Streaming Technology Research

Reddisa serves as a practical laboratory for studying the end‑to‑end video streaming pipeline. Our platform allows researchers, students, and developers to interact with the core technologies that power modern internet video.

Observation

Monitor live stream behaviour – bitrate fluctuations, protocol negotiation.

Experimentation

Use the "Streaming Technology" sandbox to test protocols, simulate network conditions.

Analysis

Parse manifests (M3U8/MPD), analyse codecs, resolutions, encryption.

🔬 Key Research Areas

ADAPTIVE BITRATE

ABR Algorithms

Observe ABR in action: monitor resolution/bitrate while running a speed test. Research questions: reaction time to bandwidth drops? trade‑off between rebuffering and quality switches?

CODEC EFFICIENCY

H.264 / H.265 / AV1

Compare H.264, H.265 (HEVC) and AV1. The Codec Efficiency Analyzer demonstrates bandwidth savings: e.g., H.265 ≈50% better compression for 4K; AV1 pushes efficiency further.

PROTOCOLS

HLS vs. MPEG‑DASH

Examine manifests: HLS `#EXT-X-STREAM-INF` reveals bandwidth/resolution variants; DASH shows `AdaptationSet` and `Representation` structures. Compare adaptive logic and adoption.

DECENTRALISED

Peer‑to‑Peer Streaming

Investigate WebTorrent/WebRTC as alternatives to CDNs. Understand how P2P can reduce server costs and improve scalability – a key area for independent content providers.

SECURITY

Content Protection (DRM)

Detect encryption: AES‑128 in HLS, token authentication via HTTP headers. Examine how platforms use short‑lived URLs and key delivery to maintain security.


📚 Current Research Projects

South African Streaming Landscape

Objective: Analyse prevalence of protocols/codecs used by SA broadcasters.
Methodology: Probe public .m3u8/.mpd manifests via Reddisa stream tester; catalogue regional technical standards.

Latency in Live Linear Streaming

Objective: Measure end‑to‑end latency of live news/sports streams in SA.
Methodology: Use "Latency Test" tool to approximate delay, compare HLS low‑latency modes vs. traditional chunked delivery.


📄 Published References & Further Reading

ReferenceTopic
Peroni, L., & Gorinsky, S. (2024). An End‑to‑End Pipeline Perspective on Video Streaming in Best‑Effort Networks: A Survey and TutorialEnd‑to‑end pipeline
R. Kundel, et al. (2018). OakStreaming: A Peer‑to‑Peer Video Streaming Library. Journal of Web EngineeringP2P streaming
Generic Internet Streaming Requirements Clause (Industry best practices)Content protection standards

🤝 Collaboration

We invite students and researchers to use Reddisa for academic projects. If you would like to feature your work, please contact us.