Maximizing Codecs' Potential

CodecSys from Broadcast International in Salt Lake City is based on one of those elegant, but revolutionary principles. CodecSys is a videoconferencing and broadcast technology that switches between codecs on-the-fly to maximize source quality and minimize bandwidth use.

Targeted at video service providers, CodecSys could greatly reduce the cost of videoconferencing and other video-distribution services, making them affordable to more customers.

The CodecSys technology analyzes a frame of video or a portion of a frame to figure out which codec will yield the best compression. Then it uses that codec on that piece of the transmission, switching codecs as needed to maximize compression and minimize bandwidth use. Broadcast participants use a viewer that also changes codecs, in step with the incoming video.

While the infrastructure is complex, the principle is simple and smacks of genius. Normally, when A/V material is digitally broadcast, a single codec is used to compress the entire broadcast. But all codecs were not created equal, and some do a better job of compressing one type of video than others.

To constrain an application to a single codec is to accept its limitations. And it means the infrastructure must be overdesigned to provide sufficient bandwidth during intervals when the chosen codec shows its weakness and compression drops.

Being able to select from a well-stocked library of codecs allows you to avoid reductions in compression rates and the resultant peak-bandwidth-demand issues. That, in turn, reduces the bandwidth, infrastructure and operating costs associated with digital broadcasting.

What do you think of this technology? Let me know via e--mail at [email protected].