Why Ultra Low Latency is Important in Live Streaming Event?

Ultra-low latency is a buzzword that has been thrown around a lot this year, and you will see it mentioned often. However, not too many people really understand this new technology. So, what is ultra-low latency? And what does it mean for you, for an event host, or for the organization?

In this guide, we will answer those questions and explain what ultra-low latency is, and how it varies across different networks, and we’ll also give some tips on how you can leverage ultra-low latency to improve your broadcasting and streaming experience.

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What Is Video Latency And Why Does It Matter?

Latency is the time it takes for a packet of data to travel from devices, such as a gaming controller or mouse to another device, like a monitor or television. The amount of latency can be affected by factors such as network traffic, distance, and server load.

Latency in live streaming refers to the delay between when an input is received and when you see the output. For instance, if you’re watching a live stream of football and a goal is scored, but you don’t see it until 15-20 seconds after it happened because of latency, then that would be considered high latency.

As the video stream travels from the video source (I.E., a camera, or video file etc.) to the server, over the internet, and back again, there will be some amount of lag between the moment something occurs and when it appears on your screen.

However, innovative tech service providers have almost solved the problem. BlendVision, for example, can stream media with less than a 3-second delay. This is significantly faster than a live cable television broadcast, and it’s all thanks to the new ultra-low latency technology.

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Why Ultra Low Latency Is Becoming More Common

Ultra-low latency is a new technology that has been making its way into industries. It gives users a much better experience when using a product or service, such as watching a video on Netflix or gaming online with friends.

This is especially beneficial for people who stream online, watch streaming media, play video games competitively, or broadcast on a social platform, such as Twitch, for example.

These days, people have short attention spans, and so if a broadcast has a lot of latency, then most people will leave and never return. Thankfully, streaming technology has been drastically evolving, the complicated transmission of the video signals is optimized, and so people experience less latency than in years past. However, ultra-low latency is a game-changer and practically solves the problem of latency once and for all.

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The Trade-Off Between Latency, Scalability, And Quality

Due to the limitation of streaming technology, It is common to see a trade-off that occurs between latency, scalability, and quality. For example, because a 4K video will have a much larger file size compared to a 720p video, it will take more time to stream in 4K. Of course, this all depends on your bandwidth and internet speed, but in most cases, the difference will be noticeable.

Certain streaming service providers, such as BlendVision, have innovative solutions with nothing uncompromised. It allows you to stream high-quality videos with ultra-low latency. This means that you can enjoy high-quality videos, games, and media content without noticing the trade-off that occurs between quality and playback speed.

Again, many factors will cause latency, sometimes the latency is caused by your internet connection. But assuming your internet doesn’t change you will notice the difference when streaming from a service provider that offers ultra-low latency compared with another streaming service that does not.

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BlendVision’s Breakthrough: Ultra Low Latency + DRM

Ultra-low latency and DRM are now available on the market via BlendVision. This combination of features enables broadcasters to enable live streaming with very low latency while also protecting their content with Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Ultra-low latency is a key feature required by broadcasters who want to deliver immersive live events such as sports games and live concerts. With BlendVision’s new ultra-low latency feature, broadcasters can now use the same technology they use for live video production to stream live content in near real-time.

The addition of DRM protection to this Ultra Low Latency solution also allows broadcasters to protect their content from piracy. The DRM protection ensures that only authorized users are permitted access to content and that unauthorized users cannot view or record it. As of 2022, very few companies provide both ULL and DRM capabilities.

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Ultra Low Latency Use Cases

Ultra-low latency is particularly useful when it comes to live streaming, gaming, e-Sports, and other real-time interactive media. Here are some examples of how ultra-low latency technology is used in real-world applications.

Live Concerts

Ultra-low latency can be used to broadcast live concerts and music performances around the world. With ultra-low latency, viewers can interact with performers as if they’re sitting right next to them. In fact, ULL technology can be used to improve the experience of just about any video streaming event.

Gaming

Ultra-low latency can be used for online gaming. Gamers will be able to see how long their opponents took to make a move and how many milliseconds (ms) their computer took before sending information back to their opponent’s computer. The winner is often determined by who has the lowest ping time or frame rate per second (fps), aka the lowest latency.

Sports Betting

In sports betting, ultra-low latency can be used to predict outcomes with high accuracy before they happen. This allows bookmakers to offer more competitive odds on sporting events and earn more profit than ever before. It also means that sports bettors can get the best odds at any given time without missing any opportunities because of lag.

Live Auctions

Ultra-low latency also enables auctioneers to run auctions in near real-time. This means that when somebody places a bid, you will know right away, and there won’t be any risk of a bid not being entered on time, which has been one of the main streaming problems with online auctions over the past decade.

Keep in mind that these are only a few of the possible uses of ultra-low latency, and there are many others, such as sports broadcasting, watching media online, and much more. This technology is also new, so in the years ahead, there will no doubt be many more use cases for ultra-low latency.

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Summary

Latency is the delay in response time between an input and an output. In other words, the lower the latency, the faster you will see something occur online. In a perfect world, there would be no latency, but BlendVision’s new ultra low latency technology is about as close as we can get to zero latency for the time being. In the years ahead, it will be exciting to watch how BlendVision uses this new tech to improve broadcasting and streaming experiences around the globe.