On April 25, Agora launched the Agora live broadcast solution in Beijing, focusing on solving the problems of high latency, low image quality, poor signal transmission stability, high cost, and hotlink linking, which are common in the live broadcast scene, and helping the live broadcast platform to obtain higher quality live broadcast effects and user experience at a lower cost. This solution is mainly used in popular scenarios such as event viewing, watching games together, big V commentary, and celebrity watching.
The live broadcast of the event is developing rapidly, and the pain points obviously need to be solved urgently
Thanks to the competitive events themselves and the iteration of live broadcast technology, the attention of live broadcast of large-scale events has gradually become a social phenomenon, such as the just-concluded F1 Chinese Grand Prix, which has dominated the headlines. It is not difficult to predict that the upcoming European Championship and the Paris Olympics, these two global sporting events, will set off a national viewing boom again.
For viewers, the development of live broadcasting, 5G and other technologies has subtly raised the expectation of the live broadcast effect of the event, and they have "zero tolerance" for the viewing experience such as stuttering, delay, audio and picture async, and low image quality. At the same time, compared with the boring viewing format, the audience hopes to get a certain "sense of participation" during the live broadcast of the event. For example, in the live broadcast scene of the event, it is easier to add rich gameplay such as big V commentary, watching the game together, and celebrity accompaniment, etc., which are more likely to be favored by the audience.
For live broadcast platforms, if they want the audience to watch well, they must not only be smooth and silky in signal transmission, production and broadcasting, audio and picture synchronization and other links, but also need to solve problems such as hotlinking. In terms of cost, high cross-regional transmission costs have been the consensus of the industry, especially in special scenarios such as the distribution of some popular events, due to the large bandwidth demand, it will inevitably involve private line transmission, and the corresponding cost will also increase. In addition, if the event live broadcast platform invites big V to the offline studio to commentate, it also needs to pay high venue rental costs. And when the commentator can't be there in an emergency, the show can't "open the skylight", and the platform also needs to prepare a plan.
How to solve technical problems, how to reduce costs and increase efficiency, and how to improve the viewing experience? Higher, faster, and stronger-Agora live event streaming solution came into being.
Production and broadcasting are faster, and cloud commentary reduces costs and increases efficiency
The Agora live broadcast solution provides another way to solve problems such as the high rental cost of offline studios and the temporary absence of commentators. Li Zhijie, head of Agora live broadcast products, said that the live broadcast solution of Agora provides a cloud studio with controllable costs, and the live broadcast platform allows invited guests to explain online without renting offline venues. According to the different network conditions of the commentators, Agora can also provide multiple real-time streams with different bitrates and frame rates, and can automatically switch according to the actual network conditions of the commentators, even if it is 1M bandwidth, it can also achieve smooth commentary.
The sound and picture of the event are strongly synchronized, and the viewing experience is more "pure"
How to make multiple commentators watch simultaneously and accurately synchronize the voices, pictures and streams of the guests is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently.
According to He Shengming, the technical director of Agora live broadcast, the live broadcast solution of Agora is based on NTP, which can ensure that all ends of the commentators are aligned, the difference in the live broadcast picture is strictly less than 3 frames, and the commentary audio track is synchronized with the event screen. In addition, the noise reduction function based on the Agora Fengming AI engine can effectively eliminate the environmental noise and external sound of the narrator, while avoiding the suppression of human voices, bringing a more "pure" viewing experience to the audience. The Agora live event streaming solution also supports the ability of gaskets, directors, and flexible selection of multiple audio tracks.
Signal transmission is more cost-effective and the transmission cost is more controllable
Signal transmission determines the quality of broadcasting, and some large-scale live broadcasts of international events often need to be transnational and transcontinental in signal transmission. However, the traditional satellite + private line transmission form is not only expensive, but also very inflexible, and there are uncertainties in obtaining high-quality platform signals. In addition, traditional transmission forms often use standard protocols that are not encrypted, which can easily be hotlinked.
