The Best Way to Avoid Buffering

The Best Way to Avoid Buffering

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A new neural network AI from MIT CSAIL has been making headlines recently for using machine learning to solve some issues associated with buffering. We’ve all experienced buffering before, either in the form of pixilation, long wait times while loading a video or audio file, and everyone’s favorite nemesis: the spinning pinwheel of death. Buffering occurs because it’s impossible for your computer (or TV) to receive data all in one lump for immediate playback. Therefore, data is broken up into smaller packets and sent to its destination, sequentially. So while you’re enjoying your favorite Spotify playlist played to wireless speakers throughout your home, or streaming the latest episode of Game of Thrones in your living room, your entertainment media will always be sent bit by bit. If all goes well, you’ll never notice this is even happening. But more often than not, you’ll experience some sort of indication of file buffering. If there isn’t enough bandwidth, you’ll either experience pixilation, longer buffering times, or drop outs because your network can’t transmit data fast enough to maintain a sufficient “buffer.”

 

Essentially, what MIT CSAIL’s AI, dubbed the “Pensieve” neural network, does is use machine learning to switch between pixilation and buffering so your videos aren’t over buffering when they don’t need to, or pixelating when they don’t need to. According to MIT, the neural network will tune itself over time based on a system of rewards and penalties, allowing streaming services to customise this for their content—with priorities for buffering or resolution. If the streaming service is able to predict that a user watching a video on a handheld device is about to walk into a poor connectivity area, the system will be able to reduce the streaming resolution sufficiently, creating enough of a buffer for (potentially) stutter-free streaming (livemint). This is all fine and good, but it’s essentially like putting a Band-Aid on a festering wound: it may cover up the problem, but it by no way solves the underlying issue.

 

The real problem with buffering lies with your WiFi network. Conventional WiFi runs on TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), designed in the 1960’s for transferring files down wired Ethernet lines – certainly not for streaming real-time video and wireless audio throughout the Smart Home. (For more information on the shortcomings of TCP, check out this blog post). As long as your WiFi runs on this outdated protocol, it doesn’t matter what techniques are being innovated to combat the annoyance of buffering – the cause of the issue still needs to be addressed, not the symptoms.

 

Blackfire Research understands this. That is why we developed Real-Time Packet Management (RPM), the Blackfire Research solution to buffering. For whole home, wireless audio, RPM uses a special multipoint, real-time feedback signal from each speaker to monitor the effects of noise on the audio data stream, allowing for a much shorter queue and much less buffering. RPM is part of the Blackfire Realtime Entertainment Distribution (RED) framework, a revolutionary new protocol designed to stream both HD 5.1 audio and 4K video, simultaneously, across multiple devices around your home- all over the standard WiFi – with precise synchronization, low latency for lip sync, and overall reliability.

 

RPM can be found in any Blackfire powered device. Partnering with Blackfire Research means you’re ahead of the pack, and most of all, one step closer to defeating your nemesis: that darn spinning pinwheel of death.

Impressions from IFA

Impressions from IFA

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Europe’s largest consumer electronics show, IFA, is currently taking place in Berlin. Before the show even began, companies like Amazon, Microsoft, and Sony were already making a splash with big announcements. So what are the new and continuing tech trends of the second half of 2017, as we slowly make our way into the holiday season? And what can we expect from our CE devices in the near future? Here are our main takeaways from IFA 2017!

 

The War for Cloud AI Control Heats Up

In what we see as a very Game of Thrones maneuver, Amazon and Microsoft have formed an alliance. Before the show began, it was announced that Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Cortana voice interfaces will soon be able to interact with each other which potentially opens up a powerful combination of Microsoft’s business app integration with Amazon’s rapidly growing Smart Home device integration. This sort of cooperation between competing technologies is huge news, especially in a market that is known for closed ecosystems. This alliance will serve as a blow to Google and Apple, whose Google Assistant and Siri, are still struggling to integrate 3rd party devices.

