Advances in channel-adaptive video streaming

We review recent advances in channel-adaptive video streaming. Adaptive media playout at the client can be used to reduce receiver buffering and therefore average latency, and provide a limited rate scalability. Rate-distortion optimized packet scheduling determines the best packet to send given the distortion reduction associated with sending that packet, interpacket dependencies, and the success of past transmissions. Channel-adaptive packet dependency control can greatly improve the error-robustness of streaming video and reduce or eliminate the need for packet retransmissions. Finally we consider three architectures for wireless video streaming and discuss the utility of the discussed techniques for each architecture.