Video latency is the delay of time between the source to the viewer’s screen. And for simulcast live-streaming, it is the time difference between the real-time visual recording and when it is being viewed by the user. During this whole process, there can be multiple factors that can affect the latency of any live stream. Such as internet settings, encoders, CDN buffering, bandwidth, or players. But the important thing that can be the cause of low latency streaming is the protocol that is being used. There are many protocols that are available and all differ in delays of the video that can vary from less than a second to a minute. For live streams, the HLS streaming protocol is the best and is being widely used because of its robust performance and effectiveness.
In this blog, we will discuss the importance of low video latency for simulcast live streaming and what can be the factors that can affect the latency.
Importance of Low Latency for Simulcast Live Streaming
Having low video latency for live streaming of any event is very important because it can affect the viewing experience of any user. Because during cloud-based video streaming, the users are likely to engage more just because they want a lifelike experience. And if it is not provided with excellence and there are delays from real-time broadcast or buffering time is much higher, they are likely to lose their interest. All this is caused due to high latency and adaptive video bitrate that is caused due to various factors and streaming protocols. There is more importance in using low latency for live streaming which is discussed below.
Platforms Scalability
This can be affected or limited by the streaming protocol that is being used because each of these protocols has a different latency. This can vary from a fraction of a second to a minute, thus resulting in making the user experience degraded. These servers are the major cause of latency like RTMP streaming would need a complex server setup in order to reach a wider audience. That can result in the scaling issue of the platforms or even it collapsing because of the heavy load. Hence, HLS protocols are becoming popular for simulcast live streaming.
Quality of Video Playback
When using a multi-streaming platform for live streaming ensuring high-quality content is necessary because it is being broadcasted on different channels. And in order to provide this, having a higher bandwidth is necessary due to factors like higher resolutions and frame rates. For example, during web conferencing, many of the attendees can be seated at different locations to discuss an important issue. So the platform and protocol should ensure low latency in order to give a streamlined experience. Even though the player’s buffering can be reduced, it can significantly impact the experience.
Enhance Viewing Experience
Low latency streaming for live events can go a long way to deliver a streamlined and impressive experience. This is important when you are doing a simulcast streaming because many of the platforms that have been selected to broadcast live stream. Are not compatible with low latency their streaming can delay which will differ in each platform. And despite using all the top-notch technologies and modern solutions, most of these multi-streaming platforms struggle to provide last-mile delivery. Because of the latency that is caused due to many factors such as connectivity, protocols, encoding, CDN buffering, etc.
Ensure Interactivity
Low latency streaming ensures that the user can interact in real-time communication that can provide an enhanced and useful interactive experience. Without any buffering and delays, the user can have a lifelike virtual experience of the event. This is important because there can be many events that are being held through live streaming such as conferences, tutorials, learning, and even podcast live streaming. To make them interactive, low latency is very important for simulcast live streams. With synchronized live feeds, the users will be able to interact with live videos with chats, ensuring seamless and interactive live streaming.
Factors That Can Affect the Latency
For a live streaming workflow, there can be many factors that can affect the low latency streaming. With the contribution of different components that can contribute to latency below discussed are some of the top factors and disturbing them can affect the latency.
- Encoding: The video latency is a sensitive case to the configuration and the quality of the desired output of the video signal. And it is also affected by the streaming protocol that is being used by the platform. And for proper encoding for live streaming HLS streaming protocol is the best solution.
- Internet connection: The connection type and the speed of the internet play a significant role in delivering a high-quality and seamless streaming experience. This can also include other factors, such as bandwidth, DLS, cable, etc. To ensure low latency simulcast live streaming having a stable internet connection is a must.
- Player buffer: Video players can also affect the quality of the stream since there are many channels or players being used for simulcast live streams, thus each of them can have different protocols. Or similar, but this can cause the live stream to buffer if they don’t have stable connectivity.
- Distance: This can also be a major factor that can cause latency during simulcast live streaming. Because there can be a delay caused by your device and the servers it is requesting to access the information from.
- Propagation delays: This is the time taken by your data to reach the servers and doesn’t include the time it takes to cross the full distance back to the device to make a round trip. This is just a piece of the puzzle of how much low latency streaming you can experience.
Conclusion
It is very important to use low latency for simulcast live streaming because it can have some significant benefits. Such as wider reach, interactivity, real-time communication, and more. Low latency plays an important role in order to provide a streamlined experience to users. There can be many factors that can affect the latency such as internet connectivity and speed, streaming protocol, players, etc. And the importance of using low latency streaming for live events is much more understandable in order to provide and attract users with enhanced real-time feed.