This Essential Guide discusses the problem to be solved and the solutions to achieve it. We investigate the complex interaction of COTS server hardware and software needed to make real-time uncompressed video processing with low latency a reality.

Starting with the kernel, the generic solution is explained and why the software works in the way it does. We then uncover the inner workings of memory user-space and kernel-space to describe how software latency occurs and the strategies adopted to remedy it, such as kernel-bypass.

A detailed explanation of packet flow from the network interface card (NIC) through the kernel and into the user-space memory is given. Buffers and latencies are discussed and how the kernel-bypass and zero-copy methodologies are adopted to guarantee the high-speed data throughput and low latency demanded by broadcasters for uncompressed real-time video processing.

Sponsored by TAG Video Systems, a real-life example of a working software-COTS multiviewer is demonstrated. Multiviewers are arguably the most difficult systems employed in a broadcast facility as engineers rely on them heavily to provide a source of truth for confidence monitoring and reliability. TAG Video Systems explain how they achieved this.

Download this Essential Guide today to understand how uncompressed real-time video works on a software-COTS server. Understand kernel bypass and its interactions with the NIC’s, user, and kernel memory, to guarantee low latency high speed video delivery.

This Essential Guide is a fundamental requirement for anybody looking to build and deliver software-COTS infrastructures for real-time uncompressed video processing.