Real-time transmission of scalable video over Peer-to-Peer networks

In the last years, the demand for video content on the Internet had a significant growth. This growth has emerged combined with an increasing diversity of equipments capable of receiving video content and an increase in the demand for high definition content, placing new challenges of heterogeneity and scalability to the networks that should support the distribution of such contents. Traditionally the scalability problem has been solved by IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) networks using IP Multicast, supported by networks and equipments administered by private operators, with mechanisms capable of reducing the risks associated with flows that do not respond to congestion. However, on the Internet, such risks have resulted in the lack of implementation of IP Multicast, which in turn affects large-scale distributions of video. This has caused content providers to use so-called Application layer or overlay solutions. In this context, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) solutions are currently extensively used for file exchange, making them a natural solution to the point to multipoint distribution of video. Regarding the problem of terminal heterogeneity, the introduction of standards for scalable video compression, allows the distribution of several qualities, targeting a range of equipment terminals with different resolutions and processing capabilities. In this field, this paper evaluates the effect of several P2P parameters associated with the BitTorrent P2P file-sharing protocol for the distribution of H.264 scalable video creating a point-multipoint real-time distribution system capable of delivering the same content to a high number of heterogeneous terminals.