Move and Deliver

Will Strauss#

Author: Will Strauss#

Published 1st October 2014

Issue 93 - September 2014

In an industry that hands out a lot of awards, it can be easy to take the revelation of each golden statuette or glass embossed brick with a pinch of salt. When NATAS hands out a Technology and Engineering Emmy, however, people sit up and take notice.

This month Video Services Forum, Media Links, Nevion, DVBlink, Inc, Harris Broadcast Corporation (now Imagine Communications), Ericsson, Artel Video Systems, Barco-Silex and IntoPix were all recognized for the work done on the standardization and productization of JPEG 2000 interoperability.

Their contributions aided the development of VSF TR-01, a recommended practice for compressing SDI signals into JPEG 2000 and encapsulating the signals along with audio and ancillary data into an MPEG-2 TS for transport over IP networks.

Why is this important? It’ll potentially make the transporting of high quality video easier than it has been in the past.

As all those companies will no doubt tell you at IBC, J2K is potentially a better compression alogorithm for contribution quality video, better than more familiar options like MPEG2, MPEG 4 or even HEVC. The limitation previously was the lack of transport standards. Now that has been solved, and an Emmy bestowed, the question is why would you send contribution video uncompressed if you can have visually lossless J2K?

Closed and proprietary options have been available before. Now in theory you could have an Artel box at one end and a Nevion box at the other. While the Emmy will not signal an instant shift change it may well alter the way the industry looks at how to distribute contribution quality video.

Video Transport

Artel Video Systems is amongst the companies being honoured with a Technology and Engineering Emmy Award by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) for its work on the Standardization and Productization of JPEG 2000 (J2K) Interoperability. The Emmy recognizes Artel for its contribution in the development of VSF TR-01, a recommended practice for compressing SDI signals into JPEG 2000 and encapsulating the signals along with audio and ancillary data into an MPEG-2 TS for transport over IP networks.

Digigram will demo the AQORD *LINK/LE codec at IBC (8.C51), a new innovation designed to enable simple, cost-effective transport of high-quality video over IP networks, including fiber, xDSL, and satellite for programme contribution. Able to serve either as an encoder or decoder, the AQORD *LINK/ LE IP video codec is said to “lower barriers to IP-based video transport without forcing users to compromise on video quality.”

www.digigram.com

DNG

Dejero has launched the Dejero LIVE+ Carrier, a rugged and modular carrier system for the company’s portable transmitters. The LIVE+ Carrier is designed to increase a news crew’s mobility and comfort by making it easy to secure and carry a mobile transmitter, such as the LIVE+ 20/20 Transmitter, to the scene of breaking news.

www.dejero.com

DSNG

A new Satmission Streamline SMP 155DA Antenna will be the focus for Satmission at IBC (OE106) this year. The drive-away broadcast satellite antenna system will be shown installed in a Land Rover Discovery DSNG vehicle, designed and built by UKbased systems integrator Broadcast Networks. The all-terrain vehicle supports live SD and HD feeds, with voice and internet communications, making it ideal for live sports and news events. The Antenna is equipped with a redundant/phase-combined 400W amplifier system from Communications & Power Industries.

www.satmission.com

Transmission

Vislink will launch its new Mantis- LT lightweight antenna at IBC. The new unit includes the Ku band feed and materials developed for Vislink’s Mantis MSAT satellite data terminal. Available with either a 90cm or 120cm reflector for Ku band TX/RX operation, the Mantis-LT allows customers to package their own hardware into Vislink’s portable and lightweight terminal design.

www.vislink.com

Arqiva has deployed Thomson Video Networks’ ViBE EM4000 HD/SD encoder as part of an upgrade of the UK’s DTT network. Three new ViBE EM4000 platforms, each with Flextream statistical multiplexer, have been installed to provide DVB-T/T2 video compression, enabling Arqiva Services to launch new TV channels on its existing multiplex and introduce a new HD multiplex.

www.thomson-networks.com

Delivery

Thomson Video Networks has launched Behind Every Screen (BHS), a new approach to video delivery that combines on-premises with cloud-based resources to support broadcast and multi-screen services. BHS brings together the latest ingest, branding, ad insertion, encoding/transcoding, and packaging technologies to provide an all-in-one video infrastructure with key capabilities for convergent multi-platform video delivery.

