开发者为WebRTC直播支付先锋税

在今年的纽约流媒体东部大会上, a keynote delivered by Netflix’s Chris Fetner and a panel of creatives and tech engineers working on original productions introduced me to the expression “pioneer tax.” This refers to the higher expenses incurred around bleeding-edge technology projects. These higher costs can be due to the cost of equipment or resources necessary to produce a project.

While Netflix’s panel revolved largely around HDR (High Dynamic Range) and discussion of how different it is for creative directors to envision the final product compared to SDR (Standard Dynamic Range), 我想到的最早的税务技术是WebRTC. 简而言之, WebRTC是浏览器可以使用的唯一实时通信标准, 特别是对于低延迟的直播.

In my work, WebRTC represents the first true “Flash replacement” for real-time video. In 2002, Flash introduced RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) and low-latency video to web browsers. Now, 16年后, there’s not yet a consistent implementation of a real-time stack or access to capture devices across the major browsers.

And that’s where the pioneer tax comes in—developing a solution with WebRTC is problematic at best. One of my clients recently approached me with an entire first-generation product designed to run only on Chrome, because supporting more browsers would have been expensive and not consistently compatible. As a video solutions architect, I am selective about which tech stacks I’ll use to develop. This is mainly because the time investment for me to learn new programming APIs can be significant and adds cost that clients are not usually willing to pay. So far, WebRTC is the only game in town that will (hopefully) be viable across all browsers at some not-so-distant point in the future.

One of my biggest frustrations with WebRTC is the lack of current, well-maintained online resources. Google searches for WebRTC examples will frequently return code using draft APIs written 3 or more years ago. WebRTC.Org有可行的例子，但即使是它的 “入门”教程 requires Chrome 47 or above, and it makes no mention of what’s compatible with other WebRTC browsers.

Another source of potential pioneer taxation is determining which WebRTC server technology you’ll use to connect real-time users to each other. Commercial and open source WebRTC platform offerings have come and gone as larger tech companies acquired the teams that built those solutions. While Janus网关是目前最受WebRTC开发者欢迎的开源软件, Red5 and Wowza are among the only media servers that offer more universal transmuxing to various input and output formats.

The good news is that WebRTC and related APIs are becoming more widely available across browsers. 快速访问caniuse.com and searching “webrtc” or “getusermedia” will show that most of the major browsers are supporting common APIs. Despite this availability, I’m still seeing a dearth of WebRTC applications online. 据我所知, major social media platforms haven’t released WebRTC for any live streaming applications, 而是依赖于其他RTMP/ RTP摄取和DASH或HLS播放流. I hope that companies are just in the middle of longer development cycles for next-gen products, 我们很快就会看到更多的WebRTC实现.

如果这一切听起来令人沮丧，那么WebRTC的独特功能值得注意. WebRTC’s transport layer is RTP-based and able to use UDP as well as TCP for video and audio transmission. UDP允许丢包和更低的延迟. (RTMP, 然而, 只能使用TCP协议, 因此，这可能是发布/播放链中更高延迟的来源.WebRTC在音频、视频和数据通道上提供AES加密. WebRTC可以与其他api一起工作来捕捉摄像头, 麦克风, and screen display—enabling companies to build better videoconferencing and webinar platforms. You’ll just have to find some extra resources and time to invest in the effort in order to offset the pioneer tax required to push implementation of an emerging technology. Devs who follow in your footsteps may not thank you, but they will benefit from the path you forge.

[本文发表于2018年7月/ 8月号。 流媒体杂志 被称为“WebRTC的先驱税”."]