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Speaking at IBC2011, Lars Lauritzen, CEO of never.no, explains how his company helped TV2 of Norway create a real-time synchronised companion experience to accompany its Tour de France coverage. He says broadcasters are excited about the potential for two-screen productions and the way it can engage audiences, exploiting consumer interest in tablets and smartphones. The real excitement has yet to come, however, when the potential of synchronized companion advertising becomes obvious. 
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Despite increases in network capacity over the last decade, the thirst for more and higher quality video means compression is still a critical element in TV delivery. In this IBC2011 discussion, Dr Paul Stallard and Matthew Goldman from the CTO Group at Ericsson's TV Business consider next-generation compression technologies including HEVC and MPEG DASH. HEVC could support full-resolution 3DTV, ultra high-def and provide a leapfrog option for HD service providers using M2. It could also ensure longer battery life for mobiles and tablets decoding video. Meanwhile, DASH could bring some much-needed rationalisation to the delivery of adaptive bit rate services.
Direct video link : http://bcove.me/74q3hkf3
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Pay TV security is an ongoing battle between operators and not just pirates but also individuals who would rather not pay for the service. At the same time, operators have one hand tied behind their backs because unlike in banking, customers are not bothered if someone next door is hacking into their service.This rules out biometric techniques to authenticate users since people are unwilling to have their eyeballs examined to get at their premium content.
At IBC this year there was a growing view among operators and security vendors that no single technology can defeat the pirates, especially as services extend to multiple devices in TV Anywhere and OTT deployments. There is also recognition that defences against increasingly sophisticated attacks on encryption keys held in System on a Chip (SoC) components in set-top boxes, home gateways and other devices require stronger defences.
For this reason the San Francisco based cryptography company Cryptography Research has gained significant traction among both silicon manufacturers and conditional access (CA) vendors, leading to two significant announcements during the show : - firstly, the company announced that a fourth Pay TV SoC vendor, MStar Semiconductor, was licensing its CryptoFirewall technology in addition to Broadcom, ST Microelectronics and ViXS, which are already on board. - a licensing agreement with CA vendor Verimatrix
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At the recent IBC Show in Amsterdam, numerous vendors were extolling the benefits of a service oriented architecture (SOA) for capturing, producing, processing and distributing video and audio content as digital files. It’s the latest industry buzz term, but this one appears to have staying power as it brings the potential cost- and resource-saving benefits for both customers and the manufacturers themselves.
Although clearly interested, many attendees were left feeling a bit cautious about how to most effectively design and implement such an IT-centric system, even with the knowledge that it would increase efficiency and staff productivity while helping content providers manage the transition to a multi-screen, multi-format universe.
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I’m back from IBC, Amsterdam. One of the hot topics this year was ‘second screen’. In short words it is a way to show some synchronized content on PC, tablets or smartphones during TV programs. Usually second screen contains some additional information and makes TV shows more interactive. Broadcasters may attract more viewers and generate additional revenues using second screens. Some examples of such systems which I found quite interesting: - Snell ScreenToo - EVS C-Cast - never.no Interactivity Suite
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DTS and Digital Rapids have announced the companies' first tools to support the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem's (DECE) UltraViolet standard.
DTS showcased its newly launched DTS MediaPlayer in Stand 2.B50 during this year's IBC exhibition, using UltraViolet Common File Format (CFF) files created with Digital Rapids' upcoming version 2.0 of the Digital Rapids Transcode Manager automated transcoding software.
Both products support UltraViolet CFF files and serve the standard's goal to combine the benefits of cloud access with the power of an open, industry standard-empowering consumers to use multiple content services and device brands interchangeably, at home and on-the-go.
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Harmonic Inc. today announced the ProMedia family of software solutions that optimize live and file-based multiscreen video production and processing for content and service providers. The ProMedia family performs a broad range of functions, including transcoding, packaging, and origination to enable high- quality video creation and delivery of live streaming, live-to-VOD, and VOD services to TVs, PCs, tablets, smartphones, and other IP-connected devices. ProMedia is also an ideal solution for content creation in file-based workflows such as tapeless production environments.
