Low Latency

Latency is the time it takes for something – in our case video and audio to be sent (encoded) and received (decoded) over a network.

Low latency can be required in instances where the video or audio is required to make decisions, control , display video and audio in as close to real time as possible.
An example of requiring low latency is in UAV / Drone based applications, where the controller of the aircraft needs a minimal delay/lag in video so the handler can control the aircraft.

Equally in concerts and live performances the video and audio need to be displayed for fans to be able to view on the ‘big screens’ without there being a delay between the video and the audio.
Most latency is occurred in the ‘decoding’ element of the process so therefore we often recommend the use of a pair (an encoder and decoder) we have a range of low latency products which use a proprietary streaming protocol to enable the low latency connection. Alternatively we have a low latency piece of software for decoding which gives good low latency results when used with specific encoders.

Our definition of low latency is 30-100mS end to end latency . Latency below 30mS requires either non compressed video or codecs which are only slightly compressing the video. Both these methods require significantly higher data rates than H264 . The compromise is latency versus data rate in this case. 30mS is industry leading latency based on H264 and offered by Antrica.