IBC2015 review I Best of Show winners I Interview: Elisabetta Romano, Ericsson Forum, opinion, live IP production www.tvbeurope.com October 2015 Business, insight and intelligence for the media and entertainment industry
IBC2015 review I Best of Show winners I Interview: Elisabetta Romano, Ericsson
Forum, opinion, live IP production
www.tvbeurope.com
October 2015Business, insight and intelligence for the media and entertainment industry
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TVBEurope 3October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
There was a notable change in the air
in Amsterdam this year. It was evident
in the conversations taking place on
the show fl oor as much as those inspiring the
offi cial debate in the conference sessions. The
difference between the IBCs of 2014 and 2015
felt akin to the adolescence of a much younger,
nascent marketplace that is slowly riding the
growing tide of technological change into an
uncertain but promising future.
Certainly, the general messaging emanating
from the show was a more measured affair: gone
(largely) was the tub-thumping about some
mythical future technological ideal; in its place,
more tangible, practical methodology about
the hybrid ecosystem that will carry the industry’s
component verticals sensibly into the digital age.
Fran Unsworth, director of BBC World Service,
put it in palatable terms when explaining that
“the future is digital and we need to expand it,
but not at the expense of television and radio”.
The general consensus is that broadcasters will
continue to have a fundamental role to play
as we reach furthering points of advance with
technology and cultural demand, and I believe
that as long as media in all its forms remains the
preserve of the storyteller, that consensus will
always hold true.
Despite the tight turnaround between the
close of the show and our print date for this issue,
we’ve managed to bring together a variety of
refl ective insights from this year’s exhibition and
conference, and we lead with unarguably the
hottest topic of them all at present: IP.
Our forum, live production
feature and opinion
columns cover an array
of perspectives around
IP as an enabling force,
and refl ect with some
accuracy the changing
mood of the wider
market: it’s no longer about proof of concept,
it’s about proof.
It was another record event, as decreed at the
offi cial press conference where a fi gure of 55,128
visitors was announced to an expectant crowd
of industry press. It was also another resounding
success for our IBC Daily team, who once again
ploughed through an incomprehensible amount
of work during the week. A signifi cant part of
that process was Melanie Dayasena-Lowe, who
securely managed the day-to-day operations
for the fi nal time as she leaves NewBay Media to
start the next chapter in her career.
On behalf of everyone at the company,
and especially those deeply involved in the
running of TVBEurope and the IBC Daily, I’d
like to thank Melanie for her hard work and
dedication over the last fi ve years and wish her
all the best for the future.
On a fi nal note, don’t forget our TVBAwards
on the 22nd of this month when we will be
recognising the success stories in our industry.
Book your tickets now and join us for an evening
of celebration (www.tvb-awards.com).
James McKeown Executive Editor
Welcome
IBC: the industry’s future zone
EDITORIAL
Executive Editor - James [email protected] Staff Writer - Holly [email protected] - Chris Forrester, David Fox, David Davies, Dick Hobbs, John Ive, George Jarrett, Adrian Pennington, Philip Stevens, Catherine WrightHead of Digital - Tim FrostHuman Resources & Offi ce Manager - Lianne DaveyHead of Design, Hertford - Kelly Sambridge
Senior Production Executive - Alistair Taylor
Sales Manager - Ben [email protected]+44 207 354 6000Account Manager - Richard [email protected]+44 207 354 6000
Sales Executive - Nicola [email protected]+44 207 354 6000Managing Director - Mark Burton
US Sales - Michael MitchellBroadcast Media International, PO Box 44, Greenlawn, New York, NY [email protected]+1 (631) 673 0072Japan and Korea Sales - Sho HariharaSales & Project, Yukari Media [email protected]+81 6 4790 2222 Fax: +81 6 4793 0800CirculationNewBay Media, Sovereign Park, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, LE16 9EF, UK
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Printing by Pensord Press, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood NP12 2YA
Leaders unite to drive discussion on the changing media ecosystem
In this issue4 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
36 IBC Best of Show winnersWe showcase the TVBEurope category winners from the IBC2015 NewBay Media Best of Show awards programme
24Feature: IBC reviewFresh from pacing the show floor at this year’s IBC in Amsterdam, our team of writers report back on the major talking points
IP forumThis month’s forum looks at the technology that’s occupying a great many minds: IP. Philip Stevens gathers thoughts from the leading players
Interview: Elisabetta Romano, EricssonTVBEurope speaks to Elisabetta Romano, the recently appointed head of TV and media at Ericsson, about her ten years at the company and her plans to drive the business forward 48 50
Opinion and Analysis WorkflowJoshua Stinehour, principal analyst at Devoncroft Partners, examines the relationship between investor activity and industry trends
Music to IP’s ears: Philip Stevens discovers how IP technology was used for broadcasts from Glastonbury, and beyond6 20
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Opinion and Analysis6 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
This article complements the mergers
and acquisition (M&A) article from the
June issue of TVBEurope. It reviews recent
investment activity in the broadcast and media
technology sector along with the associated
trends impacting the investment environment.
Any review of M&A activity is complemented
by a review of investment activity since an
M&A event is often the necessary culmination
of an investment.
A review of equity investments in the
sector leads to several conclusions on the
state of the investor interests in technology
vendors. Moreover, investments follow market
opportunities as water flows to the sea, so
following investor activity highlights the trends
generating value for the vendor community.
Without question there is tremendous investor
interest in the sector attributable to changes in
media business models and contemporaneous
technology transitions. Investor interest,
however, is confined to vendors executing large
consolidation strategies or those benefitting from
the most impactful trends affecting the sector,
and preferably both.
Examples of investment activity supporting
M&A transactions are widespread, as M&A-
driven growth strategies are easily justified by
the tremendous cost synergies available in the
sector. Selected examples of investor activity
supporting consolidation strategies include
Spectrum Equity’s support of portfolio company
Extreme Reach’s acquisition of DG’s television
advertising assets, Riverwood Capital’s support
of portfolio company SintecMedia’s acquisition
of Pilat Media, and The Gores Groups ongoing
support of Imagine Communications’ acquisition
strategy (four deals and counting).
The changing business model of media
companies is fundamental to any investment in
the media technology sector. However, and this
cannot be overstated, it is indirectly related.
Near ubiquitous references are made to
charts from a variety of publications on the
Investing in change Joshua Stinehour, principal analyst at Devoncroft Partners, examines the relationship between investor activity and industry trends
TVBEurope 7October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Opinion and Analysis
growth of video as a portion of internet traffic,
the exponential increase in internet connected
devices, and the changing nature of video
consumption. These developments are the
cause of changes to the underlying technology
market supporting the media industry. Changing
media consumption is necessitating new media
business models requiring different technology
architectures. The media customer requirement
of different technology architectures is in turn
forcing a restructuring of the vendor community.
So the cause of changing media consumption
has the effect of forcing a restructuring of
technology vendors. Taken together with
fundamental technology transitions – such as
IP, virtualisation, and SDN – there is a structural
shift occurring in the market. This is the
investment opportunity created by new
media business models.
Firm market data points helps clarify the above
relationship. From 2012 to the conclusion of 2014,
Netflix subscriber totals went from 23.5 million
to 57.4 million, content uploaded to YouTube
went from 72 hours a minute to over 300 hours a
minute, BBC iPlayer monthly requests went from
187 million to 333 million, 4K TV sales went from
none to some (I could go on, but the point is
made). During the same time period, there has
been no growth in product sales in the media
technology sector. The source for the latter
statistic is the IABM DC Global Market Valuation
Report, which is a vendor-driven initiative to
share revenue data in an effort to produce
the most informed figures on the size of the
spend on technology product and services in
the broadcast and media industry. There is no
greater authority on industry revenues than the
actual constituent vendor revenues.
Nominal overall industry growth, unfortunately,
obscures the huge opportunities for vendors.
Aggregate figures smooth the growing segments
against contracting segments as well as growing
geographies and stagnant geographies. For this
reason, the more granular the data on segments
and geography, the more interesting, and the
more useful in making investment decisions.
Many examples of regional and market segment
distinctions are familiar. Significant technology
spending was experienced in Brazil ahead of the
recent World Cup and upcoming 2016 Olympics.
Significant pullbacks in spending have been
witnessed in Russia given currency disruptions
and the fall off in spending associated with
the conclusion of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
A general pause in spending has been
experienced in the area of transmission in the
US ahead of the pending outcome of the
anticipated spectrum auction.
‘One immediate side-effect of the inefficiency around early stage investments has been a noticeable
increase in investment activity from strategic parties’
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Opinion and Analysis8 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
Technology developments hold equal
importance for investments and again are
obscured by aggregate figures alone. Tape-
based technologies are giving way to file-
based technologies. Contraction in microwave
communication equipment is in contrast to
growth in the bonded cellular segment. In other
areas, fast growing segments such as statistical
and data services, especially around live events,
have no counter balance and are new valued
added services additive to overall revenue.
Since the ubiquitous up-and-to-the-right charts
on video growth do not correlate with industry
revenues or – I would argue – inform individual
investment decisions, what trends are referenced
by the investment community, and why?
Focusing on industry trends follows from its
importance to the investment decision. While
there are other key decision factors, an investor
is foremost concerned with future performance.
All future vendor performance depends in
large measure on the industry trends driving
technology spend over the next five to ten years.
For instance, the largest drive of technology
spend for well over a decade has been the
transition to high definition. The first industry
driver listed in the prospectus filing of Miranda
(December 2005) was the transition to HD. The
prospectus filing of Evertz (June 2006) includes
a similar list of industry drivers, beginning with
the HD transition.
Devoncroft’s Big Broadcast Survey offers an
accurate annual review of the HD transition,
along with other industry trends highlighted
by technology purchasers. On a global basis,
the HD penetration figure passed 50 per cent
during 2014 – there remains a lot of SD and
analogue. This would give certain vendors
cause for celebration, but several points are
important about the remaining 50 per cent of
the world transitioning. Price premiums between
HD equipment and SD equipment have eroded.
The organisations still transitioning have smaller
budgets and are located in less travelled areas
of the world. This means the remaining 50 per
cent of the HD transition will occur at substantially
lower price points in regions where many vendors
may not have sufficient sales resources.
The HD transition – while still important – is
declining in impact. Any investigation of the next
industry trends should begin with technology
purchasers. This is the primary source referenced
by institutional investors, and it is the same
approach taken in the Big Broadcast Survey.
The 2014 Survey Index, which lists the top
trends anticipated to affect the businesses of
technology purchaser over the next two to
three years, found that the number one trend
cited is multi-platform content delivery, which is
consistent with the aforementioned discussion of
media business models.
Recent investor activity has been
consistent with these trends. In December
2014, Elemental Technologies announced
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Opinion and Analysis10 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
a $14.5 million fundraising (bringing total
fundraising to approximately $42 million).
Referenced throughout the press release was
how Elemental’s solutions solve many of the
operational challenges associated with multi-
platform content delivery. QuickPlay Media
announced a fundraising of CAD $57 million
from existing investors in March 2015. This brought
Quickplay’s fundraising total to over $150 million
since 2003. The press release announcing the
fundraising refers to bringing efficiency to multi-
platform content delivery through the scale
of its managed services platform. Many other
fundraisings such as Clearleap’s $36 million of
fundraising and Kaltura’s approximately $135
million echo the technology requirements
enabling multi-platform content delivery.
Citing alignment with industry trends allows
technology vendors to reframe discussions
with investors away from – inherently limiting –
discussions of current market size. Narrow views
of the size of the immediate addressable market
for existing products or services for multi-platform
content delivery would not support fundraising
levels of the aforementioned.
Large, high profile financing transactions are
the exceptions proving the difficulty in raising
funds in the sector. The fundraising challenge is
highlighted in the relative lack of venture capital
activity for earlier stage vendors in the sector.
This is attributable to the maturity of the industry
and its relative small size versus other technology
verticals. Because of these characteristics,
investments in industry technology vendors
are necessarily smaller in order to align with
reasonable expectations around exits: usually
M&A events.
Venture capitalists want several times the
original investment back at the time of exit. An
investment of $20 million in an effort to sell into
a $100 million market segment is foolish. Such
a deliberately extreme example highlights the
broader point: Many high-profile venture capital
firms have raised funds requiring investments of
large sums of money, which are not justified by
reasonable exit expectations in the sector.
For this reason, the majority of earlier stage
investments in the sector have occurred at
more modest funding levels better aligned with
the market sizing realities. Some might argue
this inefficiency around smaller financings in
the sector creates a greater opportunity for
investments in earlier stage businesses. After all, a
dollar of return on a ‘small’ investment is of equal
merit to a dollar of return on a ‘large’ investment.
Aframe, Dejero, TVU Networks, and Volicon
are all examples of industry vendors having
raised more modest amounts of capital from
institutional investors to support initial business
expansion. Such an approach – to the extent
practical – allows for much greater flexibility on
eventual exit. The way the math works, every
dollar decrease in the initial investment is more
valuable than a dollar increase in the exit. Said
differently, every additional dollar invested
requires more than one dollar created in the exit.
One immediate side-effect of the inefficiency
around early stage investments has been a
noticeable increase in investment activity
from strategic parties – in this context media
companies, IT companies, or large industry
vendors. For similar reasons, media customers
and IT companies have a vested interest in
fostering new technology suppliers for the
professional media use case. Neither is keen
to build and manage specialised internal
business to focus on a market segment
outside of its core operations. There are
several examples. iStreamPlanet has received
investments from Juniper Networks, Intel Capital,
and Turner Broadcasting. In its recent financing
Elemental Technologies had participation from
Telstra and Sky Europe. Kaltura’s $50 million
fundraising in 2014 included participation from
the venture capital arm of Nokia. Harmonic
made strategic investments in Vislink and
encoding.com during 2014. The recent launch
of CBS All Access benefited from technology
provided by Syncbak, a technology vendor CBS
made a significant investment in during 2013.
‘Notwithstanding the activity of strategic investors, the most active investors have
been private equity firms’
TVBEurope 11October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Opinion and Analysis
Notwithstanding the activity of strategic investors,
the most active, and most visible, investors have
been private equity fi rms. These fi rms focus
investment activity on already established
companies having achieved an appropriate
size and requiring capital to accelerate growth
through critical milestones.
Examples of private equity investments are
plentiful across the technology segmentation.
Private equity fi rm HgCapital became the new
owner of visual effects software provider The
Foundry in early 2015. Data service provider STATS
received new ownership in 2014 when
Vista Equity Partners made a controlling
investment in the former Fox Sports subsidiary.
Well known private equity fi rm The Carlyle
Group made a $50 million investment in 2012
in Vubiquity, a media service provider for
content distribution. There are many long-
standing investments by private equity fi rms
such as Mentha Capital’s investment position in
infrastructure provider Axon Digital Design.
Since private equity fi rms tend to invest in more
mature companies already generating profi t, the
opportunity exists to use debt to enhance equity
returns. Given current, attractive interest levels
and wide debt availability, private equity fi rms
often take full advantage of this opportunity.
Every dollar of debt equates to a dollar less of
equity – which again is more valuable than a
dollar gained at the exit.
Irrespective of the use of debt, similar
observations apply to later stage investments on
the need to align with industry trends. Institutional
investors are not fools: interactions with investors
at trade shows will confi rm this observation.
Investment decisions are informed by rather
exhaustive investigations of the sector beginning
with an examination of industry trends and
alignment of these trends to relevant
market segments. Technology vendors
constructing an investment thesis solely on
oversimplifi ed observations – more content,
more devices – are unlikely to entice
substantial investor interest.
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If we discount the significance of what has
happened to the industry in recent years and
look back at previous decades, words such
as evolution and revolution would rarely be used
to describe changes in this sector. Yet, when we
think about the enormity of the move to IP, it has
shaken the entire broadcast infrastructure to the
core and will change the workings of the industry
both now and in the future.
The IT driversAccording to the latest IABM DC figures, the
professional broadcast and media industry is
valued at $49 billion, a fraction of the value
of the globe’s IT and telecom industries.
Subsequently, these industries have more
money to invest in R&D, so it is no surprise that
technological advancement in the IT industry
can be capable of outstripping what can be
achieved in the broadcast and media industry.