 

Speaking of Google, back in May, they opened up their AI software development kit (SDK) in the hopes of getting Google Assistant integrated into a plethora of third party smart devices for the home, a move directly in response to the “The Amazon Home Takeover” at CES in January. At IFA, it was announced that Google Assistant will be integrated into new smart speakers, like Sony’s biggest unveil at the show, the Apple HomePod look-alike, LF-S50G (rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?) and various LG home appliances. Although this is all great news for Google, it’s not hard to notice that Amazon is still way ahead in the race for smart home ownership – which is ironic, since Google paid $3.2B in 2014 to buy IoT pioneer Nest Labs. Is this an indication of Google’s growing disfunction as a company?

 

Wireless Woes

Ever since the iPhone 7 ditched the headphone jack last year, other smartphone manufacturers have begun to follow suit. At IFA this year, wireless headphones were in an abundance. Beyerdynamic has unveiled Aventho Wireless headphones, a beautifully designed wearable, using their super high-end Tesla drivers. The only problem? These ultra lux Hi-Fi quality headphones use APTX HD Bluetooth, a lossy-compression algorithm that is only supported in about 5 Android phones, meaning most of the time you’d be listening to the gurgling mess that is regular Bluetooth SBC. If ever a product deserved lossless HD streaming over WiFi…this just seems like a complete missed opportunity. Sad! And then there are the new Marshall Headphones Bluetooth speakers, which are adding WiFi for multi-room capabilities. (Even Bluetooth speakers are ditching Bluetooth.)

 

Conclusions

IFA 2017 has shown us that the smart home is getting smarter, and cell phones are expanding their wireless capabilities. And thanks to new low-cost, low-powered chipsets, it’s WiFi all the way as far as connectivity. Now all we need is a protocol that runs on standard WiFi, connects multiple brands, is agnostic to the voice AI wars and has the performance to handle streamed media. Hmmm….

New to Netflix in September

New to Netflix in September

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Fall is coming upon us fast! And once that chilly weather hits, who wants to go outside, anyway? Instead, why not stay cozy and warm at home watching the latest Netflix Originals? From Colombia to “Hollywoo,” here’s what’s coming in September to our favorite streaming service!

 

Narcos (Season 3)

With the demise of Pablo Escobar last season, Narcos is shifting its focus to the Cali Cartel, Escobar’s former rivals and the most powerful Cartel in Columbia. Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones) will be returning as DEA agent Javier Pena. Start streaming it on September 1st!

 

Bojack Horseman (Season 4)

The critically-acclaimed animated series, Bojack Horseman, returns on September 8th with Will Arnett (Arrested Development), Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), and Amy Sedaris (Strangers With Candy) returning to voice the lead roles. The series follows the life of a beloved 90’s sitcom star, Bojack Horseman (Arnett), 20 years after his sitcoms ends – struggling to to make a name for himself (again) in “Hollywoo.”


Strong Island (Documentary)

From Netflix: “Strong Island chronicles the arc of a family across history, geography and tragedy – from the racial segregation of the Jim Crow South to the promise of New York City; from the presumed safety of middle class suburbs, to the maelstrom of an unexpected, violent death. It is the story of the Ford family: Barbara Dunmore, William Ford and their three children and how their lives were shaped by the enduring shadow of race in America.

In April 1992, on Long Island NY, William Jr., the Ford’s eldest child, a black 24 year-old teacher, was killed by Mark Reilly, a white 19 year-old mechanic. Although Ford was unarmed, he became the prime suspect in his own murder. A deeply intimate and meditative film, Strong Island asks what one can do when the grief of loss is entwined with historical injustice, and how one grapples with the complicity of silence, which can bind a family in an imitation of life, and a nation with a false sense of justice.” Strong Island debuts on September 15th.

 

Fuller House (Season 3 – Part 1)

Fuller House, the reboot/sequel of the popular show, Full House, is returning for Part 1 of it’s third season on September 22. Fuller House is the story of D.J. Tanner-Fuller (Candace Cameron-Bure), a recently widowed mom of three. After realizing she is unable to handle the demands of a full time job as a vet and raising three kids herself, her sister Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin) and childhood best friend Kimmy (Andrea Barber), who is also a mother, offer to move in and help her bring up her children.

 

What Netflix Originals are you excited for in September? Tell us in the comments section, below!