Cayin SMP-WEBPLUS User manual

Copyright@CAYINTechnologyCo.,Ltd. 1

CAYINSMPPlayerVideoPlaybackGuide
ByCAYINTechnicalDocumentCenter


DISCLAIMER..................................................................................................................................................1
1.ABOUTDIGITALVIDEO.........................................................................................................................2
2.ABOUTDIGITALVIDEOFILES................................................................................................................4
3.COMPRESSIONMETHOD(CODEC).......................................................................................................6
4.OTHERFACTORSTOINFLUENCETHEMEDIAPLAYER..........................................................................8
5.SOMEUSEFULSOFTWAREANDTOOLS..............................................................................................10
6.FAQ–REGARDINGVIDEOPLAYBACK.................................................................................................11
7.APPENDIX1:SUGGESTEDVIDEOCODECANDBITRATEFORSMPPLAYER........................................12


Disclaimer
Thisdocumentisonlyforyourreference.Althoughwestrivetoprovideinthisdocumentthe
latestdevelopments,wedonotwarranttheaccuracy,effectivenessandsuitabilityofany
informationcontainedinthisdocument.Thedocumentmayincludetechnicalinaccuraciesor
typographicalerrors.CAYINTECHNOLOGYreservestherighttomakeadditions,deletionsor
modificationstotheinformationatanytimewithoutanypriornotification.
ThisdocumentiscopyrightedbyCAYINTECHNOLOGY.Youmaynotmodify,alter,orcopythe
contentofthisdocument.

NOTE!
Allthedescriptionsofdigitalvideointhisdocumentaresimplifiedforbetterandclearer
understanding.PleaserefertotheMPEGWebsite(http://www.mpeg.org/)fordetailed
information.


CAYINSMPPlayerVideoPlaybackGuide
Copyright@CAYINTechnologyCo.,Ltd. 2

1. AboutDigitalVideo
Video,alsocalledmotionpicture,comprisesaseriesofstillimagesdisplayedinrapid
successionataconstantrate.Asdigitalvideoisgettingpopularnowadays,ithasbecomeanew
andcrucialtechnologytocompressandstoredigitalvideofilesintodigitalmedia.
Digitalvideohasthefollowingattributes:
Numberofframespersecond(frame/sec,orfps):
Alsocalledframerate,thisisthenumberofstillimagesthataredisplayedpersecond.
Generally,ahigherframeratewillbringsmootherandbettervideoqualitywhile
increasingamultimediaplayer’sloading.Forexample,thePALstandarddelivers25fps,
whiletheNTSCstandarddelivers29.97(usuallyimplementas30fps).Earlymoviesbefore
thedigitalagewereusuallyfilmedat24fpsorlower.
Resolution(pixels):
Digitalvideousuallyusespixelsastheresolutionunit.Theframesizeconsistsofthe
width(W)andheight(H)ofthepixels(forexample,1280(W)x720(H)).Other
abbreviationsarealsoused,suchas720p(meaningtheresolutionis1280x720)or1080i
(meaning1920x1080)torepresentresolution.
The“p”representsprogressscan,whichmeansallpixelswillberefreshedwhenplaying
eachframe.Ontheotherhand,“i”representsinterlacedscan,whichmeansitwillrecord
theimageinalternatingsetsoflines–theodd‐numberedlinesarescanned,andthenthe
even‐numberedlinesarescanned,thentheodd‐numberedlinesarescannedagain,and
soon.Theselineswillberefreshedbyturnsinordertopresentthemotioneffects.
Forthisreason,sometimestherapidmovingareaininterlacedvideowillshowsome
jaggedlines.Tosolvethisissue,multimediaplayerscanuseade‐interlacingalgorithmto
smooththosejaggedlines.Usually,playinginterlacedvideowillcauseaslowerloading
processthanwhenplayingaprogressone,butade‐interlacingalgorithmwillhelp
increasetheprocessloadingforamediaplayer.
Compressionmethod(Codec):
Thedatasizeofdigitalstillimagesisusuallyveryhuge.Forexample,thedatasizefor10
minutesof720p(30fps)uncompressedvideocanbecalculatedasfollows:
1280*720*3(bytesperpixels)*30(fps)*600(sec.)=46.35(Gigabytes)
Thatmeansyourgigantic500GBharddrivewillsoonrunoutofspacefromjust100
minutesofuncompressedvideofiles.Inresponsetothedemandfordigitalvideostorage,
videocompressiontechnologynowadaysplaysacrucialrole.Videocompressionmethods
havebeendevelopedforalongtime.FromearlylosslesscompressiontotheMPEGfamily
anditsvariants,newtechnologyiscontinuallydevelopingtoenhancethecompression
efficiency.However,atthesametime,thismakesitamorecomplicatedjobformedia

