typically creating artifacts
~120mbps ~10mbps ~2.5mbps

16. IMPACT OF ARTIFACTS (OR ARTEFACTS)
Each encoding step creates noise
Lossy compression formats
like H264 increase artifacts
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

17. ARTIFACTS CREATE COMPLEXITY
This flat grey background
has more colour and details to
process
This complexity reduces the
efficiency for next encode PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

18. WE SEE THIS ALL THE TIME

20. POPULAR CLIPS GET COPIED

28. WE MOST OFTEN COMPROMISE
✓ WORKFLOW
SOURCE FILES
PUBLISHING TIMES
QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE

29. QUALITY SOURCE FILES
TEST BEFORE INGEST

30. CHECK SOURCE BEFORE SENDING
Post mezz file
Transcode final
renditions
Is source
valid?

31. CHECK SOURCE BEFORE SENDING
Post mezz file
Transcode final
renditions
Source validation:
• Valid
• Quality
• Audio
Is source
valid?

32. AN EXAMPLE TEST

33. MY SON
DREW
FROG.JPG

34. BUT
WHAT IF
FROG.JPG

35. WAS
RENAMED
FROG.MP4

36. NOW IT’S
A VIDEO
RIGHT?

37. MEDIAINFO SAYS NO.
MediaInfo, open-source program
that displays technical information
about any media file
7plus also confirm source is of
valid type and high enough quality
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.
https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/extracting-video-metadata-using-lambda-and-mediainfo/

38. TESTING SOURCE VALID
Number of vendor solutions for
testing video
7plus use FFMPEG & FFPROBE
open source video applications for
monitoring and quality assurance
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

39. TEST QUALITY WITH VMAF
VMAF, a perceptual video quality
assessment algorithm
Designed as a quality assessment
for workflows
Freely available, open sourced by
Netflix
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

40. PUTTING IT TOGETHER

41. STEP FUNCTIONS AS A WORKFLOW
Descriptive visual workflow
detailing how code ran
Supports create, tests, Brightcove
APIs and trigger CMS workflow PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

42. SOURCE PUBLISHING
Video supplied:
- Is a video
- Of reasonable size
- Of high enough quality
- With appropriate metadata
- Brightcove has completed
transcoding &
- Isn’t frog.png
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

43. WE MOST OFTEN COMPROMISE
✓ WORKFLOW
✓ SOURCE FILES
PUBLISHING TIMES
QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE

44. COMPROMISED
“TIME TO LIVE”
PUBLISHING TIME IS SLOW

45. 7m 1m 7m 3m 1m 4m
15 MIN CLIP TOOK
23 MINS TO PUBLISH

46. EACH ENCODE IS A SLOW STEP
(MULTIPLYING ARTIFACTS)
7m 1m 7m 3m 1m 4m

47. REVIEW INGEST PROFILE
HD renditions take longer to
encode slowing publishing
With Brightcove temporary
renditions any clip can be
published sooner
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

48. NOT ALL CONTENT IS THE SAME
7plus has multiple ingest profiles
for different content types
7plus create multiple profiles,
optimised for savings or quality
“Sport” CAE profile
- More complex
- High quality tuning
- Highest bit rate
- Required HD renditions
“News” CAE profile
- Less movement
- Lower quality tuning
- Lower bit rate
- No required rendition

49. POST ORIGINAL SOURCE
TO SAVE TIME?

50. TYPICAL WORKFLOW
Edit broadcast
source file
Create mezz file
to upload
Transcode final
renditions
~120mbps ~10mbps ~2.5mbps

51. 45 MIN CLIP
Edit broadcast
source file
Create mezz file
to upload
Transcode final
renditions
~120mbps
7 mins
40Gb file
~10mbps
7 mins
3.3Gb file
~2.5mbps
4 mins

52. POSTING DIRECT CHALLENGES
Send broadcast
source file
Transcode final
renditions
40Gb Upload in
< 14 mins
Storing 40Gb

53. UPLOAD: DIRECT CONNECTS
Fast, more reliable, alternative to
internet connectivity
For Seven, fibre was cheaper than
high capacity internet
Connectivity as an API, increase
capacity for hour/week long events
“7plus can post to AWS S3 faster
than across the room over Wi-Fi”
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

54. STORAGE: SELF HOST SOURCE FILE
Brightcove allows customers to
host source files remotely
Cold storage providers currently
less than half a cent per Gb
Bonus: Secure offsite backup PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

55. FINAL WORKFLOW
Post mezz file
Transcode final
renditions
Host Source
Test Source

56. FOR EVENTS YOU MIGHT NEED
EVEN FASTER PUBLISHING

57. BRIGHTCOVE LIVE
Brightcove live clipping is fastest
publishing workflow
7plus use live with clipping for live
sports events PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

58. WE MOST OFTEN COMPROMISE
✓ WORKFLOW
✓ SOURCE FILES
✓ PUBLISHING TIMES
QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE

59. USER EXPERIENCE
DELIVERY RULES TO MANAGE EXPERIENCES

60. DAVE LOVES HIS CONNECTED TV
Dave’s streaming experience:
• Pays for premium HD access
• Has a fast fixed line connection
• Is using a CTV app to stream
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

61. DAVE HAS AN ISSUE
Issue:
The first 20 seconds of every clip
played is always at low quality?
Why:
Native player loads the lowest
rendition for fast start up time
before switching to HD rendition
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

62. HOW DELIVERY RULES HELPED
App identifies itself as a CTV
TV’s can’t be carried. So assumed
its on reliable fixed connection
7plus hide low res for CTV’s
preventing low quality “start up”
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

63. EMMA WATCHES ON HER PHONE
She watches on the train and
walking through noisy areas on
the way to work
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

64. EMMA HAS AN ISSUE
Issues:
Travels through dead spots
On a mobile data plan
Outside can be noisy
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

65. HOW DELIVERY RULES HELPED
App identifies itself, indicates it’s
on 4G
7plus delivery rule hides HD
renditions to 4G
7plus has additional audio tracks
with increased loudness improving
experience in a noisy environment
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

66. QOS & QOE ARE IMPORTANT

67. QOS AND QOS
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.
Quality Of Experience/Service
Impacted by many variables,
connectivity, CDN, player code &
video formats
There are dozens of QOS metrics
that are scored by partners

68. QOS METRIC: STARTUP TIME
Time from when user clicks play
till first frame of video
Slow start up times see higher
rate of “Exits before video start”
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

69. VPAID
Huge impact on start up time
Majority of VPAID is viewability
wrapped ads
Open Measurement (OM) SDK
scores viewability third parties
Unwrapped ads required for an
SSAI strategy
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

70. REVIEW SDK SETTINGS
ARE THEY INTENTIONALLY SLOWING PLAYER

72. IMA SDK USED FOR ADVERTISING
Timeout defaults 5 and 8 seconds
Player could wait for 13+ seconds
Work with your Ad Ops team
before reducing
PUT SCREEN SHOT OF CONTENT HERE.
PUT VIDEO HERE.

73. ”VENDOR X HAS A PLUGIN”
START UP TIME COMPROMISED WITH MORE CODE
TRY A “ONE IN ONE OUT” POLICY

74. 7PLUS OPTIMISED
VIDEO DELIVERY
BY MAKING FEWER COMPROMISES

75. CONTINUE INCREMENTAL
IMPROVEMENTS
✓ WORKFLOW
✓ SOURCE FILES
✓ PUBLISHING TIMES
✓ QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE

76. THANK YOU
JEREMY BROWN
HEAD OF VIDEO ARCHITECTURE | JBROWN@SEVEN.COM.AU