LAS VEGAS—There are many different types of equipment used for news production, everything from cameras to satellite dishes to media management systems. One of the interesting evolutions in the industry is how gear that was developed for ENG applications in particular, is now used for a variety of media creation and management tasks.

This is due at least in part to Moore’s Law, the rule that doubles the complexity of electronic components every two years or so. In the television industry, this means that devices get additional features and capabilities regularly—as the price of the gear either stays the same or slowly reduces. Equipment that could only be afforded by well-paid news organizations is now available to a much bigger range of content creators, at very friendly prices.

This has led to an explosion of products and capabilities, and it gets used for programming from reality shows to sports to films. ENG is not just for ENG anymore.

Here is a brief look at what is new for news production teams at the 2022 NAB Show at press time: 

Ingest & Editing
Bitcentral will spotlight its Precis news production system that streamlines ingest and editing. Precis is scalable to grow with an organization, and works with a range of editing software, ENG cameras and newsroom computer systems.

Grass Valley will feature its GV STRATUS production and content management system. Grass Valley’s AMPP Connected STRATUS solution now allows users to have access to content across multiple sites and teams by federating the content in the cloud. AMPP also gives journalists access to a full-featured web-based editor that can be accessed from anywhere on any computer and works with proxies for fast response.

Dalet will highlight its new Pyramid newsroom system, a cloud-agnostic solution that supports multiple cloud providers, and can run in virtualized environments that support remote productions.

“Dalet Pyramid enables news storytellers to incorporate diverse content from any source into the virtual newsroom, including remote camera/ENG contributions and backpack integration,” said Raoul Cospen, director of business development (EMEA and APAC) for Dalet.

IP-Based Production
Aviwest will showcase its new PRO460 4K UHD 5G/4G transmitter, designed for remote and at-home video production. The PRO460 supports 4K UHD and multicamera workflows for up to four high-resolution, fully frame-synced feeds.

“The Aviwest PRO460 addresses many of the challenges that broadcasters face in ENG and for live-event remote production,” said Ronan Poullaouec, chief technology officer and co-founder of Aviwest.

Dejero will feature its new EnGo 265 mobile transmitter with built-in GateWay mode. The two-in-one mobile transmitter and internet gateway delivers reliable wireless connectivity with the new GateWay mode offering wireless broadband internet connectivity in the field. An improved bandwidth blending algorithm enhances all latency setting and delivers glass-to-glass latency as low as 0.5 seconds over bonded cellular connections, the company said.

LiveU will show new and existing products in its large booth, which features a live stage for fireside chats, panels and workflow demonstrations with other cloud production providers including Blackbird, Grass Valley, Grabyo, highlighting the ongoing removal of traditional and restrictive infrastructure. The company will highlight its contribution and distribution solutions that include the multicamera LU800 5G production-level field unit. LiveU will also demo its Air Control solution to get remote guests and live feeds into the system and on the air.

Also new is Cloud Connect, which simplifies live productions, reduces costs, and delivers a faster time-to-air by leveraging LiveU’s automated cloud workflows. 

TVU Networks will showcase a suite of cloud-based applications for remote production and new 5G-enabled transmitters and routers. Most of TVU’s technology is 5G-enabled and has been so for years. This includes the TVU One mobile transmitter, TVU Rack Router, and TVU MLink transmitter. 

TVU’s cloud-native pay-as-you-go TVU Channel playout platform, introduced in late October, supports hundreds of thousands of viewers. Designed for one of the world’s largest broadcasters, TVU Channel enables a user to schedule live and VOD programming from a web browser.

Education Sessions
Off from the exhibit floor, several conferences will consider current and future trends and advances in newsgathering.

On Sunday afternoon, April 24, in the CMIP Presentation Theater, Josh Keller from the Video Call Center will answer the question, “Are IP-Remotes Causing Headaches?” During the session, he’ll discuss ways to reduce latency, dropouts and improve the overall quality of IP remote delivery, an issue that has been top of mind for news stations that have had to increase their reliance on IP remotes for the past two years.

At “Advanced News Acquisition Workflows” on Tuesday morning, April 26, Ernie Ensign, senior director of news technology for Sinclair Broadcast Group, will look at how the use of metadata can help improve news workflows from the newsroom computer system to cameras in the field. 

Tuesday afternoon, during “Breaking News Barriers: 175 Years of Innovation in Factual Reporting,” representatives from the Associated Press will discuss its evolution from the days of communicating via horseback to today’s digital media technologies.

