HTTP Streaming of MPEG Media

Christian Timmerer and Christopher Müller

Klagenfurt University (UNIKLU) Faculty of Technical Sciences (TEWI)Department of Information Technology (ITEC) Multimedia Communication (MMC)

http://research.timmerer.com http://blog.timmerer.com mailto:christian.timmerer@itec.uni-klu.ac.at

STreaming Day, 17th September 2010, Udine, Italy

Acknowledgments. This work was supported in part by the European Commission in the context of the ALICANTE project (FP7-ICT-248652).

Christian Timmerer, Klagenfurt University, Austria 2

Outline

• Introduction / Background – What and why HTTP streaming?– Related work– Use cases, context & scope, requirements

• Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) – Outcome of the MPEG CfP evaluation– MPEG DASH prototype in VLC

• Conclusions and Future Work2010/09/17

Christian Timmerer, Klagenfurt University, Austria 3

What and Why HTTP Streaming?

• HTTP Streaming ::= delivery of continuous media + HTTP + consumption w/o downloading the entire content

• HTTP & TCP not efficient: required bandwidth = 2 x bitrate of media due to TCP overhead

• Still, HTTP streaming has become a “de-facto standard” on the Internet for two reasons– Reasonable Internet connectivity (i.e., in terms of bandwidth

for media content) is nowadays available anywhere, anytime, and almost on any device

– HTTP does not cause any NAT/firewall issues as it is the case with other media transport protocols like RTP/RTSP

• However, no standard available but …2010/09/17

Christian Timmerer, Klagenfurt University, Austria 4

Related Work• 3GPPs' Adaptive HTTP Streaming (AHS)

– Media Presentation Description (MDP)– Extensions to ISO Base Media File Format (ISOBMFF)

• Adobes' Dynamic HTTP Streaming– Flash Media Manifest File (FMF): XML (similar to MPD)– F4F file format: MP4 fragment files, i.e., also based on ISOBMFF

• Apples' HTTP live streaming– Well known for quite some time and implemented in the iPhone– M3U playlist file which serves as manifest– Each media file must be formatted as an MPEG-2 Transport Stream or an MPEG-2 audio elementary

stream• Microsofts' Smooth Streaming

– Server manifest file (i.e., SMIL document) and a client manifest file (i.e., proprietary XML document)– Smooth streaming format (ISMV) as an extension of the ISO Base Media File Format

• Open IPVT Forum (OIPF)– Published on Sep 7th, 2010 including "HTTP Adaptive Streaming" which adopts 3GPP AHS and adds

support for MPEG-2 Transport Stream• Riiser et.al.

– Low overhead container format for adaptive streaming: alternative to the MPEG family with good performance

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Christian Timmerer, Klagenfurt University, Austria 5

Requirements for HTTP Streaming of MPEG Media

• Use Cases– Emerging applications and contents such as Ultra-HD (UHD) content, 3D video, and interactive 3D– Adaptivity concerning different network and device capabilities and conditions– Delivery in terms of progressive download, peer-to-peer (P2P), multi-channel (multi-pipe) delivery,

and relaying of content– Convergence and transparency to content protection

• Objectives and Scope– Efficient delivery of MPEG media over HTTP in an adaptive, progressive, download/streaming

fashion– Support of live streaming of multimedia content– Efficient and ease of use of existing content distribution infrastructure components such as CDNs,

proxies, caches, NATs and firewalls– Support of integrated services with multiple components– Support for signaling, delivery, utilization of multiple content protection and rights management

schemes– Support for efficient content forwarding and relay

• Requirements on– content, delivery, decoding and presentation support, service control, adaptation, and content

protection

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Christian Timmerer, Klagenfurt University, Austria 6

Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH)

• CfP issued in April 2010 & evaluated in July 2010• 15 submissions from 20

companies/institutions/universities• Submissions received in the following areas– Manifest File (MF): Playlist, Media Presentation

Description, … mostly XML-based– Delivery Format (DF) as extensions/specializations of

• ISO Base File Format (ISOBMFF)• MPEG-2 Transport Stream (M2TS)

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DASH System Architecture

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Server

MF

DF

ISOBMFF

M2TS

easyconversion

MF

DF

ISOBMFF

M2TS

Client

easyconversion

Legend:MF … ManifestDF … Delivery FormatISOBMFF … File Format (extensions)M2TS … Transport Stream (extensions)

Christian Timmerer, Klagenfurt University, Austria 8

MPEG DASH Prototype in VLC• Extended VLC to support MPD (.3gm) and .3gp/.3gs files• Added composition layer on top of MPD based on MPEG-21 DID

Choice/Selection

• Demo video available onhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt1F0ULsA1w

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Server VLCReq for CMP

CMP download

Req for MPD (.3gm)

MPD download

.3gp/.3gs requests

User selection basedon choices in CMP

Dynamic Adaptive Streamingover HTTP based on MPD

Christian Timmerer, Klagenfurt University, Austria 9

MPEG DASHPrototype in VLC

Open DASH stream dialogfeat. MPEG-21 DIDChoice/Selection

Download CMP file

General description

Additionaldescription for choices

URL for MPD

Play .3gp/.3gs files based onMPD (.3gm)

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt1F0ULsA1w

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Conclusion and Future Work

• DASH ::= Emerging MPEG standard for HTTP Streaming with wide industry support

• Timeline– Committee Draft (CD): 2010/10– Final Committee Draft (FCD): 2011/01– Final Draft International Standard (FDIS): 2011/07

• Currently, evaluation experiments conducted

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Christian Timmerer, Klagenfurt University, Austria 11

Special Session at ACM MMSys’11

• Special Session on Modern Media Transport– Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH)

• Topics– Efficient delivery of modern media over HTTP in an adaptive,

progressive download/streaming fashion,– Support for streaming of live multimedia content,– Efficient and ease of use of existing content distribution

infrastructure components such as CDNs, proxies, caches, NATs and firewalls;

– Efficient mapping from existing formats (e.g., MPEG-2 TS, MP4) to delivery formats specifically designed for HTTP streaming.

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ACM Multimedia Systems 2011February 23-25, 2011San Jose, Californiahttp://www.mmsys.org

Important DatesSubmission: Oct. 22nd, 2010Notification: Nov. 26th, 2010Camera-ready: Dec. 17th, 2010

Christian Timmerer, Klagenfurt University, Austria 12

Thank you for your attention

... questions, comments, etc. are welcome …

Ass.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Christian TimmererKlagenfurt University, Department of Information Technology (ITEC)

Universitätsstrasse 65-67, A-9020 Klagenfurt, AUSTRIAchristian.timmerer@itec.uni-klu.ac.at

http://research.timmerer.com/Tel: +43/463/2700 3621 Fax: +43/463/2700 3699

© Copyright: Christian Timmerer

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