Voices of Video

• From Campbell to Codensity: A Practical Hero’s Journey in Video Encoding

  What if a hardware roadmap could read like a myth? We take Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and map it to a concrete engineering pivot - from life in the ordinary world of CPU/GPU encoding to a high-density, power-efficient future with NETINT’s Codensity G5-based VPUs. We talk through the initial reluctance to touch specialized hardware, the mentors and SDKs that changed our minds, and the exact moment we crossed the threshold by installing drivers, testing real inputs, and pushing the cards into live workflows.From there, the plot thickens: allies like Norsk Video, Supermicro, Gigabyte, and Akamai helped us scale, while enemies showed up as driver quirks, 4:2:0 vs. 4:2:2 trade-offs, and new mental models that don’t behave like CPUs or GPUs. The dragon’s den wasn’t a competitor - it was public procurement. Tenders forced us to design for variability, not one-size-fits-all. That pressure shaped the treasure we brought back: four NETINT form factors that express the same transcoding engine in different ways.We break down where each fits:·       PCIe T1A - broad compatibility·       T2A - dual-ASIC throughput·       U.2 T1U - extreme density when vendor policies allow·       M.2 T1M - tiny blade for edge and contribution with PoE, low power, and surprising capacityWe share the software split that actually works in production: NORSK for live and live-to-file pipelines, FFmpeg for VOD encoding - plus how a composable media architecture runs both on-prem and in the cloud. With Akamai’s NETINT-enabled compute options, hybrid deployments become practical, not aspirational.The story lands with a proof point: G&L deploying at scale for the European Parliament - 30 concurrent sessions, 32 audio tracks each - across Brussels, Strasbourg, and German cloud regions, with Linode as the control plane.If you’re weighing density, power budgets, or vendor constraints, this journey offers a clear map, hard-won lessons, and a toolkit you can adapt. Subscribe, share with your team, and leave a review - what’s your dragon, and which form factor would you choose first?Stay tuned for more in-depth insights on video technology, trends, and practical applications. Subscribe to Voices of Video: Inside the Tech for exclusive, hands-on knowledge from the experts. For more resources, visit Voices of Video.

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• Hyperscale for Video | Stop Asking GPUs to Be Everything at Once

  What if video finally got its own processor, and your streaming costs dropped while quality and features went up?In this episode, we dig into the rise of the Video Processing Unit (VPU) - silicon built entirely for video - and explore how it’s transforming everything from edge contribution to multi-view sports. Instead of paying for general-purpose compute and GPU graphics overhead, VPUs put every square millimeter of the die to work on encoding, scaling, and compositing. The result is surprising gains in density, power efficiency, and cost.We look at where GPUs fall short for large-scale streaming and why CPUs hit a wall on cost per channel. Then we follow encoding as it moves into the network, building ABR ladders directly at venues, pushing streams straight to the CDN, and cutting both latency and egress costs. You’ll hear real numbers from cost-normalized tests, including a VPU-powered instance delivering six HEVC ladders for about the cost of one CPU ladder, plus a side-by-side look at AWS VT1/U30 and current VPU options.The discussion also covers multi-layer AV1 for dynamic overlays and interactive ad units, and how compact edge servers with SDI capture bring premium live workflows into portable, power-efficient form factors.We break down practical deployment choices such as U.2 form factors that slide into NVMe bays, mini servers designed for the edge, and PCIe cards for dense racks. Integration remains familiar with FFmpeg and GStreamer plugins, robust APIs, and a simple application layer for large-scale configuration.The message is clear: when video runs on purpose-built silicon, you unlock hyperscale streaming capabilities - multi-view, AV1 interactivity, UHD ladders - at a cost that finally makes business sense. If you’re rethinking your pipeline or planning your next live event, this is your field guide to the new streaming stack.If this episode gives you new ideas for your workflow, follow the show, share it with your team, and leave a quick review so others can find it.Key topics • GPUs, CPUs, and VPUs - why video needs purpose-built silicon • What 100% video-dedicated silicon enables for density and power • Encoding inside the network to cut latency and egress • Multi-layer AV1 for interactive ads and overlays • Multi-view sports made affordable and reliable • Edge contribution from venues using compact servers • Product lineup: U.2, mini, and PCIe form factors • Benchmarks comparing CPU, VPU, and AWS VT1/U30 • Cloud options with Akamai and i3D, including egress math • Integration with FFmpeg, GStreamer, SDKs, and BitstreamsDownload presentation: https://info.netint.com/hubfs/downloads/IBC25-VPU-Introduction.pdfStay tuned for more in-depth insights on video technology, trends, and practical applications. Subscribe to Voices of Video: Inside the Tech for exclusive, hands-on knowledge from the experts. For more resources, visit Voices of Video.

