Missed any of our recent product news? Here is TV Tech's weekly wrap-up of new products, services and deployments we published in our newsletter between August 12 to August 16. The stories are listed from the newest on Friday August 16, day by day back to our stories from Monday August 12.

Prime Focus Technologies to Debut CLEAR AI Agents at IBC 2024

The CLEAR AI Agents are designed to assist & co-work with professionals to execute specific tasks across content management, post-production, and marketing.

Leader and Phabrix to Show T&M Solutions at IBC 2024

They will be showcasing test and measurement solutions for the complete manufacturing & broadcast production chain.

RTL Deutschland Expands FAST Channel Offering

The new FAST channels are powered by Harmonic; netorium integrated the news FAST channels into RTL’s operations.

MRMC To Unveil Studiobot LT, Cinebot At IBC 2024

Studiobot LT is well-suited for box cameras with a studio lens and supports a wide envelope of motion.

Florida Panthers Launch New DTC Streaming Service

For the new season, every locally-produced game will stream live on new apps and air on broadcast over-the-air.

Cineverse Partners with Wurl on FAST Channels

The agreement will bring new channels to viewers, while also enhancing Cineverse’s monetization and discovery capabilities.

EvertzAV Brings Cutting-Edge AVoIP Solutions to IBC 2024

These IP routable products and solutions deliver high quality and high reliability to AV professionals working across numerous disciplines.

Marshall Brings Auto Tracking To IBC 2024 with New CV612 PTZ Camera

The system automatically tracks, follows and frames presenters using AI facial learning for accurate and smooth self-adjusting maneuvers.

ESPN Inks Deal with Genius Sports to Expand Data Capabilities for Basketball Coverage

The deal will expand ESPN's data-driven storytelling in its coverage of NCAA basketball, NBA and WNBA.

Harmonic Launches New SaaS Version of Its Distribution Management System

Running on the public cloud, Harmonic's DMS X SaaS brings playout control capabilities to its XOS advanced media processor.

Horizon Media Taps Comscore as Preferred Contextual Intelligence Provider

Clients of the largest U.S. media agency will be able to use Proximic by Comscore's AI-powered contextual technology.

ATSC To Exhibit 3.0 Developments At Brazil’s SET Expo 2024

ATSC will exhibit at the SET Expo 2024 at the Distrito Anhembi Convention Center in San Paulo, Brazil, Aug. 19-22, on the heels of the SBTVD Forum recommending adoption of the ATSC 3.0 physical layer to the Brazilian government for its TV 3.0 next-generation terrestrial broadcast standard.

Veritone Makes AI M&E Solutions Available in AWS Marketplace

Among the AI software in the marketplace are Veritone Digital Media Hub, Discovery and Attribute.

CommScope Announces First Major Sale of Newly Acquired Casa vCCAP Solution

vCCAP will be used to support significant distributed access architecture deployment in Hungary.

BNS Partners with NPAW to Enhance Video Analytics Reporting in North America

The partnership will help NPAW expand its footprint in North America.

Elation Delivers Dynamic PULSE For First-Ever Live Broadcast from Sphere

Lighting designer Tom Kenny debuted PULSE PANEL FX for the NHL Draft in Las Vegas.

Signiant to Highlight Latest Innovations, Partnership at IBC 2024

Among the partnerships is the company’s new collaboration with TMT Insights.

DVEO to Introduce Brutus Cloud Video Distribution Platform at IBC 2024

Brutus Cloud provides high-performance, flexible transcoding and streaming for IPTV, OTT and FAST TV.

Globo Shows Off TV 2.5 Enhancements on Hisense TVs During Paris Olympics

The broadcaster demoed Advanced HDR by Technicolor and Fraunhofer’s MPEG-H Audio.

Historic Billy Joel Concert Captured On ARRI Cameras For Multi-Cam Production

To capture Billy Joel’s 100th consecutive performance of his residency at Madison Square Garden, show producers turned to ARRI’s ALEXA 35 and Mini LF cameras.

