UltraGrid 1.8. Release

CESNET and the Laboratory of Advanced Networking Technologies (SITOLA) are happy to announce a new stable release of the UltraGrid software for low-latency and high-quality video transmissions over IP networks. The current stable release is versioned 1.8 and is available for download for all supported platforms at http://www.ultragrid.cz/.

The major news in this release include:

• We have added a new Vulkan display. Vulkan® is a generation API for high-efficiency access to graphics and computing on modern GPUs. It is an open-standard, cross-platform API designed from the ground up by industry experts collaborating under the Khronos consortium. It aims to address the inefficiencies of existing 3D APIs, such as OpenGL®, which are designed for single-core processors and lag to map modern hardware. It provides a much lower-level fine-grained control over the GPU to maximize performance and achieve a consistent user experience across different operating environments. For general information on Vulkan®, and the comparative merits of Vulkan® and OpenGL®, see the official Khronos Vulkan® Web site and Vulkan® vs. OpenGL®.
• This release comes with major GUI improvements. It is now possible to run multiple instances of UltraGrid including the GUI as we have revamped the way how UltraGrid acquires the audio and video data for previewing. There are separate vuMeters for audio being sent and received. We have also added an indication of used bandwidth based on audio and video capture and compression settings as well as network latency between sender and receiver and packet loss indication.
• We have added new audio features. It is now possible to add the audio delay filter on the UltraGrid sender as well as a playback filter to monitor the audio being sent out. The Speex based audio echo canceller is also included in this release. Reed-Solomon based Forward Error Correction is available also for audio beginning with this UltraGrid release. A
• New video encoding features include improved H.265/HEVC recovery from packet drops. This UltraGrid release also includes improved svt-av1 coded compatibility.
• NAT traversal includes support for UDP hole punching for when both UltraGrid instances are behind NAT and not directly accessible from the Internet.
• Transcoding packet reflector now reuses compressed video frames for all clients using the same video compression settings. In the videoconferencing mode a composed video is automatically sent back to all participants.
• UltraGrid on Raspberry Pi 4 now supports HW acceleration.
• Other improvements include dynamic audio scaler for Blackmagic Decklink cards to eliminate internal clock drift or improved AES encryption for audio and video streams.

UltraGrid is available at Github (https://github.com/CESNET/UltraGrid/). Everyone in welcome to contribute to the UltraGrid development!

To follow the latest news on UltraGrid deployment at CESNET please check the UltraGrid Facebook profile at https://www.facebook.com/UltraGrid/ and the news at http://www.ultragrid.cz/.

To contact the UltraGrid team please use ultragrid-dev@cesnet.cz.