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• Energy Is the New Bottleneck in Live Video | Why VPUs Beat GPUs for Low-Res ABR at 4–6x Energy Savings

  Live video is exploding, power budgets are shrinking, and the old “throw more GPU at it” mindset is breaking. We dig into the real constraint behind streaming at scale - energy - and share new data showing how VPUs can deliver 4–6x better efficiency than top-tier GPUs while holding quality where viewers notice it most. From the early days of CPU-only encoding to a modern, hybrid stack, we walk through the architecture that lets us stream more for less power without cutting corners on quality.  We break down head-to-head tests run in the cloud comparing an RTX 4080 (NVENC and CUDA) with a NETINT Quadra T1U across AV1, HEVC, and H.264. You’ll hear how watts per stream changes the math for ABR ladders, why low-resolution rungs dominate real-world viewing, and where GPUs still win - premium HD and UHD tiers, complex filters, and specialized compute. Then we zoom out to the big picture: if live traffic is already the majority of internet bandwidth and is set to triple by 2030, scaling responsibly means optimizing for both density and sustainability. The numbers at 1,000 concurrent streams are stark: roughly 22.6 kW on a GPU path versus around 5 kW on a VPU path, with similar throughput and better low-res quality in many cases. Our takeaway is a simple, pragmatic strategy. Use GPUs where their strengths shine and use VPUs for the heavy lifting across low and mid ABR rungs. That hybrid approach cuts operational cost, reduces carbon impact, and increases resilience under peak load. Along the way, we share how our live control, encoder, origin, and editor fit together across on‑prem and cloud, and why energy-aware orchestration is now a core feature, not an afterthought. Want the full benchmarks, VMAF curves, and methodology? Grab the white paper and put the data to work in your roadmap. Enjoy the conversation, then help us spread the word - subscribe, rate, and share with a teammate who’s planning next year’s streaming capacity. Your feedback keeps these deep dives sharp and useful.Download presentation: https://info.netint.com/hubfs/downloads/IBC-Peak-performance-minimal-footprint-Cires21.pdfStay tuned for more in-depth insights on video technology, trends, and practical applications. Subscribe to Voices of Video: Inside the Tech for exclusive, hands-on knowledge from the experts. For more resources, visit Voices of Video.

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• The TikTok of Live TV | Swipe, Watch, Repeat

