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The recent International Broadcasting Convention highlighted multi-screen services: service delivery platforms and video gateways. Anyone experienced in going to major trade shows knows that there’s no way you can cover all the ground or uncover every gem hidden along the path, especially at a tradeshow as big as the International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) in Amsterdam. My own search criteria were at the intersection of TV software – which has always been my focus – and multi-screen delivery, the big news at IBC this year.
In this IBC interview, Ramin Farassat, VP of Product Marketing and Business Development at RGB Networks, provides a crisp analysis of where adaptive bit rate streaming could be heading next. It considers the use of just-in-time packaging for multi-screen nPVR and VOD, with its potential to save server storage space, and the inclusion of audio in adaptive streaming so consumers with more bandwidth can jump from stereo to 5.1 surround sound. He also outlines why some operators are conducting friendly trials with ABR set-top boxes, hoping to unify all video infrastructure around IP ABR video.
MPEG-DASH, the dynamic adaptive streaming via HTTP standard, advanced further this week in Amsterdam at IBC2012 on its way to possibly becoming the next-generation delivery format for video content delivered via the Internet. MPEG-DASH advanced with the announcement that the DASH Promoters Group is setting up the DASH Industry Forum (DASH-IF) to accelerate adoption of MPEG-DASH. DASH-IF will focus on promoting adoption of MPEG-DASH, publishing interoperability and deployment guidelines and facilitating interoperability tests and collaboration with standard bodies.
Companion screen applications have the potential to open up a pay TV service to revenue security threats including intrusion by rivals to poach subscribers. This is leading to new solutions that aim to give operators full control of second screens such as tablets while they are being used in companion screen mode, with one of the first examples being Blue Bridge launched by French pay TV security technology vendor Neotion at IBC. The ability to enable secure two way communications between the TV and smart phones or tablets in the home is the basis of Blue Bridge, and Neotion has kicked off with a version for TVs equipped with a CI Plus slot. This first version transmits data over Bluetooth but Wi-Fi support will be added, as well as a version for set top boxes on a USB stick. However Neotion is pitching Blue Bridge particularly at legacy TVs with CI Plus slots, which can then access the Internet via the mobile device without the need for an Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi router at all. The company has identified three application categories for Blue Bridge : - the first exploits information sent from the TV to the mobile device, which could be used to play hybrid TV content on a tablet, or to access a VOD catalogue - the second use case involves two way information transfer between TV and mobile device, which could be applied for advertising or commerce - the third use case is where the TV interacts with the Internet via the tablet or smartphone More info on Blue Bridge here : http://www.neotion.com/innovation/blue-bridge.php
TDF Media Services has announced the launch of the first end-to-end HbbTV platform. This new platform for broadcasters and media companies is able to support any kind of video-based hybrid TV services. Thanks to the HbbTV technologies, it is now possible to enrich a live broadcast stream with additional internet content delivered directly through the TV set. The platform is compatible with HbbTV1.1 and HbbTV1.5 and supports both Marlin and Microsoft Playready DRMs. It also provides a full end-to-end solution, including metadata management, video processing, content monetisation. Content Delivery Network provided by SmartJog enables a smooth and very high quality video streaming to all connected devices including HbbTV connected TV sets. Other advanced features have been integrated to enrich the end-user experience, such as a recommendation engine provided by French technology company Cognik, an artificial intelligence engine which selects and proposes relevant content to a specific user.
