A method for streamed playback of media in a media client from a remote media service includes: a) determining address information for locating the service and for a starting time; b) by the address information, requesting and receiving a first media package from the service; the package having decoder configuration information, one or more frames, associated timing information for playback frames, and a pointer to a subsequent part of the media stream; c) configuring a decoder of the client by the decoder information; d) starting playback of the stream in the client at the starting time by providing the frames to the configured decoder; e) by the pointer, requesting a remaining portion of the media having subsequent frames of the media stream and associated timing information; f) receiving the subsequent frames as a stream and continuing playback by providing the subsequent frames and associated timing information to the configured decoder.

A computer-implemented method includes performing analysis to determine information associated with a high dynamic range (HDR) media content item. A standard dynamic range (SDR) version of the HDR media content item is derived using HDR metadata. The derivation including encoding the HDR media content item to SDR content and normalizing data of the SDR content. The HDR metadata and the SDR version of the HDR media content item are transmitted with embedding of the HDR metadata within a protocol with the SDR version to a storage service. The HDR metadata and the SDR version are caused to be received at a display device. The SDR version is converted to HDR per incremental portion with a dynamic range bounded based on the HDR metadata of the protocol.

A smart mirror can show live or recorded streaming video of an instructor performing a workout in a package that is attractive and unobtrusive enough to hang in a living room. The smart mirror includes a mirror surface with a fully reflecting section and a partially reflecting section. A display behind the partially reflecting section shows the video when the smart mirror is on and is almost invisible when the smart mirror is off. The smart mirror also has a speaker, a microphone, and a camera to enable a user to view the video content and interact with the instructor. The smart mirror may connect to the user's smart phone, a peripheral device (e.g., a Bluetooth speaker) to augment user experience, a biometric sensor to provide biometric data to assess user performance, and/or a network router to connect the smart mirror to a content provider, an instructor, and/or other users.

Systems and methods for quick start-up of playback in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. Media content may be encoded in a plurality of alternative streams and a quick start-up stream. The quick start-up stream may include media content that is encoded at a lower quality that the alternative streams and may be encrypted with a different, less secure encryption process than that of the alternative streams. During a start-up of playback, the playback device streams the media content from a quick start-up stream until a metric, such as a decryption key for the alternative streams is met. The device then streams the media content from the alternative streams in response to the metric being met.

Systems and methods for providing an authenticated groupcast stream of content to destination receivers are disclosed. A method may include receiving information indicating that a media capturing source(s) located at a premises and destination receivers are included in a group. Content captured from a media capturing source(s) may be received. The content may include an image(s)/video(s) and a destination network address associated with the destination receivers. The content may be copied. The number of copies of content may correspond to a number of the destination receivers. A respective copy of the content may be sent to the destination receivers.

Systems and methods are described herein for generating a watch schedule and compressed series for a user for a series that is expected to become unavailable. Availability data indicating when a content series will become unavailable is received and compared to user progression habits. If the content series will become unavailable before the user will complete it, a watch schedule may be offered to the user. If the user subsequently falls behind on this watch schedule, a compressed version of the content series may be offered to the user.

Systems and techniques are provided for switching between different modes of a media content item. A media content item may include a movie that has different modes, such as a cinematic mode and an interactive mode. For example, a movie may be presented in a cinematic mode that does not allow certain user interactions with the movie. The movie may be switched to an interactive mode during any point of the movie, allowing a viewer to interact with various aspects of the movie. The movie may be displayed using different formats and resolutions depending on which mode the movie is being presented.

A system and methods are disclosed for optimal format selection for video players based on visual quality. The method includes generating a plurality of reference transcoded versions of a reference video, obtaining quality scores for frames of the plurality of reference transcoded versions of the reference video, generating a first training input comprising a set of color attributes, spatial attributes, and temporal attributes of the frames of the reference video, and generating a first target output for the first training input, wherein the first target output comprises the quality scores for the frames of the plurality of reference transcoded versions of the reference video. The method further includes providing the training data to train a machine learning model on (i) a set of training inputs comprising the first training input and (ii) a set of target outputs comprising the first target output.

Techniques are disclosed for multiplexing a dynamic bit-rate video stream with an audio stream received by a client device in a manner that allows the resulting multiplexed stream to be played back without disruption, despite dynamic changes in the bit rate of the video stream that may occur. A content server may stream both a video stream and an audio stream to a client device for playback. The client device may multiplex the video and audio streams prior to them being presented to a playback engine for decoding and playback to a user.

Embodiments described herein provide systems and methods for sharing encoder output of video streams. In a particular embodiment, a method provides determining video profiles for each of a plurality of devices. The method further provides determining if two or more of the video profiles are similar by determining if parameters associated with each video profile differ by less than a threshold value. The method further provides transmitting a video stream encoded in a single format to the devices if they have similar profiles and transmitting video streams encoded in different formats to the devices if they do not have similar profiles.