Traditionally, IT technology was not
appropriate for specialised broadcast
infrastructures, however advancements in
processing power, storage and networking
Opinion and Analysiswww.tvbeurope.com October 2015
The winding road to IP infrastructures
By John Ive, director of technology and strategic insight, IABM
12 TVBEurope
TVBEurope 13October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Opinion and Analysis
capabilities have paved the way for its
gradual introduction and today’s solutions
can now satisfy many of the needs of the
broadcast and media industry.
It makes sound financial sense for the broadcast
and media industry to exploit technological
developments wherever possible.
Rather than effectively reinventing the
wheel, it has become much more cost
effective to ride on the back of the IT
industry’s investment in R&D.
Flexible infrastructuresWe have reached a point where there is
now such a proliferation of formats that we
need an infrastructure to be less rigid and
easily adaptable to cope with those different
formats. Historically, with each major change
in format, broadcasters would have
developed a new infrastructure. If we look
at the amount of investment ploughed
into global infrastructures in light of the shift
from SD to HD, it is easy to see why it doesn’t
add up financially to reinvest and recreate
a new infrastructure each time a new
format comes along.
Change in formats is also happening far
more rapidly, with 4K/UHD on the horizon
and potentially 8K, it is placing even greater
importance on flexible infrastructures.
The fact that IT technology is independent
of any specific video format makes it very
attractive. The industry now has a neutral
platform for video data and it is the
software that determines which format
it is working in.
In terms of hardware, broadcast and
media specialists only have to invest once
and they can handle multiple formats with
that investment. This is far more difficult to
do in the traditional bespoke broadcast
and media world where we use
interconnects such as SDI/HDI.
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‘The professional broadcast and media industry is valued at $49 billion’
Broadcast budgetsTraditional investments in infrastructure involved
large capital expenditure and this proved to be a
challenge for companies to plan for and budget.
The ability to have an infrastructure based upon
an annual revenue expenditure rather than a
large irregular capital expenditure is particularly
appealing to today’s cost conscious industry.
The IT industry is very familiar with this financial
approach, with limited upfront costs and the
recurring payments associated with outsourcing
and cloud models.
The shift to servicesIABM DC’s latest figures covering the 2014-
15 period showed that 54 per cent of total
broadcast and media revenues ($25.6 billion)
came from services. Symptomatic of the growing
trend towards IT technology and outsourcing,
for the first time in its history these figures indicate
the industry is seeing more money being spent
on services than hardware. The broadcast and
media industry is evolving, and is increasingly
becoming a service based industry. The research
also showed that the top four global companies
benefitting most from this shift are Cisco,
Microsoft, HP and Dell in line with the investment
trend from capital purchases to outsourcing, and
bespoke hardware to IT hardware.
The greater emphasis on services and support has
also prompted a profound change in the vendor
community, which is restructuring itself from
being black box technology providers to service
providers. In addition, the systems integrators
are having a tough time redefining their business
models away from margins on hardware
orientated systems to becoming software
integrators where they have to encourage
customers to pay for consultancy.
Buying cyclesTechnology buyers a decade ago were
purchasing replacement boxes with large
engineering groups and there was a strong focus
on optimising the quality of video. The structural
shift means traditional boxes are no longer being
replaced at the end of their depreciation cycle.
End users and technology buyers are looking for
agile technology infrastructures and to a certain
extent quality is being taken for granted as there
is a greater emphasis on creating content and
a stronger focus on what audiences want. In the
past, IABM noted an expenditure cycle of four
years: expenditure peaked and dipped during
this period partly as a result of various high profile
sports events. Today, that cycle is diminishing,
and hardware is only being invested in if it cannot
be replaced by more generic IT technology.
The futureThis structural shift marks the first stage of transition
in broadcast technology from bespoke high
value hardware-based proprietary solutions to
open system architecture and flexible software
defined solutions. In the future, we’ll see a world
where software will define the infrastructure
and methodology, networks will be virtual,
automation will reside and simultaneous multiple
format playout will be delivered from the cloud.
This does not mean less expenditure, the industry
is growing and more content is being created
and consumed on multiple devices. It looks like
the broadcast and media industry better get
used to the words revolution and evolution and
take advantage of the new opportunities.
Opinion and Analysis14 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
‘IABM DC’s latest figures covering the 2014-15 period showed that 54 per cent
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I am lucky enough to travel to many
broadcasters to talk to them about where
they see the direction of television technology
in the near future. It is clear that IP is the top
talking point at the moment. But this brings both
challenges and opportunities.
There is a widespread acceptance that IP-
centric systems using commercial off the shelf
(COTS) hardware can be adopted already.
The most obvious and immediate opportunity
for IP is playout, although we are seeing inroads
in many other portions of the broadcast facility.
The people I talk to see a natural move
towards IP and, ultimately, virtualisation. They
are comfortable with this, they see the
advantages, and are not concerned by
the prospect of complexity.
The real area where media professionals show
concern is in the core infrastructure of a station
or a production centre due to the requirements
for handling signals in real time. Perhaps
surprisingly, it is another technology challenge
which seems to be driving this for many people.
Regularly I am told that they need to have the
capability of handling 4K signals, even if they are
not yet sure why.
While 4K/UHD resolutions can be handled by
existing baseband technology, the requirement
for HDR and HFR support in the future, together
with advancements in other areas, such as
compression with TICO and Sony IP Live, have
them re-thinking how the facility is designed.
And so the IP infrastructure comes into the
conversation. This implies a seismic shift in the
broadcast industry. The core of the infrastructure
in the future will not be a broadcast router, but
a high bandwidth, enterprise-class Ethernet
switch controlled by broadcast-specifi c IP
routing software.
The move to the enterprise switch puts
the broadcaster onto the technology curve
governed by Moore’s Law, meaning that port
prices will drop even while port speeds increase.
This brings a distinct advantage to the facility
once the move to IP has been initiated. It is
an advantage that is expected to last for the
foreseeable future.
IP switches, however, are not broadcast
devices. Achieving the level of performance
we expect means another layer of technology.
Broadcast vendors will move to delivering
monitoring and control, which will orchestrate
the pure IP equipment on the next layer down.
For the operators in broadcast centres, this
transition must take place with little disruption
in their current workfl ow. The architecture has
to look and feel like it used to. Under the hood
there are software-defi ned networking and
Opinion and Analysis16 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
Open standards are criticalto an eff ective IP transition
By Glodina Connan-Lostanlen, vice president of strategic solutions for playout, networking and distribution, Imagine Communications
‘It is clear that IP is the top talking point at the moment. But this brings both challenges and opportunities’
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Opinion and Analysis18 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
orchestration layers, which must not be visible to
the user. This leads to two linked conversations
around what is happening at the IP layer.
First, how do we handle compression?
Second, how does it co-exist with other signals
in our infrastructures?
I am not talking about delivery compression.
That is not something we have much say in.
The consumer electronics manufacturers, from
televisions and set-top boxes to smartphones and
tablets, dictate delivery compression.
What I am thinking about is a new concept
in broadcasting. Up until now, we have always
handled perfect signals. SDI is full bandwidth
– ignoring the colour sub-sampling – and we
have never had to consider anything less than
perfection because there was no alternative. As
we move down the path towards UHD and UHD-2,
we must now consider the overall bandwidth
requirements together with the signal path (wire)
requirements and how that will impact all facets of
operations within the facility.
If we are moving IP signals around, we can
more freely mix uncompressed and compressed
signals, taking advantage of available bandwidth
and more flexible signal paths than previously
available. We can also freely mix wrappers and
compression schemes in the same architecture,
and indeed through the same switch.
So now we have the opportunity to make value
judgements about each signal path. We can
choose – on a signal-by-signal basis, if we want
– how we balance image quality, latency and
bandwidth. As the enterprise-class switches get
faster, we gain more signal density, and greater
operational freedom, while reducing complexity
at the physical infrastructure level. To bring us
back to where I started, we can decide how we
handle 4K signals which may be different to what
we do with HD. Our infrastructure is, therefore,
inherently future-proofed, because if someone
comes along with something new – maybe higher
dynamic range, or greater frame rates – then
we just determine how many bits a second we
want to allocate to those signals and put that
in a look-up table. The system is virtually infinitely
expandable.The second half of this conversation is
how much bandwidth is enough. Already we are
having serious conversations about 100 gigabits
a second. We know how to do this. Even now,
this is practical. The one thing that does need to
be determined before we move into this great
new future, though, is that we need to establish
standards. Broadcast engineers are going to want
to choose best-of-breed point products in the
future, just as they do now. IT manufacturers just
want to sell their switches, and this requires the
broadcast vendor to move towards that position
of greater operational management. In effect,
they must make the enterprise hardware of
today, as well as future tomorrow, act like the
broadcast systems we are familiar with but with
greater freedom of operations, more flexibility
in routing, and more agility in how we add new
technologies to the network.
It is clear that the future, IP-centric infrastructure
will be format agnostic. We need it to be open
and standards compliant. That way, broadcasters
will feel confident in bringing together COTS IT
hardware, best of breed processing and software-
defined monitoring and control to build the
secure, reliable infrastructures of the future.
‘The people I talk to see a natural move towards IP and, ultimately, virtualisation.
They are comfortable with this, they see the advantages’
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The broadcaster’s viewThis year’s Glastonbury festival saw more than
30 hours of coverage across a variety of BBC
outlets. Alongside the live programming on the
‘traditional’ channels, the Corporation continued
to build on its digital offering by providing
streaming in HD for the first time. So, what were
its considerations when it comes to the use of
encoders and IP technology? “It’s all about
managing the IP network for broadcast,” states
BBC News location engineer, Geoff House, who
along with Phil Cannon managed that side of
the Glastonbury operation. “Packet loss, jitter
and network outages have to be avoided at all
costs. We worked hard to design and deliver a
network with redundancy and flexibility which
is capable of carrying audio and video streams
24 hours a day. We also had to deploy extensive
onsite network monitoring to make sure any
potential problems were caught before they
affected output.”
House says that software video encoders
are now on par with hardware based systems,
enabling broadcasters to take advantage
of the scalability and affordability offered by
commodity hardware.
“Taking a standards based approach during
our Glastonbury coverage enabled us to
quickly scale up our live broadcast capability
using existing hardware, delivering into current
infrastructure, without having to compromise
the quality of our output.” He reports that the
standards based approach worked well. “SMPTE
2022 FEC in particular enabled us to cope with
the vast majority of packet loss. For future events
it’s likely that we’ll look to develop the use of
ARQ and adaptive encoding techniques to
further guarantee the quality of our output.”
Drawing on expertiseHouse and his colleagues were able to draw on
extensive experience already gained through
the BBC’s early adoption/development of
IP based newsgathering workflows for both
breaking and major events news coverage. “This
has enabled us to share our expertise with other
areas of the BBC and further develop the use of
IP for the coverage of large-scale sporting and
Philip Stevens discovers how IP technology was used for broadcasts from Glastonbury, and beyond
Workflow20 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
when audio mattersnatural sound – in the home
www.jungeraudio.com
Glastonbury broadcast areaPart of the broadcast compound at the Glastonbury Festival
It’s music to IP ears
TVBEurope 21October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Workflowmusic events.” House continues, “Conventional
transport means will have an important role
to play for some time to come, but IP offers
significant advantages, in particular the delivery
of multiple services in a more cost-effective way.
In previous years, our Glastonbury teams have
required on site connectivity as well as a sat
truck for each red button/iPlayer feed. This year
we were able to use a higher bandwidth IP link
to provide local connectivity services as well as
a scalable HD broadcast capability. Looking
ahead this enables our production teams to start
being more creative in their coverage whilst
reducing our onsite overheads going forward.”
IP has changed the way audiences are able
to consume content, and in order to further
enrich this, it’s important for broadcasters
to start taking advantage of the same IP
technologies in the delivery of content from
the field. “Investment in both our skills base and
infrastructure are key to this, with staff training
and recruitment, in particular,” states House. “The
development of cross platform teams conversant
in video, networking and software engineering
will be key to our success going forward.”
The encoding side“We provided the BBC with six of our OBE C-100
encoders to transport high quality HD broadcast
feeds over IP from six stages to London, marking
the first on-site IP delivery at Glastonbury,”
states Kieran Kunhya, managing director of
Open Broadcast Systems. “These feeds were
then used on the web and connected
Red Button services.”
London-based Open Broadcast Systems
specialises in using off-the-shelf servers in high-
quality, low-latency video contribution and
distribution applications. Based on the Open
Broadcast Encoder (OBE), the servers provide
cost savings as well as providing flexibility in
contribution applications.
High quality audioThe brief from the BBC, says Kunhya, was to
deliver software that could be used to transport
feeds from Glastonbury in the highest possible
quality. “As far as I know the C-100 is the only
contribution encoder that is available as purely
software and as a result has a lower cost
compared to traditional hardware alternatives.
If the hardware – Intel server plus a Blackmagic
capture card – already exists, then an encoder
or decoder can be rolled out very quickly. We
have customers who have put services on air
using servers they have received at the last
minute.”Audio quality is paramount when it
comes to events such as these, so how does
Kunhya meet that challenge? “Ideally we’d
send higher quality audio, but the reality is it’s
easier to send the lowest common denominator
of 384Kbps MP2 audio which is high quality and
universally supported.
“In the past, audio contribution codecs were a
case of ‘pick two from low-latency, high-quality,
low-bitrate’, but we now support Opus
which allows you to have all three with test
results indicating that it has higher quality
(and lower latency) than legacy codecs such
as AAC. The specification for Opus in MPEG-TS
was developed with Mozilla and is a registered
format in MPEG-TS.”
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Pixels Lines Frames 10b 4:2:0 (Gbps) 10b 4:2:2 (Gbps) 10b 4:4:4 (Gbps) 12b 4:2:0 (Gbps) 12b 4:2:2 (Gbps) 12b 4:4:4 (Gbps)
7680/8192 4320 120 60 [8] 80 [8] 120 [16] 72 [8] 95.5 [16] 144 [16]
7680/8192 4320 60 30 [4] 40 [4] 60 [8] 36 [4] 48 [8] 72 [8]
7680/8192 4320 50 25 [4] 33 [4] 50 [8] 30 [4] 40 [8] 60 [8]
7680/8192 4320 30 15 [2] 20 [2] 30 [4] 18 [2] 24 [4] 36 [4]
7680/8192 4320 25 12.4 [2] 16.6 [2] 25 [4] 15 [2] 20 [4] 30 [4]
7680/8192 4320 24 12 [2] 16 [2] 24 [4] 14.4 [2] 19 [4] 29 [4]
3840/4096 2160 120 15 [2] 20 [2] 30 [4] 18 [2] 23 [4] 36 [4]
3840/4096 2160 60 7.5 [1] 10 [1] 15[2] 9 [1] 12 [2] 18 [2]
3840/4096 2160 50 6 [1] 8 [1] 12 [2] 7.5 [1] 10 [2] 15 [2]
3840/4096 2160 30 3.7 [1] 5 [1] 7.5 [1] 4.5 [1] 6 [1] 9 [1]
3840/4096 2160 25 3.1 [1] 4.2 [1] 6.2 [1] 3.7 [1] 5 [1] 7.5 [1]
3840/4096 2160 24 3 [1] 4 [1] 6 [1] 3.6 [1] 4.8 [1] 7.2 [1]
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The BBC had satellite back-up plans in place
for Glastonbury, but the encoders performed
reliably, allowing the delivery of seven 15Mbps
HD streams back to Broadcasting House. These
were delivered to BBC MediaCity in Salford via
broadcast circuits for distribution out to viewers.
Good experiencePrior to Glastonbury, Open Broadcast Systems
provided encoders for The Hay Festival in Wales.
This also involved an IP connection in a field: two
paths at 30Mbps each. Alongside cultural events,
the company has been involved with IP projects
from the Shetland Islands during the Scottish
Referendum and the British Basketball League
finals from London’s O2 Arena.
“The broadcasts from the Shetland Islands are
an excellent illustration of how IP can be used
to deliver broadcast-quality live or recorded
material,” says Kunhya. “Broadcasters may be
reluctant to send a satellite vehicle and crew
to remote venues because of distance. In the
case of the Shetlands, it also lacks services such
as 4G which would normally be used to deliver
footage back to base.”