SyncTV, the leader in delivering television services to the largest set of Internet-connected TVs, mobile devices, and other media-enabled devices, today announced it will showcase a Hybrid Broadcasting TV (HbbTV) 1.5 solution demonstration, in conjunction with Harmonic, at International Broadcasting Convention 2012. SyncTV will showcase a live MPEG-DASH demo and multi-screen solution along with TF1 and MStar at IBC 2012 at the Harmonic booth (1.B20). The solution uses Marlin DRM with MPEG-DASH adaptive streaming, and feeds off an industry-leading encoder, developed by Harmonic. By combining HbbTV and Marlin DRM, the standards-based over-the-top (OTT) TV solution offers a flexible platform for streaming broadcast content across multiple screens. Read also : http://intertrust.com/ibc2012_demo
The DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) group is seeking an expanded role to unify global standards for multiscreen services, while also ending the historical regional fragmentation in digital terrestrial transmission. Emerging multiscreen services are being held back by fragmented standards, particularly over interaction between companion screens and linear broadcast services. At an IBC press conference the DVB said it wanted to act as a unifying force both in digital terrestrial transmission and companion screen interaction. So far companion screen applications have grown up around many different proprietary technologies and are ripe for standardization, according to Nick Wells, vice chair of the DVB Technical Committee. “I expect to see broadcast and IP networks working together and here the DVB has a huge amount to offer,” said Wells. More on same topic : http://bit.ly/PQMHLb
Deployed Jointly by Abertis Telecom and Nagra, the Live and VOD Multiscreen Cloud Service Leverages Harmonic ProMedia Suite and Nagra MediaLive Multiscreen. Harmonic, the worldwide leader in video delivery infrastructure, today announced that it has teamed up with Nagra, the digital TV division of the Kudelski Group and world's leading independent provider of content protection and multiscreen television solutions, to power an innovative cloud-based OTT video service for broadcasters and pay-TV service providers offered jointly by major Spanish infrastructure telecom operator Abertis Telecom and Nagra. The multiscreen hosting service is already in use by Spanish broadcasters for their HbbTV based services and will be enhanced to become what is expected to be the world's first commercial deployment of MPEG-DASH, a standards-based adaptive streaming protocol that supports multiple DRM systems via common encryption, as well as the first deployment of HbbTV 1.5.
Anevia, a leader in video streaming solutions and service infrastructure for live TV and video on demand (VOD), announced today, that its ViaMotion multiscreen over-the-top (OTT) video streaming solution supports the Opera Devices SDK enabling HbbTV services through the Opera browser. The Opera browser includes support for HbbTV 1.5, including MPEG-DASH OTT streams, for common use cases. By integrating the Opera browser into their products, manufacturers of connected TVs and set-top boxes are able to support ViaMotion’s enriched HbbTV features including catch-up TV, pauseTV, and startover TV.
Broadpeak, a leading provider of content delivery networks (CDN) and video-on-demand (VOD) servers for cable, IPTV, OTT, and hybrid TV operators worldwide, today launched nanoCDN, a revolutionary CDN technology that leverages home networks to dramatically reduce infrastructure investments for operators and enable them to more efficiently deliver high-quality video services to end users. The first application of nanoCDN will be used for live OTT video delivery, with more applications to be supported in the future. Broadpeak will showcase nanoCDN for the first time at IBC2012 in Amsterdam. nanoCDN improves the scalability of live OTT TV content by effectively managing video consumption peaks that are not supported by the network infrastructure. Utilizing nanoCDN, cable and telecom operators can cost-effectively deliver high-quality, live OTT video services to millions of simultaneous viewers using only a few megabits per second from the operator network. nanoCDN can seamlessly be integrated with any existing video headend. Completely transparent to end users, the cost-effective solution does not require a dedicated client and is compatible with any DRM system. Product information : http://www.broadpeak.tv/en/technologies/nanocdn-25.php More information : http://bit.ly/RwTaQ5
SmarDTV and NAGRA, both Kudelski Group companies and Samsung Electronics today announced that they have successfully combined CI Plus and HbbTV with DRM to enable video-on-demand for over-the-top (OTT) networks directly to iDTVs without the use of a set-top box. The system integrates the popular NAGRA Gravity User Interface running in HbbTV on Samsung 2012 TV models allowing NAGRA PRM protected content be streamed over IP to the TV using adaptive bitrate streaming and then descrambled by the CI Plus SmarCAM module from SmarDTV. The solution is fully compliant with CI Plus v1.3 and uses open standard interfaces including the Open IPTV forum (OIPF) DRM interface.
Broadpeak, a leading provider of content delivery networks (CDN) technology and video-on-demand (VOD) servers for cable, IPTV, OTT, and hybrid TV operators worldwide, today announced that it will launch a new industry initiative called the Broadpeak Open Alliance (BOA) at IBC2012 in Amsterdam. By encouraging interoperability amongst third-party technology providers, Broadpeak aims to improve and accelerate OTT rollouts. Employing a best-of-breed approach to video content services over broadband networks, operators can select the best technology available for each component of the delivery chain — from the headend equipment to the home network systems. BOA will create a technical framework for this vision, enabling Broadpeak to test its solutions with other technologies from strategic partners to ensure interoperability.
