Envivio, which provides video compression solutions has launched Elite Compression, which it describes as a powerful enhancement for its award-winning 4Caster C4 and M2 Mobile TV encoders. The compression tier is tuned to optimize the media playback experience on today's most popular mobile devices, and will be available to participants in Envivios Mobile Streaming trade up program, which offers discounts up to 35% to operators who replace their existing software encoders with the Envivio 4Caster C4 before 31 May, 2009.
According to Envivio, Elite Compression bridges the performance gap that currently exists in the mobile streaming market by targeting the many mass market mobile devices which use their central processor to decode media content. While H.263 and MPEG-4 Simple Profile compression are well matched to the capabilities of older or entry level mobile devices, Envivio says, they underutilize the performance of modern mid-range handsets using processors such as the ARM11. This prevents subscribers from enjoying the full media playback capability of their new devices. Conversely the more complex H.264 Baseline Profile is suitable only for premium handsets with dedicated video decoding hardware, as it overloads even the newest mid-range devices resulting in low frame rate video and an unacceptable user experience.
Envivio says that Elite Compression fills the void between these extremes by enabling mainstream mid-range devices, which comprise the majority of handsets in use, to deliver their optimum video and audio playback experience. Elite Compression is based on the H.264 standard, making it compatible with the standard media players provided by companies such as PV, NXP and RealNetworks that are already installed on millions of handsets.
The addition of Elite Compression takes place entirely at the headend, making it easy for operators to deploy. It does not require special handset players or any handset upgrades to enhance the performance on todays most popular and widely used phones. The net result, says Envivio, is an instant improvement in the quality of experience for an operators existing subscriber base.
Our close collaboration with the worlds leading mobile network operators and handset vendors put us in a unique position to understand the challenges facing operators, says Envivio Vice President of Product Marketing, Boris Felts. The result is a new compression tier that delivers enhanced quality of experience for the majority of the worlds mobile streaming users. It directly addresses the primary factor that attracts and retains subscribers, and does not rely on a proprietary solution that requires millions of handsets to be updated and which locks operators to a single supplier.
Envivios compression architecture will allow operators currently using the 4Caster C4 and M2 encoders to add the new Elite Compression capability simply by upgrading their software code. New software code can be uploaded to C4 and M2 encoders individually using the built-in web server management interface or in groups using Envivios 4Manager NMS. Elite Compression will be available on the next software releases of the 4Caster C4 and M2 encoders.