However, Shetland has one distinct advantage:
it is located on the SHEFA-2 fibre optic cable
between the Faroe Islands and the mainland
and thus has direct connectivity to Telehouse
London, where all the major broadcasters have
a presence. This makes the connection better
than those in major cities on the mainland since it
involves only a few hops.
At the Mareel entertainment centre in Lerwick, a
100Mbitps connection was available and having
built an OBE Community Edition themselves to
prove the concept, the engineers there used an
OBE C-100 device to encode the 1080i/25 HD-SDI
feed into a low-latency H.264 in MPEG-TS over
UDP unicast stream. SMPTE-2022-1 Forward Error
Correction was used to correct packet loss on
the link. After running tests to BBC News and Sky
News to prove the link was stable and the picture
quality met stringent quality standards, the feed
was ready to use.
Meeting expanding needsFor its part, Open Broadcast Systems has
recently unveiled a new headquarters facility
in Vauxhall, London.
“We’ve based it in a purpose-built teleport,
and the new facility provides us with space for
corporate expansion, as well as providing a
showcase for software video transport over IP in
an actual broadcast environment.”
The HQ has nine racks of datacentre space
available, along with a steerable C-band dish
and two Ku dishes. Diverse fibre paths are also
available allowing Open Broadcast Systems
to present a wide range of services such as
broadcast co-location and other video transport
means. It also provides for R&D improvements to
be tested, and then deployed in the real world
within minutes. Open Broadcast Systems also
plans to set up facilities in its offices for testing
devices remotely.
Workflow22 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
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Despite IP being routinely used in
broadcast centres and mobile facilities
for functions like content management,
browsing, metadata flows, stats integrations and
file movement, the live environment seems the
last area of the broadcast chain to adopt IP for
end-to-end workflows. The industry is now making
a strategic initiative to close the loop.
“Early adopters like those in sports, with the
financial means and the need for ultra-fast and
responsive live remote production, are paving
the way for others,” said Nicolas Bourdan, SVP
marketing, EVS.
Among the pioneers are NFL broadcaster
ESPN which opened its Digital Center 2 facility
last summer housing a 9,000sqft studio, six
production control rooms, four audio rooms,
40 cameras and 16 edit suites all IP networked
around a Evertz routing core. In contrast to the
performance of a typical baseband router which
can handle about a couple of thousand signals
at a time, ESPN’s set-up allows it to handle up to
60,000 signals simultaneously over nearly 1,100
miles of fibre optic cable installed in the facility.
It won the IBC Innovation award for Content
Management. Another well regarded reference
site is America’s Pac-12 Networks. It covers 850
sports events a year by sending the cameras,
mics and commentators to site but doing all
production remotely, using T-VIPS and Nevion
links to transmit talkback and telemetry to and
from venues up to 2,500km. Doing so saves an
estimated $15,000 per game or $13 million a year.
At IBC, Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo claimed
the first all-IP 4K outside broadcast truck. The
unit, being built for Rio 2016, will be outfitted with
Sony HDC-4300 cameras - IP connected through
the CCU, Sony’s IP Live switcher and IP-ready
monitors. The router will be off-the-shelf IT kit. “It
doesn’t make any sense to create a brand new
truck based on SDI any more, so we are taking
the chance to develop an IP-based OB
truck for sport,” explained Raymundo Barros,
TV Globo’s CTO.
Nonetheless, there’s a general feeling that
IP technologies inserted into live production
workflows at studios or venues need to mature.
Live is fraught with on-the-fly changes: a
late breaking news story with satellite link, for
instance, or a director requiring a camera
alteration at a track and field event. The risk
of on-air black holes or a missing commercial
makes for cautious adoption.
For CTOs, the heart of the matter is whether
trust in the deterministic, virtually fool-proof
signal integrity of SDI can be matched by
IP. Will resolutions, frame rates and audio be
synchronised all of the time? And how is control
over IP to be managed and monitored by
broadcast engineers unschooled in IT?
SMPTE standard 2022-6 goes some way
to address this. It is devised to mirror SDI by
synching video over IP in real time, and provide
reassurance in workflow and operational
monitoring for broadcast engineers. Reproducing
current SDI workflows over IP is the first solution
but it does not unlock the full potential of IP by
offering seamless switching between AV and
metadata streams. SMPTE, the EBU and others
are working on a new standard (2022-7) which
may be published later next year.
“When properly implemented and managed,
IP technologies for media distribution can match
the quality and latency standards required
by the broadcasting industry today,” stressed
Bourdan. The reality, though, is that if you want
to deploy IP across the chain you have to install
a lot of conversion hardware. That’s due to the
broadcast equipment vendor’s historic need for
lock-in solutions and it has to change.
“Interoperability is the key, and adhering
to industry standards is important to ensuring
success,” said Ewan Johnston, sales director at
Trilogy. “Customers will need to choose between
those vendors who provide standards-based
systems, but who really still want to deliver
proprietary systems, and those who genuinely
embrace the standards-based approach and
have open systems in their corporate DNA.”
IBC showed an industry prepared to make
unprecedented technical cooperation. The EBU
corralled manufacturers Axon, EVS, Genelec,
Grass Valley, Nevion, Trilogy and Tektronix
to support its Sandbox LiveIP project which
highlights resource sharing, remote production
and automation. It implemented an IP studio
at Belgium broadcaster VRT, replicated in
reduced scale on the IBC floor and is a landmark
achievement in interoperability by using SMPTE
2022-6/ AES67 and PTP to transport feeds over a
software defined network.
“The IP studio gives us an opportunity to
think of new ways of making content,” said
Simon Fell, EBU director of technology and
innovation. “VRT has built a world that can
work. Now, manufacturers need to adopt new
ways of interfacing their equipment to that
world and give us the flexibility we are looking
for. At the moment there is a lot of transcribing,
re-packaging and re-streaming going on to get
things across the network.”
In a conference session discussing the project,
Geir Bordalen, head of investment at Norway’s
NRK said, “It’s not all hooked together and that’s
one of the problems with interoperability. We
need to work hard on that and gain the benefits
of working together.”
Panasonic and Grass Valley, competitors
at any other time, declared an IP-based
production partnership. Panasonic studio
cameras including the Varicam now have a
built-in module for IP and were demonstrated
working with a Grass Valley K2 server sending 4K
50p via network connection.
“Factors such as codecs, synchronisation,
identification, registration, discovery and
connection management are required for
The transition to IP in live and studio environments is underway but the evolution will be gradual, not a big bang, writes Adrian Pennington
Industry acts on interoperability
Feature24 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
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Feature26 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
professional networked media,” explained GV
senior VP, strategic marketing, Mike Cronk. “Each
of them must be a common implementation for
a truly interoperable system.”
Sony has amassed the support of 20
companies for its Live IP production system.
Among them is Evertz whose software-defined
video networking was shown working with Sony’s
Networked Media Interface (NMI) at IBC. The NMI
turns HD and UHD video, audio and metadata
into packets, transmits and clean-switches in
real time over standard network infrastructures.
Collaboration is also occurring between
broadcast specialists and the IT industry. As part
of its multi-vendor IP4Live approach, at IBC EVS
showed its new XiP gateway enabling I/O IP links
to its live video server, demonstrated multi-feed
live remote production using Cisco’s standard
IP switches. SAM (née Quantel and Snell)
previously joined forces with Cisco to
demonstrate video over IP.
EVS was arguably the busiest vendor
in highlighting its open, standards-based
credentials. “What we’re talking about is the
last frontier for IP,” said Johan Vounckx, SVP
innovation and technology. “IP4Live will lead
and guide customers to real cost and flexibility
benefits.” The Belgian firm was part of Gearhouse
Broadcast’s demonstration of VoIP remote
production in which the EVS DYVI switcher on
Gearhouse’s booth was shown cutting together
4K camera signals from the Hitachi stand. It was
an upgraded version of the group’s demo in
June which routed HD over IP.
“This is a proof of concept in the migration
from HD to 4K and highlights the benefits that
remote production through IP infrastructures
allow broadcasters,” said Kevin Fitzgerald, head
of systems and product sales at Gearhouse
EVS (yes them again) further allied with
Imagine Communications to forge what Imagine
CEO Charlie Vogt called a “market-ready”
package for IP live production.
“We are aggressively going after the live news
and sports market,” he declared. The solution
marries EVS’ slo-motion and instant replay servers
with Imagine’s Selenio processor and Magellan
multichannel management software.
A fly in the ointment in all this cross-vendor
sharing is the lack of standards (or the
proliferation of them). This is notably the case
for compression and in particular for 4K/UHD
which requires implementation of a particularly
low latency scheme. Options include the
open source VC2 JPEG2000 and Sony’s Low
Latency Video Codec which it is promoting as a
successor to SDI because of the lead Sony took
in making SDI the industry standard. Too many
codecs at different points would prove costly
to licence so the unification of tools using them
will require a very open approach between
manufacturers.
Imagine has put its weight behind J2K and
expects others to follow. “The evolution of
standards will accelerate around successful
technologies being deployed by the largest
global companies,” said Vogt. “DirecTV, Disney
ABC, Fox Networks are all adopting SMPTE-2022
and J2K so you will see smaller companies begin
to adopt those.”
Sony Europe’s head of workflow and IT Niall
Duffy made a similar point, suggesting that
the de-facto standard will be the one that
gains most market acceptance the quickest.
“All vendors are keen to make the IP transition
REVIEW
TVBEurope 27October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Feature
happen. There is concern that we have to wait
until every single standard in the pipeline has
been ratified which will be far too late for the IP
revolution to happen as it should.”
Many vendors have their eggs in more than
one basket. EVS and Imagine support J2K but
have also backed the TICO Alliance joining
Grass Valley, Matrox, Tektronix, Deltacast and
others. IntoPix, the company which devised the
mezzanine compression is submitting a draft to
SMPTE. “We wanted to make it a standard for
enabling interoperability and to be open, so
we’ve been discussing ways of using it across
the studio IP and SDI sector with first adopters,”
said product marketing manager, Jean-Baptiste
Lorent. It is working on a preliminary spec for 8K
over 12Gb SDI or over 10Gb internet using TICO.
Interoperability is also the focus of the AMWA
Networked Media Incubator (NMI), launched
at IBC. “This is about getting a group working
together around IP for media,” said AMWA
executive Brad Gilmer. “Then we get the people
who make the products and incite them to work
together.” BBC R&D will lead the initiative with
Ericsson, SAM, Telestream, Cinegy, Dalet, Sony
and others. “Interoperability does not mean
trading down on ‘best of breed,’” said Gilmer.
“Media clients and systems integrators want
to pick and choose the best option to make a
solution work. Interoperability is the key enabler
of best of breed.”
Vendors are at least united in giving customer’s
an on-ramp to the IP transition, one that protects
existing investments. Broadcasters will want to
sweat their installed assets of copper cabled
cameras, vision mixers, monitors and routers while
judging the right time to re-equip. Manufacturers
on the other hand, including Sony, SAM, Grass
Valley and Panasonic, have reworked their
product lines to fit IP interfaces side by side with
SDI connectors and are encouraging sales today
to future-proof investment.
“Our hybrid IP and baseband strategy enables
broadcasters to invest in the systems that they
need to grow their businesses now, in the
certainty that they can transition to IP when
their needs dictate,” explained SAM’s EVP
marketing Neil Maycock.
Imagine’s product manager for the Magellan
SDN Orchestrator Paul Greene added that
“the whole concept of a hybrid architecture is
to have everything look and feel like a router
because the operator needs to walk up to a
control surface and do everything they need to
in their day to day business.”
The tipping point may come as broadcasters
time their adoption of IP with a move to 4K. The
economic argument is simple: a 10Gbps Ethernet
cable can transmit much more efficiently and
cost effectively than traditional cabling.
“Every point where you might have a camera
really needs to have a 10Gb switch,” said TSL
managing director, Chris Exelby. “A busy area
on a network might be the video mixer on a
live production, which would certainly require
a 40Gb or even a 100Gb switch. This is neither
commonplace nor inexpensive technology.”
Technology is moving extremely quickly.
Imagine says it is already testing pipes of 40GbE
and 100GbE. Costs are high, but Moore’s Law
dictates that capacity will expand while costs
reduce.
“Right now IP studios are in the pre-natal
stage,” said Fell of the EBU. “They are still not fully
born, but they are coming.”
REVIEW
Feature28 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
Advances on the visual side have been
such in recent years that the last few
editions of IBC have been dominated
by discussion of, in particular, UHD and related
technologies. But IBC2015 witnessed something
of a rebalancing, with debate about immersive
or enhanced sound and AoIP generating almost
as much excitement as talk of 4K or HDR.
The immersive audio trend can in part be
perceived as recognition that, with the quality
of visual reproduction constantly improving,
the audio experience must somehow keep
pace. Whatever the case, technologies that
aim to bring the home and cinema viewer even
closer to the action were thick on the ground at
IBC2015: Dolby with its groundbreaking Atmos
technology; Genelec with an immersive audio
room that featured a configuration based
around Dolby Atmos and its own Compact
SAM (Smart Active Monitors) products; Lawo’s
new KICK system, designed to allow a fully-
automated, close-ball audio mix for sports
such as football and rugby; and Fraunhofer
IIS and other partners in the MPEG-H Audio
project, which enables enhanced services to be
provided across different platforms.
Calrec collaborated with Fraunhofer at
IBC2015 to demonstrate how MPEG-H can be
integrated easily into a broadcast chain. “The
MPEG-H Audio standard can be integrated quite
simply with existing broadcasting equipment
just by adding a MPEG-H Audio rendering and
monitoring unit. For Calrec, it’s important to work
Immersed in innovationNew developments in enhanced audio technologies and the continued rise of AoIP dominated the sound story of IBC2015, as David Davies reports
REVIEW
TVBEurope 29October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Feature
with technology companies who are involved
in other areas of the industry to help ascertain
the operational implications from a console
operator point of view,” says Calrec vice
president of sales Dave Letson.
Such link-ups underline Letson’s assertion that
“the story of the show was one of cooperation”
– and in Calrec’s case, this also included an
integrated Waves SoundGrid solution for its
Hydra2 platform of consoles. More generally, it is
clear that cooperation continues to underpin the
rise of networked audio to universal prominence.
Networking’s onward march“Clearly, one of the most discussed topics at
IBC was connectivity and integration,” says
Harman’s marketing director, mixers, Keith
Watson. Accordingly, IBC show visitors “were
able to experiment with some of our Harman
Professional integrated solutions at the booth,
including JBL speakers, AKG microphones and
headphones, Soundcraft and Studer mixers, and
AMX control solutions.”
In terms of networking techniques, Harman
is maintaining a ‘network agnostic’ approach:
and there was plentiful evidence elsewhere on
the showfloor of other manufacturers working to
accommodate as many different protocols as
possible during this extended period of transition
from point-to-point connectivity. Meanwhile,
there were several significant announcements
surrounding the networking technologies
generally felt to be leading the field at present.
In the case of Audinate’s Dante, these
included Bel Digital’s launch of Dante audio
monitor the BM-A1-64DANTE; SSL’s System T, a
fully networked broadcast audio production
environment with new ways to combine control
interfaces, processor cores and I/O devices; RTS
KP-Series and key panels with Dante connectivity
in all three models; and Jünger Audio’s Dante
Audio over IP interface card to network all
Junger Audio Slim Line digital audio processors.
Audinate itself announced that more than 500
Dante-enabled products are now available from
licensed manufacturers worldwide.
Reflecting on the show, Riedel product
manager Ramon Pankert says that “the wide
variety of new technologies, standards and
products gives broadcasters plenty to think
about. In the networked audio world, trends like
AES67, AVB and Dante are all competing for
adoption. Our aim as a solutions provider is to
minimise the confusion by delivering flexible and
future-proof products and interfaces that will
work today and in future.”
In line with this philosophy, Riedel solutions
showcased at IBC2015 included MicroN, an
80G media distribution network device for
the MediorNet line of media transport and
management solutions. Working with the
MediorNet MetroN core fibre router, MicroN is a
high-density signal interface with a complete
array of audio, video, and data inputs and
outputs, including 24 SD/HD/3G-SDI I/Os, two
MADI optical digital audio ports, a Gigabit
Ethernet port, two sync reference I/Os, and eight
10G SFP+ high-speed ports.
