SYDNEY—Foxtel and Magna Systems and Engineering have deployed an IP monitoring solution from TAG Video Systems that the companies are calling the largest solution of its kind in the southern hemisphere and one of the top ten globally. 

In 2020 Foxtel started a project to exit an aging television center facility at Macquarie Park. The plan involved migrating their entire technology platform across two sites in Sydney to an all-IP platform encompassing video routing, satellite, OTT and more. 

After more than 12 months of market research, testing and trialing various vendor IP monitoring solutions, Foxtel chose a solution from TAG Video Systems for all their IP monitoring requirements. 

This TAG monitoring solution, supplied by Magna Systems & Engineering, is the largest solution of its kind in the southern hemisphere and in the top ten solutions of its kind globally, the companies said. 

Foxtel head of broadcast engineering and projects, Matthew Carter, explained that “We wanted to be able to not only view pictures on monitors but provide a real time probe of those signals across the full workflow to provide a full end-to-end view of the video workflow across all formats and encoding types. The TAG solution does all of this and more.”

Starting with an RFI in 2020, progressing to an extensive RFP in 2021 and followed by a POC, the TAG solution ticked all the boxes for Foxtel’s new multiviewing and monitoring for all of their IP sources across multiple sites, the companies said. 

The TAG solution is now monitoring over 2,000 sources across multiple sites with all types of IP signals including uncompressed HD and UHD, compressed HD and UHD, OTT - HLS, CMAF and DASH including DRM, NDI and any combination of these signals can be monitored on just one server. TAG is also a software solution running entirely on COTS hardware.

When the RFP was concluded Foxtel also opted for the latest DELL R650 server with dual ConnectX6 200GE cards. Each server is capable of monitoring up to 128 uncompressed SMPTE ST2110 HD inputs with -7 seamless switching protection.

“We specifically purchased the TAG IP monitoring solution for its ability to decode and monitor across multi-formatsa,” Carter said. “It is still the only tool out there that can do this within the same appliance at scale. We were also very impressed with Magna who supported us from start to finish. They understood our requirements and worked closely with my team to provide the solution that fitted our needs. Magna have been on hand all along the way to help with any issues and to work with TAG on any request we have had.”

The new TAG IP solution is used across the entire Foxtel platform, from the ingest of the signal from playout or third parties, pre-compression and post compression. It is also used across multiple departments including MCR, Presentation and Foxtel’s Service Assurance teams across two sites under one control environment.  

“With the introduction of the MCS controller management, control of the TAG platform has become much simpler,” Carter continued. “At the beginning of the journey this tool wasn’t even a reality to the customer but working closely alongside TAG and Magna we have helped shape the product and continue to do so.”

A great example is how Foxtel uses the TAG solution comes in the form of the monitoring of their event-based OTT streams. Using the fully open API Foxtel have integrated this into their resource scheduling platform to provide operators with verification of customer delivery. Foxtel’s automation system, in turn, then supplies TAG with the necessary CDN details associated with an event to start decoding and probing. This now means that the once cumbersome workflows of checking a physical device for the event start are no longer required as there is now a continued monitoring of the stream from start to finish, the companies said. 

"When Foxtel and Magna approached TAG with this ambitious and forward-looking project, they presented a very clear challenge,” vice president of sales at TAG Video Systems, Adi Itzhaki, said. “Beyond transitioning to all IP, Foxtel needed to monitor multiple workflows and formats across multiple sites at high scale. TAG's MCM is the perfect fit for these requirements with deep realtime monitoring across the entire chain along with the MCS control and analysis layer. With TAG and Magna, Foxtel managed to get a single point view of their workflow, while staying agile and aligning delivery to their evolving business requirements.”

“TAG are the market leaders in the IP monitoring space," Carter added. "There is very little out there that can do what the TAG does on the same hardware, such as decoding multiformat streams all on one appliance. Using the TAG IP solution gives Foxtel an edge as it is a software-based solution so we can move away from dedicated hardware that become a technical debt over time. As improvements are made in OTS hardware Foxtel, TAG and Magna will move with them. The other edge we have is down to our long working relationship with Magna and in turn, Magna’s excellent relationship with TAG. It is these key relationships that enable us to work so closely with them and makes this a true partnership.”

HICKORY, N.C.—Australia’s subscription TV provider Foxtel has selected CommScope to provide its subscribers with the new iQ5 streaming set top box solution.

The iQ5 set top box boasts a simple plug and play set-up, allowing customers to be streaming over 50,000 hours of content within minutes, with no cable or satellite installation required, the companies said. It can be deployed in a subscriber’s home using Wi-Fi, satellite, or a fully integrated hybrid experience for viewing 4K Ultra High Definition content with a new ultra-fast chip.

The iQ5 also features a stacked design with a detachable 1TB hard drive so subscribers can record their favorite shows and offers software enhancements that provide greater personalization and easier navigation, as well as more streaming apps than ever before. 

By partnering with CommScope’s Professional Services organization, Foxtel was provided with a fully managed service to design, develop, and deploy their flagship set top box software for iQ5. 

“CommScope worked closely together with Foxtel to bring the iQ5 to fruition,” said Phil Cardy, vice president, international PLM, home networks at CommScope. “The success of the iQ5 launch is a testament to the ability of both CommScope and Foxtel leveraging each other’s expertise. Even during these difficult times, CommScope and Foxtel were able to leverage a global team, including a local presence in Australia, to create a highly effective development project.”

