iSIZE - deep-learning solutions to optimize video streaming quality

by Startacus Admin

 

The lowdown on iSIZE, the startup that’s created innovative machine learning solutions to optimize video streaming quality whilst also reducing data and energy consumption

Video streaming, whether it’s on-demand from the likes of Netflix and Disney+ or live from YouTube and Twitch, is at an all-time high, and not only because of the pandemic keeping people at home with little else to do. 

But we all know the very first-world problem of poor quality video because a few people in the house are all streaming and the traffic online is high because everyone’s settled in for the night, and as original image quality increases (we might pass on streaming an 8K movie for now), this will only become more and more obvious. 

Streaming, though, is one of those things that you might not think has a carbon footprint, but actually has a fairly significant one. Currently, video streaming contributes to about 1% of all global carbon emissions. So how do streaming platforms increase quality without increasing their impact on the environment?

London-based deep-tech startup iSIZE may have the answer. Forbidden dark magic. Although they claim their platform actually uses deep learning to optimise video by precoding prior to encoding, which provides higher quality video at a cheaper cost compared to current industry-leading encoding services. 

They say that they can provide up to a 40% reduction of cost, while providing a twofold reduction of energy consumption compared to any other encoder, thus not only making the process more efficient but also lessening the environmental impact of streaming. It is also codec independent, meaning that it can provide 40% bitrate savings while still remaining compatible with standard formats.

In May, iSIZE announced that it had raised $6.3 million in funding led by Octopus Ventures. This adds to previous funding to bring their total funding so far to $8.2 million, and with companies like nvidia, Intel, Amazon, and Microsoft taking notice and using their solution, we suspect they will have little trouble bringing in more when they need it. 

With video set to hit 82% of total internet traffic by 2022, the need for something that can both reduce the carbon footprint and boost quality for the end user is only going to keep increasing.

 

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• #
• #video
• #streaming
• #deeptech
• #encoding
• #innovation
• #environment

Published on: 24th May 2021