Nick Krzemienski

AV1 and Film Grain Synthesis: A Game Changer for Streaming Quality As a technical person deeply involved in video compression and delivery, I’m genuinely excited about the progress of AV1, especially its Film Grain Synthesis (FGS) feature. One key detail that stands out: FGS is a mandatory part of AV1 decoding. This ensures consistent support across platforms and simplifies adoption across the ecosystem. The latest Netflix Tech Blog explains in detail why this matters. https://lnkd.in/eDhZegSt It’s more than just an improvement in compression — it represents a significant step forward for OTT streaming from both a technical and strategic perspective. Netflix outlines several major benefits of their AV1 + FGS implementation: * Lower initial and average bitrates * Fewer playback errors * Reduced rebuffering * Faster start times * More stable playback * Higher resolution at the same bandwidth From my perspective, one of the most important benefits is improved picture quality. This is especially noticeable for content with natural film grain or cinematic texture. But the gains go beyond grainy content — traditional encoders often struggle with noise, which can lead to faulty motion estimation and unnecessarily high bitrates. FGS solves this at the decoder side by reconstructing the grain efficiently, preserving the visual intent without bloating the file size. This is a clear signal to the industry: the future of streaming is not just about compression, but about smarter visual fidelity. GPU‑Accelerated Video Noise Management with IRIS from Wavelet Beam https://waveletbeam.com/ #AV1 #FilmGrainSynthesis #StreamingTech #VideoEncoding #OTT #NetflixTech #CodecInnovation

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ONCE BIP Updates for Day 214 Last 24 hours brought 9 landed commits into the live ONCE branch, with +3654 / -801 lines changed overall. User-facing * The releases area got more reliable per-user caching and a safeguard against cache-related load hiccups, so creators should see their own catalog load more consistently. (2 commits, +732 / -609) * ONCE now shows proper icons and brand colors for 8 more DSPs, making store destinations easier to recognize at a glance. (1 commit, +16 / -8) * The publishing AI default was rolled back to a more proven model, which should make metadata help feel steadier and more predictable. (1 commit, +1 / -1) Admin-facing * Admin conversation intelligence got a major upgrade with clearer AI summaries, deeper agent metrics, and sturdier parsing, so ops can understand conversations faster and with more confidence. (4 commits, +2895 / -178) * Release review signals now better recognize queued deny-list inspections that mention matching, which should reduce false alarms during status checks. (1 commit, +10 / -5) Reflection / takeaway The biggest pattern today is ONCE becoming more dependable on both sides of the product: creators get a steadier release experience and clearer platform presentation, while admins get much stronger visibility into conversations and review states. That should translate into faster triage internally and less friction externally. https://www.once.app

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Does #MXL replace SMPTE ST 2110? NO!! During one IABM Technology & Trends Roadmap working group calls, it was clear that many of us kept hearing incorrectly that MXL (Media eXchange Layer) is a replacement for ST 2110.  While at the North American Broadcasters Association (NABA) event this week in New York, I asked Felix Poulin from CBC/Radio-Canada and Vincent Trussart from Grass Valley to help clear this up. Thanks to Felix for providing a clear drawing! Help to get this detail out by reposting and sharing with your peer groups. For additional detail, figure 15 of this European Broadcasting Union (EBU) #DMF document shows the difference between streaming and exchange layer https://lnkd.in/eqsgAnxq

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It's research like this that makes Siggraph so special, scientists and researchers actually moving the technology of art forward. When HDR becomes more ubiquitous, it'll be because of research like this. This is where technology like Gaussian splats, stereo imagery, rendering engines get born and gain momentum.

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What makes Blockcast different in the CDN space? First, Blockcast is arguabley the first, commercial multicast CDN. And that by itself is a pretty big deal but not the only thing that makes Blockcast different. Second, Blockcast is a DePIN CDN. While not the first, they are the first to take that DePIN concept to the next logical step: an open marketplace. Using open standards such as Open Caching from the SVTA and CDNi from IETF, Blockcast has created a truly revolutionary platform to connect content providers with capacity suppliers. But recognizing that such a marketplace wouldn't be trustworthy if it was owned by a supplier, Blockcast has given it to the industry and formed the Open Capacity Marketplace, a foundation that is governed and managed by companies in the industry (like Vecima Networks Inc.). Blockcast is committed to bringing internet content delivery into the future. By creating a network in which anyone can host a cache and participate, Blockcast has decentralized content delivery out of just a few hands and into anyone's. Such a core, critical layer of infrastructure to our lives (70-75% of all internet traffic goes through content delivery networks) should be something anyone can contribute to. Interested in finding out more? Blockcast and Vecima will be demonstrating the marketplace on Saturday, September 13 at IBC - International Broadcasting Convention 2025. If you are there and want to attend, just head on over to the Open Capacity Marketplace website at https://lnkd.in/gamuqgmv. Fill out the form and you'll get the demo schedule details. Want to find out more about the first commercial multicast CDN and how you can use it to get your content to your users in a more cost-effective way? Just visit https://www.blockcast.com. https://lnkd.in/gaSwH8xC

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KT Genie Music launches the first conversational AI music platform in South Korea, powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI, with a patent pending. #MusicTech #TechNews #AI #TechNews Link: https://lnkd.in/gHwQcbav 

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