The ProMedia family includes four software products: - ProMedia Live is a real-time video processing and transcoding system - Powered by Rhozet technology, ProMedia Carbon (formerly Carbon Coder) is a file-based transcoder that supports the largest array of acquisition, editing, broadcast, Web, and mobile formats in the industry. The system scales from a single instance to a large automated multinode transcoding farm. - ProMedia Package is a carrier-grade adaptive streaming preparation system for secure, high-value Internet video services. ProMedia Package supports numerous HTTP streaming protocol standards and is capable of packaging in multiple output formats from a single video source, enabling a more scalable, distributed architecture. - ProMedia Origin is an HTTP and RTMP streaming video server ideal for originating a broad range of multiscreen services in a scalable, easy-to-manage, carrier-class platform.
Control and management can be handled by Harmonic NMX Digital Service Manager or a Web-based GUI for real-time services.
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KIT digital launched today the KIT Connected Device Framework, a collection of native application templates and a comprehensive software development kit (SDK) designed to help organizations simplify the process of delivering unified socially-enabled video experiences across multiple internet connected devices, including connected TVs, game consoles, set-top boxes (STB), smartphones and tablets.
The KIT App Studio features: Customizable template applications for a growing number of leading smartphone, tablet and connected TV devices, including Android and iOS-powered devices, as well as TiVo, Boxee, Google TV and others Extensible partner plug-in architecture with support for leading advertising platforms such as Doubleclick, Freewheel, and Tremor Media; analytics platforms such as Adobe Omniture; and global distribution platforms such as the Akamai HD Network Seamless, simple and secure user verification for "TV Everywhere" federated user authentication, such as Adobe Pass Support of video, audio, pictures, and interactive engagement features such as member check-in, chat, comments, ratings, social sharing, and activity notifications.
The Connected Device Framework also includes a comprehensive SDK that provides documentation, sample applications, application programming interface (API) connectors and digital rights management modules to support the rapid development of highly customized applications. Leveraging the framework's APIs and code libraries, KIT digital's world-class professional services team can also build completely custom applications for proprietary set-top boxes or emerging connected device platforms, making even the most complex app concepts achievable.
The Connected Device Framework is also tightly coupled with KIT digital's Social TV offering that provides interactive TV applications and true second screen capabilities for multi-platform IPTV and OTT customers.
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Rovi Corporation today announced the availability of an updated version of its MainConcept Codec SDK (Software Development Kit). Version 9 of the SDK will enable developers to quickly take advantage of many of the very latest codec and network streaming technologies, providing them with what they need to integrate video and audio compression functionality. Rovi, developer of the industry’s leading video and audio codec library, will demonstrate Codec SDK 9 in action at IBC 2011in Hall 5, Stand A31.
Codec SDK 9 demonstrates Rovi’s breadth of entertainment offerings, which include upstream production technology used to create and distribute entertainment. Rovi’s MainConcept technologies are used by top production and broadcast brands across a wide range of professional industries, from Hollywood authoring, IPTV and streaming media to security, medical and digital signage.
New features of MainConcept SDK include:
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Nativ, a content services company specializing in media management and workflow automation, has partnered with Dolby Laboratories to provide Dolby encoding and audio analysis for any platform or device using Nativ’s newly launched Mio On Demand service.
The new solution will allow content owners to encode in Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby Pulse and utilize a range of advanced analysis tools to provide the highest quality audio visual experience for multiscreen television.
Dolby’s professional preprocessing and encoding tool, Dolby Media Generator has been integrated with a workflow and delivery tool and will enable a greater number of content owners to access Dolby’s advanced audio technologies as well as all the benefits of Nativ’s MioEverywhere platform, without the capital expenditure.