‘Resoundingly positive spirit’Business-wise, there were perhaps fewer
headline-making stories than in recent years,
although Linear Acoustic did confirm that
Minnetonka Audio Software had joined the
Telos Alliance through a merger of the two
companies. The united companies will combine
their expertise in all aspects of television audio
from production to transmission, as well as radio,
streaming and more.
With the days after IBC2015 concluded
bringing the news of record attendance (55,128
visitors in total), the centrality of the show to
vendors’ annual trade show calendar remains
unquestionable. “From our point of view, the
most significant thing was the attendance and its
positive views on the market,” says Watson. “This
was manifested in a couple of ways; firstly, we
had great numbers at the booth from all areas
of broadcast and live production; secondly, the
spirit was resoundingly positive. The ultimate test,
of course, is whether businesses are looking
to invest or hold off spending, and we were
pleased with the number of enquiries and new
projects that we picked up. If those trends were
felt across other manufacturers it bodes well
for the future.”
Sennheiser’s head of commercial
management, broadcast and media, Achim
Gleissner, is among many others who spoke to
TVBEurope to highlight the positive mood at
the show –although the good reception given
to new wireless dual-channel camera receiver
EK6042 and the fact that Sennheiser is currently
in the midst of its 70th anniversary must surely
have added to the glow. “For Sennheiser it was
a great success in our anniversary year,” says
Gleissner. “Lots of traffic, new products, a well-
received booth concept and happy customers.
What more can one ask for?”
“The story of the show was one of cooperation. Calrec made several
announcements at IBC which are the result of collaboration with leading
industry partners” Dave Letson, Calrec
“Clearly, one of the most discussed topics at IBC was connectivity and integration,” Keith Watson, HarmanRiedel at IBC2015
REVIEW
IBC2014 was, by general agreement, mostly
a 4K show. This year’s IBC was most definitely
an Ultra HD show with stand after stand
showcasing how wonderful UHD looked and with
many exhibitors saying how their technology,
gadget, or gizmo helped get the impressive
images to the consumer.
IBC also saw a slew of UHD channels launched
including offerings from US space agency NASA,
a German shopping channel (pearl.tv), an all-
new entertainment channel (Insight), Fashion
One moving into 4K, and reports from satellite
operators SES and Eutelsat who both said that
UHD was achieving “steady momentum”.
Ferdinand Kayser, COO at SES, summed up
the optimism prevalent across the industry,
saying that 2015 has seen a significant
breakthrough with the number of channels
either on air or about to launch. “Demos,
content, high-technical standards, devices
and the delivery infrastructure are now falling
into place,” he added.
This represented a “virtuous circle” for
UHD, and there would be two phases for
UHD’s introduction. The industry was already
in Phase 1 with more pixels, better codecs and
a larger field of view. But this would be followed
by Phase 2, starting in 2017 with “better pixels,
higher dynamic range (HDR), a wider colour
gamut (WCG), higher frame rates (HFR) and
better audio”.
However, those much-needed ‘better pixels’
were also creating a major headache for the
standards bodies. Panel after panel at the IBC
Conference sessions bemoaned the apparent
slowness of consolidating standards to reflect
HDR, WCG and HFR. Nandhu Nandhakumar,
SVP at LG Technology, summed up the position
saying that the success of 4K sales, whether
LCD or now in OLED, in the retail sector has
caught the industry by surprise. “The studios,
networks, infrastructure vendors…they have all
been caught out. [The recent] IFA show in Berlin
proved that HDR and UHD in general were the
hottest of hot topics.”
He said perhaps it was the problems with 3D
that meant the industry was too cautious. “The
pace of change, and adoption by the public [of
UHD], is extremely rapid.”
Dolby Labs’ executive director Pat Griffis
agreed, saying that at CES [in January 2016]
there would be another flood of high-end
displays showcased which would add another
set of parameters to the mix and claim
‘compatibility’ with HDR, WCG and possibly even
HFR despite a lack of agreed standards for most
of these aspects.
Matthew Goldman (SVP, technology, TV
compression at Ericsson) said there was now a
body of opinion that suggested that HDR+, a
catch-all description for HDR and WCG would
not see implementation much before 2017-18,
and even 2019-2020 when 100/120Hz frame rates
were included. “This means there is a very real
risk of incompatibility unless we all work together.
There is a strong desire to have these standards
understood and established by the end of 2016.”
The EBU’s David Wood summed up the
dilemma faced by many broadcasters,
especially publicly-funded players. He said
broadcasters wanted to know three key facts:
“What differences can I see; will this boost my
audience, and how much will it all cost?”
He said as at today it was extremely difficult
to give any positive answers. “Most European
public broadcasters want a whopping step-
change for UHD.”
Waiting for this UHD step-change is also creating
a problem for most of Europe’s pay-TV operators.
Already facing 4K pressures from the likes of
Netflix and Amazon Video (which both now
include HDR on some their output) the pay-TV
consensus seems to be to wait for these quantum
leap improvements to be available.
Andy Quested, the BBC’s head of technology
for UHD, said that creating a single ‘all-
embracing’ standard was a huge challenge.
Quested is chairman of the ITU-R’s RG-24 panel
of experts, and is trying to politely knock heads
together to come up with a single standard to
cover technology proposals from Dolby, Japan’s
NHK, Philips and Technicolor. “You cannot have
a standard with four options. What we are trying
to do is merge the proposals into a document
with a single proposal but with one or two
applications,” said Quested, speaking at IBC.
“OETF is essentially how you set a camera up,
and EOTF is how you set up a display. We are
looking at trying to combine the signal path
into something called an OOTF (Opto-Optical
Transfer Function). If we can get a single
definition of an OOTF the camera can be
what’s called ‘informative’.”
“Fundamentally I have to get everybody to
agree,” said Quested. “It is not about putting
one system against another and making a
decision. It is about putting up a proposal that is
not objected to by any administration. Any ITU
standard is agreed worldwide, which means it
Feature30 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
IBC2015: UHD still faces challenges from HDR+
From show floor to conference sessions, the talk of this year’s IBC was distinctively around UHD, writes Chris Forrester
‘Most European public broadcasters want a whopping step-change for UHD’
REVIEW
TVBEurope 31October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Feature
takes a long time to ratify. But the standard then lasts
a long time and the industry will build to it.”
While these discussions are proceeding, it is also
clear that displays, with or without the ability to
handle HDR+, are being bought by consumers like
‘hot cakes’. Eutelsat presented the very latest GfK
research data on UHD sales at IBC, saying that GfK
predicts a striking 200 per cent hike in Ultra HD screen
sales from June to December 2015. It expects sales
to hit the five million mark by the end of this year
(3.6 million in western Europe, 700,000 in eastern
Europe and 600,000 in the Middle East), representing
9.3 per cent of all TV sales in 21 key markets in these
regions. Accumulated sales will result in a potential
installed base of 6.2 million TV homes by the end
of the year. And while all these discussions, hopes
and anticipations are taking place, the Japanese,
with their 8K ‘Super Hi-Vision’ also showcased
their latest wares at IBC, and confirmed that 8K
transmissions would be tested in 2018. NHK is on
schedule for widespread deployment in time for the
2020 Tokyo Olympics. The rest of the world can only
hope that a common standard for UHD will have
emerged by then.
REVIEW
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According to a study published by
Research and Markets in July, the global
satellites market will grow at a CAGR
of more than five per cent in the coming years.
Certainly, there was excitement about the future
at IBC2015 among the satellite community.
Eutelsat, for example, was enthused by the
opportunity it believes HDR represents. The
company took the opportunity in Amsterdam
to feature a special demonstration – with the
help of BBC R&D and Samsung – showing that
the broadcast and reception of HDR TV signals is
compatible with existing TV sets.
“We are convinced that HDR will be the next
step in the evolution chain of TV sets,” said
Michel Chabrol, director, innovation marketing
and digital cinema. “Most TVs today have a
peak brightness of around 100 nits, whereas the
peak brightness of an HDR television is around
1,000 nits: representing a tenfold increase in
the brightness of the highlights on the screen.
There’s no doubt it’s a substantial improvement,
delivering more realistic and engaging Ultra HD
pictures for the TV industry and broadcasters.
As a key infrastructure provider, it is essential
for us to support all the players to help them
maximise the opportunity presented by this new
viewing experience.”
Technology evolutionThe theme of evolution was also apparent on
ETL Systems’ stand. “As the broadcast industry
advances rapidly, technology must also evolve
to keep up with the changes,” noted Andrew
Bond, sales director. “Our products evolve as
the industry changes and we pride ourselves
on that flexibility and ability to respond quickly.
The RF equipment that ETL supplies, such as
our RF switching matrices, is designed to be
expandable. This means that our kit can be
upgraded as teleport requirements grow, with
system expansion handled seamlessly to ensure
TVBEurope 33October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Feature
Consumers are demanding more, which means broadcasters are demanding more. How is the satellite industry responding? Ian McMurray was at IBC to find out
‘The global satellites market will grow at a CAGR of more than five per cent in the
coming years’
Satellites on anupward trajectory at IBC
REVIEW
Feature34 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
minimum downtime. We embrace the challenge
of designing new products for shifting industry
needs, with 70 per cent of our largest orders
in 2015 specially engineered to meet specific
customer requirements.”
ETL Systems products showcased at IBC
included the Stingray RF over Fibre range,
the new Piranha LNB Power Supply units and
advancements in its Enigma Matrix range.
According to the company, StingRay’s high
performance design offers excellent module to
module isolation, making it ideal for high isolation
applications. Downtime is said to be minimised
by dual redundant, hot-swap power supplies
and hot-swap power supplies. The range now
includes 1+1 and 4+1 redundancy configuration
options, providing additional resilience for uplink
and downlink transmissions. There was, inevitably,
much discussion of the role of the cloud at this
year’s IBC. Globecast was highlighting its
Media Factory platform, which is the company’s
cloud approach to handling and preparing
content for distribution.
According to the company, it enables
customers to provide content to Globecast once
and then have that delivered to linear playout,
OTT and VoD platforms as required. “Media
Factory breaks down the traditional siloed
content preparation workflows for
different distribution approaches or regions,”
said Valéry Bonneau, media management
product manager.
As part of its overall Media Solutions offering,
Globecast was also showing its localisation
and edge playout, VoD packaging, OTT and
creative services offerings.
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‘If the satellite industry at IBC is anything to go by, there are certainly exciting times
ahead’Ali Zarkesh, Vislink Kevin McCarthy, Newtec Micghel Chabrol, Eutelsat
REVIEW
TVBEurope 35
Feature
Multiple formats, multiple screens“As a media solutions provider
we’re no longer just supporting
linear channels with playout and
delivery services,” continued
Bonneau. “Increasingly, our business
is about getting content out in as
many formats and for as diverse
screens as consumers demand,
ensuring it reaches the widest
possible audience. Globecast is
always looking at ways to help
broadcasters get the best value
from their content.”
For Newtec, IBC provided the
opportunity to discuss with satellite
operators and service providers how
it believes Newtec Dialog can help
them adapt to new trends, including
HTS and multiservice.
The company debuted
Newtec Dialog 1.2, an updated
version of its multiservice VSAT
platform. According to Newtec,
its technologies guarantee the
highest efficiencies and most flexible
bandwidth allocation capabilities
across multiple markets.
“Our engineers achieved this
through breakthrough innovations
like Mx-DMA, a patented return
link technology that combines
the flexibility of MF-TDMA with the
performance of SCPC,” explained
Kevin McCarthy, VP of market
development. “Of course, Newtec
Dialog still provides the option to run
in either SCPC or MF-TDMA modes,
for applications that require it.”
Delivering more for lessAs with most businesses today, the
broadcast industry is faced with
constant pressure to deliver more for
less, McCarthy noted.
“Customers expect high
resolution 4K video and on-demand
programming, but don’t want to
pay more. Newtec Dialog can
help broadcasters address these
economic challenges by maximising
the efficiency of next generation HTS
satellites and increasing automation,
thereby reducing OPEX and
improving customer experience.”
On show on the Vislink stand
were its new HD and 4K UHD
UltraCoder and UltraDecoder,
which the company believes
are ideal for satellite and
electronic news-gathering.
“We’ve tried to keep things as
simple as possible for broadcasters,”
said Ali Zarkesh, VP, product
management. “Not only do they
work with Vislink’s current DVE
and IRD series products, but they
also have the same graphical
user interface, meaning less
training for operators and an
easy upgrade path.”
Vislink was also showcasing
the HEROCast wireless HD video
transmitter. It is said to be small
enough to be worn or mounted, to
bring viewers immersive new angles.
“HEROCast is not only the lightest
HD micro transmitter on the market,
but also consumes up to 50 per
cent less power than its nearest
competitors,” averred Zarkesh.
“Broadcasters must continue to
innovate if they are to stay ahead of
the game,” he added. “HEROCast
has already been used to transmit
unique perspectives and angles at
this year’s NHL playoffs, as well as
the summer and winter X Games,
and we expect to see it improving
the viewing experience for millions of
people at other high-profile sporting
events across the globe.”
If the satellite industry at IBC is
anything to go by, there are
certainly exciting times ahead.
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Feature36 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
This year’s NewBay Media Best of Show awards programme saw an unprecedented number of nominations, as companies from across the industry put forward their products, software, and technologies for consideration. Our independent panel of roving judges visited each and every entry to get the lowdown on the submitted products, and ahead of our IBC2015 Best of Show digital edition, we showcase the deserving winners in the TVBEurope category
IBC2015 Best of Show winnersREVIEW
TVBEurope 37October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Feature
ADB
Connected SolutionsADB launched its Connected Solutions at this year’s IBC to enable operators to maximise the opportunities presented by the connected age. Today, operators need to overcome challenges created by a fragmented media ecosystem, disparate industry standards and rapidly changing consumer expectations, and ADB’s new range of application specific software solutions are designed to deliver compelling connected experiences that today’s consumers crave.
Personal TV delivers seamless TV experiences across devices, allowing consumers to enjoy their favourite content across PCs, laptops, set-top boxes and mobile devices. At its core is the award winning Graphyne TV, a complete software suite that streamlines the process of managing and delivering TV and video content. The solution unifies access to all content types, including broadcast, on-demand and OTT delivering a seamless TV experience.
Personal IoT manages and unifies connected and smart home applications, helping consumers to run their lives more smoothly. Applications include home automation, enabling consumers to manage their lighting, heating and energy consumption via a smartphone or remote control; home monitoring, which allows consumers to safeguard their homes and receive updates via email or SMS; and ambient assisted living, which offers support for the elderly in their daily routines.
Judges comments“A lot of people are talking about IoT as a potential revenue stream for operators and how it can be addressed, but ADB’s vision is probably the most compelling, and it seems to have the technology to support the vision”
ASPERA
Aspera FilesAspera Files is a new SaaS offering by Aspera, an IBM company, which transforms large content sharing and collaboration across all storage locations – on premises and in the cloud. Media organisations can establish a branded web-based presence for the exchange and delivery of file-based media, combining multiple cloud and on-premises storage platforms. Aspera Files is designed to transform content sharing and collaboration by eliminating the complexities of large data sharing with exchange of the largest (4K) media formats, digital cinema packages (DCP) and associated metadata.
Offered as a service, Aspera Files can be deployed and configured quickly and easily, eliminating the hassle of complex network setups and cloud resources provisioning, but is also able to handle sophisticated deployments and complex workflows connecting multiple cloud platforms and on premises storage systems. Web User Interface is a simple and intuitive user experience within a customisable, company-branded web application
that includes, amongst other things, direct-to-cloud technology supporting direct cloud-storage I/O to all major cloud platforms including SoftLayer, AWS, Azure, Google, Akamai and Limelight enabling the fastest file uploads and downloads and key transfer management features such as pause, resume and encryption over the wire and at rest. Judges comments“Essentially a clever file manager for media files. Has lots of API links, and could be a serious force in promoting cloud based workflows”
Feature38 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
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REVIEW
BLACKMAGIC
DaVinci Resolve 12 DaVinci Resolve 12 combines professional non linear video editing with an colour corrector, allowing post production professionals to edit, color grade, finish and deliver a feature all from one system. Version 12 delivers more than 80 new features for editing and colour grading, including a new modern interface, multi-camera editing tools, media management features, an entirely new professional audio engine, shot matching, 3D keyer and 3D perspective tracker.