“CommScope has been a valued and long-time strategic partner and has been instrumental in delivering truly innovative set-top platforms for our subscribers,” added Nick Dandy, group director of product innovation at Foxtel. “At Foxtel, we’re always looking for ways to disrupt through technological advancements and the launch of the iQ5 marks a huge milestone for the future of streaming at Foxtel. We are thrilled with the level of innovation CommScope’s Professional Services team has brought to this award-winning product.”

The iQ5 also has remote management protocols for reducing Foxtel’s costs and can be managed with CommScope’s ECO Service Management solutions. This provides Foxtel the visibility into their subscribers’ home network, and the ability to automate and improve their subscriber’s devices and experiences, CommScope said.

“The long-term relationship we have with Foxtel is a prime example of how important collaboration is when launching new and innovative set top solution,” Cardy added. “It also demonstrates the technical leadership CommScope has in the video software space.”

CommScope and Foxtel’s home networking partnership began in 2004 and expanded with the launch of the iQ2 set top in 2008. Then, with the launch of the iQ3 set top in 2015, it marked the first time CommScope introduced the Elements platform software giving Foxtel subscribers improved personalization, easier navigation and recommendations based on their viewing preferences and history. The Elements platform continued to play an important role in the set top’s evolution with the launch of iQ4 in 2018 and the iQ5 today.

The iQ5 device is currently available to new and existing Foxtel subscribers.

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Harmonic went down under to provide services to Australian subscription TV provider Foxtel to increase its UHD delivery capabilities. To do so, Foxtel is utilizing Harmonic’s software-based Electra XOS live video processor.

The Electra XOS combines video algorithms and AI technology to help deliver high quality video when bandwidth is limited, Harmonic says. It supports streaming and broadcast formats, HDR processing, uncompressed and compressed IP inputs and integrated packaging to simplify live video workflows. The system can also be continually updated to keep pace with the latest technology advancements.

At Foxtel, the provider is able to deliver UHD programming to its viewers using its normal fixed bandwidth capacity.

For more information, visit www.harmonic.com. 

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—In the ever-changing landscape of sports broadcasting, meeting the technical requirements for state-of-the-art 4K live sports production is a complex challenge to say the least.

At Fox Sports Australia, we wanted to transform our business toward a new 4K digital era so we needed a storage platform that could support a first-of-its-kind 4K live workflow by providing extreme performance and scalability for live video ingest and highlights-editing, stretching from the live venue to our production facility.

SUMMER OF CRICKET IN 4K

In advance of our 4K Live project covering a summer of cricket, we wanted to test the limits of the Isilon all-flash F800 model. We’ve been using Dell EMC Isilon scale-out network-attached-storage (NAS) as our core media production storage for many years, so with our broadcast production partners at NEP Australia, we chose Dell EMC Isilon F800 all-flash storage to support our production of live sports in 4K UHD video resolution.

After integration testing with EVS and Adobe Premiere Pro, we were very happy with the storage performance and consistency.

With our cricket content broadcast on a new dedicated Foxtel 4K channel, this scale-out NAS solution will allow the Foxtel channel to broadcast in 4K resolution at twice the frame rate of Foxtel’s HD channels—making for smooth, high-quality reproduction of fast-moving live sports action as it happens, when it happens.

To do so requires a quadruple-increase in throughput of live-capture video streams, which of course means updates to the existing production storage and network architecture.

PRODUCTION CHAIN

Fox Sports Australia had to significantly boost its 4K live workflow, which called for ultra-high-speed storage capabilities for both the outside-broadcast (OB) and inside our central production facility.

Up to 30 cameras at the sporting venues capture content in 4K and HD, which is produced in the OB vans using EVS live production servers together with Isilon F800 IP-based storage mounted in flyaway cases. Video editors producing highlights and other packages use Adobe Premiere Pro working with 4K and HD clips directly connected to the Isilon F800. Further post-production and content repackaging takes place in real-time back at the Fox Sports Australia HQ. Clips from the OB van are also replicated back to Fox Sports using Isilon’s SyncIQ technology—which takes advantage of the high-bandwidth IP data network provided from the venue by Telstra Broadcast Services.

Clips created in EVS are synchronized from the venue to our production HQ as they are created. All clips are published and available in EVS IPDirector, IPWeb and Adobe Premiere Pro using IPLink. These clips can then be edited into packages for news and studio programs, broadcast on Foxtel and used for OTT delivery to mobile and web platforms.

A big reason for the success of the Isilon F800 all-flash is its ability to absorb both the high throughput and high concurrency associated with the project. This capability, delivered in just 4RU, allowed Isilon F800 systems to be deployed alongside the OB vans supplied by NEP Australia while also substantially reducing the data center rack space, power and cooling needed at Fox Sports headquarters.

Fox Sports has been working with Dell EMC since 2012, with Dell EMC deploying Isilon scale-out NAS storage solutions for its content creation and distribution workflows. The Isilon all-flash storage solution plays an integral role in the framework of the production industry. It’s signaling what’s to come with all- IP 4K content creation and delivery. The next-generation viewing experience is here—and watching live sport will never be the same again.

Robert Oliver is head of technology at Fox Sports Australia, where he has worked for nearly a decade. He can be reached atRobert.Oliver@foxsports.com.au.

For more information, visitwww.dellemc.comor call 866-438-3622.