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Review: Meta's Video Codec Acid Test (VCAT)

Identifying which phones can handle AV1 decode is the goal of Meta's new VCAT testing tool, for Video Codec Acid Test, which is both the brainchild and the swan song of encoding legend David Ronca. In short, VCAT is an Android app for benchmarking battery drain and system health during HW/SW video decode operations on Android devices.

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Interoperability and Media Over QUIC

Interoperability is always a critical issue with emerging streaming protocols, and—no different from any other protocol still in development—for Media over QUIC (MoQ), interop remains a work in progress. Help Me Stream Research Foundation's Tim Fore-Siglin, Akamai's Will Law, and nanocosmos' Oliver Lietz discuss the ongoing challenges and likely outcomes in this clip from May's Streaming Media Connect.

SGAI, Live Sports Streaming, Scale, and Standardization

Server-guided ad insertion (SGAI), and the variety of squeeze-back and picture-in-picture (PiP) ad options it enables, creates great opportunities for brands to innovate and engage audiences in new ways, particularly for live sports events. But it's still early days for SGAI implementation, and scale and standardization still pose significant challenges that old solutions and approaches won't solve, as Ring Digital's Brian Ring, SVTA's David Hassoun, Fan Serv's C.J. Leonard, and Eventually A Castle's Andrew Baritz discuss in this clip from May's Streaming Media Connect.

How to Balance Performance and QoE Metrics for Livestreams

When it comes to monitoring live streams, teams often divide metrics into technical categories related to streaming performance like bitrate and latency and buffering, and more subjective metrics related to quality of experience for end users. But according to Warner Bros.' Subhrendu Sarkar and NBCUniversal's Seb Emin, the two are really inseparable, as delivering satisfying experiences to viewers whether they're watching on 65" smart TVs or on a "mobile device on a train going through a tunnel" is always the end goal, and they explain how to strike that critical balance while always keeping QoE front of mind in this clip from Streaming Media Connect 2025.

New Strategies for Reaching Gen Z Fans with Niche Sports on FAST

Fubo's Pamela Duckworth and Swerve Sports' Christy Tanner say it's time to throw out the old playbook and experiment with new niche sports and new engagement and programming strategies for reaching younger fans—and it all starts on social—as they recount their experience testing and measuring combat sports engagement on their FAST channels in this discussion with Ashling Digital's Michael Nagle from May's Streaming Media Connect.

Streaming Media Columns

Innovation vs. Optimization in Streaming Delivery

While innovation is good at the outset of a transformation (such as analog to digital video), it can become counterproductive to building sustainable businesses. Continuous innovation means taking away resources from making existing technologies more scalable, resilient, and reliable—three traits that are critical to the success of something like a streaming platform.

Which Is Better for Sports Production--More Cameras or More Ops?

Typical broadcast-level sports productions are massive, with dozens of cameras and operators all over the place, and dozens more people working in and around the production trucks. So how does one, independent producer make their content more like "the big league" when there isn't a dozen people to help?

Doubling Down on Live Linear Programmatic Advertising

The problem of adjusting a live ad buy in linear has jumped over one more hurdle. Earlier this year, DirectTV Advertising announced that their satellite TV content can now be bought programmatically in real time. This means an advertiser can see when viewing is surging and double down to serve ads during key moments. This feature will be available for programming on ESPN, MLB Network, FS1, and the Tennis Channel.

Live Sports Streaming, TVXRAY, and the Qvest for Personalization

At NAB 2025 I set out in search of one irrefutable, real-world example of true sports streaming personalization, an innovative and unique experience that might present a mass-media live sporting event on my screen as it appears on no one else's. I found a contender at the Qvest Engage booth.

Streaming Media Research

Revenue Opportunities for Weather-Related Streaming

Sponsored by: The Weather Company

Current Trends in Ultra-Low Latency Interactive Live Streaming

Sponsored by: AMD

Live-Streaming Technology Trends 2024

Sponsored by: Softvelum

Media and Broadcast File-Transfer Workflow Challenges

Sponsored By: Signiant