The new multi-camera editing feature of DaVinci Resolve Studio lets editors cut programmes from multiple sources in real time. DaVinci Resolve 12 can synchronise camera angles based on timecode, audio waveforms, or in/out points. The source monitor displays a grid containing the camera angles and plays them all back in sync while the editor makes cuts to the audio and/or video. In addition to multi-camera editing, DaVinci Resolve Studio also features several enhancements to the core editing tools. All trim modes, multi-slip, slide, ripple and roll have been extended and editors can now select multiple points for dynamic trimming and asymmetric trimming of clips, even if they’re on the same track. New transition curves let editors create and edit custom curves for transition parameters and new on-screen controls let editors see and adjust motion paths
directly in the timeline viewer.
Judges comments“Incredible that something that would probably have cost an ‘arm and a leg’ is now given away for free. Certainly an impressive product”
Gold TS Protection is a new technology designed to make monitoring for digital services quicker to set up, and fault-tracking faster, more accurate and secure. Developed by Bridge Technologies, Gold TS Protection includes all the checks specified in the ETR290 standard, as well as testing for critical conditions missed by ETR290. Conditions like failures of the conditional access system, errors in the programme guide, and unintended language changes seriously affect subscribers, but standard monitoring systems based only on ETR290 do not raise any alert for these conditions. Services protected by Gold TS Reference catch these ‘ETR290-legal’ errors and provide an assurance
for operators of digital media services. Two of the most time-consuming and inefficient areas in media monitoring are the calibration of the monitoring system, and fault-tracking. Calibration is normally a long-winded process requiring a lot of operator input and expertise, and very few people in the industry fully understand all the intricacies of ETR290. ETR290 calibration involves the setting of hundreds of detailed criteria and alarm parameters for them, and it has to be repeated for each stream.
Judges comments“The broadcasting industry is losing skilled, experienced people to attrition/retirement. Bridge has recognised this problem, and has encapsulated some of that useful knowledge in Gold TS, enabling relatively inexperienced people to achieve similar results. An innovative solution to a real problem”
BRIDGE TECHNOLOGIES
Gold TS Protection
BLT
BLT SportTouchBLT SportTouch is an integrated production suite aimed at sport production, integrating the main unit BLT VideoServer for acquisition and playout (including all features for live slow motion), the control panel and the innovative tablet style based RUS-TAB.
The latest improvement to BLT SportTouch system is the dual clip operation, that allows for simultaneous synched playback of two clips from Server and dual control from the tablet panel. The two clips can run in sync with frame accurate run (to be used, for example, to highlight the same action from different angles) or as independent (to be used, for example, to run and compare two different actions together).
The RUS-TAB is connected to the BLT VideoServer through an IP connection (can be wired or wireless) and can be used by replay operator or by the on-air talent to comment and highlight during sports action, as well as other events.
The server is ‘simulcasting’ the content on full quality (for the playout channel) and in proxy quality to the RUS-TAB unit for the on-air talent. The RUS-TAB feature Video Server control as main point, with dual clip player and also zoom and lens effects. More graphical features are under development for enriching programme comments or highlights creation.
Judges comments“Controller for clip playback designed to run on a tablet, intended for use by talent. Very well thought out product that gives sports commentators the opportunity to have direct control of playback (plus lots of other functions)”
TVBEurope 39October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Feature
Far beyond a simple replication of existing infrastructure
and media workflow, Dalet xN solutions exploit the new
business and technology possibilities brought about through
the advancement of cloud, virtualization, dynamic scalability
and hybrid on/off deployments: expanding opportunities and
increasing the effectiveness of the media economy.
find out more visit xn.dalet.com
step into
REIMAGINE THE MEDIA ENTERPRISE
BROTHER BROTHER & SONS Pipeline SystemThe new Pipeline LED System is an expandable array of modular, cylindrical fixtures, customisable to suit specific requirements.
The lightweight Pipeline System provides soft, projected light that is fully controllable and dimmable, with no colour shift or flicker and a TLCI rating in the high 90s. Whether installed in a multi-lamp reflector bank or deployed in a single reflector, Pipelines provide pleasing output for modelling faces and illuminating backgrounds. They offer the advantages of low power draw, high light output (more than 1000 lumens per foot of length), 180-degree light dispersion, heatless and fan-less operation, and long lamp life. The cylindrical lamps, available in 3200K, 4300K and 5600K colour temperature output, can be used in a bi-colour arrangement mixing different colour temperature Pipes (lamps) to achieve desired colour temperatures.
Pipelines come in a cylindrical form-factor of 1-inch (25mm) diameter, and lengths of 1’, 2’, 3’ and 4’ (305mm, 610mm, 914mm and 1219mm). The Pipes can be utilised individually in their own metal base or fit into one, two, and four-Pipe reflector housings for each length. Pipes snap into the housings via magnetic locks on each end. Unlike standard LED lights, where phosphor is applied directly onto the Light Emitting Diodes, BBS Pipes utilise a separate phosphor layer, positioned away from the LEDs, providing brighter, higher fidelity light emission. And by not having the phosphors bonded directly to the LEDs, it does not receive the heat damage that leads to inconsistent colour over time, which is inherent in traditional LED fixtures.
Control is provided by in-line dimmers on the 1’ and 2’ Pipelines. A 4-channel Smart Controller can drive the 1, 2, 3 and 4-foot Pipeline fixtures. The Controller automatically senses the length and individual colour temperature of each Pipe. Additionally, the Smart Controller provides full DMX 512 in and out for control of the full lighting package. Accessories such as wireless control from tablet or phone, cable remote, stack-controllers, snap grids, snap boxes and more will be available in the near future.
With a low draw of just under 10W per foot of Pipe, the system may be powered from standard AC outlets 100-240V 50-60Hz, or will work off of V-lock and Anton/Bauer style 14VDC batteries.
Judges comments“Light, compact, innovative, multi-purpose remote phosphor light source (TLCI=98, according to BB&S). Spans from single-source ENG or in-studio news applications to flood studio lighting”
Feature40 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
REVIEW
COBALT DIGITAL
+TTS technologyCobalt Digital’s +TTS technology is a complete 21CVAA text-to-speech generation/audio insertion solution for embedded or discrete audio/video systems. +TTS is a software option available for many Cobalt Digital card models using the 20-slot openGear frame architecture and is also available for the many of the BBG-1000 Series of Desktop Standalone Signal Processors.
+TTS interfaces with industry standard Windows Share folder systems to receive non-proprietary text, XML, or similar plain text files, and converts and inserts realistic human-voice audio into user-configured audio channels (typically an SAP channel pair intended for this playout).
+TTS allows for prioritisation based on the organisation’s discretion (for example, severe weather alerts out-prioritising school closings).
Alert tones are ducked in on the main program channel to alert the visually impaired that emergency content is to occur on the SAP channel. Alerts can be played a configurable number of times, and alerts with higher priority can interrupt current lists for breaking news. Once the interrupt message is broadcast, +TTS automatically reverts to normal audio programming. The English-language speech engine is standard, with advanced engines available as expansion options. Cobalt Digital has partnered with the Text-To-Speech industry experts at the Acapela Group in order to provide the best solution available for meeting our customers exacting technical and artistic requirements.
ENENSYS
AdsEdgeThe vast majority of viewers the world over access television content via free-to-air terrestrial TV and DTT is continuing that trend. Furthermore, TV and digital advertising are predicted continue to dominate the market, accounting for the largest share of revenues, according to a recent report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. This presents a huge opportunity to broadcasters.
ENENSYS has addressed this with its latest AdsEdge solution, a content localisation and monetisation solution specifically for DTT networks. The system enables broadcasters to monetise their content, offering an innovative approach to local video content management.
AdsEdge is way of generating additional revenue from existing output through the insertion of local content. It enables the last-mile injection of localised content – be that adverts, local news or local weather reports – as close to the viewer as possible, which means broadcasters can more effectively maximise the opportunity presented by DTT.
AdsEdge is specifically aimed at translating this opportunity into additional revenues, extracting the maximum amount of revenue from existing DTT infrastructure. It has been designed using a modular framework.
Judges comments“Interesting twist on DAI challenge as applied to regional terrestrial broadcasting. Especially relevant in Europe and Africa, and can generate major new ad revenue streams to broadcasters by substituting ads in between regions”
Today’s sports fans want to be as engaged as possible with their team, their sport or their game. This can be done through unique broadcasts, VoD content or social media interaction.
Broadcasters today know that there’s more to a sports broadcast than simply placing ten cameras around a pitch and showing these pictures to fans. Now whether they’re in or outside of the stadium, there’s no reason why fans shouldn’t be involved in the broadcast of their favourite sports. EVS’ C-Cast technology is a tool for broadcasters to engage with their sports fans, create more brand loyalty, and generate more revenue opportunities. The cloud-based multimedia platform integrates with onsite live production infrastructure for the
delivery of live and near-live content directly to the mobile users inside and outside of the stadium. C-Cast enables the delivery of instant replays, highlights analysis and even live content streams straight to fans. The technology is now being used in many live productions. In May 2015, EVS partnered with EE to deliver content to fans inside Wembley Stadium during the FA Cup Final. The FanCast solution – a bundle system which features C-Cast, an XT3 media server and IPDirector content management suite – took key moments from the game and distributed it to a mobile app specifically developed by EVS partner Intellicore.
The SEA Games’ organisers (SINGSOC) also partnered with EVS in June of this year to deliver a multimedia production service for the international multisport event held in Singapore. The solution included a delivery platform that distributed multimedia content to an iOS and Android mobile application.
EVS
C-Cast
TVBEurope 41October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Feature
GRASS VALLEY GV Node GV Node offers multi-purpose IP processing, vertically accurate switching and IP aggregation of up to 144x144 video signals and 4,608x4,608 audio signals per node. GV Node is the most important signal management product in Grass Valley’s Glass-to-Glass IP solution as it delivers multiple signal processing and monitoring functions that glue the entire solution together. It provides IP and SDI I/O (up to 144x144), as well as MADI I/O, audio de-embedding/embedding and monitoring including multiviewing and signal probing.
The built-in, highly scalable multiviewer uses industry proven Kaleido technology. GV Node is designed to be future proof with respect to currently changing industry signal formats and standards, currently supporting both SMPTE 2022-6 (HD) video- over-IP and 4K one-wire using TICO compression.
One of the most important differentiators of the GV Node is the broadcast-centric vertically accurate switching capability within IP. This is critical because broadcasters have been concerned with the effectiveness of commercial- off-the-shelf (COTS) IP switches for live applications, due to their inability to perform vertically accurate switching like traditional SDI routers. This is important in live applications where signals go directly-to-air, and routers have traditionally been used as a back-up to the production switcher. Switching that happens accurately within the vertical interval is also needed when a router is used for connecting secondary live feeds.
The GV Node distributed platform topology is designed to uplink to aggregation COTS IP switches, using a “spine – leaf” architecture that’s typical of modern IT infrastructures. This topology represents a scalable and flexible approach.
GV Node’s distributed scalable architecture means that broadcasters can start building their IP infrastructure with a small system, and grow quickly and linearly as their needs change.
Judges comments“A very impressive piece of hardware, but what most caught my attention was how Grass Valley is supporting its customers’ requirement to reflect what’s going on in the IT industry as broadcast moves increasingly in that direction”
Feature42 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
REVIEW
LIVEU
SoloLiveU has brought its broadcasting expertise to the online media market, by launching its new ‘Plug and Play’ Solo live streaming bonding solution at market price. Designed to fit with web streaming workflows, LiveU Solo connects automatically to Wowza Streaming Cloud, a cloud streaming service offered by Wowza Media Systems, as well as other popu-lar CDNs, OVPs and YouTube Live. Solo can be managed and controlled remotely via a web interface or smartphone. LiveU Solo offers the cloud streaming solution based on LiveU’s field-proven bonding technology, ten industry patents, and integral LRTTM (LiveU Reliable Transport) protocol. Optimised for video performance, Solo delivers solid video streams by using LRT’s integral adaptive bit rate and forward error correction technology. On the trans-mission side, and as part of the overall streaming solution, this small, encoder is available in a single channel streaming configuration or with premium full bonding capabilities.
In discussions with its customers, LiveU saw a growing need for a professional-grade live video product for the online media market. The company’s goal is to offer a simple in-tegrated solution to sports and other vertical markets, which is much more powerful. Now,
everyone can start streaming at an affordable price.Working in close collaboration with Wowza, LiveU Solo
is aimed at any live online media production looking to improve their viewers’ experience.
LiveU owns the patent for cellular bonding used today for remote news gathering in the US and in other coun-tries. All LiveU products are based on this fourth-genera-tion patented technology.
Judges comments“Live video streaming to any network. Portable, rugged, reliable: great partner to GoPro cameras”
LSB
theWALLtheWALL is a software tool for setting up and controlling multiviewers. L-S-B With theWALL users can configure monitor walls, route signals, change monitor layouts or save and load their own presets. theWALL can be used by operators and EIC to configure monitor walls in OBs or studios, and enables the teams on production to change their monitor wall layouts fast and on-the-fly. theWALL is a software based tool that can integrate with the most common multiviewers found on the market. Instead of learning the software for several specific multiviewers or asking the EIC to change a layout, users of theWALL can change all kinds of multiviewers with just one tool. The product consists of software that talks directly to the multiviewers and a GUI for mobile control. The GUI runs on a HTML5 basis, thus being independent from any mobile device manufacturer. The users can run the software app on any device possible, indifferent of its OS – iOS, Android, Windows, Linux. On this touch-based GUI all major functions are available and can be triggered via drag and drop. With the slogan “Multiviewer Control made smart”, theWALL is designed to offer benefits to its users in terms of efficiency, time-saving and
usability as well as user management.Key features of theWALL are:
Easy change of multiviewer layouts. Routing of signals via simple drag and drop. Automatic calibration of multiviewer resolution and
aspect ratio. GUI based on HTML5 – platform independent. Save and load presets from database.
Judges comments“This is very unique, and is going to really change the way people work. Potentially ground-breaking”
12G-SDI as a 4K production format represents a challenge for product design that requires supporting test equipment to be available, initially for manufacturers. Omnitek’s designs at these speeds with its consultancy clients has led to a knowledge of the issues that affect signalling at 12Gbps and to the development of a sensitive and accurate piece of test equip-ment.The Omnitek Ultra 4K Tool Box provides a suite of tools for the analysis conversion and generation of Ultra HDTV and
Digital Cinema video signals in all current formats up to 4096x2160/60, helping manufacturers to design products and enabling broadcast engineers, networks, telcos, outside broadcast units, systems integrators and researchers to build, test and commission UHD and 4K systems.
The Ultra 4K Tool Box offers of a variety of connection formats - multi-rate SDI, HDMI and DisplayPort 4K - for both video source and display. Conversion between cable and image formats allows operation in multi-format video environments, while SDI physical layer analysis features enable system designers to rapidly locate sources of signal error in all paths up to 12G-SDI single link 4K/60Hz.
OMNITEK
Ultra 4K Tool Box
Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, contributes to the world of acquisition and replay with the LDX 4K/6X HD switchable camera, the LDX 86 Universe, in tandem with the K2 Dyno Universe Replay System. With the LDX Universe and K2 Dyno Universe, broadcasters can now own an acquisition/replay solution that supports HD, 4K or 6X acquisition without having to change workflows or go over-budget. This introduction serves to democratise extreme-speed and 4K acquisition/replay. The combination of the LDX 86 Universe/K2 Dyno Universe provides creative freedom without requiring additional costs. What once was considered technology
only for ‘specialty’ positions can now be applied to standard replay and camera chains. With the combination of LDX Universe and K2 Dyno Universe, HD camera and replay positions can now become extreme-speed or even 4K positions with
access to any shot, from any angle, during any production, at the same time, requiring neither additional positions nor crew.
The LDX 86 Universe offers format flexibility with the same high sensitivity and dynamic range performance in all formats, with the same speed. Utilising Grass Valley’s proprietary Xensium-FT CMOS imagers, this new camera delivers picture quality in 4K and 6X. The LDX 86 Universe can be used in any camera position where a 1X, 3X or 6X camera is required. This includes the ability to switch the camera from 4K 1X operation to HD 6X extreme-speed operation on-the-spot.
