Amazon IVS vs AWS Elemental MediaLive: Which is better?

Global video consumption has witnessed a significant surge, and over 90% of businesses use videos. Every business aims to communicate its message to its audiences in real time, leading them to use live videos. To broadcast these live videos, live streaming is used by content creators and video publishers. 

“Nonetheless, many content creators and video publishers continue to worry about the live streaming solutions they should choose, particularly when given the choices of Amazon IVS and AWS Elemental MediaLive.”

Here’s the difference between AWS IVS and AWS Elemental MediaLive.

Parameters	Amazon IVS	AWS Elemental MediaLive
Definition	Managed live streaming solution	Live video processing service
Video Quality	Up to FHD-1080p and 60 FPS	Up to UHD-4K and 120 FPS
Interactivity	Minimum efforts are required	Requires extra effort using other media services
Latency	2 to 3 Seconds	Glass-to-glass latency up to 4 seconds
Content Protection	Doesn’t offer encryption	Offer encryption via standard methods
Workflow	Event-based workflow	Flexible workflow
Collaborative Live Streaming	Available	Not Available
Pricing	Depends on the video resolution and total duration of the video output & input.	Hourly rate for running inputs, outputs, and add-on features.

Let’s deep dive to understand and explore more about Amazon IVS and AWS Elemental MediaLive.

What is Amazon IVS?

Amazon Interactive Video Service (IVS) is a managed live streaming solution to provide low latency and real-time videos to audiences worldwide. It enables content creators and video publishers to build engaging live streams and interactive video experiences for video viewers. 

This live streaming solution can be easily used by developers by integrating it into a website or application. It can help a content creator or video publisher engage live video viewers and allow them to get a lean-forward video viewing experience.

Also Read: Everything you need to know about Amazon IVS

What is AWS Elemental MediaLive?

AWS Elemental MediaLive is a live video processing service to create high-quality streams (up to 4K). It has the power to deploy live channels within minutes. This popular Media service works with other services to deliver live broadcasts.

This AWS media service compresses a live video stream and turns high-quality inputs into smaller versions to ensure uninterrupted streaming. It lets a content creator or video publisher build 24/7 live video workflows or target event-based live streams with total control over video encoding parameters.

Some of the key differences between Amazon IVS and AWS Elemental MediaLive are given below.

Video Quality

Every content creator or video publisher consistently works to improve the brand image. It provides an edge to a business and helps to perform with better proficiency and professionalism. However, a high-resolution video helps a business drive more engagement by enhancing the user experience.

Amazon IVS only supports video resolution of HD – 720p and Full HD – 1080p along with 60 FPS or frames per second. On the contrary, AWS Elemental MediaLive enables a content creator or video publisher to stream videos in SD-420p, HD-720p, Full HD-1080p, and UHD-4k in 120 FPS.

Therefore, if a content creator or video publisher wants to live stream in video quality more than Full HD-1080p, consider using AWS Elemental MediaLive.

Interactivity

In the past few years, interactivity has gained a lot of significance, especially in live videos. Both content creators and video publishers like interactive videos as they allow them to get the highest return on investment. Moreover, having interactive live videos helps to increase the viewer’s retention rate.

Interactivity is a key highlight of Amazon IVS and it allows all the live video viewers to stay engaged with a social chat alongside live chat. This managed solution doesn’t require any content creator or video publisher to make additional efforts.

On the contrary, interactivity through Elemental MediaLive is possible using other AWS media services. Therefore, anyone with a focus on streaming interactive videos can go for AWS IVS instead of selecting MediaLive.

Low Latency

Today, it is vital for any content creator or video publisher to live stream at low latency. This low latency live streaming helps a business drive 3X more engagement of the video viewers. It eventually leads to an increase in revenue.

Amazon IVS is a simple-to-use live streaming solution that allows a content creator or video publisher to stream live videos at low latency (2 to 3 seconds). IVS manages the whole video infrastructure from ingestion to delivery to provide the best possible video viewing experience.

However, AWS Elemental MediaLive doesn’t support interactive videos, although, it is ideal for broadcasting videos. It needs to be paired with AWS Elemental MediaStore and Amazon CloudFront along with a player that supports DASH to provide glass-to-glass latency as low as 4 seconds.

Also Read: How does Amazon IVS make live streaming more engaging

Content Protection

Video piracy can cost content creators and video publishers billions. Therefore, they need to adopt content protection measures to secure their live or on-demand content. This security helps them avoid unauthorized access to their video content.

Amazon Interactive Video Service (IVS) doesn’t offer a content protection option via encryption. However, it helps a content creator or video publisher with a setup to secure access to channels by authorizing playback sessions through token-based authorization.

On the other hand, Elemental MediaLive offers a wide range of content encryption options using the Secure Package Encoder Key Exchange (SPEKE) protocol. It enables content creators and video publishers to secure content across multiple media formats using standard encryption.

Pricing

Every content creator and video publisher is concerned about the pricing of the product they choose. Here, both Amazon IVS and AWS Elemental MediaTailor are cost-effective for live streaming. 

For low-latency streaming, a content creator or video publisher needs to pay for the total duration of video input and output according to Amazon IVS pricing. Moreover, it requires a payment for the total participant hours of each connected host for real-time streaming.

Elemental MediaLive follows two pricing models (on-demand and reserved). According to the first pricing model, MediaLive charges based on hourly rates for running inputs, outputs, and add-on features. The second pricing model is less costly compared to the first one and is charged for every hour of the month for each month of the commitment period.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, Amazon IVS is an ideal live streaming solution for content creators and video publishers looking to effortlessly provide low latency live videos. It excels in simplicity of usage and speed of getting videos live. 

On the other hand, AWS Elemental MediaLive is a broadcast-grade live video processing service that is a part of the AWS Media service suite. A content creator or video publisher can choose any one of them based on their specific needs and budget.