Vanguard Software Solutions (VSS), a leader in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC CODEC technology since 2004, demonstrates a new generation of encoders based on HEVC (H.265), the Draft International Standard approved by the Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) in July 2012. The ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) established JCT-VC to develop the HEVC standard as a successor to H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. VSS has once again taken the lead by introducing the first HEVC real-time software Encoder SDK for PC. Based on the updated HM-8.0 HEVC reference code, the VSS encoder is optimized for real-time performance on PC platforms, with built-in cloud scalability, while demonstrating improvements in quality and bitrate for video distribution and communication markets over current implementations based on H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. HEVC encodes video at lower bitrates than H.264/MPEG-4 AVC while maintaining similar quality levels.
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The French TNT 2.0 connected television specifications now include MPEG DASH support, but is it a mandate or an update? One of the more interesting bits of news coming out of last week's IBC tradeshow in Amsterdam was that the French government has mandated the use of MPEG DASH in all connected televisions. The full story is a little more complicated, due to the number of connected TV initiatives floating around Europe. France's connected television scheme, backed by industry and government groups, is called TNT. It currently stands at version 2.0, which was launched mid-2011. The recent move to add DASH support to TNT 2.0 is the source of the buzz. TNT is a French-only subset of what is commonly called Hybrid Broadcast Broadband television, or HbbTV, a pan-European standard for interactive televisions that now stands at version 1.5.
The weather certainly cooperated in Amsterdam this week for the 2012 IBC convention, which grew in both the number of attendees and the significance for streaming media producers. So what was new and interesting for this year's attendees, the majority of which were from western Europe and the United States? From a streaming production standpoint, two areas drove the discussion: Dash and HEVC.
There was no ‘big new thing’ at IBC 2012 and we should not be surprised, given the size of the task that Pay TV operators and broadcasters have faced over the last few years in understanding the threats and opportunities presented by OTT, multi-screen TV and connected TV, then responding to them. The industry is taking a collective pause for breath. Everyone is getting on with the job of deploying the next-generation TV platforms and services that have already been ‘invented’. Second screen, in the sense of interactive programme enhancements on tablets and phones, is an emerging theme, more in conversation than on the show floor, and people are starting to talk about ultra high-definition TV (UHDTV) seriously, but usually with their gaze set firmly towards the horizon. Home management solutions like energy monitoring are starting to appear at what remains a 99% television show for the simple reason that some Pay TV operators are starting to wonder where the future ARPU growth is coming from when video revenues top out.
Delegates to this year’s IBC expo in Amsterdam have been able to sample a variety of future displays and file formats, among them an improved Super Hi-Vision.
The NHK-backed Super Hi-Vision is a project familiar to RAI attendees and one the Japanese broadcaster and its industry partners have been been working on since the beginning of the Millennium.
The year-to-year advances have been plain to see. The Sharp prototype 85″ 8K LCD displays clearly performed much better than the ones shown only last year.
A further improvement on show this year was the doubling of Ultra High Definition (UHD) or Super Hi-Vision (SHV)’s frame rate. The side-by-side demo in the show’s Future Zone was so obvious, from completely blurred fast-moving pans on one screen to a very watchable version shot with the 120 frames per second version from NHK’s 8K camera.
UHDTV was ratified by the ITU earlier this year in both the original 60 fps and the 120 fps variety. The demo at this year’s Future Zone, next to hall 8, makes clear that 120 frames per second is an acceptable starting point.
The wide adoption of FIMS will gather further momentum here at IBC today, when the collaborative group behind it collect the IBC Judges Award, and SMPTE and the EBU announce an acceleration of the standardisation process. Asked what is new for the show, Jean-Pierre Evain, the EBU FIMS co-ordinator (pictured), said: “On one side, more members like Signiant and Dalet. From the specification point of view, we are working on repositories and cloud management in FIMS, and defining requirements for quality assurance.” The users have spoken, and the high priority idea is a repository service. What is next? “Getting different orchestration systems to work together,” saidAMWA executive director Brad Gilmer.
Fraunhofer IIS, the world’s renowned source for audio and multimedia technologies, today at IBC announces new packaging, play back and transcoding components for the new Interoperable Master Format (IMF). Fraunhofer IIS´s new software components will further enable new post production products for processing as well as extend the capabilities of existing tools for universal distribution. Media production is gradually transitioning from tape-based to file-based workflows for processing and distribution in order to save time and money. To aid in this transition, IMF was developed on the initiative of the film industry and studios. The IMF is a file-based format in which high resolution image and audio data, auxiliary data and subtitles can be stored for processing in postproduction under a so-called Interoperable Master Package (IMP).