www.thomson-networks.com

ioGates, a provider of cloud-based tools for sharing, converting, and distributing professional media files, has signed a three-year partnership agreement with the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). Under the agreement, ioGates will provide DR with its own ioGates-powered portal for sharing content among its various departments and content partners. Based around a simple web interface use of ioGates is said to require no advanced technical knowledge or training.

www.iogates.com

Agama Technologies will use IBC (4.A75) to showcase the version 4.7 of its DTV monitoring solution which covers service distribution from the head-end to the viewing device. Analyzer OTT integration in the central Enterprise Server has been enhanced with new dashboard widgets that give at-a-glance overviews of OTT service quality along with a new top-level service quality reporting function, enabling trending and analysis of service quality and availability on streaming video assets, as well as on the individual adaptive bitrate profi les.

www.agama.tv

Apps

Metrological, provider of a cloud based application framework and TV App store will add to its Application Platform at IBC (Stand 14.E25) by introducing three products and a new TV app store feature. The new items are a real time insights ‘Dashboard’, a cloud based centrally managed ‘UX Platform’ and ‘Instant pairing and interaction’ that links TV viewing to mobile devices. The new App Store feature is the App Manager that enables operators to administer the apps in their Metrological TV App Stores.

www.metrological.com

Playout

IPTV and IP video systems manufacturer Teracue eyevis has announced the availability of ICUEPLAYOUT, a streaming server for up to four 4k streams or 16x Full-HD 1080p60/50 fi les. Available as 2RU appliance, it can be used to deliver IP-video streams into presentation and information applications, and is said to be ideal for looping or scheduling single video fi les or complete playlists into digital signage players.

www.teracue.com

TV9 Surabaya, one of Indonesia’s most highly respected regional broadcasters, has chosen a broadcast system from PlayBox Technology as the core of a major technical upgrade. “TV9 Surabaya currently broadcasts in standard-defi nition and was keen to replace its existing equipment with a fi le-based system,” says Stefanus Tandra who supervised the project. “The channel managers were initially looking for greater automation than was possible with their legacy infrastructure. They were greatly impressed by the fact that PlayBox Technology systems are so easy to use and the ease with which they can be expanded to deliver advanced services such as HD”

www.playbox.tv

Multi-screen

Irdeto will use IBC (1.D51) to show pay media and content owners how being profi table on any screen requires more than just having a multi-screen and OTT solution. As part of this it will highlight Multiscreen, the managed service that can provide TV viewers with a personalised media experience, protect content on any device and generate new revenue streams with different business models.

www.irdeto.com

Infrastructure

Dejero’s LIVE+ Booster technology has been shortlisted in the Content and Communications Infrastructure category of the IABM Design & Innovation Awards. The LIVE+ Booster is a vehicle-mounted device that uses an array of up to 12 high-gain antennas to provide a high-reach connection and signal booster for bonded video uplink transmissions over cellular networks.

www.dejero.com

Live India has chosen an end-to-end contribution solution from Harmonic to improve video quality and optimize connectivity between its regional news bureaus and main headquarters in Noida. Harmonic’s Ellipse 3100 contribution encoders and ProView 7100 integrated receiver-decoders are being used for fixed contribution applications, enabling the broadcaster to expand from two to five streaming news channels.

www.harmonicinc.com

3D Storm, distributor of NewTek products in EMEA and LiveXpert worldwide is extending the NewTek presence at IBC by showcasing LiveXpert solutions, a smart and versatile line of third party products in Hall 7 Stand K21.

Member of the NewTek third party developer network, LiveXpert is designed to complement NewTek TriCaster and 3Play instant replay system. The LiveXpert line also includes products compatible with any vision mixers with solutions working in any live production workflow, providing all the tools to manage, create and add graphics, into any live production workflow.

Power distribution

Canford will use IBC (9.C01) to showcase its new range of IP addressable Mains Distribution Units (MDUs). Amongst the unique features is the ability to control door locks remotely. This enables off-site personnel to remotely grant visiting engineers or support teams with access to server rooms or locked racks and cabinets. Any device with an HTML browser and an Internet connection can securely access the product.

www.canford.co.uk

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