NComputing VSPACE L300 - Manual (Page 33)

L300/L230/L130 User Manual
33
The Numo™ system-on-chip (SOC) in the L300 device and the vSpace-enabled host PC work closely
together to balance video streaming workloads. The vSpace software for the L300 features a unique
transcoding engine that can take most any media file format and transcode it for a low bandwidth
transfer over the network to the L300 client which then decodes and scales locally. This efficient
approach allows NComputing to offer low cost clients that can provide full-screen streaming video, up
to display sizes of 1920 x 1080.
The vSpace transcoding process works as follows. A streaming video file (.mp4, .wmv, etc.) is
activated from the L300 virtual desktop. The vSpace transcoding engine starts with the video that
has been decoded by the host computer and media player (and optimized with Directshow) and then
it encodes the data into a compressed video stream. This compressed video data is then sent over
NComputing’s UXP protocol to the L300 device. The Numo SOC in the L300 then decodes the data
locally and scales it to fit the screen and window resolution set in the user’s desktop. The diagram
below illustrates this process:
L300
HOST PC
Media Player
Video file on
L300 Client
(.avi, .mwv, etc)
Decoding
vSpace- Numo
Encode –
Transcoding
UXP
Encapsulation
Numo
Decoding
& Scaling
L300
HOST PC
Media Player
Video file on
L300 Client
(.avi, .mwv, etc)
Decoding
vSpace- Numo
Encode –
Transcoding
UXP
Encapsulation
Numo
Decoding
& Scaling
A key advantage of the vSpace transcoding p
rocess is that the original video file’s codec processing
takes place on the host. This allows vSpace to work with a wide variety of codecs within the PC that
may be updated from time to time. These multiple video formats using multiple codecs are then
processed by the vSpace transcoding engine into a single compressed video stream that is decoded
in dedicated hardware on the L300. This enables the L300 to deliver an exceptional level of
performance at a low cost. The transcoding process for streaming video uses compression that
removes data that will generally not be detectable by the end user. However, the standard display
graphics for normal 2D applications are extended in a separate lossless process. This ensures the
best possible user experience for all types of interaction with the desktop.
Another key advantage of this approach is that full screen scaling on the L300 does not impact the
CPU utilization on the host since the Numo SOC’s scalar capabilities handle this function locally.
The L300 virtual desktop accelerates most video formats through standard media players, such as
Windows Media Player (which is included in all current Microsoft operating systems) or Media Player
Classic (which is included in the vSpace installation).
By default, these media players only playback a limited number of media types with just a few
preinstalled codecs (coder/decoder). Most host PCs do NOT come configured for a wide range of
support for media types, so additional supported codecs can be added when setting up the host and
configuring the NComputing vSpace installation. For an L300 to stream a given file the host must be
able to stream it first. The vSpace acceleration method on the host system directs the output of the