In response to these problems, the Agora live broadcast solution provides SD-RTN-based™ media encryption transmission capabilities, with a 200ms packet arrival rate of > 99.9%, which supports signals coming in from any location and then receiving traffic from any location, which is equivalent to having an efficient network waiting to be used. In addition, through Agora's excellent self-developed cloud control algorithm, comprehensive consideration of access selection, high scalability, availability, load balancing, etc., it can "navigate" an optimal path for real-time video data streams to ensure stable ultra-low latency signal transmission. At the same time, a lot of optimization work has been carried out on the agora network side of the audio and video SDK, including anti-weak network optimization and audio and video experience optimization.
High-definition picture quality, ultra-low latency, for a great viewing experience
During the live broadcast of the event, there are often wonderful moments of stunner balls, equalizers, and controversial balls, and fans will definitely want to watch them as soon as possible. However, some high latency and lag on live broadcast platforms often lead to poor viewing time. If other channels such as barrage and WeChat have begun to discuss at this time, but the audience's video progress bar has not yet reached the exciting part, it will directly affect the user's stay on the platform.
Ultra-low latency, stable transmission and other technologies are the "housekeeping skills" of Agora, which makes the advantages of Agora live broadcast solutions more obvious. It can ensure that the picture is transmitted to the audience's eyes within 500ms, which is up to 90% lower than the traditional HLS and FLV channels, and the first frame of the live broadcast screen on the viewer side is < 400ms, so that the wonderful event can be opened at any time. 80% of the audio and video packet loss boundary on the viewer side ensures smooth operation even on extremely weak networks. Li Zhijie said that Agora has begun to cooperate with major platforms, and from this European Cup, users can enjoy the fastest live viewing experience on the whole network in some rooms of some platforms.
Low latency allows viewers to stay in the middle of the game, and high-definition picture quality is key to the best game presentation. The Agora live streaming solution supports broadcast-grade 4K end-to-end stable transmission, and supports Huawei's HDR Vivid, which provides full-end rendering of static HDR and dynamic HDR, bringing "epic" image quality enhancement to the audience. In addition, the "low-code HD" technology and ABR solution developed by Agora have been added, which can greatly reduce the bitrate while improving the image quality, providing the audience with an excellent viewing experience.
Military-grade signal encryption, no price increase for service increases
In response to the pain point that the quality of the audience side is difficult to trace during the live broadcast of the event, the Agora live broadcast solution provides a strong and perfect quality tool "crystal ball", which can not only provide real-time quality monitoring for the platform side, but also quickly locate the stuck audience. In addition, the solution also provides military-grade signal encryption to achieve end-to-end transmission and content dual encryption, effectively preventing leeching.
Innovative technology is "implanted" into the live broadcast operation of the event
At this press conference, Agora also invited Zhu Jianping, CEO of Singularity Intelligent Broadcasting, to share the practical application of live broadcast of the event. As an expert in the live broadcast industry, Zhu Jianping introduced the experience of Singularity Intelligent Broadcasting in the broadcast of major international and domestic events such as the Olympic Games and the Asian Games. Zhu Jianping said that the Agora live broadcast solution has brought innovative ideas and technical solutions to the live broadcast industry, such as excellent performance in high-definition image quality, extremely low signal delay distribution, and backhaul, which is worth looking forward to. Recently, the two sides have also cooperated in the aspects of big V commentary, signal transmission, copyright protection, etc., hoping to use each other's advantages to complement each other and build a more innovative live broadcast operation plan.
As the competition for live streaming platforms becomes increasingly fierce, whoever can satisfy the audience's pursuit of the ultimate viewing experience will be able to gain traffic. The launch of Agora live event broadcast solution will further create new competitive barriers for the platform. Agora also hopes to work with many live broadcast platforms to create a higher, faster and stronger experience in the live broadcast of international and domestic large-scale events, such as the European Cup, the World Cup, the Olympic Games, and more international and domestic large-scale events.