Speeding up live dealer action

Live dealer providers will no doubt be studying a new product from UK company Vision247, which claims it has cracked the issues of time delay in live video transmissions with the launch of a new low latency service which reduces the delay in HLS (HTTP live streaming), the de facto delivery protocol for streaming broadcast content to any device over the internet.

The issue of latency in broadcast, most recognisable as the time delay when a live news reporter is speaking from the other side of the world, is a particular challenge for the latest generation of content distribution networks such as live dealer gambling.

And as gambling channel operators move to online video platforms for content distribution, the demand is there to compare and match the sync achieved with satellite or terrestrial transmission with the over the top internet stream onto any device. This is a particular challenge, especially onto mobile devices which can potentially access a stream from anywhere on the planet.

Despite HLS (HTTP live streaming) gaining market share to become the delivery protocol for OTT streaming, the latency it exhibits – on average as much as five times that of Flash streaming – can prove a considerable disadvantage when seeking to broadcast live, Vision247 claims. The company therefore turned its attention to delivering new encoder and server technology to reduce HLS streaming latency to a minimum.

Matt Vidmar, Vision247 chairman and group CTO explained this week: “Measuring from video input to client device screen, we set ourselves the task of achieve around a five to a maximum of seven seconds delay. That is a real challenge, especially when it comes to fine tuning HLS streaming to mobile devices.”

With the commercial launch this week of Vision247’s new encoder and server, the company’s new low latency service has achieved this remarkable benchmark observing a delay of only 5 seconds, fluctuating typically by maximum 350milliseconds for even the most remote regions globally.

Vision247 will be demonstrating the product until April 4 at the MIPTV expo at the Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France.