Citrix VideoFrame excels
Tests show VideoFrame quality rivals other multimedia delivery methods.
 
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By CHARLES BRUNO
The reports, released this month in ITclarity, paint a very promising picture for VideoFrame use within the Citrix MetaFrame thin-client environment. In one set of tests, Tolly Researchers found that encoding times and disk storage requirements for VideoFrame are comparable to those of MPEG-1 encoders tested. At certain playback rates, such as 128K bit/sec and 1,024K bit/sec, VideoFrame actually outperformed the MPEG-1 encoder tested.
Testing also showed that there were clear distinctions in playback video quality between the VideoFrame software and the MPEG-1 encoder tested. VideoFrame-encoded AVI files sacrificed the motion quality of a video clip as compression levels increased, but preserved the still-image and audio quality. By contrast, MPEG-1 streams retained full-motion transitions from a source stream, but exhibited degradation in the still images.
In another set of tests, the Citrix multimedia software was tested for its capability to deliver multimedia clips over a streaming channel. Alternatively, testers evaluated VideoFrame's performance against delivery of the same multimedia files over a Windows network, and separately via an HTTP connection.
Findings show more efficient CPU utilization for VideoFrame than any of the approaches tested, and VideoFrame consumes less bandwidth than either the Windows network or HTTP delivery methods. More importantly, VideoFrame enables multimedia delivery in the MetaFrame environment, which is extremely impractical (if not impossible) using MetaFrame's native ICA protocol without VideoFrame.
Kevin Flood, chief technology officer at Tolly Research, which publishes the ITclarity subscription research product, adds, "Any MetaFrame shop that needs to support multimedia in that environment should run VideoFrame, too. It's a win-win since it is less taxing on the server and it consumes less bandwidth than any of the alternative approaches."
The above information is derived from an ITclarity research track report. To purchase a subscription to Tolly Research's ITclarity service, click here.
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Network professionals charged with delivering multimedia content over corporate networks should take note of two recent tests by Tolly Research that show Citrix Systems's VideoFrame software delivers audio/video quality equal to or better than alternative delivery methods.
About Tolly Research
Tolly Research, provider of ITclarity, is a technology research firm based
in Brielle, N.J., that specializes in testing-based research. Tolly Research
provides accurate test results, insightful analysis, and practical
recommendations for leading-edge technologies required by network
professionals. While many businesses have specific implementation issues,
there is a broad base of technology research that is applicable to all
organizations. Tolly Research offers a more cost-effective method of
gathering data than committing internal resources to tackle each new
technology. For more information on Tolly Research, point your browser to
www.tollyresearch.com, send e-mail to
itclarity@tollyresearch.com or call
732-292-9411.
More report summaries from Tolly Research:
