☁️Two Giants in the Live Broadcasting World: Huawei Cloud Live vs Amazon IVS

Deniz Yalçın
Huawei Developers
Published in
5 min readApr 17, 2024
Huawei Cloud Live vs AWS IVS

Introduction🚀

Hi everyone 👋, I would like to talk about live broadcasting services, which are of critical importance and whose usage area has expanded greatly in today’s world. Live broadcasting 📺 has become one of the most popular ways to communicate and share content in today’s digital world. Businesses, educators, and content creators rely on live-streaming platforms to reach and engage large audiences. Two important actors stand out in this field: Huawei Cloud Live and Amazon IVS.

In this article, we want to help you choose the most suitable platform for your live streaming needs by comparing the key features of Huawei Cloud Live and Amazon IVS.

Huawei Cloud Live

Huawei Cloud Live provides Cloud Stream Live Low Latency Live(LLL) to its users. While providing these, it also offers a low-latency HD experience and a secure and high-simultaneous E2E live broadcast solution. LLL reduces E2E latency to milliseconds and adapts more easily to poor network conditions.

Huawei Cloud Live Service Architecture (for Cloud Stream Live)

Cloud Live

Cloud Live is an easy-to-use live broadcast service that provides suitable conditions for many different usage scenarios such as education, e-commerce, and entertainment. Cloud Live also has its own subservices.

Cloud Stream Live

Cloud Stream Live improves the stability and efficiency of high-concurrency live streaming and provides powerful real-time media processing capabilities. Huawei Cloud Stream Live is a service suitable for broadcast types such as concerts, conferences, product launches, and marketing campaigns.

Low Latency Live(LLL)

Low Latency Live (LLL), which is built on cutting-edge technologies such as transmission protocol optimization, dynamic routing, and low-latency transcoding, slashes live latency to milliseconds in latency-sensitive scenarios and delivers an unrivaled experience even when there are a massive number of concurrent requests. Huawei Low Latency Live is a service suitable for broadcasts where real-time interaction is important, such as sports competitions, live lectures, live auction sales, and live Q&A.

Service Architecture (for LLL)

Media Live

Media Live is a broadcast-grade live streaming service that supports features such as channel management and content encryption, making it an ideal option for media assets and broadcasting. Huawei Media Live is a service suitable for broadcasts that do not require live interaction, such as movies, TV series, sports programs, radio, and television broadcasts.

Amazon Interactive Video Service (IVS)

AWS IVS is a service that makes it easy to launch, scale, and create live broadcasts, all of which the user can manage. IVS enables us to stream our live broadcasts to a global audience with low latency and high reliability. While doing this, it also allows you to use various features such as analysis, ad integration, or subtitles. To give examples of the sectors where IVS is used, it can be used in many areas such as games, education, and events.

AWS IVS Solution Architecture and Components

Amazon IVS Low-Latency Streaming

AWS IVS Low-Latency Streaming is a technology that gives you a near real-time broadcast experience. It reduces the lag problem common in live broadcasts, allowing viewers to follow the action more closely and interact with each other more. Amazon IVS Low-Latency Streaming is a service suitable for broadcasts such as E-Sports tournaments, live auctions, question-and-answer events, training, and sports competitions.

Amazon IVS Real-Time Streaming

Amazon IVS Real-Time Streaming is a managed live streaming solution that gives you the ability to embed real-time audio and video into your applications. This means an extremely low-latency (under 300 milliseconds) live streaming experience where viewers can interact and react with the broadcaster almost instantly. Amazon IVS Real-Time Streaming is a service suitable for broadcasts where real-time interaction is required, such as financial data broadcasts, traffic status, flight tracking, and security camera images.

Amazon IVS Chat

Amazon IVS Chat is a chat feature available with Amazon IVS real-time streaming. This feature allows viewers to chat with broadcasters and other viewers in real-time, making their live streams more interactive.

Features

Customization and Automation

While both Huawei Cloud Live and Amazon IVS offer real-time streaming, they cater to different needs. Huawei Cloud Live excels in customization, letting you design the viewer experience with layouts, player controls, and SDK integration. Amazon IVS prioritizes automation and low-latency delivery, integrating seamlessly with AWS services for recording, storage, and monitoring. Consider customization and viewer experience for Huawei Cloud Live, and automation and broader AWS integration for Amazon IVS.

Latency Time ⏲

Both Huawei Cloud and Amazon IVS have real-time streaming but prioritize latency differently. Huawei Cloud offers more customization options for streaming, whereas Amazon has kept customization in the background while focusing on minimizing latency for real-time interaction(below 300 milliseconds ⌛).

Pricing Considerations

Picking between Huawei Cloud Live and Amazon IVS for pricing 💸 depends on your needs. Huawei Cloud Live might be more cost-effective if extensive customization is your focus, as you might not need as many additional AWS services with Amazon IVS. However, if automation and leveraging existing AWS services are priorities, Amazon IVS could be a better deal, considering the wider range of functionalities offered within the AWS ecosystem.

Target Audience

If you prioritize a highly customized viewer experience with intricate control over layouts and branding, Huawei Cloud Live caters to you. But if ultra-low latency for real-time interaction is your main concern, especially for live events or gaming, Amazon IVS is the better target.

Conclusion

The most “suitable” platform is subjective to individuals, expectations, and demands. You can accurately decide which streaming platform is most suitable for you based on the features and functions of the above-mentioned services.

We hope that through this article, you will get information about the two biggest giants of live broadcast services that are growing and needed day by day!

References

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