In recent years, the popularity of domestic LPL games has continued to increase. According to official data, the number of live stream viewers during the spring games this year has exceeded 20 billion, and the total number of viewers of the tournament content has exceeded 65 billion, an increase of 70% over the previous year. Currently, the ongoing LPL Summer Tournament is in full swing. Facing another surge in the number of live game viewers, the leading game streaming platform in ChinaBetta (DOYU.US)Using a number of cutting-edge technologies in the industry, both PC and mobile terminals have been re-optimized to ensure that the majority of users can have the best viewing experience.

“Immersive” live streaming: Ultra HD, no lag, no stuttering

Tens of millions of people are pouring into the live broadcast room at the same time. Whether users can quickly access videos will directly determine the retention rate of the platform. Nor is it easy for live streaming platforms to maintain ultra-high definition, no delays, and stuttering images during high-frequency interaction with the anchor. A game streaming platform of the size of Betta has tens of millions of users watching the live stream at the same time every night during peak hours. Users instantly pour in from all over the country, greatly testing the platform's carrying capacity.

In order to achieve the best user experience, Betta abandoned open source audio and video software widely used in the market, independently developed a Betta exclusive player, and customized and optimized the live broadcast scene with “low latency+high definition+real-time streaming” as the core. Up to now, Betta has obtained national technology patents for more than ten innovative technologies developed around video streaming technology.

When you open Betta's live broadcast, the most obvious thing users perceive is “instantaneous opening.” In order to give users the ultimate playback experience, Betta uses algorithms to improve indicators such as the second open rate, stuttering rate, and failure rate to the best. On the one hand, Betta “preloads” resources for content recommended to users and their own concerns; on the other hand, by optimizing CDN, optimizing decoding and rendering priorities, etc., Betta prioritizes the least usable key data to users, thus ensuring that the content opens instantaneously in seconds. Under the aegis of multiple technologies, Betta's “operating rate per second” is currently as high as 98%.

Video streaming places extremely high demands on the platform's low latency and video fluency. Betta has done a lot of research and optimization, such as actively managing the buffer size and intelligently controlling the playback speed, etc. in order to make the interaction between users and the anchor smoother and shorter the delay time for game broadcasts. At the same time, Betta has achieved technical integration on multiple terminals. PC, mobile, and TV terminals, regardless of model or configuration, can decode and broadcast live video quickly and smoothly.

In addition to basic playback functions, Betta Player combines with its own business to launch a number of personalized features unique to game streaming. Examples include “multi-view switching,” “interactive live streaming,” and “smart staging.” In the early days of the development of the industry, the anchor's interaction with the barrage and the feedback time for gift rewards was usually 1-2 minutes or more. The problem was mainly due to insufficient space in the video streaming buffer. Through innovative research and development, Betta has optimized the buffer zone by means of active manual management, and integrated intelligent control of playback speed to ensure the smoothness of the video while reducing delays. Currently, the delay between Betta anchors and users has been shortened to less than 1 second, which has given the anchor a qualitative leap in interaction with users.

“Image quality regeneration” technology created for the tournament

With the support of self-developed players, Betta's live broadcast room supports up to “4K Blu-ray+20M+60 frames” ultra-high-definition playback. What's even more surprising is that even though the official image quality of the tournament broadcast is low, Betta is still able to “revive image quality” through video enhancement and super score technology.

During the S9 tournament last year, based on the “1080P+10M+60 frame” video source given by the official “1080P+10M+60 frame” video source, Betta overdivided the image quality to “4K+20M+60 frames” in real time through “AI training”. Whether users watched the game on a large TV or projection, the details of each player's KD (kill and death) were very clear. At the same time, the optimized image quality is sharper and sharper on normal FHD and 2K monitors. Therefore, during all major game tournaments, Betta can attract more users than similar platforms to Betta to watch live broadcasts of games. According to information, in the LPL Summer Tournament and the upcoming finals, Betta will still perform secondary technical processing on the video source, such as super resolution, super frame rate, HDR, and restoration, to once again raise the video quality to a new level.

Minimize traffic consumption for users with a high-quality experience

In December of last year, the “Blue Book on Global Communication Ecology” published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences mentioned that with the advent of the 5G commercial era, the average monthly traffic of 5G users will increase sevenfold within the next ten years, and 90% of this will be consumed by video. How to not only watch high-definition and smooth live streaming, but also consume less traffic and bandwidth, has become a technical problem that many video websites and live streaming platforms cannot bypass.

Driven by user demand, Betta's technicians have developed a set of effective video compression techniques and made important optimizations in terms of throttling. Based on large-scale deep neural network learning, Betta uses real-time coding technology that combines content perception to compress the code stream as much as possible while ensuring image quality, so that the vast majority of users can complete smooth playback on the network. In addition to this, Betta also uses the latest low-latency real-time transmission protocols such as WebRTC (WebRTC) in transmission technology to reduce stuttering experiences such as retransmission and congestion caused by network fluctuations. The combination of the three technologies has effectively reduced the traffic required for watching broadcasts on 4G networks.

Compared to other platforms, the video content provided by Betta has lower latency and loads more smoothly at the same resolution. In addition, Betta can intelligently identify the user's network environment. For example, in 4G, it will load an ultra-clear video source first, and in a WIFI environment, it will load 4M Blu-ray or 10M Blu-ray according to bandwidth, thus achieving intelligent throttling.

Content production is inseparable from low-level technology. Technology makes the presentation of content more vivid and interesting. Currently, Betta's live broadcast room already supports 360-degree VR live streaming and has conducted cooperative negotiations with many VR equipment vendors. In the future, more top events may be based on VR technology to provide users with multi-screen, multi-view live broadcasts. With the further improvement of 5G network facilities, new technologies such as 8K interactive live streaming and VR+ cloud gaming are likely to be implemented. Betta said that as a pioneer in the live streaming industry, Betta will continue to maintain technological innovation to create better live streaming experiences and interactive scenarios for users.

(Editor: Woo Suk)