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Re: New VidiU Webcast - Slow Receiving Laptops

Posted: Mon May 25, 2015 7:37 pm
by justincy
Mikerowaved wrote:
rolandc wrote:I have not been able to get a solid answer as to why we can broadcast in HD but are limited to 500kbs on the receive side. I have buildings with FIOS and powerful quad core computers and every test and broadcast is locked at 500kbs.

I can download 4000kbs streams all day long without issue, Hopefully they will remove the cap soon.
Until they do, I'll be using other means for streaming. To me, this is an unrealistic quality limit being imposed on the stakes.
I agree.

Re: New VidiU Webcast - Slow Receiving Laptops

Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 7:00 pm
by coolnsdc
Well, at least now I have something to report to the stake. Thanks for the info. That would explain why only a high-end alienware laptop would get the full experience in my case.

Re: New VidiU Webcast - Slow Receiving Laptops

Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 4:33 am
by rolandc
My opinion, its being done to conserve resources. I am sure they were overwhelmed by the rate stakes are adapting to the new system.

As we all know Webcasting sorely needed updating. In time I am very hopeful the cap will be raised.

Re: New VidiU Webcast - Slow Receiving Laptops

Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 6:58 am
by coolnsdc
That doesn't make sense though. The upload speed is not limited, nor is the download speed if you have a high-end decoding machine. If it was to conserve resources, they would limit it regardless of end-user hardware, and limit the upload speed as well.

Also, as they are using Microsoft Azure to host the webcast system, I don't think it's a limitation of their system since they can easily spin up more VMs as needed.

I'd speculate that it was simply an attempt to lock down a speed that would work for everyone, but didn't really consider that machines are much more capable than they give them credit for. I'd love to hear from the source what their reasoning was.

Re: New VidiU Webcast - Slow Receiving Laptops

Posted: Wed May 27, 2015 11:31 am
by russellhltn
I'd be curious as to the cost structure of the Azure system. Perhaps there's a cost based on the amount of data sent out from the cloud. The receiving machine specs might be the only usable tool they have to limit speed.

Re: New VidiU Webcast - Slow Receiving Laptops

Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2015 10:18 pm
by stevei00
I talked to someone in technical support today that indicated the limitation of the bitrate is based on the image broadcast. In cases where there have been caps on bitrate, its normally because the camera didn't produce a high enough quality video. I was told the media server analyzes the video quality received and determines the bitrate cap for receiver sites.

From what I was told, it doesn't have anything to do with the Receive equipment performance.

Re: New VidiU Webcast - Slow Receiving Laptops

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 7:40 am
by coolnsdc
stevei00 wrote:I talked to someone in technical support today that indicated the limitation of the bitrate is based on the image broadcast. In cases where there have been caps on bitrate, its normally because the camera didn't produce a high enough quality video. I was told the media server analyzes the video quality received and determines the bitrate cap for receiver sites.

From what I was told, it doesn't have anything to do with the Receive equipment performance.
That wasn't my experience. If I used my alienware laptop, the bitrate cap was 4x what the other laptops could achieve.

Re: New VidiU Webcast - Slow Receiving Laptops

Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 1:42 pm
by russellhltn
stevei00 wrote:I talked to someone in technical support today that indicated the limitation of the bitrate is based on the image broadcast. In cases where there have been caps on bitrate, its normally because the camera didn't produce a high enough quality video. I was told the media server analyzes the video quality received and determines the bitrate cap for receiver sites.
I think someone is confusing "cap" and "actual". If the stream can be adequately described in a lower bit rate, the actual bit rate will be well below the cap. The system isn't going to add additional bits just to make up the difference.

Re: New VidiU Webcast - Slow Receiving Laptops

Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2015 7:53 am
by coolnsdc
russellhltn wrote: I think someone is confusing "cap" and "actual". If the stream can be adequately described in a lower bit rate, the actual bit rate will be well below the cap. The system isn't going to add additional bits just to make up the difference.
Thanks for pointing that out. Let me clarify. There is a big difference in video quality between 500K and 2000K bitrate, and only my alienware laptap is allowed to do download/process/display the stream at the 2000K bitrate CAPPED and ACTUAL. Using other hardware, I'm CAPPED at 500K, hence my ACTUAL is also 500K.

Re: New VidiU Webcast - Slow Receiving Laptops

Posted: Thu Jun 11, 2015 2:06 pm
by rolandc
coolnsdc wrote:
russellhltn wrote: I think someone is confusing "cap" and "actual". If the stream can be adequately described in a lower bit rate, the actual bit rate will be well below the cap. The system isn't going to add additional bits just to make up the difference.
Thanks for pointing that out. Let me clarify. There is a big difference in video quality between 500K and 2000K bitrate, and only my alienware laptap is allowed to do download/process/display the stream at the 2000K bitrate CAPPED and ACTUAL. Using other hardware, I'm CAPPED at 500K, hence my ACTUAL is also 500K.
I have tested and have found the same thing. 500k cap is based on CPU cores.