An example method can comprise receiving an encoding parameter associated with a first content transmission. The encoding parameter can indicate a level of complexity to encode the first content transmission. The method can comprise selecting, based on the encoding parameter, a second content transmission. The second content transmission can be encoded at a second bit rate that is different than a first bit rate of the first content transmission. The method can also comprise generating a third content transmission. The third content transmission can comprise the second content transmission.

A method provides for delivering video content from a server to a plurality of media devices is disclosed that distributes accurately excess bandwidth. The method includes: determining, by the server, the bandwidth to allocate to each of the plurality of media devices using a hypertext transfer protocol-based live streaming client model or a need parameter vector and/or measured bandwidth limitations associated with each of the plurality of media devices and providing the allocated bandwidth to each of the plurality of media devices, wherein the video content is transmitted in a plurality of segments from the server, and wherein each segment is transmitted at a bitrate that may vary from segment to segment.

In one example, a method includes monitoring a delivery of an item of multimedia content to a first user endpoint device in a first stream of data, monitoring a delivery of the item of multimedia content to a second user endpoint device in a second stream of data, consolidating the stream of data and the second stream of data into a third stream of data, sending an first instruction to a source of the first stream of data and a source of the second stream of data to cease delivering the first stream of data and the second stream of data, and sending a second instruction to the source of the first stream of data and the source of the second stream to begin delivering the third stream of data to the first user endpoint device and the second user endpoint device.

The disclosure provides methods for transmitting and receiving video data, and a terminal device and a server. The server layers an original video into a plurality of video data streams, embeds extended information including feature information of a video data stream in a specified video data stream and transmits the plurality of video data streams to corresponding channels respectively for transmitting. A multicast prediction model in the terminal device may output a multicast access strategy based on the feature information of the video data stream and user experience information of the currently played video, and then a multicast combination currently accessed by the terminal device is adjusted based on the multicast access strategy to obtain a better multicast combination in the current network transmission environment, such that video data streams of corresponding quantities and quality are received. The above methods executed by the server and the terminal device can realize control of network congestion without increasing bandwidth consumption.

Methods and systems are provided for adjusting a size of a buffer based on a probability that a rewind request will be received during a currently playing segment of media. When the system determines that receiving a rewind request is likely, the system will increase the size of a buffer such that the rewind request can be accommodated using data from the buffer. When the system determines that receiving a rewind request is unlikely, the system will decrease the size of the buffer to free resources for other system components.

Methods and systems are provided for adjusting a size of a buffer based on a probability that a rewind request will be received during a currently playing segment of media. When the system determines that receiving a rewind request is likely, the system will increase the size of a buffer such that the rewind request can be accommodated using data from the buffer. When the system determines that receiving a rewind request is unlikely, the system will decrease the size of the buffer to free resources for other system components.

Techniques are provided for multi-channel video encoding with cross-channel look ahead rate control. A methodology implementing the techniques according to an embodiment includes encoding a first video channel to generate a first output bitstream and first channel statistics including a quantization parameter, the first video channel comprising a first plurality of video frames at a first resolution. The method further includes encoding a second video channel to generate a second output bitstream encoded at a bit rate based on the first channel statistics, the second video channel comprising a second plurality of video frames at a second resolution. The second resolution may equal the first resolution depending on target bit rates for the channels. The method further includes performing look ahead processing on the first video channel to generate first channel look ahead statistics, and encoding the second video channel based on the first channel look ahead statistics.

Systems and methods for optimizing a content change process are provided. In example embodiments, a digital receiver causes playback of a first piece of content. The digital receiver receives a selection of a new piece of content for playback during the playback of the first piece of content. In response to the receiving of the selection, the digital receiver maintains a bitrate used for playback of the first piece of content to initiate playback of the new piece of content.

A statistical multiplexer is provided with a series of encoders that encode media streams at different bitrates to reduce jitter. The encoded media streams are transmitted to a multiplexer over a network and experience jitter that is reduced by a de-jitter arrangement. The multiplexer rearranges a transmit time of select packets in select ones of the media streams received over the network when a total group bandwidth available on the transmission channel over which the multiplexed media stream is to be transmitted is less than a sum of the bandwidths of the media streams because of the jitter and de-jitter process experienced by the media streams. The rearranging causes the bandwidth of the multiplexed media stream to be no greater than the total group bandwidth of the transmission channel without exceeding a maximum bit rate at which each individual encoded media stream is configured.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for a multi-video stream transmission to a client terminal. The systems and methods may include obtaining a multi-video stream including a plurality of video streams, each video stream including multiple key frames characterized by a frame rate and a key frame interval. The systems and methods may include determining a delay time of an initial key frame for each video stream based on a plurality of frame rates and a plurality of key frame intervals of the plurality of video streams. The systems and methods may further include processing the plurality of video streams to determine a desired sending time of the initial key frame in the corresponding video streams based on the delay time of the initial key frame in each video stream. The systems and methods may further include transmitting the plurality of processed video streams to the client terminal.