SAN DIEGO—DVEO will unveil Brutus Cloud, a new platform designed to transform video distribution, at IBC 2024, Sept. 13-16, at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center.

Brutus Cloud offers advanced capabilities to meet the growing demands of IPTV, OTT, and FAST TV services, providing high-performance, flexible video transcoding and streaming, DVEO said.

Brutus Cloud is engineered to deliver top-tier video transcoding and streaming solutions and provides seamless integration and quality across various platforms, it said.

Features include:

• Transcode multiple channels for IPTV. Manage and deliver numerous HD channels, enhancing the viewer experience with reliable and high-quality IPTV service.
• Transcode multiple resolutions in HLS DASH ABR for OTT. Adaptively transcode videos into different resolutions using HLS and DASH protocols.
• Insert SCTE35 ad insertion markers into HLS DASH for FAST TV. Enhance ad delivery and monetization for Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST TV) services by inserting SCTE35 markers into HLS DASH streams.
• Live video distribution: Distribute live video streams with high quality and low latency.

In addition, Brutus Cloud has been integrated with 1Legion, a cloud computing innovator. 1Legion offers a cost-effective GPU compute rental service and renewable energy-powered private cloud. Its unique model aggregates third-party compute resources through advanced API integration, offering scalable, on-demand access to powerful GPU technology, it said.

This approach not only democratizes access to high-powered computing but also significantly reduces costs and minimizes environmental impact. By partnering with 1Legion, Brutus Cloud leverages these cutting-edge capabilities to enhance its global video distribution and security features, ensuring superior performance and sustainability in video transcoding and streaming, it said.
See DVEO at IBC 2024 Stand 5.B5.

More information is available on the company’s website.

SAN DIEGO—Broadcast and streaming hardware developer DVEO will introduce its new streaming decoder and encoder, including the D-Streamer H.264 AVC/H.265 HEVC /MPEG-2 decoder for Windows, during IBC 2022, Sept. 9-12, at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre.

“We are happy to be back at IBC. Even more so with so many new solutions,” said David Vargas, the new CEO of DVEO. “It will be very beneficial to be able to see customers and partners, besides promoting our new products.”

In addition to video, the 1 RU server D-Streamer also decodes multi-channel audio and supports closed captions to receive live streams with IP input, the company said.

DVEO also will feature its Premio encoder, a one-to-eight-channel H.264 AVC/H.265 HEVC/MPEG-2 encoder for Windows with support for multiple audio tracks, closed captions and SCTE 35 insertion via IP, it said.

The company’s new AdSerter also will be featured. It integrates ads and video clips as well as logos, graphics, text and scrolling text into live video feeds according to a predetermined timetable or in response to signals, such as SCTE 35, it said.

“The AdSerter was developed for professionals who are ready to shift to a strong server that can provide them all that is needed to handle a large number of channels in a single box,” said Vargas.

DVEO also will showcase an upgrade of its Brutus GPU that makes transcoding more sustainable. The Brutus GPU Eco can transcode up to 80 channels without consuming any more than 120 Watts.  The upgraded transcoder is designed to be scalable, upgradeable and easy to adapt and configure to meet the full demands of broadband network operators looking for Linux-based solutions.

See DVEO at IBC 2022 Stand 5.F41.

More information is available on the company’s website. 

SAN DIEGO—TV/OTT equipment supplier DVEO has crafted a standalone video streaming kit, which it claims can be used to create a live streaming setup in 30-60 minutes.

Called the Cheap & Easy Streaming Kit, DVEO’s new offering enables users to live stream to Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, Periscope, Mixer, Good Game, Hitbox, Daily Motion and other RTMP servers. The kit works in conjunction with the support of Open Broadcaster Software, an open source streaming and recording application that runs on Windows.

The streaming kit is also paired with an HDMI camera that supports both 1080p and pan, tilt and zoom. There is also real-time video/audio capturing and mixing, with a multitude of scenes that the user can switch between via custom transitions.

