LiveSwitch’s Server-Side Simulcast: Elevating Video Quality to New Heights

This page has been updated to reflect the latest enhancements to LiveSwitch.

Check out these two other articles to read about our simulcast technology:

• Client-Side Simulcast in LiveSwitch 1.20
• Auto-Disable Video for Poor Connections via Simulcast

At LiveSwitch, our goal is to deliver the highest quality real-time video streaming experience tailored to each viewer’s network conditions. Our introduction of server-side simulcast was a game-changer, allowing us to significantly enhance the user experience by intelligently adapting to varying network environments. With recent updates, we have taken this technology even further, integrating new improvements to ensure a seamless video experience for all users.

The Power of Server-Side Simulcast

Simulcast involves taking a single media stream and creating multiple versions of it to suit different users’ needs. Imagine broadcasting a sporting event in high-quality 720p video to a group of friends. If one friend, Sandra, joins with low network bandwidth, she may experience artifacts, skipping, and other issues due to inadequate throughput.

However, it’s not just Sandra who is affected. Without simulcast, the entire stream is only as good as the lowest bandwidth user - in this case, Sandra. Her connection issues could lead to constant keyframe requests, which degrade the quality of the feed for everyone. 

Thankfully, simulcast allows for multiple streams or encodings of the same content to be created, each tailored to different network conditions. In your broadcast, your other friends can continue enjoying the high-quality stream, while Sandra is moved to a lower tier that her network can accommodate. This means that high-bandwidth users won’t be interrupted and can continue to enjoy the full quality of the stream. Simulcast improves the experience not just for participants with poor networks, but for those with good network quality as well.

How Does Server-Side Simulcast Benefit You?

When Server-Side Simulcast is enabled, broadcasters send a single stream to a server, where multiple versions of that stream are automatically generated at different quality levels. The server then delivers the most suitable version to each user based on their network conditions. It’s like how YouTube adjusts video quality depending on your internet connection - you don’t have to worry about it; it just works.

This process is seamless and requires no extra effort from your users or application. The heavy lifting happens behind the scenes, ensuring that everyone enjoys the best possible video quality without additional demands on their resources.

In our latest update (version 1.21), we introduced a critical new feature that lets you configure simulcast such that it automatically disables video for participants with poor connectivity. You can read more about this feature here. 

Conclusion

Simulcast is designed to deliver a superior video experience for all users, regardless of their network conditions. It does so by offloading the additional processing work to our services, requiring no extra resources from your customers. Whether you're broadcasting to large audiences or managing small group sessions, simulcast ensures that everyone receives the highest quality video possible. And the best part? It’s incredibly easy to enable, with LiveSwitch handling all the complexities automatically.

If you’ve faced quality issues with live streaming in the past, now is the perfect time to try out LiveSwitch’s advanced simulcast technology and see the difference it can make.

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