Utilizing Scalable Video Encoding for Adapted Video Delivery in Next Generation Networks

Abstract—Multimedia services are the cornerstone of the Next Generation Network (NGN) architectures and judging by the success of video services in the Internet, future multimedia applications will be heavily video dependent. Due to the heterogeneous nature of the access networks and the range of end terminal devices that will connect with NGNs, video services will be required to adapt video content to suit the needs of individual clients. Current adaptation techniques such as transcoding and redundant storage of video files are inefficient and not easily scalable. A solution that overcomes the limitations of these current solutions is clearly desirable. The recently completed H.264/MPEG4-AVC Scalable Video Coding (SVC) amendment allows for extraction of multiple quality layers with varying spatial, temporal and quality attributes from a single encoding. In this paper we present a video streaming solution that utilizes the H.264/MPEG-AVC scalable amendment in order to adapt video sequences without the need for transcoding or multiple encodings of the video. An initial prototype implementation is outlined and performance contrasted with that of current adaptation techniques. The results obtained from this prototype show that the use of H.264 scalable encoding allows for a much more efficient and scalable solution for video streaming services in NGNs