ATEME, a leading provider of efficient video compression technology, today announced the latest proof of its industry-leading H.264 standard video encoding technology, the EAVC4 family: surpassing the industry's high-fidelity MPEG-4 encoding requirements. The ability to customize video content for specific screen sizes and available bandwidth is crucial to ensure the best viewing experience for end users, as the demand for streaming and downloading video content continues to grow. EAVC4 provides broadcasters, broadband service providers, and content creators with unparalleled encoding software architecture, leveraging advancements from previous generations to enhance performance and flexibility:
Delivers the highest quality video
Provides the best video quality at any given bitrate and encoding performance
Optimizes video processing to support multi-screen output
"As formats, requirements, and new business models continue to accelerate the pace of change, the form factor of products is increasingly shifting from dedicated hardware devices to flexible software solutions. Avni Rambhia, a senior industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan, stated, "This trend is particularly evident in the segmentation of production and multi-screen transcoders, and it is spreading to traditional hardware areas such as linear pay-TV encoding."
EAVC4: The highest video quality redesigned from top to bottom, the EAVC4 encoder significantly enhances the available video quality levels with the following key improvements:
Capable of delivering up to 20% bandwidth savings for both progressive and interlaced content based on objective measures, with even higher gains based on visual perception
Use cases reduce bandwidth high, supporting high-resolution (1080) iPad formats and high-quality smartphones (even at 64 Kbps), all with efficient software-based CBR and VBR bitrate modulation
Expanded range of available options, including 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 chroma, 4K and 8K, 14-bit encoding precision, AVC - I-only encoding
All video quality settings mark a significant leap in performance; all video quality (VQ) settings show substantial speed improvements, allowing capable users to encode faster or significantly increase VQ at current encoding speeds. All new EAVC4 video encoding architectures emphasize their efficiency:
Multi-processor and multi-core 64-bit architecture
Multithreading through macro block-level parallelism
Multi-level optimization algorithms: video sequences, Republican Party, frameworks, and macros.
Extensive use of hand-optimized assembly code to fully leverage the capabilities of Intel processors, including the Sandy Bridge-specific instruction set.
Optimization of Software Architecture (Patented Technology, No IP Challenges)
Significant performance improvements have been achieved in the transcoding and real-time transcoding environments of these two files. The aforementioned technical enhancements provide the following:
Achieving speeds over three times faster, such as in video on-demand processing and file transcoding workflows, allows tasks to be completed in one-third of the time previously required.
Three times the number of linear channels, with blades per processor, to facilitate real-time transcoding workflows, such as IPTV.
The system-level performance of output and Fidelity's EAVC4 "Design Multi-Screen" fully utilizes patented technology, referred to as a new method for handling multi-screen output video. By relying on intelligent parallel execution of common processes with a single bitrate and screen format at any given time, EAVC4 offers speed enhancements and optimizations for multi-channel output video fidelity from a single content stream. This provides broadcast and broadband professionals with an optimal combination of fast processing speed, video quality, multi-screen capability, and resource utilization efficiency.
"As a long-standing leader in the video encoding space, ATEME is currently working on plans for the release of HEVC products. However, it is clear that higher performance is needed, whether in encoding flexibility or improved multi-screen capabilities, allowing users to simply transition to comprehensive testing and future HEVC solutions," said Pierre Larbier, CTO of ATEME. "Today's video encoding systems must not only support large-scale, continuous video encoding operations, but they also need to provide a high degree of flexibility for different levels of video quality, frame rates, bitrates, and screen resolutions. The release of EAVC4 addresses the ever-evolving consumer demands, rich video content, and empowers a growing number of viewers across various devices."
Availability
ATEME's EAVC4 will be available in the coming weeks for the TITAN family of encoders, including TITAN LIVE, TITAN FILE, and TITAN KFE.