MainConcept and Wowza have continually advanced their offerings to meet the industry’s ever-changing needs. By adding LCEVC into Wowza Streaming Engine that uses MainConcept codecs to encode or transcode to and from AVC/H.264 and HEVC/H.265, the teams have been able to provide reduced bitrates by enhancing compression efficiency resulting in significantly lower encoding costs while keeping backward compliance with all sorts of legacy playback devices.

LCEVC (standardized as MPEG-5 Part 2) is an enhancement layer which, when combined with a base video encoded with a codec like AVC, HEVC or VVC produces an enhanced video stream. Last year MainConcept in partnership with V-Nova, the primary developers of LCEVC, added LCEVC to the MainConcept Live Encoder. This latest project with Wowza further expands the availability of this codec enhancement and is the first ever to offer both LCEVC and VVC together, the combination recently selected by Forum SBTVD and standardized in the upcoming TV 3.0 digital television in Brazil.

First standardized in 2019, MainConcept has added enhancements to the JPEG XS codec powered by Fraunhofer IIS, including RGB/YCbCr (4:4.4, 4:2:2, 4:2:0) and CFA/RAW up to 16-bit, MPEG-2 TS and MXF, multiplexing and demultiplexing, as well as compliance with ST 2110 IP workflows. The JPEG XS codec also supports the MainConcept Easy Video API (EVA).

Working with major technology providers – AMD, Intel and NVIDIA – MainConcept EVA was launched earlier this year marking a major step forward in video workflow management. Already a powerful addition to its core codecs (AVC/H.264, HEVC/H.265 and AV1 SDKs), the inclusion of JPEG XS for NVIDIA hardware adds even more flexibility to the framework. The single interface lets multi-platform users integrate hardware codecs in a far more efficient manner. Utilizing one SDK with a single API instead of four saves time and money, adds flexibility, consumes less energy, adds extended features and more.

The latest developments expand MainConcept’s codec library, offering flexibility across architectures, formats and resolutions, while also showcasing real-world applications of its components. For the technologies critical to media and entertainment, including video editing and production management, updated codecs are key to meeting workflow performance goals.

The Wowza Streaming Engine with LCEVC will be showcased during IBC at the MainConcept and LCEVC booths. The JPEG XS SDK and MainConcept EVA will also be available for live demonstrations during the show.