PICO2000© Applications - Multicast

The PICO2000© Multicast application is a video broadcasting application using Internet Protocol (IP) multicast technology.

IP multicast is a bandwidth-conserving technology that reduces traffic on a LAN (Local Area Network) by delivering a single stream of information to any number of recipients, bandwidth usage remains the same no matter how many recipients there are.

Standard PICO2000© systems send video streams individually to clients as they are requested. A remote client logs into the PICO2000© and asks for a live stream from a particular camera. A connection is set up between the Server and Client and the stream is sent over this connection. Multiple clients mean multiple streams and bandwidth is quickly used up.

The Multicast application offers a different approach. Instead of sending multiple streams to individual clients, it will send one stream to a network and any client on that network can look at the same stream. Using this method, the number of clients is not limited and bandwidth usage is the same whether one client is viewing or fifty clients are viewing since they are all looking at the same stream.

Features

Three different video sources can be selected for Multicasting as shown in the above diagram:
1. Multicasting of live video from a local PICO2000© camera.
2. Multicasting of live video from a camera connected to a remote PICO2000©. This is a relay transmission of a remote PICO2000© camera image.
3. Multicasting recorded video (with sound) stored on the local PICO2000© machine.
Number of people receiving the broadcasting can be monitored.
An advanced Multicast Schedule is implemented to allow automatic start/stop of each channel by time/day/date etc.
The same video source can be assigned to a different channel with different Multicasting properties, e.g. different resolution and compression quality etc.
The Multicast streams are password protected.
Multicast streaming and the original Server/Client view can work simultaneously.
A specialized Multicast Client is used from remote viewing.
The Multicast Client also has the capability to record the stream onto the client machine.
The Multicast Client can automatically detect any Multicast streams on the network.
A Multicast Interface allows users to embed the Multicast Client into a customized web page or application.