MediaKind, a global change leader in media technology and services, has won two Emmy® Awards for Technology and Engineering. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) National Awards Committee’s Technology & Engineering Achievement Committee recognizes MediaKind for ‘Pioneering Development of Event Signaling and Management API’ and ‘AI/Optimization for Real-Time Video Compression.’
The Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards are awarded for the developments and/or standardization involved in engineering technologies that either represent so extensive an improvement on existing methods or are so innovative that they have materially affected television. MediaKind will receive these awards at the 72nd Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy® Awards ceremony, set to take place in partnership with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) at the NAB Show, October 10, 2021.
Pioneering Development of Event Signaling and Management API: ESAM Standard
MediaKind has been instrumental in developing an Event Signalling and Management (ESAM) technology standard that provides a single protocol to communicate between a control system and various stream-handling devices, such as encoders, packagers, and stream switchers, to manipulate in-band signals.
This technology enables automated, real-time, and frame-accurate content switching across products from various vendors, lowering costs in the industry by providing out-of-the-box interoperability between multiple components.
AI/Optimization for Video Compression: Improving perceptual
quality metrics and their application to real-time and non-real-time video
compression.
In recent years, MK has developed a bundle of efficiency improvements in
compression technology and entire video workflows. The judging panel recognized
MediaKind for improving perceptual quality metrics to support various encoding
processes, such as smart partitioning, Spatio-temporal adaptive quantization
(STAQ), and machine learning-based upscaling.
Judges also recognized how these metrics were instrumental in their application to content-aware
real-time compression to achieve constant video quality (CVQ) and custom bitrate
ladders.
Matt McConnell, CEO, MediaKind, said: “Winning one
Emmy® is a fantastic achievement in itself, but for NATAS to recognize
MediaKind’s efforts in two different categories is testament to the
groundbreaking work our talented team is pioneering. These awards are the
culmination of years of research and development to bring practical and
innovative technologies to the market, revolutionizing the way the industry
delivers television to billions of households around the world.”
