Next Generation Video

I have  been interested in the implications of the on going OTT paradigm shift and what that will mean to traditional broadcast operators, and to related technologies in areas such as rights management and metadata.

Video is becoming an extension of the web, and from 2010 until recently I have been exploring next generation architectures for a tier 1 telco, at their advanced development lab near the Bay Area. Since 2005 I had been extolling the virtues of OTT and ISO Base Media File Format (as opposed to transport stream) and since 2010 have pressed for the use of Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) protocols, starting with HLS and Smooth Streaming, ending up at DASH and HTML5 w/HEVC. In the course of this work we collaborated with many major industry players, such as Ericsson, Alcatel, Moto/ARRIS, not to mention discussions with Google, Amazon, Netflix, etc. In conjunction with building in-house demonstrations of these next generation streaming technologies, I worked with certain industry leaders to develop the enabling low cost video transcoding technologies. We also catalyzed development of a new generation of app based player devices, usually based on Android and its ecosystem. At the end of my tenure, we were demonstrating the use of HTML5 media extensions, advanced web based content security, and next generation transcoding STB silicon.