  When Ignacio "Nacho" Opazo opened his laptop in 2011, he wasn't just writing code, but rather, he was laying the foundation for what would become Latin America's pioneering OTT platform. A musician turned self-taught developer, Nacho's journey from creating El Telón (Latin America's first streaming television service) to building Zapping (now serving 500,000 paying subscribers across four countries) represents a masterclass in technical innovation and market disruption. What makes Zapping extraordinary isn't just its success but how it was built. Unlike competitors who adopted off-the-shelf solutions, Nacho's team developed everything in-house: encoders, players, applications, and even their own content delivery network. This ground-up approach was partially about control, but mot importantly, it was necessary to deliver the seamless experience they envisioned in markets where established infrastructure was lacking. The breakthrough came in 2018 when Nacho reimagined the streaming interface completely. Observing that feature bloat was actually driving users away, he created a revolutionary "swipe" interface that immediately plays content without requiring browsing - "TikTok before TikTok" as he describes it. This radical simplification required rebuilding their entire technical stack to minimize latency at every stage, resulting in channel switches that take less than 50 milliseconds and streams that run a full minute ahead of competitors. Perhaps most impressive is how Zapping has influenced the broadcasting ecosystem in their markets. They've worked directly with broadcasters to improve video quality, sometimes even upgrading stadium infrastructure to ensure better signals for sports broadcasts. They've also broken ground in content licensing, becoming the first tech company in Latin America to secure contracts with major studios like Disney and Paramount without being backed by a traditional telecommunications giant. Connect with Nacho on LinkedIn as Ignacio Opazo or email him at [email protected] to learn more about this remarkable streaming revolution happening across Latin America.Stay tuned for more in-depth insights on video technology, trends, and practical applications. Subscribe to Voices of Video: Inside the Tech for exclusive, hands-on knowledge from the experts. For more resources, visit Voices of Video.

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• Watts Up With Your Encoder? Akamai & Cires21 Benchmark VPUs vs. GPUs

  Energy efficiency is quickly becoming the new battleground in video processing infrastructure, and a groundbreaking benchmark study has revealed just how dramatic the differences can be between competing technologies. In this eye-opening conversation, Chris Milstead from Akamai and Dennis Mungai from Cires21 share findings from their joint research comparing Video Processing Units (VPUs) to traditional GPUs for encoding workloads.The benchmark shows that VPUs deliver 4.7X better energy efficiency than GPUs for video encoding, while maintaining equivalent quality.Highlights from the study:VPUs consumed only 12 watts while running 19 simultaneous encoding jobs, compared to GPUs using 59 watts for 16 jobs.Custom silicon is back: modern VPUs offer both efficiency and flexibility.NVMe interface makes VPUs exceptionally easy to deploy in cloud environments with no special drivers.Predictable, linear scaling across resolutions and codecs enables precise capacity planning.Energy efficiency is critical as data centers face power constraints in many regions.Simplified deployment shortens the gap between R&D prototyping and production use.Benchmark used Netflix’s Meridian film to test both H.265/HEVC and AV1 encoding performance.Akamai now offers cloud instances with NetInt VPUs starting at $0.42/hour.The results are staggering: VPUs achieved a 4.7X efficiency advantage while delivering equal quality. Running 19 simultaneous jobs at 12 watts versus a GPU’s 16 jobs at 59 watts is not just incremental - it signals a fundamental shift in how future video platforms can be architected. As Chris notes, with regions like the Netherlands halting new data center construction due to energy limits, these gains are becoming essential for continued growth.What makes this discussion particularly valuable is the depth of technical insight. Dennis explains how the NVMe interface dramatically simplifies deployment, creating a “level of certainty with speed” that narrows the gap between prototype and production. Predictable scaling across codecs and resolutions means operators can plan capacity with confidence - something GPU-based systems can’t match. As Dennis puts it: “Cost savings is not the goal. It’s the outcome of systems so well designed that it becomes an inevitability.”Whether you’re scaling a video platform, navigating data center power constraints, or simply looking to cut operational costs, this conversation offers crucial insights into how purpose-built silicon is reshaping the video processing landscape. Listen now to understand why custom ASICs are making a comeback - and how they might fit into your future infrastructure.READ THE BENCHMARKING STUDY: https://www.linode.com/blog/compute/benchmarking-vpus-and-gpus-for-media-workloads/Stay tuned for more in-depth insights on video technology, trends, and practical applications. Subscribe to Voices of Video: Inside the Tech for exclusive, hands-on knowledge from the experts. For more resources, visit Voices of Video.

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