Judges comments“Very impressive hardware, but it’s the business thinking that compels. With the licensing behind these products, GV obviously understands what it takes to help customers succeed with very flexible and ad hoc arrangements possible such that you ‘buy’ only what you need, when you need it”
GRASS VALLEY
LDX 86 Universe/K2 Dyno Universe
TVBEurope 43October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Feature
PHABRIX LIMITED
PHABRIX Qx seriesThe PHABRIX Qx was nominated due to its suitability for broadcast manufacturers who need a comprehensive toolset for both analysis and generation of video signals with up to 48 Gbps payloads and importantly provides 12Gbps eye and jitter analysis.
The key to the Qx is the toolset that includes sophisticated timing, video status and data view instruments. Eye and jitter analysis is important for those early adopters of UHDTV1 and UHDTV2 and it is here that the Qx excels for engineers having a unique physical layer proposition.
Having specialised in providing physical layer analysis on its other test and measurement products, PHABRIX has, in the Qx, a true multi-rate eye and jitter solution for 12/6/3/1.5 Gbps.
This real-time eye technology meets or exceeds the performance of that found in very expensive oscilloscope solutions usually far out of reach of many broadcast R&D budgets.
The platform too has been specified to such a high level that when Phase 2 standards of UHDTV become available, the Qx is set to provide support for HDR, WCG, HFR and object orientated audio technologies.
One of the features still under development, but part of the Qx solution is its support
Clearly this is the first application of the technology that was only been developed for release at IBC2015. Designed as an engineering product, the Qx for manufacturers allows the rapid development of new UHDTV products.
PIKSEL
Piksel VoyagePiksel Voyage is a flexible entertainment app designed for commercial passenger travel that offers a seamlessly integrated content experience across a range of devices. Rising consumer expectations mean that on-board entertainment is no longer regarded as a luxury, and exclusive to the long-haul flight.
Travellers want an entertainment service to be part of their basic offer. Yet, despite the proliferation of personal entertainment devices, more than half of passengers travel without any on-board entertainment and those travelling with commercially operated air, sea or land carriers are often inhibited by a lack of connectivity, high data charges, or lack of access to a library of digital content.
Piksel Voyage is dramatically improving the consumer travel experience, giving travel providers an unprecedented opportunity to differentiate their services and generate additional revenue.
Taking advantage of the growing BYOD trend, Piksel Voyage gives customers the option of downloading video content of their choosing onto their own personal devices when they purchase their travel ticket. The traveller’s chosen entertainment will then become available to view on his/her personal device once the journey begins and is no longer viewable upon arrival at the destination, ensuring that industry licensing agreements are respected.
Judges comments“Great twist on OTT challenge as applied to low-cost airline in-flight entertainment. In use with Transavia”
Feature44 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
REVIEW
QUICKPLAY
Next Gen Managed Video PlatformQUANTUM
Q-Cloud Archive public cloud storage serviceWHILE THE cloud is clearly transforming traditional IT strategies, it has, until now, played a limited role for organisations with complex data-intensive workflows, including the production and distribution of high-resolution video. These demanding workflows require reliable, secure, high-performance infrastructure that is tightly integrated with applications, and few cloud offerings offer these guarantees. What’s more, the inherent latency of the cloud and the significant costs that can arise in accessing large amounts of data in the cloud can create challenges for customers in managing what data is stored there.Rather than treat the cloud as a passive repository or the answer to all needs, Quantum integrates the cloud as an active tier in a hybrid storage infrastructure driven by application requirements. This comprehensive approach provides customers with an optimal mix of performance, access, scale and low cost capacity which is key to managing and monetising content for today’s media and entertainment environments.
The company’s Q-Cloud Archive service gives users fast, on-demand access to data in the cloud. Employing the power of the public cloud as an off-site tier within a Quantum StorNext 5 workflow environment, this new Q-Cloud service enables users to leverage Quantum’s intelligent data management software to store data in the cloud when it
makes the most sense for a given workflow or application, providing access to a virtually limitless pool of off-premise storage.
The service is simple, with straightforward pricing and billing from Quantum, as well as strong service and support provided direct from the company. Q-Cloud Archive’s smooth integration means there is nothing to install, no cloud gateway hardware to set up, no programming needed, and no manual processes required, so users can readily eliminate storage deficits within a matter of minutes.
At IBC 2015, Quickplay launched the Next Generation Managed Video Platform, an enhanced version of its managed video platform service, designed to address major friction points in the market that are inhibiting the growth and profitability of multiscreen, next generation pay-TV and OTT premium video services. Consumers now expect personalised discovery across video sources, a large on-demand catalogue, first run original programming, and the hottest live content delivered with the highest quality to any device and over any network. Meeting these expectations is complicated by the ever changing, highly fragmented and non-standardised device, DRM, and player ecosystems and the inherent variability of unmanaged IP networks. Quickplay is addressing these market issues with key enhancements that unlock and open the power of the Quickplay virtual headend and 24/7 managed services for rapid and efficient launch and low cost and agile operations. New platform enhancements include:
Leading Service Delivery Model: significant investments in IT infrastructure, network, and expertise to enhance the efficiency, operations and delivery of Next Generation premium video experiences.
Content Merchandising Service: next generation content management and merchandising tools and service capabilities that replace or augment a traditional Content Management System (CMS).
OpenVideo Virtual Head End Gateway: a set of open, extensible application programming interfaces (APIs) that supply service providers and content programmers
with a curated selection of backend capabilities to launch differentiated services.
Next Generation UX/UI Design Pack: a next generation video hub experience that adapts to all screens and resolutions, accelerating the unified, next generation discovery and viewing experience across video services and sources, including live and VoD pay-TV services, OTT services, and web content.
Judges comments“Very impressive global customer list. New at IBC is the ability to broadcast video over LTE networks. Announced agreement with Alcatel-Lucent”
TVBEurope 45October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Feature
SAM
Media BiometricsMedia Biometrics signature technology allows the automatic confidence monitoring and media verification throughout a broadcast chain.
Can be deployed in both SDI and IP streaming environments Allows media to be compared and corrected Fast acquisition and lock-up times Low data payload, measured in bytes per frame The solution is uniquely resilient to format, frame-rate and aspect ratio conversions,
encode/decode processes, logo insertion, etc
Key applications include: Lip sync Media Match (confirmation that two media streams are the same)
Video/audio confidence monitoring Audio mapping
Why?
Improves efficiency Reduces the need for dedicated monitoring resources
Judges comments“Hugely important product that has a very wide range of applications, most significantly in terms of maintaining signal quality and integrity. Could be as important to the broadcast industry as Dolby B was to the audio business 40 years ago”
SCHEDUALL
ScheduALL Portal™ ScheduALL Portal™, also winner of the 2015 NewBay Media Best of Show award at NAB 2015, simplifies making complex bookings of occasional use transmission feeds in real time, directly into a network provider’s system. Portal is a browser-based, user-friendly wizard for selling satellite, fibre or Ethernet transmission feeds, minimising unused capacity, maximising revenue and drastically reducing operational overhead in the selling cycle.
The browser interface uses straightforward interview-style questions to establish a customer’s requirements (i.e. time, source, destination, quality of service, etc) and provides them with booking and pricing options that best fit their needs. If the options chosen are unavailable, Portal offers a range of alternatives. Portal can be used to track, manage, and bill all of the customer bookings as they occur. This self-provisioning platform streamlines the OU booking process for operators and their customers. Selling transmission feeds through Portal allows for unused capacity or “spoilage” to be minimised. In turn, customers benefit from a simplified booking process feasible with minimal technical expertise.
Portal uses ScheduALL’s LINK™ for satellite, fibre and Ethernet transmissions. Broadcasters can use Portal’s straightforward interface without possessing in-depth technical knowledge, while the power of LINK works silently behind the scenes to make
complex decisions about transmission scheduling, capacity management, and conflict resolutions. Real-time access to network inventory prevents duplicate bookings and scheduling conflicts. It also serves as a forward-facing revenue producer that manages the transmission sales cycle and automatically integrates self-provisioned online bookings.
Feature46 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
REVIEW
TEDIAL TVU NETWORKS
Tedial Evolution TVU OneThe Tedial Evolution™ next generation MAM was developed for business-driven media workflow. Tedial Evolution provides media professionals and broadcasters with a full range of scalable, flexible systems that address the ever-changing landscape
of media management. Built around Tedial’s technologically advanced MAM solution, Tedial Evolution significantly extends MAM functionality and enhances user operability via advanced search/indexing tools, new services to surf/explore archives, and improved integration between archive and workflow engines to reinforce a collaborative environment.
Tedial Evolution offers a user experience designed to speed both manual and automated workflows. Built on Tedial’s MAM platform, the new HTML5 user interface keeps frequently used tools on the screen for improved performance.
TVU One is a live, mobile IP-based newsgathering HD video transmitter based on the same transmission dependability, picture quality, performance and sub-second latency of a full-size TVUPack backpack-style mobile transmitter, but in a substantially smaller, lightweight and ultra-compact form factor. TVU One features TVU’s proprietary Inverse StatMux Plus
technology to transmit reliable, HD-quality video with less than one second latency using multiple cellular 3G/4G/LTE, satellite, microwave, microwave mesh, Ethernet or wireless connections. TVU One comes with a carrying shoulder bag or sling backpack.
Judges comments“User-friendly lightweight cellular transmission system for ENG apps. So light it can be mounted on the back of a camcorder. Live HD on cellular, even in a moving car. Brand new at IBC”
SONY EUROPE LTD
Sony Media NavigatorSony’s Media Navigator orchestrates key phases of the content workflow – from ingest, catalogue and editing to review, approvals, and distribution – including cloud and archive for less than you expect. Customer benefits:
Integrates seamlessly with popular non-linear editors (NLE). Instantly uploads content to designated content sharing platforms including Sony CI Allows users to browse and download content on the Sony CI platform directly from
Media Navigator and integrates seamlessly with Sony’s Catalyst suite of media preparation tools
Provides internal encoding and decoding features, from SD to 4K, reducing the need for external transcoders
Enables any media to be archived safely onto rugged, dependable removable Optical Disc Archive system
Judges comments“Highly scalable, ready to use SW-based solution. Fully featured, cloud capable, extreme ease of use, aggressively priced”
SOUND DEVICES, LLC
Video Devices PIX-E5Video Devices PIX-E5 4K recording monitor is a five-inch, 1920-x1080-resolution unit that comes packed with a full suite of precision monitoring tools, SDI and HDMI I/O, plus the ability to record 4K and Apple ProRes 4444 XQ edit-ready files to affordable USB-based SpeedDrives with mSATA solid-state drives. PIX-E5 includes an impressive suite of monitoring tools, such as TapZoom™, for focusing speed, false colours and zebras to help set exposure, guide markers for framing, and a range of scopes, including waveform, histogram, and vectorscope. The new camera-mount monitor incorporates a best-of-both-worlds user interface that combines easy-to-access tactile buttons with an intuitive touchscreen. The PIX-E5 monitor features compact, die-cast metal housings and an LCD display protected by Gorilla® Glass 2, making it ideal for
cinematographers and videographers seeking monitors that can stand up to the rigours of the most extreme production environments.
Judges comments“Supporting 4K field production. Working closely with Sony, Panasonic et al: adding real value to the 4K mobile production proposition”
SmallHD 7-inch full high definition 702-Bright monitor: Super bright, daylight viewable 1,000-nit display with anti-
reflective coating and 179-degree wide viewing angle HDMI and SDI inputs and outputs allow video input in the
format that best suits the production, and then output video in either or both HDMI and SDI
Ultra slim and lightweight, 7-inch full 1080p HD monitor with a dense 323 pixel-per-inch screen, 1200:1 contrast ratio and optimum broadcast colour
Intuitive operating system simplifies menu navigation via thumb-operated joystick and back buttons
Toolset offers Waveform, RGB Parade, HDMI/SDI signal conversion, image capture, and downstream 3D LUT video
viewing and output. ‘Pages’ permits grouping of toolset features such as focus and exposure assist environments
Versatile power: D-tap/P-tap, AC adapter or built-in slots for Canon LP-E6 or Sony L-Series batteries
SD card slot enables screen capture recording, importing background plates for effects framing guides, 3D LUT transfer and more
Rugged construction: aluminium housing, bonded glass screen protector and optional acrylic screen protector make harsh locations ready
Smart price: about €1,500 after VAT/tax and shipping
The 702-Bright’s many advantages start with a 1,000-nit display with an anti-reflective layer that results in a screen that’s viewable in bright daylight. The dense 323 pixel-per-inch screen delivers a sharp, 1920x1200 HD display with a contrast ratio of 1200:1.
SMALLHD
702-Bright 7-inch monitor
TVBEurope 47October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
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VISLINK
The Vislink UltraCoder is the new lightweight 1RU half rack H.265 encoder from Vislink capable of encoding 4K, HD and SD video. The system uses the latest advanced H.265 encoding techniques to offer up to 50 per cent bit rate reduction compared to H.264, resulting in the delivery of high quality video at low bit rates.
X-ART
x-art ProDivision GmbH for x.newsToday’s journalists need the latest information at their fingertips to deliver the news with speed and accuracy in an increasingly competitive 24/7 digital and broadcast market.
But all too often that information is spread between multiple systems and external sources. Keeping up to date on a story requires them to constantly switch between different screens and applications. Knowledge is often patchy, even between different parts of the newsroom.
x.news is a unique product that targets this challenge, by gathering all the latest story information and content in one place, and providing powerful tools to find, follow, collect and share it. In the newsroom or on location – on PC, tablet or mobile – the journalist is always up to date.
And now x.news also integrates with leading NCS and MAM providers, passing stories backwards and forwards seamlessly and enabling genuinely story-centric, multi-platform workflows.
Judges comments“Breaks the usual vertical approach of newsroom systems. Wisely integrates the various kind of sources and effectively supports the news editor. Designed for collaborative workflows, features an amazing easiness of use”
VITEC
MGW ACE and MGW D265 SolutionAt IBC2015, VITEC showcased its portable, all-in-one video package for encoding, decoding, and streaming HEVC video on the go. VITEC is the first company to bring bandwidth-efficient HEVC compression technology out of the server room and into the field with its broadcast-grade portable streaming appliances. Customers reap the benefits by being able to deliver secure, error-free video on dedicated and public networks while dramatically reducing bandwidth requirements compared to legacy H.264 systems. Furthermore, they can reduce operating expenses and extend the reach of video services to remote destinations with bandwidth constraints.
The package comprises VITEC’s MGW Ace, a portable HEVC (H.265) hardware encoder, and the MGW D265 portable HEVC IP decoder. Both have built-in Pro-MPEG FEC and Zixi error correction technologies for one-way and two-way error correction, which provides artefact-free broadcasting over public networks.
The MGW Ace boasts a real-time H.265 4:2:0 and 4:2:2 hardware compression chip for streaming broadcast-quality video up 1080p. Input interfaces include 3G, HD/SD-SDI, HDMI, DVI, and composite. The unit also features intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) metadata processing with KLV and STANAG support conforming to MISB and NATO requirements. A secondary MPEG-4 H.264 chip provides support for legacy decoders and proxy streaming.The MGW D265 is a high-performance IP decoding appliance with a compact footprint, best-in-class connectivity options, and low-delay processing. MGW D265 uses advanced hardware to deliver a real-time, broadcast-quality picture with the highest quality of service and resilience required in complex IPTV and full-motion-video environments. MGW D265
offers all typical video output interfaces, including HD-SDI, SD-SDI, HDMI, and composite video — with embedded audio or separate analogue audio — in a single appliance. Combined with the low-latency streaming capabilities of VITEC’s MGW encoding and streaming platforms, the MGW D265 decodes HD and SD streams with end-to-end latency of only 400 milliseconds.
Judges comments“Very small HEVC encoder (with associated decoder). Very well packaged, ideal for remote contribution applications”
V-NOVA
PERSEUS The V-Nova engineering team has delivered a paradigm shift in video compression technology that can drive change and service innovation in the TV and media sector by moving the entire video bitrate-quality curve to enable UHD quality video at HD bitrates, HD at SD bitrates, and SD video at sub-audio bitrates, extending the reach of video services to UHD delivered to connected devices over 3G and 4G networks. PERSEUS delivers improvements in picture quality, processing speed using standard hardware, signal robustness, as well as simultaneous reductions in footprint, power usage and library redundancy. Graceful, block-free degradation at ultra-low bitrates is another unique benefit.
