Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems
Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems

FAMIUM DASH

Man watching streaming series in a laptop computer, lying in the bed.
© istock / Daviles

What is it about?

FAMIUM DASH is a fully standard-compliant DASH end-to-end solution. It also supports cutting-edge features on content creation side. These are complimented by the various features included in the HTML5-based FAMIUM player, which enables a wide range of use cases. With DASH, clients can seamlessly adapt to media representations (e.g. in terms of resolution, codec or bitrate) that best fit the user's device and network connection. 

Not only does FAMIUM provide content delivery in the highest quality available for a given network – faster start-up times for media playback can also be expected.

FAMIUM DASH solution forms an end-to-end system from content creation to content consumption
© Fraunhofer FOKUS

FAMIUM Packager

For integration with existing delivery networks, the FAMIUM Packager components are designed as cloud services. The FAMIUM Packager consists of two components: FAMIUM Transcoder and Segmenter. In addition, they can run on-premise (e.g. for use in testbeds) on Windows or Unix-based systems. It even runs on Raspberry Pis. The packager supports different DASH profiles.

Providing Common Encryption (CENC) in ISO Base Media File Format, it encodes and encrypts each media segment individually and in compliance with different DRMs. The media data is encrypted using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). Every common media source can serve as input of the FAMIUM Transcoder, including live media stream (RTSP/RTMP).

Supported standards:

  • MPEG-DASH (ISO/IEC 23009): support for different profiles like HbbTV 1.5 (HbbTV ISOBMFF Live), HbbTV 2.0 (DVB-DASH) and DASH ISO BMFF Live/On-Demand
  • HLS (RFC 8216): HLS live and VOD content with f-MP4/CMAF 
  • CMAF (IS0/IEC 23000-19): CMAF and CMAF chunks for low latency streaming with DASH and HLS manifests
  • Common Encryption (ISO/IEC 23001-7): Encryption schemes ‘cenc’ and ‘cbcs’ are supported
  • CPIX: for the creation of multi-DRM content the CPIX specification is used for information exchange between the different entities that are involved. Supported DRMs are Google Widevine, Microsoft PlayReady and Apple FairPlay
  • SAND (ISO/IEC 23009-5): Metric Reporting and Shared Resource Allocation
  • Supported Codecs: H264 for video and AAC for audio, UHD with HEVC, VP9
Supported features and technologies in the FAMIUM DASH ecosystem
© Fraunhofer FOKUS

FAMIUM Player

The FAMIUM Player is based on dash.js. It allows playing of on-demand and live DASH content and dynamically adapts the bitrate to current network conditions. Fraunhofer FOKUS is an active contributor to the 'dash.js' Open Source project. It takes advantage of the HTML5 Media Extensions MSE & EME, enabling interoperable premium video consumption in HTML5 Web browsers without depending on proprietary plug-ins.

Supported features & technologies:

  • Adaptive 360° video streaming
  • Dynamic Ad Insertion
  • Multi-screen media synchronization
  • Metrics/Analytics using server and network assisted DASH (SAND): ISO/IEC 23009-5
  • Client-side conversion of Smooth Streaming, HLS

Key Technologies & Standards

  • MPEG-DASH (ISO/IEC 23009): support for different profiles like HbbTV 1.5 (HbbTV ISOBMFF Live), HbbTV 2.0 (DVB-DASH) and DASH ISO BMFF Live/On-Demand
  • HLS (RFC 8216): HLS live and VOD content with f-MP4/CMAF
  • CMAF (IS0/IEC 23000-19): CMAF and CMAF chunks for low latency streaming with DASH and HLS manifests
  • Common Encryption (ISO/IEC 23001-7): Encryption schemes ‘cenc’ and ‘cbcs’ are supported
  • CPIX: for the creation of multi-DRM content the CPIX specification is used for information exchange between the different entities that are involved. Supported DRMs are Google Widevine, Microsoft PlayReady and Apple FairPlay
  • SAND (ISO/IEC 23009-5): Metric Reporting and Shared Resource Allocation
  • Supported Codecs: H264 for video and AAC for audio, UHD with HEVC, VP9