“DVEO ultimately created this kit to provide an affordable streaming kit for everyone to use,” said Laszlo Zoltan, CEO of DVEO.

For more information, visit www.dveo.com.  

SAN DIEGO—TV/OTT equipment supplier DVEO has announced that it has entered into a partnership with Norway-based Bridge Technologies, with DVEO serving as its sales representative in the U.S.

Bridge Technologies develops monitoring and analytics products for digital media service delivery, including for the broadcast, cable, OTT and production industries. One of its products, the VB 440 IP probe, was developed to support ST 2110, ST 2022-6, ST 2022-7, NMOS and PTP.

“DVEO is looking forward to introducing Bridge Technologies to the U.S. and to our customers,” said Laszlo Zoltan, CEO of DVEO. “It is a growing market out there and we would like to be at the forefront of it by combining our expertise with the exceptional technological background that Bridge Technologies displays.”

For more information, visit www.dveo.com.

AMSTERDAM—TV/OTT equipment supplier DVEO has announced that it will debut its new real-time multicamera synchronizer, the Multichannel Video Synchronizer, at IBC 2019. Sept. 13-17.

DVEO’s Multichannel Video Synchronizer features IP inputs and outputs and is designed to time synchronize IP camera feeds to under one frame delay. This allows for up to 50 POV cameras to be fed to a remote location with seamless transition between views.

The unit is a Linux-based, 19-inch rack mountable, real-time multicamera synchronizer. DVEO says that the unit is typically deployed at master control, where all camera feeds can be synchronized through a remote GUI and accessed from anywhere with an internet connection.

DVEO will display the Multichannel Video Synchronizer at stand 14.D24 during IBC 2019.

SEATTLE—Asian American Television (AAT TV) is the only 24/7 Asian TV broadcaster in the northwestern United States, offering Asian programming in Mandarin, Cantonese and Vietnamese to approximately 1.5 million TV households in the greater Seattle area.

In 2011, we had to move our transmitter and needed a reliable encoder to transition from analog to IP. Even though streaming video was still in its infancy we purchased a MultiStreamer Analog/IP from DVEO, which still works and is compatible with our newer equipment.

RELIABLE VIDEO TRANSMISSION OVER UNRELIABLE INTERNET

In 2018, we had to switch our transmitter to an adjacent tower site on top of a mountain. Internet from the tower site caused the video to often pixelate. Our station uses a non-fiber connection, so we needed equipment that would smooth out our IP connection and give us a stable picture.

DVEO recommended their patented DOZER ARQ (Automatic Repeat Request) automated packet recovery technology. It fixes UDP packet loss and achieves error-free real-time video transport over any type of IP network. It alleviates jitter and noise, and also protects your content by encrypting all traffic with AES 128.

Another company said we could buy their error correction system and return it if needed. However, DVEO offers free evaluation units so we can test systems first.

Our first generation MultiStreamer is too old to add the DOZER software to it, but it still works fine, so we tried a standalone 7.5-inch wide DOZERbox which is housed at the tower site with the MultiStreamer. The MultiStreamer converts analog to IP and sends it to the DOZERbox, which sends “DOZERized” IP to our station. (We use a DVEO D-Streamer IP/DIG to convert the video to HD-SDI.)

DVEO’s tech support was very helpful. We tested the DOZERbox at different bitrates. For us, two megabits up and down is holding up pretty well. The DOZERbox also fixed the pixelation issues; the end-to-end latency is about two or three seconds, and the video looks great.

DURABLE AND COST-EFFECTIVE

We purchased the DOZERbox for nearly half the cost of the other company’s solution. We have being using the DOZERbox for over a year, alongside our hardy MultiStreamer.

We’ve been a DVEO customer for almost 10 years and are very happy with their products and service.

David Cho is the President of Asian American Television, the only 24/7 Multi-Asian Television Broadcaster in the Northwest. He has been in the television industry over 14 years.