Mio On Demand will be demonstrated in Dolby Digital Plus at IBC on Dolby stand 2.B28 and Nativ stand 4.A61e.
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Grass Valley demonstrates how easy it is to take any live program and automatically format it for the web and mobile computing devices, complete with the ability to replace advertisements in the live stream, with its turnkey MediaFUSE Live automated content repurposing and multi-distribution system.
This plug-and-play streaming solution offers dynamic live streaming in the Flash, HLS-5, and Windows Media formats. This allows TV broadcasters and all types of multi-platform content providers to automatically convert linear content and stream it live to address 95% of the multimedia consumption devices (such as the Apple iPad, iPhone, and Google Android) in use today.
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The new Electra 9000 encoder from Harmonic Inc, which was launched today at IBC, will help service providers build the unified video headends they need to scale multi-screen TV offers cost-effectively, thanks to the combination of high-end broadcast encoder capabilities and web and mobile video processing. The new platform can be seen at IBC and first customer shipments are expected in Q1 2012.
Harmonic describes the Electra 9000 as the world’s first multi-codec, multi-format video encoder for broadcast, satellite, telco and cable operators that simultaneously supports broadcast, mobile and web formats in a 1-RU chassis. Each module supports flexible combinations of up to four SD/HD inputs, with up to eight broadcast output profiles and 32 multi-screen aligned output profiles.
It can be combined with the company’s ProMedia Package carrier-grade adaptive streaming preparation system and ProMedia Origin HTTP and RTMP streaming video server to encapsulate and deliver video to a variety of target ecosystems. There is support for Apple HTTP Live Streaming, Microsoft Smooth Streaming, Adobe RTMP and Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming.
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"As we had anticipated, Flash Access will now be supported on mobile devices, including a number Android tablets and smartphones as well as other devices such as RIM’s Playbook device. While the commercial availability of the client runtimes will need to wait until the upcoming release of Flash Player 11 and AIR 3, we have been in prerelease for a while and working closely with a number of customers on this. With the immediate availability of Flash Access 3.0, customers can begin deployment and be ready by the time the clients ship later this year."
"With Flash Access 3.0 and the upcoming Flash runtimes, it will be possible to offer a full UltraViolet experience, including support for centralized device domains and playback of content in the UVVU Common File Format, on the vast number of devices that support our platform, while also offering premium features such as rich interactivity."
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Android set-top boxes provide a simple and cost-effective way to make popular apps that consumers are used to seeing on tablets and mobiles available on TV. At IBC2011, EchoStar Europe was demonstrating how the Angry Birds game and the IMDb (Internet Movie Database) can be incorporated into a digital TV service, while at the same time demonstrating how a new generation of pure IP set-top boxes, including a Blackberry smartphone sized device, can be used as thin clients in a multi-room architecture.
The HDX-200 shown at IBC was a demonstration platform; the product will be commercialised within the next year. The Android operating system is only one ‘middleware’ option for this device but clearly an interesting one. Android is effectively the middleware, sitting on top of Linux. Mark Goodburn, Director of Marketing and Communications at EchoStar Europe, pointed out that applications developed for the mobile and tablet market can now be made available for the TV without having to rewrite them. And he added: “Some operators have their own applications and are delivering those to smart TVs already, and they also want to deliver them to set-top boxes.”
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The last thing digital video needs is new jargon that fuels another cycle of hype. So here’s the quick case for spotlighting hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) video: In tech years, HTTP is not new, but ancient, or as old as the Internet; HTTP linked to video is proving to be a strong growth engine.
The longer defense is that HTTP provides a hook for the “multi-screen” and “over-the-top” (OTT) themes that dominated IBC 2011. The key is that in contrast to IPTV-centric protocols, HTTP focuses on the client—on whatever device and at the end of whatever network—and its so-called GETs, or means of retrieving information or video from a network server.
