Live streaming video – even HD – without the burp

Technology firm Swarmcast has announced the release of a new platform for live video streaming, promising greater QoS, even for high-definition video. The company claims the solution eliminates re-buffering and stalling of long-form video content, over a standard broadband connection and without compromising on picture quality.

The solution “aggregates packets of data from multiple sources in real-time… by blending resources,” [augmented by servers, according to posted feedback from the company’s PR] claims the press release.

Last month the company released Autobahn Accelerator, a free downloadable tool which it claims optimises both video streaming and downloads.

IPTV business models which work?

Some good observations on differentiation in the IPTV market in this post over on Daily IPTV.

The key points:

– Telcos’ biggest priority is to reduce churn, so the emphasis should be on packaging of an appropriate triple / quad play offer; content from familiar broadcasters serving the area is a must, but a richer content offer may be secondary.

– For new start-ups or brands with less consumer resonance, getting the content offer right is primary.

– In either case, distribution QoS is something any operator should understand well before considering launching any product. Emerging ‘over-the-top’ offers from content aggregators like Joost could be undermined by roadblocks in network capacity (see yesterday’s post on the Joost / Level 3 announcement).