Abstract: With the production of a large number of videos, how to efficiently and accurately conduct cloud transcoding and processing of videos to meet the needs of multi-terminal display and deal with the complex network situation is the top priority of our video industry developers. As practitioners, we will often contact the major cloud transcoding service providers, and have a certain understanding of audio and video transcoding technology.
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With the production of a large number of videos, how to efficiently and accurately conduct cloud transcoding and processing of videos to meet the needs of multi-terminal display and cope with the complex network situation is the top priority for developers in the video industry. As practitioners, we will often contact the major cloud transcoding service providers, and have a certain understanding of audio and video transcoding technology. Today, we selected the world’s three major domestic audio and video transcoding service providers: ali cloud cloud, seven NiuYun, tencent, to carry on the measurement of the transverse, from product function, transcoding performance, console and API documentation, after-sale support and service availability, fee standards, six aspects, each objective comparison, want to give developers some references in technology selection.
I. Product functions
For the video platform, there are many links including video collection, editing, uploading, transcoding, media asset management, distribution and playback. In the transcoding process, choosing cloud service providers with strong technical strength and rich product functions can save the time and cost of self-research, and focus more on the polishing of business and product itself. In the selection, functional integrity is a very important criterion. We have obtained functional information from the audio and video transcoding product pages and relevant public documents on the official websites of Ali Cloud, Tencent Cloud and Qiniuyun, as shown in the figure below:
From the comparison of product functions, it can be seen that all video cloud products have similar basic functions in transcoding, which can basically meet the common needs in the current market. From the perspective of functional integrity, Ali Cloud’s three features of double speed transcoding, narrow band HD and picture quality repair technology are obviously far behind the other two. In the function of turning while playing, Qiniuyun is more flexible, supporting users to customize whether to store transcoding output files. In terms of access difficulty, Qiuniuyun does not support automatic triggering of work flow codes and can only be called through API, which has certain requirements for developers’ technical level. Tencent cloud is the least functional, and there is no bright spot technology.
In particular, we found that there was a discrepancy in the support for H.265 on Tencent cloud official website.
Propaganda is such cloud.tencent.com/product/vts in product page
Is actually the cloud.tencent.com/document/pr…
To sum up, from the perspective of product functions, Ali Cloud is the best, Qiniuyun is the second, Tencent cloud is the worst.
Two, transcoding performance
Developers in the video industry who understand transcoding know that the three indicators for evaluating transcoding performance are speed, bit rate and picture quality. We carry out the evaluation from these three aspects.
1. Transcoding speed
Transcoding speed is defined as 1 minute of video transcoding completed in a few minutes.
Using transcoding templates with the same videos and parameters, 72 (18 videos *4 templates) groups of transcoding data were tested in the same network environment, and the conclusions were as follows:
Transcoding speed seven Niuyun fastest, Ali cloud second, Tencent cloud the slowest. Analysis of the output video finds that qiniu Cloud preset preset preset is preset to faster, Ali Cloud/Tencent Cloud is set to Medium, and faster is 2 levels lower than Medium. However, this parameter will affect the video picture quality. It is recommended to set this parameter based on your actual requirements (efficiency/quality preference).
Transcoding speed Angle: Qiniu cloud > Ali Cloud > Tencent Cloud
2. Video bit rate
Using the transcoding template with the same video and the same parameters, Ali Cloud opened the narrow band HD option (Tencent Cloud and Qiuniuyun do not support). In the same network environment, 64 (16 videos *4 templates) group transcoding data were tested, and the conclusions were as follows:
Qiuniuyun and Tencent cloud have no difference in bit rate; Ali cloud narrow band HD transcoding rate than seven Niuyun, Tencent cloud code rate is 31.35% lower on average, the average file size 28.98% smaller.
Video bit rate Angle: Alibaba Cloud > Qiuniuyun = Tencent cloud
3. Video quality
Select 10 groups of videos in the transcoding speed test, find 19 people to participate in the test, and select the video with the worst subjective feelings. The conclusions are as follows:
Qiniuyun picture quality is significantly worse than Ali Cloud, Tencent cloud picture quality is slightly worse than Ali cloud; There was no significant difference between animation videos and variety videos, while Qiniuyun was obviously worse.
Video quality Angle: Alibaba Cloud > Tencent Cloud > Qiuniuyun
Therefore, in the aspect of performance, Aliyun has balanced strength and the best performance, while Tencent Cloud and Qiuniuyun have poor speed and the worst picture quality.
Console and API documents
When it comes to access and operation, developers care more about console friendliness and ease of access. After comparing the console and API documentation of the three companies, we came to the following conclusions:
Qiniu cloud console is very simple, only support the most basic data query, the need to achieve video transcoding through API. It only provides API interface documents, but lacks scenarioalized documents, which has certain requirements on the technical ability of the users.
Ali cloud console supports most of the function configuration, such as: custom transcoding template, watermark template, workflow, etc., can achieve zero code fast access. API documents and a small number of scene documents are provided, but there are many documents, the scene is not complete, and some functions cannot be found documents;
Tencent cloud console interactive experience is the best, but the function is too closed, does not support customization, usability is not high. API documentation and scenario documentation are provided, detailing each function and concept.
Iv. After-sales support
Ali cloud console supports custom configuration, and no work order is submitted during access;
Seven cattle cloud work order reply faster, can solve the problem;
Tencent cloud work order reply quickly, but after the video cloud products do not understand, answer the question.
5. Service availability
When choosing a cloud platform to support a business, we also compare service level agreements (SLAs), which take into account the promise of cloud platform service availability. We learned from the official websites of the three platforms that, among the video transcoding services, only Ali Cloud promises 99.9% service availability and supports automatic compensation. Tencent Cloud and Qiuniuyun official websites have not yet made any commitment on the service availability.
Vi. Fee standard
The price of cloud services has become more transparent. We can see from the official charging standard that under the pay-per-volume model, the price of Qiniu Cloud is the lowest, while the price of Ali Cloud and Tencent cloud is the same.
In addition, Seven Niuyun and Ali Cloud will provide a certain amount of free per month, Tencent cloud does not provide free amount. At the same time, Aliyun launched what it claims is a minimum discount package, users can buy on demand:
Help.aliyun.com/document_de…
Therefore, in terms of charging standards, Qiuniuyun has the lowest price and Ali Cloud has the most flexible charging method.
In general, these three mainstream platforms have quite strong enterprise background and technical strength, which can meet the majority of market demand, and each has its own strengths in the above six evaluation aspects. Relatively speaking, Ali Cloud has a deeper understanding of audio and video transcoding technology, more complete product functions and support, and has a certain price advantage. As practitioners of the video industry, we should choose which video transcoding solution provider, or we need to combine its characteristics and their own needs. We hope that this assessment can bring some help to our peers.
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