This protocol and its adaptive bit-rate (ABR) cousins have yet to conquer the world. In fact, a competing theme at IBC 2011 was “hybrid,” whose resurgence indicates “more longevity in broadcast,” said ADB VP Strategy Paul Bristow. Moreover, there were other categories of technology on display: advanced advertising, HD, 3D, Super Hi-Vision, content distribution networks (CDNs), conditional access (CA) and digital rights management (DRM) systems.
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The announcement by the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) of support for premium video during IBC2011 heralds the coming of age for home networks. The extension of DLNA’s Interoperability Guidelines to include premium video including HD content plugs an important gap in the standard, which previously was confined to streaming user generated content (UGC) between connected devices within the home.
The key enabling technology for DLNA’s premium video support is Digital Transmission Content Protection over IP (DTCP/IP), which was developed by five companies: chip maker Intel and CE giants Hitachi, Panasonic, Sony and Toshiba. This group, referred to collectively as 5C, formed an entity called the Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator to license the DTCP technology. Designed specifically for the home network, DTCP encrypts content between devices within the home after checking that they both support the standard.
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A bit more impressions from IBC, Amsterdam. Another hot topic: equipment for mobile broadcasting using wireless networks. It’s some portable device which can be attached to a camera and send audio/video streams to dedicated server installed in broadcasting facility, to CDN etc. The choice is much wider this year; there are a lot of new products. This short review maybe does not include all the solutions shown on IBC, only those of them that I paid attention due some reason and was able to have a closer look.
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The trend towards cloud-based service delivery is creating a need for products that enable Quality of Service (QoS) over unmanaged networks, according to Swedish owned distributed video network technology vendor Edgeware. The company has developed a strategy called Distributed Video Delivery Network (D-VDN) to address this need, and announced the first product in this line, the Convoy VDN, at IBC2011. This helps operators deploy advanced video services with acceptable QoE over the unmanaged network between a cloud service and its subscribers, with the ability to tie in with a wholesale CDN (Content Delivery Network).
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Allegro DVT has unveiled the Genova turnkey OTT solution and proposed an integrated headend running on blade servers at IBC2011 in Amsterdam.
The use of blade servers reduces the overall complexity of the system and makes routing, redundancy and administration simpler than in the past.
The Allegro DVT Genova software headend is a fast deployable turnkey solution for WebTV and OTT which embeds licenses for: • Genova Live Transcoder, which provides live Web TV and OTT, to create a live multiscreen TV offer with playout on Adobe Flash, Microsoft Smooth Streaming, Apple HLS and WebM.
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Avid today unveiled Avid Motion Graphics - the company’s next-generation graphics platform. With a revolutionary new real-time 2D/3D graphics rendering engine, Avid Motion Graphics lets media enterprises—including broadcasters, sports teams, and post production companies—create thrilling graphics and arresting imagery while journalists and others integrate those graphics into their stories.
From character generation to full 3D animations, customers can create stunning imagery with a complete next-generation creative toolset, featuring an advanced real-time 2D/3D rendering engine using technology from Brainstorm Multimedia and accelerated by the latest GPU and I/O technology.
Additional features include: - Live-to-air playout - Templated workflows - Automated playout - Data-driven graphics - Post production extension - Multi-channel distribution - Interfaces with graphics tools and formats - Distributed architecture
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Digital Rapids is treating attendees of the IBC 2011 exhibition to a look at the next generation of the company's automated, high-volume media processing solution, as the upcoming 2.0 version of the Digital Rapids Transcode Manager software makes its IBC debut. Powered by the groundbreaking new Kayak application platform, Transcode Manager 2.0builds on the proven quality, format flexibility and performance that have made Transcode Manager the preferred choice of leading media organizations for applications from post production and archive to broadcast and multi-screen distribution. New features in version 2.0 include intelligent, logic-driven workflow automation; dynamic licensing; and elastic scalability with support for both on-premises and external clouds.
