The primary obstacle in video streaming today is delivering high quality at a consumer available (384Kbps and lower) bandwidth. In the past the standard for video streaming has been MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 and while these two standards perform nicely for consumer appliances, when it comes to video over the Internet, they don't quite measure up. The problem lies in the limitations built into the MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 standards themselves, standards that were never intended for video delivery over the Internet. Originally when MPEG was formed the intent was to create a video encoding standard for consumer appliances with CDV, DVD and HDTV broadcasting as the result. While MPEG 1&2 seems to work well for these applications, the minimum bandwidth of 1.16 Mbps (the lowest bandwidth acceptable for consumer applications) would require a T-1 Internet connection (1.54Mbps) for the user to view the stream. The only way to compensate for this limitation is to increase the amount and level of the video compression to the point where it degrades the video image severely, the user sees blocky distortions (called Macro Blocking) and the video becomes unwatchable.

Crystal Stream Media Advantages

With MPEG 1&2 targeted to the consumer market, Internet delivered video has had to make due with video standards that were never intended for use over this medium. One of the biggest weaknesses in MPEG 1&2 is the rigid use of compression schemes without allowing for advancement in compression technology and increased computing power. The use of these standards has forced the media provider to use decades old technology and push it to the limit of its usefulness. CTI, in an effort to overcome these limitations has taken advantage of the flexibility of the Windowstm environment and created a video Codec and streaming file delivery system that targets Internet type, interactive video streams for use on personal computers and set top boxes with much more flexibility toward Internet applications.

The .CSM File Standard

The .CSM file standard has several advantages over traditional video delivery systems and competitive video streaming formats with the first and most important being a compression codec, which allows for high compressibility while maintaining high quality. This codec is used in all of CTIs file and live streaming encoders which are able to perform encodes in real time, in a single pass. This is in contrast with the typical competitions encoding which uses multiple passes and up to 13 to 1 time factors. This means that it could take up to 26 hours of encoding time to produce 1 hour of video. In contrast, CTI can produce encoded files in real time and even live streams at the full capability of the compression codec. The CTI codec pushes the encoding process to the limit of DCT based compression methods, resulting in the best quality data streams possible with current quality levels achieving a near DVD quality stream that will play at 850Kbps and a near VHS quality stream that will play at 300Kbps.

Another advantage of the .CSM file standard is the streaming protocol that allows the stream to play over regular broadband Internet connections. Currently the biggest challenge for streaming over the Internet is the inconsistency of the environment. A good streaming format has to be able to adapt to dropped packets, data bursts and stream synchronization without having a heavy impact on latency. Our engineers, drawing from protocols developed for the telecommunications industry, have focused a great deal of their energy on fine-tuning our streaming protocol to adapt to these conditions.

A third advantage is in the area of digital rights management. Most of the Digital Rights Management systems on the market today have at their core an encryption scheme that uses a basic software envelope and puts the media content inside this envelope, presenting the construct as an encrypted file. The drawback to this system is that all a hacker has to crack is the one encryption key that was used to wrap the file and he has access to the raw content. CTI has put data encryption directly into the encoding process. This means that each frame of the video is encrypted as it is encoded with a separate encryption key for each frame. Thus a would be thief would have to crack each frame one at a time in order to reach the content which at 30 frames for every second of video becomes extremely expensive and time consuming to perform. The fact that the encryption is built into the file standard also makes it much easier to implement DRM applications without limitations on the delivery system or the level of security needed. The content starts out in a secure state that requires measures to unlock it. This means that it will always default to a locked and safe mode.
Together these features make for a very robust and high performance video delivery system that will adapt to many diverse applications and perform well in all of them.

Crystal Wavetm Video Delivery System

The Crystal Wavetm compression strategy has been laid out in three parts that together comprise the CTI Crystal Wavetm Video Delivery System. The first part was to create an encoder capable of producing highly compressed streams in real time. This required the development of a proprietary encoding board with a DSP programmed to perform the necessary calculations for creating the compressed video file. This feature produces webcast files with the same high resolution as the competitors rendered, download files. The use of a DSP allows for file rendering to take place in Real Time, a capability that makes rendering much easier and affordable. The first generation of the encoder makes streams that use the traditional DCT encoding methods that are currently being used in the older MPEG formats, the difference here is in the application of the compression algorithms that CTI has developed, the flexibility of the CTI encoding system allows for a more precise fit of the filters resulting in a higher quality then was possible before. This also leaves room for better algorithms and alternate encoding methods.(see the Tsunamitm section)

The second part of the Crystal Wavetm strategy is the development of a stream server that can handle a high number of simultaneous streams, by utilizing a proprietary data storage format that has been optimized for video streaming delivery. The server is capable of providing encrypted streams at a high bit rate with a number of different user options for Digital Rights Management. These first two components combine to provide a high performance video stream delivery solution to the Internet.

The final component of CTI's strategy will be the development of a Set Top Box that allows for affordable on demand video delivery. The same technology that was used to develop the encoder will be used in the set top box enabling CTI to produce a low cost solution having enough computing power to handle the task of decoding and decrypting video on the fly with superior results to current software decoders and the ability to provide decodes for next generation HDTV video sets.

Live Stream Encoding

The CTI live stream encoder is the most advanced, compressed live video encoder on the market. Capable of providing three simultaneous live streams at differing bandwidths, the Live Stream Encoder is suitable for a wide range of applications. Our encoder can provide time stamped files for video surveillance, multiple data rates for live or recorded broadcasts and high frame rate at low latency for video conferencing. Together these features make for the most versatile and sophisticated video encoding system available on the market today.
In developing the Live Stream Encoder, the greatest challenge was in refining the protocol, the way that the digital video and audio gets delivered over the network. To achieve stable video requires a protocol that is both flexible and high performance so CTI engineers, drawing on their past experience in the telecommunications industry, have created a protocol that provides digital video streams that out perform any other broadband format available and combined with the real-time capabilities of the Crystal Wave Encoder, for the first time we are able to produce live high quality, low bit rate video at 30 FPS that looks like a closed circuit TV connection over a standard Internet DSL connection.

Future developments with Tsunamitm

Crystal Technologies is currently using enhanced DCT type encoding methods for our video streams, but we are pushing the limit of this technology and further improvements are still needed. DCT has a number of drawbacks such as the use of macro blocks and unidimensional motion prediction that limits the compressibility and scalability of the current technology. A new approach to compression has been taken by CTI under the code name Tsunamitm. This approach involves filtering the entire field of each frame, which allows gradual degradation as a function of increased compression. In addition, Tsunamitm allows for a precise control of bit rate and compression as it relates to video content. Tsunamitm also allows for simultaneous additive streams, so that the quality and resolution of the video can scale dynamically depending on the current bandwidth conditions of the network. The DSP of the Crystal Wavetm encoder lends itself well to this application allowing for a much more flexible video product which promises to revolutionize the Internet video market, with scalable output from a single file for everything from dial up connections to high speed HDTV delivery over the internet.

Crystal Technologies Intl. Corp. is a Nevada based company with research and development facilities in California. Any inquiries about CTI technology or products should be directed to sales@crystalti.com or call (714) 433-2901