Re: [Mops] So, what is streaming media, anyway? :-)

[Alexandre GOUAILLARD <[e-mail]>]

> IMHO, the MOPS charter is already too broad/fuzzy.  We should restrict it
> to covering two use cases only:
>         1/ On-demand streaming of pre-recorded media (e.g., watching
> movies at home), and
>         2/ Streaming/viewing (one way) of live events - e.g., football
> matches, presidential announcements
>

IMHO that makes sense, and we feel it is aligned with what we proposed
before, i.e. to draw boundaries based on use case, and not on latency
(sorry, too fast), or underlying tech (sorry, we only entertain file-based,
HTTP-based protocols like HLS and MPEG-DASH, and without CMAF, the later
making those protocols too fast to fall in scope).

We believe the point number two, as it is proposed above, could be too
restrictive. Would there be any reason to segregate based on content? For
example, is sport, and live events in scope, but news being streamed live
from the field would not be? An argument could be made that  a definition
of Streaming as  sending media, one way (*unidirectiona*l, or send-only),
*1-to-many*, with many being a relatively large number, large enough to
rule out say video conferencing or webinars, could be a sufficient
definition.

Restricting the use case based on media content is difficult. After all,
when it comes to VOD, the point #1, one does not differentiate based on
whether the original content is a recorded LoL game, a documentary, a
cartoon, a movie, news, ..... Why making such a distinction for point #2?


> In contrast, I see
>         3/ face-to-face video chat (or telephony), video conferencing,


We agree. We don't remember anybody really proposing this.


> and cloud gaming
>

We think this could be argued one way or the other. I do not have horse in
the race but in my opinion, the reason why one might want to entertain
cloud gaming is that, apart from the content itself, it is much closer to a
one-to-many, unidirectionnal use case than to video conferencing. Also
there is the precedent of Stadia being presented in the scope of the group.
I think it's right on the boundary :-) We do not feel strongly about cloud
gaming.

We are just expressing our opinion in this thread. we might be naive and
totally off topic. We would love to get feedback from the chairs on the
matter.

Best regards,

Dr. Alex.


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