News teams will also want to check out “ATSC 3.0 as a Use Case for Public Safety Communications: Development Milestones,” on Sunday morning in the West Hall. This session will focus on how the use of advanced emergency alerting systems in NextGen TV will help broadcasters improve their reporting and public safety commitments. 

With plenty of competition and constant product improvement, news production systems at NAB Show 2022 promise new features, excellent performance and the agility to get your content where it needs to go—when it needs to get there.

For more information on the 2022 NAB Show, visit nabshow.com/2022

WATERLOO, CANADA—Dejero will feature its new EnGo 265 mobile transmitter with built-in GateWay mode at the NAB Show, April 23-27, in Las Vegas. 

The company also will showcase integrations with the Grabyo and Dazzl cloud video platforms with the dual themes of enhancing productivity and simplifying cloud-base workflows for remote news teams and broadcast and media production teams producing live events, the company said.

The two-in-one mobile transmitter and internet gateway delivers reliable wireless connectivity. The new GateWay mode offers wireless broadband internet connectivity in the field. An improved bandwidth blending algorithm enhances all latency setting and delivers glass-to-glass latency as low as 0.5 seconds over bonded cellular connections, the company said.

The company has addressed security concerns with AES256 encryption, use of the security-hardened Linux OS and a crytoprocessor to authenticate the hardware, it said.

“The lower latency and enhanced security are impressive enough, but what makes the EnGo 265 stand out is GateWay mode,” said Yvonne Monterroso, director of product management at Dejero. 

“With GateWay mode, ultra-reliable, high bandwidth internet access is made possible with Dejero’s Smart Blending Technology. It means that news teams only need to carry an EnGo 265 — in a backpack or mounted in a vehicle using a Vehicle Antenna Dock — to go live, quickly send or receive large files and securely access private newsroom systems and cloud services from any location.”

Dejero’s GateWay mode is powered by the company’s Smart Blending Technology that aggregates all available networks to maximize reliability, expand coverage and increase bandwidth, it said.

The EnGo 265 enables field crews to broadcast breaking news, quickly transfer files to prepare and upload packages to and from the field and establish high-bandwidth access points for multiple devices. TV, film and commercial production teams can leverage the transmitter’s reliable, fast connection to enable dispersed team members to collaborate and to deliver content directly from the set to post-production regardless of location, it said.

Integrations with the Grabyo and Dazzl cloud video platforms also will be featured to showcase how production teams can deliver live content to multiple broadcast, digital and social platforms simultaneously from anywhere, it said. 

The combination of Dejero’s EnGo 265 and cloud workflow integrations provides easy access to live production tools that enable live clipping, rapid editing and video distribution while maintaining a reliable internet connection, it said.

See Dejero at NAB Show booth W3930.

More information is available on the company’s website. 

WATERLOO, Ontario—Cinematographer Vinit Borrison powered what’s dubbed a “virtual video village” that connected the geographically dispersed creative team involved in the production of a commercial project with the Dejero EnGo mobile transmitter and the Zoom video conferencing application.

Borrison—who starred with his wife and young daughter in a commercial for a skin care brand during the pandemic—shot, produced and edited the spot from his home. The Dejero EnGo mobile transmitter provided reliable, high-bandwidth connectivity, streaming high-quality, low-latency video to the director in New York, the agency in Los Angeles and the client in Toronto—all of whom talked about the project via Zoom, Dejero said.

Wearing Apple AirPods, Borrison was able to speak with the directors, who offered feedback and took notes in real-time during the shoot. A small amount of equipment was set up in a separate room, which allowed Borrison’s daughter to remain comfortable rather than being surrounded by crew and technology. The workflow made it possible for the actors to have a more natural interaction with the camera, it said.

“When the pandemic hit and social distancing was enforced, there was no option for the industry but to work remotely with bare minimal crew, which had a lot of production companies scrambling. But as we’d already adopted Dejero’s connectivity solution into our workflows, it was the perfect storm which has actually opened up many more opportunities for us,” said Borrison. 

The Dejero solution has enabled Borrison to work to tighter deadlines and offer clients greater flexibility.

“The EnGo is an amazing tool that has helped us to create a highly efficient remote workflow for our productions,” he said. “Tons of people crowding around a few monitors on set has been superseded by a virtual video village because we can now connect our client’s creatives and stakeholders from the comfort of their homes or studios. It means that everyone has a great view of what is being filmed at that moment so faster, and more considered, creative decisions can be made, which enhances overall production values.”