Cisco revealed today its expanded and enhanced content delivery network portfolio, branded as the Cisco Videoscape Distribution Suite (VDS). Cisco VDS is an open platform that delivers video content across multiple screens, multiple protocols, multiple applications and multiple networks. VDS serves as the network distribution engine behind the Videoscape architecture. It is a complete, interoperable and holistic solution that bridges cloud and network functionality. Highlights: -- With the introduction of VDS, Cisco is the only company in the industry providing a complete product suite with all the capabilities needed for third-generation content delivery. In addition, Cisco has integrated significant enhancements to the current Videoscape Distribution Suite Portfolio: -- Cisco VDS hardware -- Cisco VDS Service Manager (VDS-SM) -- Cisco VDS Television (VDS-TV) -- Cisco VDS Internet Streamer (VDS-IS) More on same topic : http://bit.ly/Sx3glo
Tel Aviv-based startup Vidmind came out of stealth today and debuted its cloud-based TV solution, which lets operators, broadcasters and retailers essentially create a white labeled version of Netflix. The company provides an Android-based set top box that can be branded for any company, cloud infrastructure to build a streaming TV service, back-end management for operators, clients for multiple platforms including mobile tablet and PC, and built-in second screen and social features so viewers can interact around content. Vidmind was started by Danny Peled, the founder of video company GooMe, which developed apps for broadcast providers and counted Vodafone and Orange as customers. ”At the end of our time at GooMe we decided that we wanted to create a platform for OTT [over-the-top content],” Peled said. “We thought that there is big potential for a fully hosted solution for TV services.” The company lets retailers, broadcasters or content creators create a cloud-based video-on-demand (VOD) and live streaming hub, which customers can access on a subscription basis. More info : http://www.vidmind.com
Concurrent, a global leader in video and media data solutions, announced that they have implemented support for the ATIS IPTV Interoperability Forum (IIF) interface specifications for content delivery networks on their MediaHawk Unified CDN products. Concurrent’s MediaHaw VX unified content delivery solution consists of software modules that can support origin, intermediate caching, and edge streaming functions for traditional and Internet-based video services. Modules may be used together to form a complete end-to-end CDN or individually as part of a best-of-breed content delivery ecosystem. The ATIS IIF specifications provide an open standards framework for integrating CDN solution components from multiple vendors, enabling operators to select the technologies that best suit their respective applications. ---------------------------------------------------------------- See combined offer with Velocix using the ATIS IIF C2 interface implementation : http://bit.ly/QnG7hW
Allegro DVT is proud to introduce the world first HEVC hardware decoder IP at IBC 2012. HEVC (aka “High Efficiency Video Coding”) is the next generation video standard, currently being developed by the JCT-VC team. JCT-VC is a joint team between MPEG and VCEG. The new HEVC decoder IP leverages Allegro DVT long and successful history of hardware video IPs development. Thanks to this HEVC decoder IP, Allegro DVT customers will be able to tape-out HEVC capable SoC as soon as the standard is finalized. At IBC 2012, Allegro DVT will demonstrate an FPGA based, real-time, high definition HEVC decoder, on its booth: 1.A46.
The service enables Blue Bridge receiver to extract HbbTV data from the DVB stream and transfer them to a Tablet with the Blue Bridge wireless communication (a simple Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection for example). Viewers can browse on HbbTV interactive application on a Tablet with a standard legacy TV set (non HbbTV compatible and non-connected TV). TV channels can address the 110 Million legacies CI Plus TVs even if they are not compatible with HbbTV. Viewers can watch a sporting event with nothing overlaid on TV screen but having individual access to associated information on their tablet.
At IBC 2012, Tvinci, the Pay-OTT platform provider, will demonstrate what the company calls their ‘OTT 2.0’ platform and discuss the market drivers behind it. Tvinci will showcase the new features developed for creating an advanced social and personal TV experience, where viewers watch, rate, recommend and intuitively share content with friends, on any device. Tvinci will also launch their Mobile 2.0 app for tablets and smartphones, enabling the usage of two devices in “companion mode’. In this mode end users can use their mobile device for browsing and selecting a TV show through a social EPG that shows what their friends are watching, and then swipe it to preview on a TV set (powered by a STB or SmartTV). The companion device can also become a remote control so that users can browse for the next show and socialize while they watch uninterrupted.
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