13 ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE AWS
for online textbooks, course materials and study tools. Cengage sought out AWS for a service- based file transcoding solution for creating video assets with better video quality and a better encoding efficiency than its previous solution. Video files are ingested into AWS MediaConvert from cloud storage and transcoded into HLS renditions using quality-defined variable bit rate control (QVBR). QVBR is an enhanced version of variable bit rate control (VBR), which AWS created to minimise wasted bits and automatically adjust bit rates to maintain consistent video quality. An Amazon S3 watch folder then triggers AWS Lambda with Simple Systems Manager to copy files onto Akamai NetStorage for playout.
The test file was footage of a talking head with minimal cuts and so easier than an action video to find efficiencies in. Still, MediaConvert was able to reduce total bits for all the different renditions of the video file from 115,687,393 to 53,402,682, which leads to an overall decrease in storage and delivery costs of 50%. This greater encoding efficiency also opens the way for a vastly improved viewing experience, with customers able to view larger format video at lower bit rates. “Bottom line, using cloud-based services from AWS gives us the best value in terms of quality and cost, as well as the agility we need to scale, which is why we’ve built our pipeline around it,” adds Coleman Greene, manager of cloud operations at Cengage. “We’re able to easily monitor and make changes to our pipeline, which saves us a ton of time,” he points out. “AWS Elemental MediaConvert in particular has made it easy to keep pace with the volume of content we produce and deliver by simplifying and
“We want every customer to be pleased with their digital experience, which is why we love QVBR in AWS Elemental MediaConvert,” says Binkiewicz. “It gives us the confidence that students will get a high-quality, low-latency experience across devices regardless of bandwidth, while simplifying transcoding and helping us save on costs.” The new AWS MediaConvert solution delivered substantially greater efficiency. In tests, Cengage’s previous solution delivered a 1080p MP4 test file, at maximum resolution, with an average bit rate of 7797Kbps with a total file size of around 46.1MB. Using MediaConvert, the same file was delivered with an average rate of 2763Kbps and a total file size of 17.1MB.
BOTTOM LINE, USING CLOUD-BASED SERVICES FROM AWS GIVES US THE BEST VALUE IN TERMS OF QUALITY AND COST
accelerating how we set up, organise and transcode large volumes of video.”
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