Twitch is Amazon’s internet broadcasting relay service and the world’s largest Internet broadcasting platform. Twitch Korea announced at the end of September that it would limit the maximum quality to 720p. A controversy arose because most Korean users are accustomed to FHD (1080p) and even more high-definition such as 4K and 8K. As traffic increased during the pandemic period, it is also worth noting that YouTube limited the service quality to FHD (1080p). 

The biggest reason is the sending cost. SpaceX, which distributes satellite Internet around the world, was providing free satellite Internet ‘Starlink’ to Ukraine during the war until last October. However, in order to charge $3.25 million per month in addition to the $20 million fee by September of last year, the service was suspended from November 24th. This cost problem occurs in all platforms that transmit video over the Internet. 

 

Upgrading low-quality images to high-resolution without distorting the original 

GDF Lab’s AI Super Resolution technology

The technology of restoring images or videos through AI is already being used in many fields. It has become a world where it is possible to restore black and white photos to color photos through AI, or even photos that have become unknown due to physical damage. It is already applied to 4K or 8K UHD TVs that we watch every day, converting low-resolution images below FHD to high-resolution in real time. There are places where these technologies are applied to mobile phones to reduce network costs and also reduce carbon emissions. 

GDF Lab is a startup that develops and supplies AI-applied IT services and solutions, such as improving the quality of low-resolution images and videos, improving object recognition rates, and compressing and transmitting videos using AI technology. 

 

Low resolution for Internet transmission, high resolution for mobile viewing, and network cost savings of up to 80%

Mobile AI Echo Streaming App: GDFPlay

GDF Lab / CEO Jang Keong-ik says “There is no problem with high-resolution streaming service in a 5G environment like Korea, but in some African or Southeast Asian countries, the network environment is not good, so only videos of 720p or less are provided. The same situation goes to the war between Ukraine and Russia due to expensive satellite internet. To overcome this, GDF Lab developed AI Super Resolution technology as a mobile streaming VOD service that uses deep learning AI to increase and restore the resolution of low-definition video without distorting the original, and received a patent.” This technology can reduce network costs by up to 80% when streaming video. The world’s first mobile AI eco-streaming app, GDFPlay, and its service platform, which will be introduced at MWC 2023, are expected to be applicable to various business fields that provide online streaming services. 

With GDFPlay, you can reduce your carbon footprint when streaming video. GDFPlay saves energy and network data that can be wasted in a streaming environment. 

 

▲ GDF Lab / CEO Jang Keong-ik

AI deep learning image and video quality improvement platform: Pikavue

Winning Excellence Prize at CIAT Project

GDF Lab launched Pikavue, a service that uses super-resolution technology to remaster low-resolution images and videos in high-definition in 2019. Pikavue is an image and video quality improvement platform based on AI deep learning technology, which can improve image quality up to 4 times and restore them in high resolution. Noise can be removed through artificial intelligence, while details can be restored even in areas that are not clear. Even in the case of video, the video quality and resolution can be improved up to 4 times or 4K UHD (2160p). 

Pikavue is divided into a free web version of AI video quality improvement service for B2C and AI video remastering service for B2B. In the case of B2C, the world’s first web-based remastering of low-resolution images and videos to high-definition within 3 minutes. Due to these advantages, it is used in the United States, India, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, and Brazil at the moment. CEO Jang says “Currently, Internet network-related costs are becoming an issue. Global service providers are responding favorably to our solution because they can reduce network costs by more than 50%. The technology using Pikavue has the potential to be greatly utilized by various video platform companies. With the use of AI eco-streaming technology, it can be used in real time for live commerce, performances, sports and video streaming, internet lectures, remote lectures, and many more.” 

Through these technologies, GDF Lab won the Excellence Prize for its UHD content AI remastering service at the CIAT, CJ Innovated and Advanced Tech Program IR Demo Day. The company was also selected as one of the 180 most innovative companies in the field of D.N.A by the NIA in October 2022. 

권동호 기자  dongho2010@naver.com