New Delhi: Amidst the lockdown, the YouTube viewership has appreciated by 70 per cent, with users checking in cooking recipe’s to making as simple as dal and aloo jeera to more exotic cuisine’s from Italy, Spain, Indonesia and Tibet. While watching and cooking, clarity and latency on a mobile device are critical for good streaming video, to know what ingredients will go next and in what quantity and at what time interval because cooking in a lockdown is not a luxury.
Other, activities like watching movies and sports, music and videos sent by friends using YouTube video apps and successful satire episodes, that are transforming as news/opinion channels have steadily grown. Mobile phone manufacturers like Xiaomi, OPPO and others have been waiting for new chipsets to enhance their technology offering.
To cash on the massive surge in YouTube viewership, MediaTek on Wednesday announced availability of Dimensity 1000 5G System on Chip (SoC) that would allow YouTube video streams using the cutting-edge AV1 video codec. The product the company claimed is the world’s first smartphone SoC to integrate an AV1 hardware video decoder, enabling it to playback AV1 video streams up to 4K resolution at 60 frames per second. It determines how smoothly your device play the images and sound, to view real-time action.
With its improved compression efficiency, AV1 gives users incredible visual quality and smoother video experiences, while using less data. Industry reports state that the video streaming market is likely to expand at a CAGR of 19.6% and touch $124.57 billion by 2025, and it is one of the principle drivers of 5G services.
Several smartphone system on chipmakers, like MediaTek, Qualcomm, Intel, ST Microelectronics, Texas instrument and others had been working on developing chips using state of the art technology, that would allow high-resolution playback on Youtube.
Most of them had planned to unveil the chip for high-resolution video streaming at the GSM Mobile Congress in February this year at Barcelona Spain. But COVID-19 derailed all the plans of a mega launch.
However, chipmakers are seeing a big opportunity and are now rushing in with their products, to cash on the surge in youtube viewership. “MediaTek is engaged in consistently upgrading its offerings to enhance the user experience, and AV1 technology is a prime example. Video is now the most used form of communication, with 70% of Millennials and Gen Z reportedly using streaming services,” said Dr Yenchi Lee, Assistant General Manager of MediaTek’s Wireless Business Unit.
Video streaming is the number one activity in smartphone users can enjoy longer battery life while still streaming at the best quality settings. Combined with its ultra-fast 5G connectivity in a single chip, the Dimensity 1000 leads the industry in design and capability.
Industry observers point that the AV1 video codec is creating a landmark change in the video streaming industry. First released in 2018 by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), AV1 is royalty-free, crafted to replace the VP9 codec and become the Internet Video Codec (NETVC) standard. AV1 is an ultra-high-performance video codec technology that delivers 30% more compression efficiency over existing VP9.
“AV1 has become an increasingly important format to allow high-resolution playback on handheld devices. We are excited that MediaTek has implemented dedicated AV1 hardware to advance its adoption, such as what’s included in their Dimensity 1000 5G SoC,” said Matt Frost, Director of Product Management of Google Chrome.