CAYINSMPPlayerVideoPlaybackGuide
Copyright@CAYINTechnologyCo.,Ltd. 3

playerstodealwithvariouscodecs.
Pleaserefertothefollowingsectionsforamoredetailedintroductionandthecodec
informationsupportedbyCAYIN’sSMPplayer.
BitRate(bps):
Videoisusuallysavedaftercompression.Ifwedividecompresseddatasize(inbit/s)by
videolength(inseconds),wewillgetbitrate(bitspersecondorbps)forthisvideo.Takea
30‐secondvideofile,forexample.Thefilesizeis6Mbytes(=48Mbits).Ifwedon’tcount
thedatasizeoccupiedbythefileheaderandaudio,wecansaythatthebitrateofthis
videofileisabout1.6Mbps(48/30=1.6).
Ifweusethesamecompressionmethod(codec),usuallythehigherthebitrateis,the
greaterthevideoqualitywillbe,aswellashigherdecodingloading.Accordingtoeach
differentcodec,thenumberofbits(dataamount)canbedifferentforeachframeor
videoclipwithinavideo.Thus,videocompressionmethodscanbedividedintotwo
categories:CBR(constantbitrate)andVBR(variablebitrate).ForCBR,thecompression
rateanddataamountforeachclipisrelativelythesame.Onthecontrary,thebitrateof
VBRvideowillbeadjustedbasedontheactualvideocontent.Higherbitrateisreally
appliedtodynamicvideoclips,whilelowerbitrateisusedformorestaticones.Thelatest
codecsandvideomostlyadoptVBRasthecompressionmethod.
SinceVBRwillusedifferentcompressionratesfordifferentvideoclips,thebitratefor
VBRmethodisusuallycategorizedintotwotypes:averagebitrateandpeakbitrate.For
theaveragebitrate,wedividethetotalvideodatasizebythetotalplaybacklength(time)
togetanaveragenumber.However,peakbitratereferstothemaximumbitratewithina
certainperiodofthevideo.Aspreviouslymentioned,theaveragebitrateofthe6Mbytes
videofileisonly1.6Mbps.However,duringsomeperiodoftime,thepeakbitratecould
be8Mbps.Underthecircumstances,ifamediaplayercanonlysupportabitrateof5M
bps,youmayseethevideoplayingsluggishlyduringthe8Mbpssegment.