PERSEUS, which launched in April 2015, differs from legacy solutions in terms of its advanced lossless, multi-scale, hierarchical and low latency properties.
PERSEUS is inherently and continuously hierarchical, delivering all resolutions (eg SD, HD and UHD video) within a single stream. This renders HD bandwidths sufficient to carry all
three formats without the need for simulcasting, reducing resource redundancy. Another advantage of PERSEUS is its compatibility with existing MPEG-based delivery ecosystems.
PERSEUS also provides advantages beyond bitrate reduction — including increased processing speed, lower power consumption, increased robustness, and block-free degradation at ultra low bitrates. This in turn enables operators to offer enhanced video quality and to reach more households with OTT and VoD services.
The PERSEUS advanced video and image processing technology is based on the principles underlying human vision.
VIDIGORemote ProductionThe software-based production environment VidiGo Live separates the core engine from the user interface and multi-viewers using (standard) internet. This means that a central-ised control room connects to the on-site engine that provides the SDI inputs and outputs,
video playback, audio mixing and graphics playback. A very important part of the set-up (next to being able to control the engine over IP) is the feedback of the sources via the multi-viewers. Without this feedback, remote production would not be possible. This feedback (by streaming the multi-viewers from the engine’s location back to the control room) features a unique minimal operational lag, so the operator is not bothered by delay and is working in real time, which of course is very important for accurate switching of the cameras, for example. The bandwidth required for this operation is flexible and can be adjusted to fit any situation, so public internet or a standard private network should be sufficient. five megabits is advised.
UltraCoder
What is your vision for the industry is over the next five years? We are all transitioning from the digital era of
television into the internet era, which is already
proving to be the most disruptive in the history
of the industry. Content owners, broadcasters
and TV service providers will all require different
strategies for success but all will have to adapt
and evolve in order to overcome a period of
unprecedented change. We are entering a
new golden media age for television, which will
see today’s media value chain dismantled and
re-set, bringing about the creation of a new,
dynamic ecosystem. This will spark the arrival
of new competitors to the industry. Former
competitors will become allies and vice-versa.
With change comes opportunity. As we
advance to 2020, we will see a fully advanced
and fully connected TV market, driven almost
exclusively by consumers and their demand
for greater choice, better quality and superior
methods of personalisation. There will be 26
billion connected devices plugged into a global
IP network by 2020, of which a large proportion
will be video enabled. Total mobile video traffic
between 2015-2020 will be more than 22 times
that of the period 2009-2014. Global brands will
join with new consumer technologies, the world
of apps and online experiences will expand and
we will see the arrival of disruptive new business
models that will overhaul the entire media
landscape. While the future is unknown, the
players with the greatest foresight, innovation
and consumer focus will be best prepared to
lead the industry over the next five years.
What do you believe are the key disruptors in this shifting landscape? Competition has increased for our customers
through industry consolidation driving scale,
and because lower barriers to entry for new
OTT players bring aggressively differentiated
consumer propositions. The continually shifting
values and needs of the digital consumer are
accelerating the demands placed upon those
providing the best content and services. We are
now in a position where the rate of change is so
fast, consumer expectations are outpacing the
industry’s ability to deliver them. They want to be
able to view their content on any device, at any
location and at any time.
Nevertheless, technology will be integral to
satisfying these expectations. The role of IP will
become an industry imperative, serving an ever
increasing number of connected devices and
delivering greater speed and immediacy which
will be fundamental to implanting a unified
user experience. 5G will be the next step in the
evolution of mobile broadband and provide
a watershed for delivering the flexibility, high
reliability and responsiveness needed to deliver
video to billions of users across the globe, and
especially in enabling the on-demand transition
in most emerging markets. LTE Broadcast is
already showing its potential in making high
capacity mobile networks ready for the
video-first focus.
High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) will
help to bridge the economic and technical
bandwidth constraints of direct-to-consumer
networks and help enable the delivery of Ultra
High Definition (UHD) content. The introduction of
HDR will also enable our industry to differentiate
services with vibrant images on screen, providing
content owners with the opportunity to
create more compelling and more realistic
experiences for viewers.
Ericsson has a broad range of customers across the TV and media industry. Will different businesses need to adopt different strategies to thrive? Absolutely. Our Media Vision 2020 research
highlights that the TV and media industry will be
worth $750 billion within the next five years and
as TV evolves, it is essential for every business to
revaluate their strategies for success.
Content owners and broadcasters will
continually build stronger direct-to-viewer
platforms and propositions while seeking to
still exploit the TV service provider channels
to market. They will work to globalise their
content brands and content distribution to
drive revenues and scale. We see many of
them re-investing in the production competence
and rights, re-centering some of them solidly
in the content itself.
TV service providers across cable and
telecom will continue in the majority to seek to
bundle multiple services and content together
for consumers, to make their lives as simple as
possible and drive as much ARPU potential as
possible. It will take considerable platform
re-engineering to be truly experience-led in
what is offered to consumers.
TVBEverywhere48 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
The new golden age of TelevisionElisabetta Romano has recently become head of TV and media at Ericsson. She spoke to TVBEurope about competition in the industry, the new business strategies driving the marketplace, and the importance of immersive experiences
“We are entering a new golden media age for television, which will see today’s media value chain dismantled
and re-set”
A huge opportunity ahead is to provide the
most personalised content aggregation and
recommendation towards consumers.
4K and UHD are extremely hot topics right now. How important are immersive experiences to the consumer of today and the future?
They are extremely important!
With each shift in quality technique
(analogue to digital, SD to HD,
3D to some extent, and now Ultra
HD) viewers have embraced the
enhancement and shown willingness
to pay. Each advancement takes the
viewer closer to real-life experiences
and Ultra HD is like a big window into
the world.
As a founding member of the Ultra HD Forum,
Ericsson is investing broadly in R&D and thought
leadership to educate the industry as much
as possible around the possibilities inherent in
Ultra HD and what we even mean by this. It
has certainly been tied to resolution and ‘4K’
television, however, we also believe that High
Dynamic Range (HDR) holds a lot of potential, as
do higher frame rates and colour gamut.
But immersive TV is not just about picture
quality; it is also about immersion of the content
itself. Our ConsumerLab research shows how
much consumers are binge viewing episodes
they obsess over, which illustrates the immersion
of on-demand access to shows. It also relates to
augmenting content: our Piero software solution
enables the most amazing sport graphics and
innovations in enhancing the ultra premium
sports experience.
The full version of this interview will be available
on the TVBEurope website. Please visit
www.TVBEurope.com/features for access to a
range of unique articles and interviews, featuring
some of the industry’s leading authorities.
TVBEurope 49October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
TVBEverywhere
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Forum50 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
You simply can’t get away from it. Everyone
is talking IP. And many industry analysts
predict IP is the next major technology
switch to hit broadcasting. Of course, it is already
with us – but the influence is growing by leaps
and bounds. So, how do some leading players in
the field see the current state of IP?
We asked Sevan Boyd, Easynet media
consultant; Tim Felstead, head of product
marketing, SAM; Glen LeBrun, vice president,
product marketing, Imagine Communications;
Sam Peterson, segment manager, live
production, Grass Valley; Pieter Schillebeeckx,
product director, TSL Products; Jan Weigner,
managing director and CTO, Cinegy; and
Lieven Vermaele, CEO, SDNsquare, to provide
views on related issues.
What are the biggest challenges facing broadcasters when it comes to IP technology?The first is getting staff to understand IP, so they
can get the most from the technology. “There’s
a great deal of learning needed to enable a
TV-quality service over IP networks, especially for
content companies that do a lot of production
and delivery of broadcast media,” states Tim
Felstead, head of product marketing, SAM
(formerly Quantel and Snell). “It’s easier to teach
a broadcast engineer IP than an IT graduate
the specifics of broadcasting as they replace
retiring broadcast staff. Broadcasting has its
own nuances: five nines means something
different in broadcast from IT. If the signal
stops you get black and the consequences of
this are not the same for an IT engineer, who
would normally reboot the server and resend
the lost information.”
The second challenge is in how to implement
IP. Of course, the broadcast industry has been
using the protocol for 30-plus years in control
systems, and more recently in file-based
workflows. But when it comes to live over IP, the
industry is not yet sufficiently experienced to
predict the problems.
“The rate of change is so fast that it’s a risky
period for broadcasters,” believes Felstead.
IP gets VIP treatmentThis month’s Forum looks at the technology that’s occupying a great many minds. Philip Stevens gathers thoughts from some of the industry’s leading players
‘We must be realistic about the hurdles to practical implementation of
AoIP and VoIP’
TVBEurope 51 October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Forum
“What we need to do is build products that
have both SDI and IP interfaces supporting
multiple standards.”
He continues, “That’s just what SAM is doing
– offering customers the ability to transition to IP
with plug-in IP interfaces on our infrastructure,
routing and switching products. This allows the
broadcaster to dictate the rate of change,
without taking unacceptable technology risks.”
The third challenge is standards. “We have
live production using a stable, reliable and
completely interoperable standard – SDI – and
we understand timing, synchronisation and
control,” declares Felstead. “But we’re in a
changing standards landscape. SMPTE 2022-6
gives the greatest chance of interoperability, but
we don’t yet know if it’s the best way to work. For
instance, how will it enable us to deliver video
and audio – and metadata, on occasion – to
different places simultaneously? Why would I
want to employ a de-embed function at all?
There may be a better solution out there. In fact,
at Snell we think this is VC-2 compression for
video using light weight RTP streams, so we’re
building products that support multiple IP stream
types to keep our customers’ future options as
open as possible.”
In summary, the challenges rest with people,
the change process and standards. But
broadcasters can’t afford to stand still waiting for
it all to be sorted out. On the other hand, they
cannot afford to sacrifice the speed, flexibility
and five ninesness of their current workflows at
the altar of IP.
IP ambitionsAudio Over IP (AoIP) has been in existence for
quite some time, so it’s difficult to call it a new or
emerging technology. As Pieter Schillebeeckx,
product director, TSL Products recalls, Axia
Audio’s LiveWire system was launched in 2003.
“You have to take your hat off to them. They
designed and implemented their own Precision
Time Protocol (PTP) before most people had
heard of such a thing.”
For some reason, though, it’s taken this
long for IP to catch the imagination of
many broadcasters.
“Ambitions for AoIP in the broadcast
community are set high,” states Schillebeeckx.
“Some see it as a technology of ultra-
convenience, or as a magic bullet for the
bloated capital budgets that come with
infrastructure and capacity upgrade – a high
channel count transport system that can use
existing IT provision. In practice, however, these
might be false headlines – distractions from an
even brighter future where infrastructure flexibility
with software-driven routing of audio, video and
metadata, complete with all-encompassing
synchronisation, is actually the main prize.”
However, warns Schillebeeckx, to get there we
must be realistic about the hurdles to practical
implementation of AoIP and VoIP.
“First, it is most likely that a broadcaster’s IP
transport will require a separate, managed
network, with high enough bandwidth for audio
and video, and capable of clean switching.
Every point where you might have a camera
really needs to have a 10Gb switch. A busy
area on a network might be the video mixer,
which would certainly require a 40Gb or even a
100Gb switch. This is neither commonplace nor
inexpensive technology, though audio-only is a
different matter and its bandwidth requirements
are tiny in comparison.”
AoIP and VoIP are correctly termed layer three
technologies, but perhaps the requirement for
specific network hardware and management
challenges brings it into the realm of a layer two
protocol like AVB.
This leads to the second hurdle. “All of this comes
with the IT training and knowledge requirement
that until now has not been prevalent in the
broadcast department,” believes Schillebeeckx.
“Today’s reality is that most implementations of
AoIP are straight replacements for an existing
technology such as MADI or SDI. While there are
advantages, such as using metadata for remote
control of mics, the broadcaster’s content-
over-IP ideal – where audio and video share
the same, synchronised, software-managed
transport – is still in its infancy.”
“At TSL, we’re already embracing the future
and working on next generation audio and
video monitoring products to support all flavours
of audio and video over IP. This approach, I
believe, is the only way that manufacturers,
integrators, and broadcasters alike will realise
their IP ambitions.”
The opportunities that IP offers for the monetisation of contentThe steady transition of video production
and distribution operations into the IP realm
is creating new and significant monetisation
opportunities. As IP becomes a more prominent
medium at both the ingest and delivery portions
of production and distribution processes,
monetisation opportunities will increase and
expand revenue-generation potential.
“In playout, for example, an IP-enabled
environment running on commercial off-the-shelf
equipment, whether in a private datacentre
or in the cloud, brings new levels of agility and
cost efficiencies that can be leveraged to reach
new markets and seize new opportunities,”
declares Glenn LeBrun, vice president, product
marketing, Imagine Communications. “New
channels can literally be launched in minutes, at
a fraction of the expense it takes to commission
and provision dedicated SDI and baseband
equipment. Monetisation opportunities that were
once impractical, such as channels aimed at
expatriates in large cities, become feasible in an
IP environment. It’s a simple business equation:
more channels in more regions mean more
viewers and a larger inventory to monetise.”
In the advertising arena, IP-enabled
technologies such as Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI)
create new revenue opportunities by enabling
content owners and distributors to address
viewership fragmentation. DAI can unlock the
value of inventory in non-linear environments by
allowing distributors to insert relevant and fresh
ads into OTT, VoD and even cDVR content. It
enables operators to better reach consumers of
non-linear programming with fresh and precisely
Glenn LeBrun, Imagine Communications
Sam Peterson, Grass Valley
Pieter Schillebeeckx, TSL Products
Jan Weigner, Cinegy
“Some see [AoIP] as a technology of ultra-convenience, or as a magic bullet for
the bloated capital budgets” Peter Schillebeeckx, TSL
52 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
Forum
targeted ads. LeBrun continues, “The deeper
the media industry moves into the IP realm,
the greater the access to the monetisation
opportunities unleashed through data analytics.
Information derived about audiences’ viewing
habits can improve forecasting, pricing,
inventory control and ad targeting. By knowing
which shows a particular viewer is watching
– and when, where and on which device –
service providers can help advertisers pinpoint
consumers who are likely to be interested in
their offerings. A beneficial by-product of these
capabilities is that subscribers are no longer
badgered by misdirected marketing pitching.
Even commercials, in a big data environment,
become must-see TV.”
IP, of course, is nothing new to distributors.
Video service providers, including cable
operators, telcos, satellite operators and other
distributors of content have been employing it as
a transport medium for a decade or more. What
has changed recently, though, is their embrace
of HTTP, the lingua franca of the internet, as the
preferred distribution protocol. This transition has
enabled distributors to move from the broadcast
realm to a unicast one, where each consumer
has a broadband conduit to a mix of linear
and personalised content. In addition, this new
distribution model opens the door for new service
offerings, such as cloud-based DVR.
“Cloud DVR (cDVR) services, which bring linear
television and VoD capabilities into a unified
experience, are expected to grow significantly,”
says LeBrun. “This delivery is a powerful tool for
obtaining and retaining video customers, which is
a critical concern of traditional pay-TV providers.
In addition, state-of-the-art cDVR services have
the potential to generate new revenue through
subscriptions and incremental upgrade sales.
The virtually unlimited storage capability of cDVR
creates the opportunity to offer tiered services,
charging different fees for each level of storage
and functionality.”
The transformation that IP has brought to broadcastingAll types of DVB and ATSC workflows, file based
real-time or non-real-time workflows, all modern
forms of live field acquisition are IP based.
“The whole beauty of IP is its total
pervasiveness. IP is everywhere,” says Jan
Weigner, managing director and CTO, Cinegy.
“Now the last strongholds like SDI and studio
operations are falling and more people take
notice. ‘SDI Must Die’ and it will do so eventually,
but without any drama or bloodshed. It will just
fizzle out. Like dial-up internet access.”