For more information, please visitwww.dveo.comor call 858-613-1818.

ALEXANDRIA, VA.—The television news business is all about getting the picture back from the field faster—faster than the competition, if possible. The latest tool to enable faster field video is the bonded cellular system that uses commercial mobile networks to carry video.

From a quiet start a decade ago, bonded cellular and wireless IP video products have taken off to become a major component of local news infrastructure. These portable mobile systems are far cheaper and faster to set up than a microwave or satellite truck, and they can go places—even indoors—where a truck could never go.

Jim Jachetta, executive vice president and CTO for VidOvation, the distributor for Aviwest products in the U.S., discussed the affordability factor of bonded cellular for news operations.

“As new news agencies emerge or establish agencies downsize, bonded cellular will require a much lower capital investment when compared to building citywide microwave coverage,” Jachetta said. “In some cases, satellite makes sense when the cellular network is not available. The Aviwest PRO380 system bonds up to 12 connections including eight cellular, two LAN and two WiFi. The LAN connections offer bonding of cellular with an IP microwave or IP satellite connections.”

Although bonded cellular has become important in the newsgathering toolkit, mobile network speed and reliability today are not always there when needed by broadcasters.

“It is always advised to have a variety of tools in the toolbox,” said Edgar Shane, general manager of engineering for JVC Professional Video. “Although 4G speeds, coverage, and capacity increased dramatically over the last five years, there may be conditions where cellular towers become overloaded due to great numbers of users, and satellite or microwave may be needed as a backup plan. This is especially true for large gatherings. My favorite example is New Year’s Eve in Times Square, where only microwave, satellite, or licensed wireless connections can provide reliable video transport.”

Reliability is paramount to broadcasters, who don’t want to run the risk of a remote shot failing suddenly. That’s why some manufacturers are integrating multiple paths into their bonded cellular systems.

“Although use of cellular data connections is one aspect of our system, the Comrex LiveShot system is capable of aggregating any viable IP network connection to transmit audio and video data,” said Chris Crump, senior director of sales & marketing for Devens, Mass.-based Comrex. “As with all public data networks, there is really no guarantee that your shared data path will be completely available and without any contention for bandwidth.”

CAMERA-MOUNT OR BODY PACK?

At the camera end, bonded cellular systems generally come in two configurations: camera-mounted or a body pack in a knapsack or shoulder-strap carrying bag. The CloudPort, from DVEO. a San Diego-based provider of broadcast gear, is an eight-modem backpack system that can be preconfigured with SIMs for a specific market. The CloudPort includes 40 GB of built-in storage to provide a solid recording of a live remote event simultaneous to the live feed.

Comrex’s LiveShot is a highly compact bonded cellular system that attaches to the back of a camera, with a docking mount for the camera’s battery. This lets any ENG broadcast camera become a mobile origination point with minimal increase in weight or size.

Change is a constant in the cellular business and the current technology for mobile connections is 4G, which is capable of wireless connection speeds of 100 Mbps or even a bit higher. (I frequently check my cellular connection speed and have twice measured connections at greater than 100 Mbps.) That is easily fast enough for excellent-quality contribution feeds from a news remote, although such speeds aren’t common in my experience and they are subject to random change as other cellular customers place demands on the service. For this reason, professional bonded cellular systems link two or more cellular modems together across multiple carriers to ensure the best possible connection and speed.

GREATER RELIABILITY

At some point in 2019, 5G cellular services will start to come online, and this is expected to provide greater reliability and bandwidth for mobile networks. However, it will not guarantee that there will be a suitable connection every time one is needed.

“The [timing and impact of 5G] is a harder question to answer than you might think,” said Dan Pisarski, vice president of engineering for LiveU in Hackensack, N.J. “One reason is there is a lot of technology, very cool tech, that falls under the ‘5G’ logo. Carriers can implement parts of this technology and not others—some examples would include deploying 5G radios but not a 5G network core, or deploying 5G in only specific frequencies while supporting 4G LTE in others. This is made more complicated because carriers are anxious to use the 5G name and are labeling some technology that standards groups might have called LTE [such as LTE Advanced and LTE Pro] as ‘5G.’

