At MapleWorks, we have experience developing remote video imaging applications. Because telemedicine applications have stringent performance targets, I’ve based these top 8 technical considerations on this complex technology. Here comes the tech talk…

1. Bandwidth and QoS. Will everyone have the same bandwidth? Consider how to adjust for different bandwidth requirements. Streaming servers such as Wowza Media Server and Adobe Flash Media Server have proven capability to determine available bandwidth. If not available, consider having a mechanism to do so. Also, consider if it’s a managed network—if video can get priority, then your stream will be more reliable.

2. Security. Is the video service public or private? If private, how is authorization going to be done? How will the video stream be secured? Will the authorization be standalone or integrated with an existing system using LDAP, Radius, or another protocol? Is integrated Windows authentication required? If so, can you consider open source like JCIFS NTLM HTTP authentication? Do you need an alternate method? Are there different classes of users?

3. Video Encoder. Check the encoding latency. What encoding format is needed? What resolutions do you need to stream? What are the cost points? Is streaming server support required? Do you need on-board storage?

4. Video Source. What is the video source for the encoder? Live or pre-recorded? Do you need to multicast or is it per user? When do you start/stop/pause video streams? You need to make sure that your video source—encoder/streaming server chain all work together.

5. Video Player. What video player will you select; for example, Off-The-Shelf (OTS) players such as Flash or QuickTime? Or a custom solution to meet particular requirements? Desktop and/or mobile? Each brings different requirements. Do you need to check on system resources to adjust resolution? What equipment are your target users using? Do you need to support interactivity?

6. Platform. Which platform will you use for your remote video services services? Weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the approaches. For example, with a Windows server platform, you could choose end-to-end Windows products. With Linux and Unix, there are other options.

7. Management. Think about the management requirements. How are you going to provision the video sessions? How are you going to monitor the health of the system?

8. Statistics. What do you want in a real-time view versus reports?  If you need to export statistics, what formats do you need to provide the data in? What reports should be available on the system versus an off-board system?  Do you need to schedule automatic report generation?

To read more on this topic, I recommend that you download our white paper, 8 Technical Considerations Ensuring the Development of Flawless Remove Video Imaging Applications from our Video Applications web page.

Access to multi-media streaming features over the internet has grown rapidly in the last few years due to cost reduction and advances in this technology. Live streaming of video over the internet has become quite popular with most media outlets who make their broadcast available online. Additionally, many live events are being streamed directly from their location due to reduction of the cost barrier to entry. Fueling all this is the advances in the video encoder technology, both in terms of hardware and software.

To get a good sense of what these solutions offer and how they stack up against each other, I have compared some of the encoders from a variety of vendors based on certain criterion:
- A system that can stream a total of 4 input channels, 2 in HD and 2 in SD.
- The streamed video is viewable with Flash Media player. The two leading commercial media servers that support flash streaming are Adobe FMS and Wowza and the encoders should be able to stream to at least one of them.

The following are the capabilities that were compared:
o 1080p: This is the highest HD resolution available, but not all HD encoders currently support this.
o Storage: The ability to record and store video on the encoder platform.
o Latency: The video latency could be important in certain situations, such as in teleconferencing applications. It also may indicate the robustness of the encoding algorithm used.
o Multi-rate support: It is the ability to encode a single input video at different bit rates. A must if we need to support users with varying bandwidth connections.
o HD/SD Dual Support: Ability of a single encoder to accept and encode either SD or HD signal at a time.
o Public Management Interface: This is required when you build custom application to control and monitor the encoder. Typically all of them provide SNMP but some vendors also have implemented SOAP.
o Centralized Management Interface: Some vendors only provide single element management application but others have centralized management solutions. The centralized management solution comes in quite handy when you are trying to monitor and control multiple encoders.
o Cost Estimate: The approximate cost of the entire solution based on written and verbal quotes from the vendor. You should check with the vendor for the latest prices as they fluctuate often.

Come back next week for a detailed chart of the results.