5 Questions With the CTO of Livepeer on Its Business and Funding
你的下一个视频编码提供商会是一个拥有额外服务器容量的匿名加密货币矿工吗? Decentralized video encoding startup Livepeer wants to make that a reality. Before scoffing at the idea, 考虑到该公司去年宣布了800万美元的A轮融资, 海视科技和Brightcove前首席执行官已经加入.
为了了解更多关于Livepeer与众不同的原因，我们向创始人兼首席技术官Eric Tang发送了五个问题. Here's what he said:
What’s the idea behind your company? What does it mean to offer decentralized video encoding?
Livepeer正在构建一个开放、可靠的视频基础设施，为互联网提供动力. 今天，80%的互联网带宽被视频流所消耗. Livepeer协议允许在容量过剩的编码提供商和需要流媒体服务的应用程序开发人员之间自然形成一个开放透明的市场. 这个市场打开了世界各地隐藏的编码能力，使视频服务真正负担得起和可靠.
For example, 加密矿工拥有的数百万个gpu拥有空闲容量，可以使用ASIC编码/解码芯片处理视频编码. Livepeer网络允许矿工有效地分享他们的百家乐软件，并得到适当的补偿. 像这样的过剩计算能力可以将价格降低到比现有流媒体提供商便宜10倍以上, and in the process, significantly improving reliability for streaming workflows.
To the application developers, using decentralized video encoding is a more flexible, more reliable, 使用开源软件和透明的编码服务市场运行基础设施的更经济的方式. It is as easy as using an API or a plugin for your existing media server.
What encoding formats and codecs will you support?
Livepeer currently supports RTMP and HLS in H.264, but this is just a starting point. Since the codebase is open source, 任何人都可以决定添加更多的视频格式，如MPEG-DASH或编解码器，如VP8/9. 随着低延迟格式(如CMAF和LHLS)以及下一代编解码器(如AV1)的普及, they will likely be added into the codebase soon as well.
因此，有额外能力的人/公司可以通过成为您的P2P网络的一部分来赚取Livepeer代币. Why would they want that? What do LPTs get them?
People with extra capacity will currently earn Ether. 随着时间的推移，他们将能够赚取任何他们喜欢的数字货币. We think, in the long-term, 人们可能更愿意获得价值相当于美元的价格稳定的数字货币.
LPT represents security of the Livepeer network for participants. 对于那些想为他人提供服务的人来说，这有点像“保证金”. And if they act maliciously, their deposit is taken away. LPT奖励好的参与者，这样他们就可以继续扩大他们在网络上提供的服务.
你的网站说你正在创造可能的商业模式，这在当前的视频编码模式和成本下是不可能的. What does that mean? Who are your target customers?
当前视频应用的商业模式受到视频基础设施高成本的限制. 当你必须补贴基础设施成本时，要基于广告创建一个盈利的视频应用程序是非常困难的. With Livepeer, 应用程序构建者将有更多的选择，基础设施的价格要便宜10倍，而且真正的“按需付费”.“我们与业内许多企业家进行了交谈，他们指出，当前的视频基础设施选项提供的用例或内容类型过于昂贵. 就像网络基础设施价格的降低通过新型网络应用程序给我们带来了大量的创新一样, Livepeer旨在通过释放新的用例和内容类型，推动视频行业的下一波创新.
Livepeer的去中心化本质也有有趣的含义. Combining with the usage of digital currency, 我们可以看到未来开发者将面临有趣的新机遇. For example, 应用程序开发者可以使用小额支付，并要求用户根据基础设施成本支付视频费用. 他们还可以使用虚拟商品作为奖励，鼓励应用程序用户为应用程序本身贡献带宽/本地计算.
In a world of full automation, 即时和无需许可的支付是自治代理相互交互的必要条件. 没有它，总是有操纵的空间或管理成本开销. 这不仅适用于P2P视频转码，也适用于任何形式的去中心化市场.
Contrats on the $8 million in Series A funding. Who are your investors? And what will you do with the capital? When do you expect to fully launch?
The series A funding for Livepeer is led by Northzone. Additional participants include Digital Currency Group, Libertus, Collaborative Fund, Notation Capital, Compound, North Island, Coinfund, and StakeZero. Also participating were video technology company Haivision, inventors of the SRT protocol and industrial encoding leaders, and Ben Rubin, founder of video applications Houseparty and Meerkat. Brightcove前首席执行官大卫•孟德尔斯(David Mendels)也加入了该公司，担任活跃的顾问.
The Livepeer network has been live for over a year. Today, developers can integrate Livepeer inside their apps 通过下载节点，运行Livepeer媒体服务器，并用以太坊为他们的账户提供资金. With the new capital, Livepeer Inc. 是否通过开发将更多视频带到网络上的产品来帮助引导对分散网络的需求, starting with a media server plugin. If you are already using a media server, you'll be able keep your existing workflow and tech stack, 只需通过插件插入Livepeer网络进行视频编码. 需要可靠的实时视频编码的工程师, on-demand, at scale, are invited to join Livepeer as a design partner. 我们提供五家公司谁加入作为设计合作伙伴与免费直播视频编码6个月, up to 100 concurrent streams.
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