“All that said, yes, broadcasters should start to see immediate improvements even with these hybrid deployments, including more stable streams, especially at lower delays,” he added.

Initial deployments of 5G will be for fixed wireless access equipment, according to Yvonne Monterroso, head of product management for Dejero. “This equipment will provide very high data rates but will not be small size or low power,” she said. “Dejero equipment will support connection to fixed wireless access equipment via Ethernet.”

Monterroso added that later deployments (5G NR) will offer low power and portability, but the chipsets and modems are not expected to be available until mid- to late-2020. Once available, Dejero will integrate and certify these modems into its products, she said.

Once 5G networks and gear are available, Monterroso said it will mean that regular cellular customers will demand more data and content, soaking up bandwidth that broadcasters might use. However, that will take some time.

“Since 5G will take some time to be deployed and coverage will be limited, we believe that blending multiple connections will offer a compelling advantage regarding reliability and throughput, especially in mobile and nomadic applications,” she said.

SUPPORT GROWS FOR 5G

Other companies plan to support 5G for bonded cellular video acquisition gear as well.

“Aviwest and VidOvation are ready for the rollout of the 5G cellular networks,” Jachetta said. “We already have a few customers using 5G cellular and we feel that 5G conductivity will help in crowded urban areas. 5G will offer higher bandwidths over much shorter distances making it ideal for live sports venues and crowded urban areas.”

However, Jachetta pointed out that it will take time—years, probably—for wireless carriers to fully roll out 5G technology and improve their data backhaul circuits before 5G can live up to its promise. For this reason, he expects that 4G will continue to be the workhorse technology in the near term.

“While 5G cellular connectivity will help in certain locations, there will still be a need for the longer-range and wider coverage capabilities of 4G technology,” he said.

In addition to mobile 4G networks and the promise of future 5G networks, there are other connectivity options available to improve the reliability of live field acquisition. Several companies support such options, including TVU Networks.

“TVU has 5G-ready solutions today,” said Matt McEwen, vice president of product management for the Mountain View, Calif.-based provider of broadcast technology. “Our system has never been reliant on just one type of network connection technology. In fact, our system today can already aggregate virtually any cellular technology alongside WiFi, satellite, IP microwave, wired connections, etc. Just connect the active link and it will be aggregated. We expect 5G to be the same—it will just be an additional network connection that can be aggregated.”

HIGH-EFFICIENCY CODING

Another recent technology is improving the efficiency and performance of bonded cellular links: HEVC, also known as MPEG-5.

“HEVC offers higher bandwidth efficiency with the same or better visual quality than MPEG-4 AVC,” said Ronan Poullaouec, chief technology officer for Aviwest. “Using HEVC, broadcasters can achieve a 50-percent bitrate savings compared with MPEG-4 AVC. For bonded cellular news feeds, better compression means a reduction in the bandwidth needed to transmit high-quality live videos… allowing broadcasters to transmit live videos in environments where it would not have been possible to send any video with the previous MPEG-4 AVC compression technology.”

Mike Savello, vice president of sales for LiveU, said HEVC allows broadcasters to operate in real-time with extreme low latency with the highest quality, even at very low bit rates.

“This is where LiveU’s HEVC solutions differ from software solutions where video quality may be sacrificed to keep the latency low or may be switched back to H.264 to save battery life,” Savello said. “LiveU encodes in HEVC all the time, providing longer battery life.”

All the experts agreed on a tip to improve the reliability of a bonded cellular connection if you are building a new news vehicle, especially if you will be using the vehicle when it’s moving.

“With everything else being equal, I recommend antennas, more antennas, and better antennas,” said JVC’s Shane. “JVC ProHD Bridge systems utilize high-gain, diversity MIMO 4G and Wi-Fi antennas to assure reliable reception under a variety of conditions.”

