Streaming: Although a foreign concept just a few short decades ago, advancements in cloud technologies have allowed media streaming to take the world by storm.
With humble beginnings in 1881 as the théâtrophone, allowing subscribers to listen to theater and opera performances over telephone lines, streaming services have now taken over the world. Despite the success, becoming one of the main forms of entertainment in the modern world isn’t an easy task. Technology has rapidly evolved around the world’s growing need for on-demand leisure, with more reach than ever before.
Resolution: the classic upgrade
Video resolution, often known as the quality of any given video, has come leaps and bounds since its inception. Remembering just a few short years ago most live-streams and online video content were limited to a measly 720p, not even full HD and honestly, a poor excuse for a decent viewing experience.
Connections and the connected
Meanwhile, with modern internet connection speeds and even the advent of 5G technology, streamed content is now greatling upscaled in resolution. With over half of TV sets now being in 4K resolution, over 8 million pixels are now displayed on your screen. As connections and hardware continually improve, so will the quality and, ergo, both the viewing and streaming experience.
HUD-Optimization – AI tells all
The forgotten, hidden hero of our gaming experience. The heads-up-display, or HUD for short, is the overlaid display more commonly called an interface, often providing integral information to gamers, whether health points or a hunger meter.
One increasingly important asset to the cloud-streaming portfolio is, naturally, virtual casinos, where you can play poker online or have a try at the roulette wheel. New, high-tech innovations involving AI-powered HUD technology provides users vast swathes of information at a glance, whether the percentage chance of winning with your hand or a tracker of user activity. This provides a great set of training wheels for new players or an efficiency-boost to the veterans.
Virtual Reality – the future (soon, soon, soon…)
Although not everyone is equally convinced about the metaverse and Zuckerberg’s great plans, VR is some cool tech that has some incredible applications, both in business and entertainment. Part of the viewing experience is immersion. It’s the reason we dim the lights when watching a scary movie or buy expensive headphones for our listening pleasure.
Virtual reality is simply the next step in this endeavor to plunge into the scene. Whether watching Disney+, Twitch or betting in an online casino, there is some benefit to be had from placing yourself inside the virtual world. Virtual reality is even catching the resolution bug, offering many of their headsets with 4K support.
The Geeky Stuff – Back-end Innovation
CAD, or Context Adaptive Content Delivery Workflow (a real mouthful), is one of the more noble efforts to increase the end-user experience. A given video asset, before being shipped off to your TV or computer, is now being adjusted with high-tech solutions to deliver it at the perfect resolution that your system can handle.
This reduces the need for unneeded strain to your devices and provides a more smooth experience on the whole. Applications like the Adaptive Bitrate Ladder help servers analyze and compress your demanded streaming content data in a form-factor that can be adjusted not only for the entire content but specific moments within the video.
Where are we going?
It is no surprise that in the ever-changing modern world, dominated by a need for constant content, high-tech innovations are creating a sort of renaissance in the cloud streaming world. Not a day goes by where innovations and new technologies aren’t being tested to help bring your favorite content to you just that much easier.