Prior to the setup, transmission of high-quality shots to the on-set video village was restricted by cables or wireless connections with limited range or bandwidth. For the majority of cinematic productions, hard drives would have to be physically taken back to a central location because transferring these types of high-quality video files without dropouts was not possible, the company said.

Dejero’s Smart Blending Technology simultaneously aggregates multiple network paths, including cellular, broadband and satellite, in real time, enabling high-quality video to be transmitted instantly, meaning collaboration time, production logistics and carbon footprint are significantly reduced.

More information is available on the company’s website.

WATERLOO, Ontario—Pitch 5 Productions' efforts to go remote to protect crew and clients during the pandemic has been supported by Dejero technology, including the company’s EnGo mobile transmitters and GateWay network aggregation for remote editing.

As part of COVID-safe protocols, Pitch 5 has opted to create a virtual video villages, which enable remote editing collaboration where clients could watch camera outputs from separate locations rather than a typical video village, where crowds often gather.

Using Dejero’s technology, Pitch 5 was able to connect the director, talent and creative teams in real time for the iHeartRadio’s series of “At Home Sessions” with musicians. This helped speed up the editing process as well, as footage was logged directly from the remove video village.

Pitch 5 Productions President Brian Gallagher praised EnGo for its ability to operate from its own cell signal for connectivity and stability on set, while the GateWay was critical in sending a signal directly to the editing team.

In addition to the EnGo and GateWay platforms, Dejero says that Pitch 5 utilized its Smart Blending Technology, helping to create reliable workflows by combining multiple network connections and manage fluctuating bandwidth, packet loss and latency issues.

“Dejero has helped keep not only our teams but our clients connected to the productions we’ve had all over the country,” said Pitch 5 Productions President Brian Gallagher. “The opportunities to work more effectively using this technology are limitless for us both now and in the future. All of our clients have been very happy with the entire process and we are too, as it has been spectacularly simplified.”

For more information, visit www.dejero.com.  

SYDNEY—Australia’s Sports Entertainment Network, tasked with building out an OB operation, opted to use Dejero EnGo mobile transmitters as part of its setup to deliver high-quality live video of its sports productions to different regions and networks.

Dejero EnGo’s bonded cellular system was a key component for SEN, as the network’s head of TV production, Peter Morris, said they wanted to complement its live and pre-recorded studio programs for second-tier sports, those with a broadcasting requirement but not the budget for a full-blown OB operation.

EnGo’s SmartBlend technology provides SEN with reliable connectivity for low-latency live video, allowing for high-quality live video to be transmitted with latency as low as 0.8 seconds. HEVC compression and bitrates up to 20 Mb/s at 1080p 50/60 assist in delivering that high-quality video, while hybrid hardware/software encoding can adapt in real-time based on the complexity of the video scene. Dejero also boasts of its reliable cellular reception in challenging network environments because of its design separating antennas for enhanced reception.

One example of SEN putting the EnGo units to use was the WNBL basketball championships. SEN had five cameras on site sending feeds back to Melbourne over the EnGo systems. A live switch of the game was available on-location, as well as remote switching from Melbourne as a backup option. But the rest of the production—instant replays, editing live footage, graphics, operators and machinery—were at the SEN Hub in Southbank.

This setup with EnGo has expanded the sports that SEN is able to cover.

“Some sports, particularly those where budgets are very tight such as the recent Hockey Australia tournament, can now have a full broadcast presence,” said Morris. “For Hockey Australia we armed individual camera operators with a Dejero EnGo and each sent a camera signal back to our Melbourne hub using our proprietary software for timing and synchronisation. It was a simple but very effective workflow.”

“The Dejero EnGo has enabled SEN to get into and cover live sports where previously the OB costs were prohibitive,” Morris added.

For more information, visit www.dejero.com.  

WATERLOO, Ontario—Seeking to address its connectivity, security and team synchronization challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, First Mile Technologies has opted to utilize a number of Dejero technologies both on-set and during post-production, according to a release from Dejero.

First Mile began using Dejero equipment like EnGo mobile transmitters, Gateway network aggregation devices, CuePoint return video servers and CellSat blended cellular and satellite systems before the pandemic. But amid social distancing and remote production, the Dejero tech was used to help produce the “Send a Virtual Solo” campaign from Desjardins.