Transcode Manager 2.0 features sophisticated, decision-based process automation capabilities that seamlessly blend advanced analysis, logic branching, metadata handling and media transformation to enable intelligent, adaptive workflows. Using the included Kayak Designer, users can visually define powerful workflows combining video and audio manipulations, compression, visual monitoring, publishing and more. Different tasks or parameters can be applied based on the characteristics of the input source and previous processing results, with frame-by-frame analysis enabling workflows to adapt to anomalies or changing attributes even within a single source file.
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Tata Elxsi, a global provider of advanced software technologies and solutions for Digital TV markets, today announced an Android-based Connected TV Solution based on Marlin DRM technology. This feature-rich solution is designed for Broadcast, IPTV, and Video-on-Demand deployments. It integrates Marlin DRM technology for content protection and playback.
The Tata Elxsi Connected TV Solution combines an Android-based set top box that supports 1080p High Definition Video in H.264 and MPEG4 with a full-fledged browser for a richer viewing experience on large format TVs. It features all popular information and communication services, including support for chat, email, calendar and news services. The solution is being demonstrated at stall number F1.31 at IBC2011 in Amsterdam.
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Octoshape announced today its integration with Ecrin Video & Broadcast's video contribution and distribution systems. The integration of these technologies facilitates point-to-point and point-to-multipoint contribution and playout over the Internet as well as mass consumer distribution. French-based Ecrin supplies H.264 encoding systems that deliver content for broadcasters, IPTV, webTV and mobileTV.
Octoshape's Infinite Uplink embedded technology replaces traditional satellite and video fiber systems with resilient video contribution over the Internet, drastically reducing the cost associated with distribution and increasing deployment flexibility. This functionality, combined with Ecrin's LiveStream Series solution set, opens up new markets traditionally served only by large satellite delivery providers.
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Marquis Broadcast is unveiling major new upgrades to Medway, its media transfer and format conversion software, at IBC 2011. The upgrades feature a range of metadata integration enhancements that bring further efficiencies to file-based broadcast and post-production workflows.
Two new major advancements within Medway due for release later this year are being presented at IBC 2011. The first is a new web services interface, based on the AMWA/EBU FIMS development that will enable MAM systems to drive Medway’s feature-set. The second new development will provide closed caption preservation throughout editing workflows, and metadata support for the frame accurate requirements of 3-D/proxy production.
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New version of Flash Media Server offers expanded, dynamic protocol support, including HTTP Live Streaming to iDevices, as well as DRM enhancements.
FMS 4.5's primary intent is to leave the heavy lifting of choosing which protocol to deliver in (RTMP, HTTP Dynamic Streaming, HLS, etc) to the server. FMS 4.5 can generate real-time repackaging of an mp4 file for both HTTP Dynamic Streaming and HLS, including automated segmentation of mp4 files into the specific fragmented mp4 (fMP4) segmentation required by various Android, iOS and other mobile devices.
In addition to single stream repackaging, FMS 4.5 will also automatically create multiple bitrate segmentations, for adaptive streaming, as well as manifest files in Apple's m3u8 format. Instead of the previous manual process of rewrapping, segmentation creation, and manifest files, FMS 4.5 promises the ability to automate these basic processes.
With a nod to digital rights management, FMS 4.5 will also include DRM based on the Flash Access DRM scheme. Rather than requiring a broadcaster to buy a full-blown Flash Access 3.0 server, however, there will be a limited version of Flash Access baked into FMS 4.5 to cover RMTPe (encrypted) and segment-level DRM (a key feature of fMP4, which separates the header information from each fragment). Adobe claims it is also enhancing DRM to cover iOS devices to a limited degree--a claim we'll explore when we get a chance to review Flash Access 3.0 and FMS 4.5 , as HLS is based on MPEG-2 Transport Stream, which has no inherent capacity for DRM within each packet.
RTMFP will be available on the FMIS, a change from Adobe's previous scenario of only allowing RTMFP on the Enterprise Server version.
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