In Broadcast - July 2020 - 59

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 10 - Issue 7 | July 2020

InMedia

Trends in OTT, VoD & IPTV

Haivision's Makito X4 Video Decoder for ultra-low latenc UHD
/ HD video transport over private and public IP networks

channels and Whisper, the sports
production company which works with
Formula One and the NFL.
Whisper chose Blackbird to drive
'video production efficiencies' for the
creation of a wide range of content,
including F1, to remotely edit content.
The production team will also use
the Blackbird Player to view and
approve content from anywhere again speeding up the content review
process.
A related development is Blackbird's
integration of the streaming protocol
Zixi to enable fast, secure and reliable
contribution video links between
venues and production hubs.
Streaming goes 4K and interstellar
The power of live video over the
internet got a couple more jolts in
the arm when financial services giant
Bloomberg upgraded its streaming
service to 4K, while millions of people
caught the space bug watching NASA's
SpaceX launch facilitated by streaming
contribution links.
Both were enabled by competing
protocols designed for low latency
jitter-eliminating live video.
Zixi, which is the leading internet
streaming protocol in terms of
customers, is now helping SVOD
Bloomberg TV+ to deliver in 4K. The
UHD streams from studio cameras to
subscriber screens are of broadcast
quality and speeds, according to
Bloomberg, and include a transcoding
process to HEVC which takes all of 300
milliseconds.
Zixi explains that its 'advanced
WebVTT' implementation holds and
controls metadata throughout the
entire broadcast workflow, enabling
closed captioning 'along with the
precise placement of the time code
and frame rate for unique and
individualised monetisation.'
Haivision can call on some highprofile users too and none more eyecatching than helping facilitate the
launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from the

cont'd...

Haivision solutions helping facilitate the launch of the
Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center

Kennedy Space Center. The historic
moment marked the first time in nine
years that astronauts travelled to the
International Space Station from US
soil.
Haivision's own Makito X video
encoders and decoders streamed
live video from the launch pad for
real-time monitoring at the NASA and
SpaceX control rooms. Using SRT,
the teams sent bi-directional audio
and video feeds between each of the
control rooms to communicate during
the launch.
While SRT and Zixi work just fine
for closed networks such as these,
broadcasters wanting to transmit live
events at scale over the internet to
slash the cost of dedicated fibre and
satellite links, want the flexibility to be
able to work with any professional ISP
and any set of vendor decoders and
encoders.
A new format is riding to the rescue.
Reliable Internet Stream Transport
(RIST) is intended as a vendor neutral
specification for an interoperable
protocol and is rapidly amassing
support. While the days of SRT and
Zixi are far from numbered - indeed
both support RIST since doing so also
enables them to sell more equipment
- there are some who think that RIST
will ultimately become the de facto
protocol as broadcasters make IP their
primary means of transmission.
Operational Optimisation
The OTT supply and delivery chain is
much more dynamic than in any other

media delivery ecosystem. Audio and
video errors can occur at any point
in video streaming workflows, from
transcoding to the final delivery. When
the quality of video streaming goes
down, it negatively impacts the quality
of experience and increases the risk of
losing customers.
This is where a new partnership
between Interra Systems and Skyline
Communications comes into play. The
integration between Interra's ORIONOTT system and Skyline's network
management and orchestration (NMS/
OSS) platform gives broadcasters
and OTT service providers a single,
automated solution to manage OTT
content workflow orchestration and
quality alerts.
Anupama Anantharaman, VP of
Product Management at Interra
Systems, explains: "Our joint solution
will allow service providers to have a
single pane of glass through which to
monitor and manage the quality of all
linear and OTT channels. Throughout
the entire delivery chain, channels
can be monitored, with dynamic
orchestration of probes on premises,
in the cloud, or in a hybrid setup."
New U.S. digital TV standard
ATSC 3.0 will create important new
opportunities for U.S. broadcasters,
including the ability to deliver
emergency alerts, program guides,
and targeted advertising.
A new ATSC 3.0 Cloud softwareas-a-service from Triveni Digital,
can help deliver these services with
maximum efficiency. Explains Ralph

Interra System's ORION-OTT monitoring solution integrates
with Skyline Communications' DataMiner system to ensure
always in sync OTT monitoring

Bachofen, VP Sales and Marketing,
"Integrating Triveni's software-based
ATSC 3.0 Broadcast Gateway scheduler
(specifically, GuideBuilder XM ATSC
3.0 Transport Encoder) and state-ofthe-art third-party systems, ATSC 3.0
Cloud enables broadcasters to launch
nextgen TV services faster and more
efficiently."
As an added kicker, the ATSC 3.0
Cloud service includes support for SRT
Transport (SRT) to ensure a secure
communications path in the cloud.
Operational optimisation is a
'must have', according to Bitmovin.
Its original assessment was that no
trend stood above the others in terms
of importance. But the pandemic
has quickly vaulted Operational
Optimisation to the most valuable
video technology trend. Organisations
that are not able to appropriately
evaluate their metrics and adjust their
strategies will fail - and fast.
Quibi might be one of the key
examples of an operation failing due
to a lack of diversity and the ability to
shift.
"Quibi was effectively designed for
the pre-COVID world where mobile
content ruled consumption," says
Schulman. "Unfortunately, with so
many people now working from home
(or unemployed), content consumption
has returned to larger devices and
the demand for quick mobile content
declined at an unprecedented rate,
thus leaving Quibi undownloaded and
nearly forgotten."
There are multiple adjustments
that a business can make when the
target audience and devices are
more diverse. Now, more than ever,
bitrate
expenditure
(bandwidth
capacity), budget, and reach need
to be evaluated under scrutiny
and optimised for best subjective
performance.
As we consider the next steps there
are major up and coming industries
that must take these trends into
consideration, including but not
limited to, live-streamed political
campaigns, sports teams, and many
more.

Triveni Digital's new ATSC 3.0 Cloud service

http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.haivision.com http://www.haivision.com http://www.haivision.com http://www.haivision.com http://www.trivenidigital.com http://www.interrasystems.com

In Broadcast - July 2020

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