The campaign, which saw 40 musicians partake in videos that could be sent to people, would send drop-off kits that featured a Dejero EnGo mobile transmitter and a small connectivity kit, including three 4K-enabled iPhones. The artists would film themselves while maintaining phone contact with the director and video assistant at KAOS Video. The video assistant then worked with First Mile to stream the video back to KAOS with Dejero’s Smart Blending Technology, which aggregates diverse connectivity paths into a virtual “network of networks.” The video would then be inserted into a video conference call with team members located across Canada.

Another example from First Mile included a project with VideoNerve South for a Mercedes campaign with live driving shots from a race track on a frozen lake. Dejero enabled the stream of the videos to a location 5 miles away, with the client and agency teams watching footage in real time.

“Before now, limited connectivity and bandwidth on set, especially in remote locations, has been the barrier to getting files and data out quickly to all of the creative teams that need to work together in post-production, so we are very excited by the possibilities that Dejero has opened up for this industry,” said Brandon Cooper, president, film & new media at First Mile Technologies.

For more information, visit www.dejero.com.  

WATERLOO, Ontario—As work started on season two of “This is Life,” a TLC show that airs human-interest “reveal” stories live, Fly on the Wall Entertainment brought in a new piece of equipment to assist with its mobile transmission, the Dejero HEVC-capable EnGo mobile transmitter.

The EnGo transmitter is a compact device that encodes high-quality video and transmits over multiple IP networks. The device can be mounted to a camera or vehicle, or can be worn by a member of the crew.

With the EnGo system, the FOTW team said it was able to simplify the show’s production by removing the need to bring in satellite trucks and broadcast crews at each location. FOTW’s executive in charge of production, Jeff Anderson, said in a press release that you can’t ship a satellite truck, but you can ship an EnGo.

FOTW had previous experience with the EnGo mobile transmitter, having previously used it during the production of Katy Perry’s “Witness World Wide!” show last year that was done in collaboration with YouTube.

LAS VEGAS—Dejero has a full lineup of updated and new products for NAB Show attendees to preview at its booth, among which includes the latest edition of its EnGo mobile transmitter product.

The EnGo 1.3 is described as having more processing power to deliver unique content adaptive encoding and HEVC compression. The transmitter’s encoding is able to automatically adapt to content complexity as it is captured and supports up to 20 Mb/s bitrate for live transmissions and 1080p 50/60.

Also on display will be the CellSat blended cellular and satellite connectivity service, which has new features that include multiple antenna options, including portable flyaway and vehicle-mount options, and additional connectivity plans. Dejero says it will also begin to make CellSat available in Europe.

Updates to Dejero’s GateWay platform include connectivity through a variety of IP connections and faster file transfer methods. The Gateway achieves high-bandwidth connectivity by blending connections—like cellular, satellite and other wireless technologies—together. Citing GateWay’s extra bandwidth, Dejero says that on-location crews can upload and download images faster, as well as access newsroom and MAM systems, cloud services and private networks through a reliable internet connectivity.

Additional products set to be at the Dejero booth are the company’s IP-based content distribution system that offers large scale, cloud-based content sharing and distribution, and Dejero Control, a cloud-based management system with new features like roaming management and automated and customizable metadata. Dejero will also offer a look at its new “Find a Provider” service, which allows organizations to find freelancers and other service providers.

Dejero will have all of these on hand at their booth, C2025, throughout the NAB Show.

To register for the NAB Show, visit www.nabshow.com.

WATERLOO, Ontario — Dejero has announced that it will unveil a new, more powerful version of its EnGo mobile transmitter at IBC 2018 at RAI Amsterdam, Sept. 14–18.

The increase processing power gives broadcasters an advantage, especially when capturing high-motion news events and sports content, Dejero said.

[Read: Participate in Future’s 2018 IBC Best of Show Awards]

The unit, which benefits from an enhanced implementation of HEVC, also leverages the company’s auto-transport and adaptive bitrate encoding technology to deliver higher picture quality across a wider range of bitrates, it said.

With enhanced processing, EnGo can provide new dynamic content adaptation, which intelligently adjusts encoding based on how much motion is detected in the content being captured, the company said. As a result, broadcasters can transition from low-motion frames, such as talking heads, to high-motion content without creating compression artifacts or softening the image.

The latest EnGo can encode up to 20 Mbps and now supports 1080p 50/60.

Visit the company at IBC 2018 Stand 11.C15.

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