Is your audience feeling left behind? Are they getting scooped by a tweet? We’ve all been there—streaming a live sports event or TV premiere, chatting with friends, when suddenly, someone spoils the action because their stream is ahead of yours. Whether it’s a crucial game, a major TV premiere, or a live award show, staying ahead of the peanut gallery is essential.
The reality is that live video inherently comes with a delay due to the time needed for processing, compressing, and transmitting data over the internet. But with our Low-Latency Encoding and Streaming (LLES) solution, we’re cutting that delay to the bare minimum. By leveraging the latest Low-Latency HLS and DASH technologies and optimizing processing chain buffers, we ensure your streams are as close to real-time as possible. With LLES, your audience experiences the action through your stream before they even get the chance to see it on social media. Our streams are faster than someone typing “OMG!” and hitting send.
In this blog series, we’ll dive deeper into Low-Latency Streaming and its numerous, though often overlooked, benefits. This week, we’ll start by exploring just how “low” low latency can go.
Low latency: the protocol race
When it comes to streaming, HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) and DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) are the seasoned pros. However, they can be a bit slow on the uptake, often leaving you 30 seconds to a full minute behind the live event. Now, with some extra optimization, we’ve managed to trim this latency down to 25 seconds for basketball games —from the court to fans’ screens around the world. While we could push it even lower, doing so could lead to frustrating rebuffering during the game.
Enter the newer, faster siblings: LL-HLS (Low-Latency HLS) and LL-DASH (Low-Latency DASH). These protocols are the speedsters of the streaming world, slicing precious seconds off the delay by using smaller segments and smarter delivery techniques. With these combined with optimized processing buffers, we’ve achieved latency under 10 seconds—putting streaming on par with broadcast TV. For many, matching broadcast latency is the gold standard. In fact, when we helped the largest US cable operator launch a low-latency service for the Olympics, the streams were unbelievably 20 seconds ahead of digital cable!
But if you’re after near-instantaneous streaming—think immersive gaming, live auctions, or betting—ULL (Ultra Low Latency) is your best bet. We’re talking sub-1-second latency, delivering the action in a blink. So why isn’t everyone doing this? ULL relies on protocols like WebRTC, originally designed for one-to-one video conferencing, which makes scaling more complex and expensive, and content protection options are more limited.
Each protocol has its own quirks, like a superhero with unique powers, so choosing the right one depends on your need for speed and the level of complexity you can manage. The good news? We’ve got you covered. We leverage all three technologies to meet your live streaming needs.
How can I start?
That’s easy! If you want to dive into live streaming, head over to www.mk.io and register. If you’re interested in deploying Low Latency or even Ultra-Low-Latency streaming, contact us at www.mediakind.com.
Next up, we’ll review the other benefits brought by HLS and DASH Low Latency.