CAYINSMPPlayerVideoPlaybackGuide
Copyright@CAYINTechnologyCo.,Ltd. 4

2. AboutDigitalVideoFiles
Normally,digitalvideoisstoredintoamediacard(suchasanHDDorCF)intheformatof
digitalfiles.Thecompresseddigitalvideodatawillbeconvertedintosomepopularfileformats,
suchasAVI,MPEG‐PSorMP4.Thesefileformatsarealsocalledencapsulatedformatsor
containerformats.Somecontainerformatsarenamedthesameascodec(ex.,WMV,MPEG),
sousersmightgetconfusedwhentalkingabouttheseterms.
AVIisakindofcontainerformatthatwillconvertvideo/audiocodec,respectively.
Acontainerformatcould,insomecases,convertwrapmultiplekindsofvideodatacompressed
bydifferentcodec.However,thisisnotalwaystrue.Somecontainerscanonlyconvert
video/audiodatacompressedbyspecificcodec.
Acontainerformatcanhelptheprograminamediaplayertolocatetherightcodecof
video/audioandprovidenecessaryorextrainformation(suchaslengthofvideofiles,frame
rate)inthefileheaderfordecompressingfiles.Italsocanhelpamediaplayerprogram
synchronizeatimestampforbothvideoandaudiosothatvideoandaudiocanplay
synchronously.
Somecomplicatedcontainerformatscanprocessmanytasksandprovidelotsofcodec
informationtomediaplayers.Onthecontrary,somecontainers,usedinspecialapplications,
aresosimplethattheyprovideonlybasicinformationforaudio‐videosynchronization.For
example,MPEG‐TS,thecontainerformatfordigitalbroadcasting,isquitesimple,becausethis
taskrequiresplayingstreamingvideofromanysegmentofit.Thissimplecontainerformatcan
reducethecomplexityofthefileheader,whichenablesmediaplayerstostartorresume
playingvideo(orstreaming)filesfromanysegmentwithoutstartingfromtheverybeginningof
eachfile.
CAYIN’sSMPplayerssupportthefollowingcontainerformats(fileformats):
MPEG/MPG/VOB:MPEGProgramStream(MPEG‐PS)andMPEGTransportStream
(MPEG‐TS).MPEG‐PSisusuallyusedforMPEG‐2filesorDVD.MPEG‐TSisastandard
digitalbroadcastingformatfordigitalTVandalsoisusedinCAYIN’sCMSserver’sRTB
function.
MP3:Mpegaudiocontainerformat

CAYINSMPPlayerVideoPlaybackGuide
Copyright@CAYINTechnologyCo.,Ltd. 5

MP4:MPEG‐4Part14,formallyISO/IEC14496‐14:2003,isthecontainerformatcreated
withMPEG‐4ISO.
WMV/WMA:Microsoft’scontainerformat(withthesamenameascodecWMV/WMA)
packsvideoinformationforWMV.ThisformatcanpackA/Vdatacreatedbynon‐WMV
codec,butitisrarelyusedinthisway.
AVI:AnearlyreleasecontainerformatfromMicrosoftthatisstillwidelyusednow

CAYINSMPPlayerVideoPlaybackGuide
Copyright@CAYINTechnologyCo.,Ltd. 6

3. CompressionMethod(Codec)
Compressionisaverycomplicatedbutkeyprocessforreducingthesizeofvideodata.From
earlyVCD(MPEG‐1)toDVD(MPEG‐2)andthelatestblue‐raydisc(MPEG‐2orH.264),video
compressiontechnologyisconstantlydevelopedtolowerbitratebutatthesametime
increasetheoverallquality.
Thewordcodecisacombinationoftwowords,coderdecoder,whichmeansanencoderwill
convertthemotionpictureintoadigitalfileandadecoderwillthenconvertthedigitalfile
backintomotionpicturesforplayback.
Videocompressiontechnologyusuallyappliesthefollowingmethodstocompressvideodata
andachievethebalancebetweenfilesizeandvideoquality:datacompressionalgorithm,still
imagecompressionmethod,andhighsimilaritybetweenstillimagesinvideoframes.Most
earlycodec(orencoder)methodsusedCBRtocompressdatasothefilesizewasbigger.Most
ofthelatestcodecmethodsuseVBRsothefilesizecanbesmaller.
CAYIN’sSMPplayerssupportthefollowingcodec:
MPEG‐1/ M P E G ‐2:MPEG‐1iswidelyappliedinVCD,whileMPEG‐2iswidelyappliedin
DVDanddigitalbroadcasting.Theyarebothmaturetechnology.
MPEG‐4ISO:AlsocalledMPEG‐4part2orMPEG‐4ASP(advancedsimpleprofile),
MPEG‐4ISOisdefinedbytheMPEGorganization,whichaddsanewcompressionmethod
andprinciple.Manypopularcodecs,suchasDivXorXvid,areoriginatedfromMPEG‐4
ISO.
WMV/WMA:CreatedbyMicrosoft,WMVmainlyusesVC‐1algorithm,andWMAisthe
audiocodecformat,whichwasdevelopedsimultaneously.
RAWDV:AnuncompressedcodecthatisusedforearlyDVCamcorder,thefilesizeishuge
andisseldomusednow.
H.264:AlsocalledMPEG‐4part10,AVC(advancedvideocoding)orMPEG‐4AVC,this
codecstandardwascreatedbytheMPEGorganizationandITU‐Tandiswidelyusedto
processseveralhigh‐definitionorstreamingcontents.
MPEG‐Audio:AlsocalledMP3,thisaudiocodecwasestablishedbytheMPEG
organizationandiswidelyusedtoincorporatewithvideofiles,aswellasapopularcodec
formatforMP3playersnow.
PCMorLPCM:PCMandLPCMarebothusedtodigitizeandstoreaudiodata.Theyboth
canquantizeandsaveuncompressedanalogaudiofiles.Sincethedatasizeofaudiois
relativelysmallerthanthatofvideo,occasionallyvideofileswillbestoredinaudiofiles
throughthisuncompressedformat.
Comparisonforsystemresourceconsumption:

CAYINSMPPlayerVideoPlaybackGuide
Copyright@CAYINTechnologyCo.,Ltd. 7

Whenamediaplayerdecodesanykindofcodecformat,thealgorithmthatcodecusesplaysan
importantroleinsystemresourceconsumptionofthemediaplayer(suchasCPU,memoryand
graphics).Generallyspeaking,onthepremiseofthesamebitrate,systemloadingofthefour
popularcodecsMPEG‐2,MPEG‐4,WMVandH.264willbeasfollows:
H.264>WMV>MPEG‐4>MPEG‐2
Withthesamebitrate,thevideoqualityaftercompressionwillfollowthesameorderasabove.
Sincethesystemresourceconsumptionsarenotthesame,differentbitratelimitswillapplyto
theSMPmediaplayerbasedonthecodecofvideofiles.
NOTE!
PleaserefertotheappendixortheSMPusermanualforsuggestedcodecandbitrate.
PatentLicensing:
Mostvideo/audiocodecisprotectedbypatent.CAYINTECHNOLOGYisanofficialmemberof
MPEG‐LA,Audio‐MPEGandSisvel,whichguaranteethelegalusageofCAYIN’sproducts.

CAYINSMPPlayerVideoPlaybackGuide
Copyright@CAYINTechnologyCo.,Ltd. 8

4. OtherFactorstoInfluencetheMediaPlayer
Whilereadingvideofilesorreceivingnetworkstreaming,amediaplayerneedstodecodeit
firstandthendisplayitonascreen.Theprocessisverycomplicatedandrequirestheright
combinationofresources,includinghardware,softwareandsystemcapabilities.Forexample,
theCPUisresponsiblefordecodingandotheroperations,whilememoryprovidesthestorage
spacesneededbeforeandafterthedecode.Graphicchipssupportthedrawtothescreen
display.Thespecialhardwaredesignofgraphicchipsoffloadsdecodingandoutputtingimages
tofreeupCPUresources.However,thesehardwarecomponentsarealsousedbyother
non‐videoplaybackprogramssimultaneously.Therefore,dependingonallocatedhardware,
softwareandsystemresources,thesecandetermineandaffectthevideoplaybackquality.
ScreenResolutionofSMPPlayers
Whenamediaplayercompletesdecompressingvideo,eachvideoframewillberestored
toitsoriginalimagedataandthemediaplayerwilldrawimagesintoaspecificareaof
“window”throughX‐Windowsystem’sAPIandgraphicdriver.Then,thegraphicICwill
transmitsuchinformationtothescreenthroughadisplayport,suchasVGAorDVI.The
computingpowerofthegraphicICanddriverwilldeterminetheefficiencyoftheabove
processwhenamediaplayerplaysbackvideo.
Generallyspeaking,thehigherthescreenresolutionis,themoretimethegraphicchip
willtaketoprocess.Thus,ifyouincreasethescreenresolution,theperformanceofthe
graphicICmaydropdown.However,thankstotheevolutionofgraphicchipdesign,this
issueisbecominglessobviousfornewgraphicICs.Forexample,highscreenresolutions
(e.g.,1920x1080)havelittleimpactonSMP‐WEBDUO’sperformance.However,sinceit
stilltakesmoreCPUresourcesandmorememorytoprocessforhighscreenresolutions,
westillrecommendusingsystemswithhigherperformance.
Indigitalsignage’sapplication,youmightnotplaybackfull‐screenvideoallthetime.Thus,
whenvideoisonlypartoftheelementscomposedonthedisplay,thesmallerthevideo
areais,thelesserresourcesthesystemneedstoconsume.Thatequatestosmoother
videoplaybackorhigherbitrate.
PortraitMode
SMP‐WEB4,SMP‐PRO4,SMP‐WEBPLUS,SMP‐PROPLUS,andSMP‐WEBDUOallsupport
portraitmode,whichmeanstorotatethescreen90or270degrees.Sincethe
communicationprotocolsbetweenadisplayandadevice(PC)donothaveaso‐called
“rotationmode”,alloutputsignalsneedtobeprocessedbythedevicebeforetheycan
actuallybedisplayedonthescreen.Thismeansthegraphicdriverneedstocalculateand
relocatememorysothatuserscanseetheportraitmodeaftertheprocessedsignalsare
outputtedonthescreen.Comparedtothelandscapemode,suchanextraprocessing
workloadinportraitmodewillreducethedisplayandplaybackperformance.

