What devices are compatible and what gets better for subscribers

Millions of viewers every day Netflix Arena From many different devices to watch TV series and movies. Few people know that behind this simple gesture there is an important sign engineering challenge which aims to continually improve the use of the Service.

Giant running Actually advertise on his blog An important technical innovation, namely the start of broadcasting with AV1 codec Also on some Smart TVs, Android TV, PS4 Pro, and Fire TV (as of 2020, it’s already being used for the app on Android smartphones). For those who do not have a compatible device, do not panic: they will continue to watch Netflix but in the previous format.

AV1 It is an ad codec High efficiencyDeveloped without copyright by Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia), a consortium consisting of Netflix, Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, Netflix, ARM, Nvidia, and AMD. Almost all of these companies have worked together to create technology that increases broadcast efficiency, without affecting quality.

I Benefits There are two main ways to use this codec: Being free of licenses, producers like Netflix or Amazon don’t have to pay any fees to use it within their platforms. The second advantage is for consumers, because the quality of the streaming content improves using the same data range.

A great post by some of my colleagues at Tweet embed On how Netflix continues to go viral # AV1.
“Bringing AV1 Streaming to Netflix Members’ TVs” https://t.co/vO7f5Cs1gU

– Cyril Concolato (acconcolato) November 9, 2021

However, this technical innovation is currently not feasible on all devices, as it requires hardware and software power. lets see Specify From AV1 and compatible features and devices.

What gets better with the AV1 codec

Netflix is ​​currently using the codec H.264 (MPEG-4) on the vast majority of TV sets. For 4K streams, use the HEVC or VP9 codec instead. Switching to AV1 required a significant amount of technological effort, which Netflix summarized in several points. Skip the unnecessary technicalities (to view here), the following are the most important ones:

• First of all, content with AV1 is always encoded with the highest frame rate and resolution of the source material. The streaming giant takes the example of “Formula 1: Drive to Survive”: for the series, streaming is in Ultra HD and HFR (high frame rate), the right quality that reflects the original intent of whoever owns it. created;
• In addition, all AV1 streams are encoded at 10-bit color depth. This reduces the artwork on screen (which affects quality) and generally shows more realistic colors and is always in line with the creative intent of the directors;
• AV1 uses dynamic optimization, which intelligently sets the bitrate (transmission speed). Netflix has been using it for years, and in practice this means dedicating higher video quality to more complex scenes, while allocating a lower bitrate for simpler viewers.

But in daily use, how does the experience improve? Here are some interesting facts:

• Tests reported that with AV1, better quality is achieved with the same bandwidth consumption, because the codec uses almost twice as fast compression technology.
• Having more efficient compression also reduces the bandwidth required for streaming, so the end user can get a high-quality video experience even with a limited internet connection, or when the network is congested.
• Start streaming video 2% faster.

New compatible devices

Since this is the first stage of releasing the AV1 codec on Control unit NS Smart TVCurrently, there is only a general list of products that can use this technology. Below is a list of compatible products, shared by the edge, where AV1 is already enabled:

• Smart TV Samsung The Frame 2020
• Smart TV Samsung The Serif 2020
• Smart TV Samsung The Terrace 2020 (These are external TVs)
• A selection of Samsung 2020 Ultra HD Smart TVs
• A selection of 2020 Samsung QLED smart TVs
• A selection of Samsung 2020 QLED 8K Smart TVs
• PS4 Pro with Netflix connected to any TV
• A selection of Amazon Fire TV with Fire OS 7 and later
• Some Android TVs running Android OS 10 and above

The next steps will be to implement AV1 on other products, but above all combine this codec withHDR: Netflix is ​​evaluating its potential, but it will take some time to develop that possibility.