Los Angeles — Streaming movie service M-Go revealed at last week’s International CES that it is using video quality and bandwidth enhancement technology from Israeli imaging company Beamr to provide “a best-in-class user experience” for M-Go’s premium streaming service.
Beamr Video automatically reduces the bitrate of any H.264 or HEVC HD and 4K video stream by up to 50 percent while retaining the full perceptual quality and format of the original file, the company said.
Beamr said its technology enables a smoother streaming experience with reduced buffering and faster stream starts. The benefits are said to boost both average revenue per unit (ARPU) and higher customer satisfaction, in addition to reduced distribution costs.
Beamr Video can reduce the bitrate of 4K UHD videos from 15 Mbps to 9 Mbps. According to Akamai’s “State of the Internet” survey from 2014, only 17 percent of US homes have a broadband connection that is “4K Ready” (over 15 Mbps), but 36 percent have a connection that is “high broadband” (10 Mbps). Therefore, using Beamr Video, companies providing 4K HEVC content to TVs can double their reach and improve the monetization of this content. And even homes that are “4K ready” will benefit from Beamr Video, since the reduced bitrate will result in less buffering events and a faster start. M-GO’s plan is to integrate Beamr Video technology into its video delivery workflow to optimize all of the HD and 4K UHD content that they deliver to consumers through their platform.
“M-Go is committed to delivering premium content and the highest user experience possible over every medium and device,” Samir Ahmed, M-Go chief technology officer, said in a statement. “It is M-Go’s strategy to leverage the best available technologies to address the growing bandwidth squeeze challenge. We found Beamr’s technology to deliver network-friendly streams with excellent image quality, resulting in enhanced user experience and significant cost savings.”
M-Go is leveraging strategic partnerships with tier-one media companies to grow its premium content catalog, including 4K UHD titles.
M-Go video-on-demand UHD service launched with Samsung 4K Ultra HD smart TVs and is being added to other platforms, including LG sets.