Sevan BoydEasynet
Tim FelsteadSAM
What has changed, at least in parts of the
industry over the last few years, is the awareness
that IP is real. “It is a symptom of the industry as a
whole transforming to become a part or already
being a part of the IT, internet and telecoms
industry depending which area of broadcast
you find yourself in today,” says Weigner. “Other
media-loved buzzwords like ‘cloud’ confirm the
ongoing transformation or IT-convergence. SDI is
dead. Proprietary broadcast hardware is dead. If
it cannot also run in the cloud, don’t buy it.”
The broadcast industry is evolving. Software,
services and content are king. “Just like the
internet,” declares Weigner. “You know where
the journey is going and you know it for a while if
you admit to yourself. That leads to IBC equalling
Internet Broadcasting Convention.”
Do broadcasters understand IP? Sevan Boyd, Easynet media consultant believes it
is difficult to give a binary response as the answer
is dependent on how the question is directed.
“Broadcasters’ understanding of IP is a matter of
‘to whom the question is asked’, the use-case to
which it is applied, and whether the respondent
is thinking from a functional or strategic
perspective. Having spoken with a multitude of
broadcasters over the last few months: across
both the UK and Europe, they range from
actively trialling IP to intimating they are some
way off seriously considering it.”
Boyd goes on to say that, in reality most
broadcasters have been utilising IP for various
models of contribution and distribution for several
years and in this use-case do understand IP. “I’ve
seen some amazing applications of IP as an
efficient transportation mechanism. An excellent
example is Sky News Arabia. This is a relatively
young channel, with a pioneering CTO, Dominic
Baillie, and well-integrated IT and production
engineers. They have had the freedom and
creativity to produce an IP platform which
delivers over vast distances, consolidating
both video and corporate IT functions on to
a single infrastructure.”
With careful engineering by teams, who
both understand IP networks and video
properties, their fusion of IP-based MPLS and
internet concurrently delivers live-to-air HD
video between global locations as disparate
as Washington DC and Abu Dhabi, with
performance – latency/loss/jitter – and fiscal
models that would, in Boyd’s opinion, make a
satellite operator blush. Other features of the
service include live HD streams for distribution/
playout to broadcasters and uplink providers
in Europe, UK and the US, streaming video
directly to CDN providers via private link directly
integrated to their ‘on-net’ cloud hosting
facilities, supporting IP workflow across platforms
and multiple video channels and corporate
IT functions such as data applications and
IP telephony, simultaneously on single fibre
accesses no greater than 1Gbps.
“One cannot, of course, confuse contribution
and distribution IP with production IP. The
advantage for broadcasters with IP familiarity
from the contribution model means that to some
TVBEurope 53 October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Forum
‘The steady transition of video production and distribution operations into the IP
realm is creating new and significant monetisation opportunities’
degree both IT and production teams within
those organisations have had some IP exposure.”
However, for some broadcasters
understanding how IP integrates will require new
expertise and/or a convergence of existing IT
and production planning. For many broadcasters
there will be a period of strategic watching
and waiting before they feel they comprehend
and are ready for IP systems. “No broadcaster
or production house, regardless of voracity for
revolution, is going to wake up tomorrow to
find that all of the systems and vendors within
their workflow are IP ready. It will still be some
time before all the players introduce an array of
models which provide IP physical interfaces and
can accommodate all of the various standards
required to successfully translate the combined
video, audio and ancillary data when pushing
packages end-to-end.” Boyd believes that in
most cases there will be a system-by-system
migration. “For an IP integration company such
as Easynet it will be about helping to merge the
‘internal’ and ‘external’ boundaries to create
a homogenous end-to-end platform; internal,
cloud and globe.”
IP’s impact on current production workflowsToday, most demonstrations focus on mapping
the traditional workflows into the IP domain: for
54 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
Forum
Lieven Vermaele, CEO, SDNsquare
instance, SDI to IP. But, says Lieven Vermaele,
CEO, SDNsquare, in these rather limited
environments it is difficult to justify and prove the
wider impact and benefits of IP.
“Further, there is no value in building separate
IP islands - like SDI. We need to roll out all our
digital workflows with the right priority, such as
live video, editing, aggressive file transfer, ingest,
over the one shared IP infrastructure. This is a real
technical challenge.”
But, looking ahead, IP will create huge benefits
and impact heavily on how media facilities
and industry are run. “We will achieve reduced
capex and opex as we move from numerous
distributed hardware boxes and application
servers to one shared storage and media
processing infrastructure. Over-provisioning and
over-investment are avoided because these
resources are shared and can be scheduled or
provisioned in time. This consolidation leads to
reduced equipment, licence and operational
costs. Software is there to manage complexity
and resources more efficiently.”
Vermaele believes these developments
will also lead to a more agile organisation.
“Centralising data, moving to software and
IP brings more flexibility. New processes and
workflows are set up faster and easier. All
the content and resources are widely
available for all users and partners, inside
and outside the organisation.”
He also says that there will be accelerated
innovation because media and resources are
available to set up new digital workflows and
pioneering media experiences in much faster
and easier ways.
Media companies will gain the possibility to
introduce regularly new or updated experiences
with, for example, reduced time to air. Software
will step in to enrich those media experiences.
With a social feedback loop, media will become
a much more personal or social experience.
But Vermaele warns there are challenges
ahead. “We need datacentre and network
resources directly available – in a guaranteed
way – when required.
“The concept of ‘service availability’ is
differently understood in the traditional media
world from the IP world. IP solutions are based
on the basis of best effort and software to
solve that. In media, when we have mission
critical productions, we cannot allow these
unpredictable situations.
“We need a shared IP infrastructure with the
possibility to set priorities for mission critical and
best effort processes. This is where SDNsquare
wants to contribute in the industry and what we
demonstrated this year at IBC.”
Will the use of IP in remote production affect the craft of broadcasting?Yes, says Sam Peterson, segment manager,
live production, at Grass Valley. “Adopting
IP technology will enable a new range of
creative freedoms by supporting multiple
formats, leveraging metadata to better
target key audiences, and offering
additional revenue with fresh services
as exciting applications are launched.”
Grass Valley’s IP roadmap enables
customers to migrate their facility’s entire
SDI signal path to IP, focusing on cable and
capital cost reduction, and expansive
scaling opportunities. It is largely centred
on either uncompressed or very lightly
compressed signals.
“For remote production, the focus is extending
the customer’s facility to a venue with much
more highly compressed signals. Because of this,
Grass Valley has partnered with vendors who
enable these capabilities.”
The company is working to make its interfaces
efficient over wide area network connections,
including the challenges of latency induced by
such a system, to allow customers to operate
without regard for geographic location of the
equipment or signals.
In terms of changing the craft of remote
production, aside from the nuances of IP
compression, there are differences regarding
where certain functions are performed and how
cameras are used.
Peterson continues, “The extreme case is to
have only the cameras and microphones at
the venue and pull all these sources back to
the studio facility and add audio commentary,
graphics and switching. The other extreme is for
all of the video and audio production to take
place at the venue, but with the control surfaces
in the studio facility.”
He maintains that there is still an ongoing
debate as to what equipment to have remotely
and how much to centralise – all of which
significantly impacts where human resources are
needed. “In all of the scenarios, our customers
are asking for an open approach that allows for
flexibility in execution and seamless handling of
the latency induced by transport.”
The final point, and perhaps one of the most
difficult in light of having personnel spread across
multiple sites, is communication. Grass Valley has
been using IP as a link between products and
control surfaces for decades.
“A few of our customers have implemented
scenarios where one product in their facility
might be controlled by a user interface that
is remote, but in the past year we have been
asked to put together solutions where many
of the control surfaces are in the remote
site hundreds or thousands of miles away,”
concludes Peterson. “As a result, the way the
user interface reacts must be different due to
the potential of the various signals arriving with
different latency. The facility for communication
must be different, and flexibility is key in the face
of latency induced by the transport over the
specified distance.
“However, the cost savings associated with
the efficient use of personnel and equipment are
driving the desire for remote production, and IP
technology is a key enabler, further affecting the
craft of broadcasting.”
TVBEurope 55October 2015 www.tvbeurope.com
Forum
“Cloud DVR (cDVR) services, which bring linear television and VoD
capabilities into a unified experience, are expected to grow significantly”
Glenn LeBrun, Imagine Communications
“SDI Must Die, and it will do so eventually, but without any drama or
bloodshed. It will just fizzle out”Jan Weigner,
Cinegy
56 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
Consumers now spend six hours per week
watching streamed on-demand TV
series, programmes, and movies: this has
more than doubled since 2011. With recorded
and downloaded content added to the
equation, today 35 per cent of all TV and video
viewing is spent watching VoD content.
Further findings highlight the considerable
growth in consumers watching video on a mobile
device: 61 per cent watch on their smartphones
today, an increase of 71 per cent since 2012.
When taking tablets, laptops, and smartphones
into consideration, nearly two thirds of time spent
by teenagers’ watching TV and video is on a
mobile device.
Great content, flexibility, and experience
At the same time, user-generated content
(UGC) platforms account for a growing share
of consumers’ TV and video viewing. Close to
one in ten consumers watch YouTube for more
than three hours per day, and one in three
now consider it very important to be able to
watch UGC on their TV at home. The increasing
prominence of UGC-rich platforms like YouTube
has resulted in a popularity boost for educational
and instructional videos, with consumers
watching an average 73 minutes of these videos
per week, the study finds.
“The continued rise of streamed video
on-demand and UGC services reflects the
importance of three specific factors to today’s
viewers: great content, flexibility, and a high-
quality overall experience,” said Anders
Erlandsson, senior advisor, Ericsson ConsumerLab.
“Innovative business models that support
these three areas are now crucial to creating
TV and video offerings that are both relevant
and attractive.”
‘Binge-watching’ (watching multiple
episodes of TV series and video content in a
row), has become a key part of the TV and
Ericsson reveals findings of annual ConsumerLab Report
Data Centre
Every third viewing hour is now spent watching on-demand TV and video, according to the latest edition of the annual Ericsson ConsumerLab TV and Media Report. Based on interviews with over 22,500 people, findings in the report are representative of 680 million consumers
Percentage of people watching different media types at least once per day
Frequency of watching several TV series, other TV programmess or UGC episodes in a row
The increase in watching on-demand TV series and movies
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58 TVBEurope www.tvbeurope.com October 2015
Data Centre
Consumer evaluation of content providers Figure 14 highlights what service providers do well (reinforce), and where consumers feel they can improve (fix). For traditional linear TV services, only video quality ends up under the ‘reinforce’ segment, and both price and availability of content need to be addressed. Meanwhile, for on-demand services, price and available content are strong points, with no weak points in any areas.
Share of total TV time by age group, measured on respective device
video experience, and is prominent among
Subscription Video on-Demand (SVoD) users
of services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, and
HBO. Eighty-seven 87 per cent of SVoD user
binge-watch at least once a week, according
to Ericsson’s report, compared to 74 per cent of
non S-VoD users. Over 50 per cent of the studied
consumers binge watch at least once a day,
and only five per cent never binge view.
TV is not smart enoughThe report also highlights consumer complaints:
half of those watching linear TV say they can’t
find anything to watch on a daily basis: as
many as 62 per cent of consumers aged 25
to 34 face this challenge on a daily basis, and
consumers feel that recommendation features
are simply not smart or personal enough. When
a recommendation engine fails to deliver a
consumer’s desired content, many will choose
to ‘default’. Defaulting is when consumers give
up and settle for a viewing habit they are
familiar with, despite originally intending to
watch something else. Defaulting, Ericsson
says, indicates that the service does not cater
to the consumer’s needs, implying an
inadequate service offering.
Despite these problems, the popularity of
linear TV remains high, mainly due to its access
to premium viewing and live content such as
sports, and also down to its social value. Linear
viewing is linked to age: 82 per cent of 60 to 69
year-olds say they watch linear TV on a daily
basis, while only 60 per cent of millennials (those
aged 16 to 34) do so. Ericsson’s report asserts
that non-believers in traditional pay-TV may
eventually change their minds. For ‘TV cord-
nevers’ (consumers who have never had a
pay TV subscription) it is difficult to understand
the value as it is offered today. Long binding
times, inflexible packages and high costs and
advertising cause 50 per cent to believe they
will not pay for it, even in the future. However, 22
per cent of cord-nevers are already paying for
over-the-top (OTT) content services, indicating a
willingness to pay for subscription TV, albeit with a
different bundle approach.
Three specific areas that influence a
consumer’s service experience are highlighted
in the Report: great content; flexibility; and a
high quality overall experience. Supporting these
three areas will be crucial when creating the 21st
century TV and media offering, and bringing it to
consumers, concludes Ericsson.
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BY MONICA HECKThe Internet of Things is set to turn the ‘integrated systems’ that make up Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) into a single unified ‘integrated system’, according to futuristic business mastermind and consultant Lars Thomsen.
Speaking on the main stage during the ISE Opening Keynote speech, Thomsen predicted the future of the AV industry would depend on the IPv6 Internet standard, which would create a rapidly growing “digital nervous system” across the world not unlike the current energy grid everybody is used to.
“In 10 years, 1,000 devices per human will be connected to the internet and this digital nervous system will incorporate all aspects of things that are important to humanity,
such as comfort, energy, security, education and so on,” he said.
“Right now there are different halls in this trade show representing different parts of the industry. We are now at a tipping point where we
don’t have to think about isolated systems, but rather about moving onto a system that incorporates the internet as its backbone.”
Tipping points are a key concern of Thomsen’s, who doesn’t use slides
during his keynotes but prefers to let the audience connect the dots and imagine the future he describes.
“Tipping points are points in time where a new technology, or business model is cheaper and better than the way we did it in the past,” added Thomsen, listing the victory of artificial intelligence and robotics over ‘dumb technology’ as tipping points to look out for.
“Within 520 weeks, we will get to a point where robots can work in households or in elderly care, they will reach a price point where they are cheaper than employing humans for the same task. The implications to our society are big.”
“We have to do more than just look for trends, instead of waiting for the future we have to find the next tipping point and actively create that future,” he concluded.
The future: Integrated System Europe?
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BY LINDSEY M. ADLER
A vacuum in professional computing has resulted from the evolution from desktop to laptop to mobile device. John Underkoffler, CEO of Oblong Industries, views the world through pixels and sees them as the key to filling that hole, which he shared in his Smart Building Conference address: “The Future of Work – Workplace Collaboration Thrives in the Spatial Operating Environment”.
As an advisor to the film Minority Report, Underkoffler shared a clip he musingly hoped was “the last time we have to look at this.” Instead of being wowed by the ahead-of-its-time gesture technology, something he derided as “not what’s important,” attendees were asked to look for what was missing.
“This sequence is as much about the collaboration and the room as it is the UI.”
Applying that to today’s business technologies, he asked,
“How does computation extend [the] room? It doesn’t. [Modern computing devices] don’t care about the room. You have a bizarre complication.” Because they are so personal in nature, “They are anti-collaboration devices and anti-architectural devices.”
Underkoffler and Oblong Industries are working to get out of this “trap.” His solutions include: the more pixels the better; pixel interoperability; a user interface capable of managing all the pixels all over the place; and plurality, the
need for systems that think about more than one thing - enabling the physical and social space for more than one person to work in tandem.
By teaching a machine to speak pixels, multiple applications can run at the same time complementarily. “It’s a kind of quantum leap between what you can do with a machine,” Underkoffler declared.
“We’re turning serialism into parallelism, linear into nonlinear, and raw technology into a more human approach.”
A minority report on the future of pixels
A DIGITAL THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM
BY KIRSTEN NELSON
It was “laptop land” at AudioForum@ISE yesterday. The fifth edition of the day-long educational event presented by Connessioni certainly featured digital in every way, as nary a professional audio discussion would be complete without talk of software or DSP. Topics relevant to audio design, integration and live events were discussed in the context of building knowledge and business for a rapidly evolving industry, with participants taking keen interest in sharpening skills in modeling, time alignment, networking and Class D amplification.
Attendees from the live sound and installation worlds convened at the event. The notion of convergence was very much on the mind of Jack Cornish, a project
Tuesday 10 February 2015
ISE’ managing director Mike Blackman introduces the event as Chiara Benedettini of organiser Connessioni looks on
Thomsen: “In 10 years, 1,000 devices per human will be connected to the internet”
Continued on page 4
International: Gurpreet Purewal T: +44 (0)20 7354 6000 E: [email protected] McCarthy T: +44 (0)20 7354 6000 E: [email protected]
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