Challenges of Delivering Superb Viewing Experience while Streaming UHD 4K and HDR Content in the Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) Era

The adoption of UHD 4K and HDR formats by streaming video content providers introduced tremendous challenges for network infrastructure, as the delivery of large files created network congestions, impacting end user experience. The rise of Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) Streaming Protocols was supposed to provide a solution to the viewing experience degradation, by varying video bitrates and subsequent quality of viewing in accordance to the available bandwidth. Today, OTT providers are stuck in a user experience paradox; whereby ABR is actually impairing the user experience, due to lower quality it sometimes provides the consumer in order to mitigate video re-buffering issues, as well as Quality-of-Service issues, in the form of constant bitrate switches that are much more visible to the human eye with UHD 4K content, and in particular with HDR. This paper, supported by expansive field testing, examines the impact of ABR protocols implementation on user experience in the new era of UHD 4K and HDR, discusses its challenges and further recommendations for delivery of greater viewing experience within the current network infrastructure.

Published

2016-10

Content type

Original Research

Keywords

Media streaming, user experience, adaptive bitrate streaming, UHD, 4K, HDR, bandwidth, bitrate, protocols, broadband, buffering, quality of service, quality of experience, network, field testing, interne

DOI

10.5594/M001693

ISBN

978-1-61482-957-7