One of the advantages of IP video vs. analog CCTV is the distribution flexibility of IP networks. With IP networks, video can easily be routed anywhere on the network, to one or more endpoints as desired. In turn, users have the potential to over-utilize network bandwidth and compromise the overall performance of the video management system solution.
Drawbacks of Multicasting
Some consider IP multicasting as the solution to minimizing IP streaming bandwidth, when in actuality the advantages of multicasting are limited to specific scenarios. With multicasting, bandwidth savings only occur when multiple subscribers view the same live video stream. Several drawbacks to multicasting should be considered including:
- UDP video streaming – UDP does not guarantee every packet gets delivered and it exposes the video stream to any unreliability of the underlying network, resulting in poor video quality due to lost or duplicate packets.
- Higher complexity – multicasting implementation requires special equipment and knowledge beyond fundamental IP network configuration.
- Variable bandwidth savings – the amount of bandwidth savings can fluctuate depending how many people request the same content. Multicasting only delivers benefits when the same live camera stream is being viewed by multiple people.
One advantage of multicasting is that only one stream of video from the camera is required to support many viewers. exacqVision provides this same benefit without the complex configuration. exacqVision is designed to efficiently support many clients viewing live video using only a single video stream from the camera.
exacqVision Saves Significant Bandwidth with Multistreaming
exacqVision is able to deliver significant bandwidth savings through the support of intelligent multistreaming, instead of multicasting. exacqVision will automatically deliver the full resolution stream or low resolution stream based on the viewing need of each client requesting video. Users can override the automatic choice and manually select high or low resolution streams for viewing as needed.
Read our Exacq IP Multicasting and IP Video Surveillance Deployments whitepaper to find out solutions to bandwidth challenges using exacqVision VMS software.