Design options and comparison of in-network H.264/SVC adaptation

  • Authors:

  • Robert Kuschnig;Ingo Kofler;Michael Ransburg;Hermann Hellwagner

  • Affiliations:

  • Institute of Information Technology, Klagenfurt University, Universitätsstraíe 65-67, 9020 Klagenfurt, Austria;Institute of Information Technology, Klagenfurt University, Universitätsstraíe 65-67, 9020 Klagenfurt, Austria;Institute of Information Technology, Klagenfurt University, Universitätsstraíe 65-67, 9020 Klagenfurt, Austria;Institute of Information Technology, Klagenfurt University, Universitätsstraíe 65-67, 9020 Klagenfurt, Austria

  • Venue:
  • Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation
  • Year:
  • 2008

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Abstract

This paper explores design options and evaluates implementations of in-network, RTP/RTSP based adaptation MANEs (Media Aware Network Elements) for H.264/SVC content streaming. The obvious technique to be employed by such an adaptation MANE is to perform SVC specific bitstream extraction or truncation. Another mechanism that can be used is description (metadata) driven, coding format independent adaptation based on generic Bitstream Syntax Descriptions (gBSD), as specified within MPEG-21 Digital Item Adaptation (DIA). Adaptation MANE architectures for both approaches are developed and presented, implemented in end-to-end streaming/adaptation prototype systems, and experimentally evaluated and compared. For the gBSD based solution, open issues like the granularity of bitstream descriptions and of bitstream adaptation, metadata overhead, metadata packetization and transport options, and error resilience in case of metadata losses, are addressed. The experimental results indicate that a simple SVC specific adaptation MANE does clearly outperform the gBSD based adaptation variants. Yet, the conceptual advantages of the description driven approach, like coding format independence and flexibility, may outweigh the performance drawbacks in specific applications.