CAYINSMPPlayerVideoPlaybackGuide
Copyright@CAYINTechnologyCo.,Ltd. 9

Inportrait(rotation)mode,thesystemneedstomaptheactualdesktopmemorywiththe
graphicoutputwhenevertheSMPplayerrefreshesthescreen.
OtherPlaybackElements
TheSMPmediaplayerdoesnotplayvideoonly.Intheapplicationofdigitalsignage,the
SMPwillplayvideofilesandothermediacontentsatthesametime,suchasFlash,HTML,
TickerandImage.Inthesecases,hardwareresourceswillbesharedbyallrelevantmedia,
influencingoneanotherinevitably.
Forexample,Flashisapowerfulcontentcreationtool,but,ontheotherhand,Flash
contentdesignersmaynotknowtheresourceconsumptionofCPU,DRAMandgraphics
correspondingtothecomplexityofdifferentFlashanimation.Thus,whenusersplaya
Flashfilewithvideoandotherprogramssimultaneously,sometimesitmayreducethe
overallsystemperformance.
Unfortunately,thereisnoexistingtoolordatatomeasurealltherequiredhardwareand
softwareresourceswhileplayingFlashcontents.Usershavetopre‐testtheplayertoknow
ifitworksornot.

CAYINSMPPlayerVideoPlaybackGuide
Copyright@CAYINTechnologyCo.,Ltd. 10

5. SomeUsefulSoftwareandTools
Thefollowingaresomevideotoolsforyourreference.
NOTE!
CAYINDOESNOTproduceorsellthefollowingtools.WeDONOTinanywaytakeanykindof
responsibilityforusingthem.
GSpot:
Thissoftwarecanreadthefileheaderandshowyousomeusefulinformation,suchasthe
codecthatthevideo/audiouses.Pleasenote,GSpotwillonlyreadtheinformationinthe
fileheader,butnotanalyzeandreadtheactualplaybackdataofaudio/videocontent.If
theinformationinthefile(container)headerisincorrectorinaccurate(suchasbitrate),
theinformationGSpotretrievesfromthecontainerheaderisonlyforyourreference.For
example,GSpotcannotshowthecorrectpeakbitrate.
VideoFormat&CodecConverter:
“FormatFactory”,“MicrosoftVideoEncoder”,“CyberlinkPowerDirector”and“WinAVI”
areusefulvideoformatandcodecconverters.Thelicensingandusagearedifferentfrom
eachotheraswell.Pleasecontacttheauthororcompanyforproperlicense.
PowerPoint(ppt)toVideoConverter:
“WondersharePPTtoVideo”isaneasyandsimplePowerPointtovideofileconverter.
PleaserefertoCAYIN’s“HowtoConvertPowerPointtoaVideoforSMPSeries”
documentationfordetailedinformation.
Office2010canexportPPTtoWMVvideodirectly.
VideoLAN(VLC):
Akindofmulti‐platformplaybacksoftware,theVLCplayer(Windowsversion)canbe
installedbyuserstotheirpersonalcomputer.TheVLCplayerprovidesaUIforyoutosee
theactualbitrateandcodecofeverysegmentwhenplayingvideofiles.