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The Telecom and Media Systems group has developed a technology for real-time streaming of compressed audio and video content over regular HTTP connections. Users can view and hear the streamed media content on any Java-enabled Web browser. The media players are small Java applets, which are optimized in terms of class size and CPU consumption. In its basic form, streaming multimedia content that uses these solutions does not require Server side installation or plug-ins on the client Web browsers. Enhanced capabilities, such as immediate seeking to the middle of the media content are also supported using a Servlet installed on the Server side.
Streaming can be done over common 28.8 Kbit/sec modem connections, as well as on higher modem connections or on LAN. Audio streaming is done using compression in the 5 – 13 Kbit/sec range. Standard speech compression algorithms, such as, ETSI-GSM or ITU-T G.723.1 are used as well as other proprietary algorithms. Video is compressed using the ITU-T H.263+ or MPEG-4 standards, with rate-control methods developed in the group.
A typical applet class size for the above mentioned solutions ranges from 10 to 40 KBytes for audio only streaming and about 70 KBytes for synchronized audio and video streaming. These figures are for uncompressed classes and include the applet GUI.
The Telecom and Media Systems group has also contributed a Java client-server Image-zooming solution to the Hermitage Museum Web site in St. Petersburg, Russia. This multinational project allows users to browse the high resolution digital scans of images and photos of objects from the Hermitage Museum collection.
Audio Applet Demo
The following applet plays high quality audio streamed from a regular HTTP server at a 12 Kbit/sec rate. Make sure your PC is configured to play audio and that other applications are not currently using the audio device.
Video Applet Demo
The applet below demonstrates an MPEG-4 video decoding using HotMedia. An H.263 video was encoded as well as a reference. Once the applet loads, the user can choose which video to view. At the end, the user can choose the video again.
This demo is best viewed over network connections greater than 56 K.
Technical Information
- The same codec is used for decoding both the H.263 and the MPEG-4 streams.
- The MPEG-4 stream was encoded using the following tools: I-VOP, P-VOP, AC/DC Prediction, Unrestricted Motion Vectors, and 4-MVs.
- The decoder supports error resilience tools (parsing): packet headers and data partitioning.
- H.263 file size: 204 K.
- MPEG-4 file size: 204 K.
- The decoder class size: 37 K (uncompressed).
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