Others had similar advice, each tailored to that company’s product.

“Consider the best equipment to meet the need to have a rackmount in the vehicle and/or use a mobile transmitter,” said Dejero’s Monterroso. “The Dejero mobile transmitter can be mounted in a vehicle and connected to rooftop antennas for increased cellular network reception or live shots while driving. And it can quickly be dismounted and placed in a backpack or sling bag, or mounted on a camera for mobility while on location.”

There are several smartphone apps to help broadcasters figure out coverage and ensure the most reliable shot. Of course, the wireless companies themselves have some information on their coverage.

“All cellular data providers have coverage maps to show the availability of their services down to the street level,” said Comrex’s Crump. “It’s always a good idea to try to take a look at what’s available, time permitting, at the location of a planned broadcast. There are also bunches of apps out there for the purpose determining coverage at a specific location. 

"We like Open Signal and Sensorly, which provide cellular network availability data based on app user speed tests," Crump continued. "Most broadcasters that have been using IP video codecs are fairly aware of the fact that stadiums filled will 80,000 cell phones are not idea locations for an IP live shot…regardless of how many modems you are trying to use. However, in locations where local cell towers won’t be compromised, aggregating across multiple providers does tend to provide a greater degree of reliability.”

The category of mobile newsgathering products has been one of the fastest-growing segments in the broadcasting industry. Not only are these mobile products working alongside and sometimes replacing traditional backhaul methods such as microwave and satellite, the comparatively low cost of bonded cellular means that more news organizations can afford remote gear than ever.

And that is the real revolution at work in the newsgathering business—not only is bonded cellular usually cheaper and faster than the competition, it allows for video from a moving vehicle and in other circumstances that were never before possible.

Where will the revolution go next?

AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS–DVEO, will premiere its PREMIO DIG/IP: TELCO, a low-latency, 4:2:2 encoder with HD-SDI input and H.264 (and optional H.265) output at the 2016 IBC Show.

“The PREMIO DIG/IP: TELCO is a premium quality 10 Bit 1080p encoder, able to encode video to mezzanine quality. It is designed for critical contribution applications and has many redundancy features,” says Laszlo Zoltan, VP of DVEO.

PREMIO DIG features 200ms encoding latency, 50Mbps encoding bit-rate and runs on Linux so operators can overlay logos, text, and closed captioning to the stream. Users can archive streams up to 400 GB and use up to four audio pairs to support different languages. Incoming streams can be upconverted from SD to HD as well as downconverted.

IBC attendees can check out the DVEO’s PREMIO DIG/IP: TELCO at booth 2.A34. The IBC Show takes place at the RAI in Amsterdam, Sept. 8-13. 

SAN DIEGO – DVEO plans to introduce its new multi-carrier advertising platform, the SPOTTER, at the upcoming 2015 IBC Show. The SPOTTER is a targeted ad insertion and delivery platform that uses content and viewer information to determine ads played out to any viewer, combining content type, consumer profile and geographical location data by mining multiple data bases in real-time.

SPOTTER Targeted Ad Insertion Platform

The SPOTTER functions by transcoding content and inserting SCTE 35 signals with the metadata required for ad insertion. The system can use ASI, IP, or HD-SDI as an input, and DVB-ASI or IP as its output. Automated UDP Packet Recovery Technology can also be added via DVEO’s DOZER for error-free, real-time video delivery to MSO, cable operator, affiliate, or regional head ends.

SCTE 35 signals are used to prepare streams for various combinations of program types, regional zones, or viewer profiles. If SCTE signals or the content creator/originator are not involved, SPOTTER can identify content type by analyzing the program guide, closed captions, face/image and video recognition of live video signals.

Additional SPOTTER features include the ability to trigger “ad starts” and deliver targeted ads to set top boxes and mobile viewers.

Provider of digital video and HDTV products, DVEO will be at booth 2.A24 at IBC 2015, which runs from Sept. 11-15 in Amsterdam.