LAS VEGAS—Technologists working on all aspects of the 8K media production chain offered an optimistic update at the 2024 NAB Show on the state of 8K in video production, indicating that significant advances are being made in capture, encoding, mastering and distribution. 

“We are seeing 8K being used further and further into the production process,” said Juan Reyes, director of operations, 8K Association, and moderator of the “8K Technology and Its Impact on the Production Process” panel at the NAB Show.

Those developments have been accompanied by newer consumer experiences including 8K displays on VR headsets like the Apple Vision Pro, and more content from live events. 

“If you look at the new types of displays like headsets coming into the market, 8K content is already being delivered to headsets for live events,” RED Digital Cinema CTO Uday Mathur said. “Some of our customers are already doing 8K for NBA games. Others are doing it for other types of live events and concerts. Those events are happening live, with [internet protocol video] delivered over the top, live out of the venue. So it’s not a large leap to think that 8K will be pervasive within a few years as hardware costs come down for televisions.”

Streamlined workflows for 8K live productions and improvements in codecs and video encoding have made it easier to deliver content over the public internet, panelists noted. “We did a concert a couple of months ago in 8K with [Japanese broadcaster] NHK,” Spin Digital CEO and co-founder Mauricio Alvarez-Mesa said. “It was streamed live in 8K to several locations … over the open internet. That shows we can do it now with the current technology.” 

Ravi Velhal, technology policy and standards, Intel Research agreed. “In terms of events, we have shown the end-to-end capability, glass-to-glass, with less than 2-second latency,” he said.

Added Reyes: “Some of the bit rates and the advancements in the encoding capabilities that we have today are down to the level of what we’re experiencing with 4K content. You know, historically, that was a big concern. How are we going to put so many pixels and what kind of bandwidth is everybody going to be needing to get it into the home?”

In addition to providing several examples of how encoding advances have reduced bandwidth requirements, Intel’s Velhal also pointed to similar improvements that have made 8K production much more economically viable. “Camera prices are coming down,” as are the costs for VFX and other parts of the production process, he said.

During the Paris Olympics a variety of Intel processors and technologies will be used on live 8K productions. 

IMAX chief product officer Abdul Rehman stressed the importance of creating an end-to-end 8K ecosystem. “We believe that producing 8K is really important in this day and age, and controlling the pipeline from content creation to playback is important to the experience,” he said.   

Though panelists acknowledged a lack of devices and the cost of producing and distributing content as ongoing roadblocks to 8K adoption, they also stressed the importance of further tech advances that allow producers to create new 8K experiences.

“We need to give the masses a reason to yearn for and look for an 8K experience,” IMAX’s Rehman said. “Achieving that will be a win for creators, a win for the folks who are providing the technology and a win for the consumers and display manufacturers. Once you start that loop and build that snowball effect, it will accelerate the whole process.”

PARIS—Intel has announced that its plans for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 will include using artificial intelligence technology powered by Intel processors and software to create new experiences and to help create 8K live productions of the Paris games. 

“The Olympic and Paralympic Games are the world’s biggest showcase for the best athletes to push the boundaries of possibility and do things we never thought possible,” said Sarah Vickers, leader of Intel’s Olympic and Paralympic Games Office. “This summer, Intel will accelerate its mission of bringing AI Everywhere using Intel solutions at Paris 2024, showcasing the powerful potential of technology and AI to create immersive and interactive experiences at the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 for millions around the world.”

Intel reported that key AI implementations of technology will include: 

• An immersive sports experience that will allow fans to experience innovative technology used to measure athletic potential.
• The first Olympics to showcase an end-to-end 8K live streaming experience.
• Advancements in universal accessibility at selected Olympic and Paralympic facilities.

Paris 2024 is set to be one of the largest events ever organized in France, with close to 15,000 athletes, millions of spectators and billions of viewers worldwide across linear television and digital platforms. 

As part of the games, Intel reported that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will embed Intel AI platform technology throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games experience. 

One of those experience will be what Intel is calling a "revolutionary 8K live OTT broadcast workflow delivery and tailored viewing for fans."

Paris 2024 will be the first edition of the Olympics to utilize Intel Xeon processors to showcase an end-to-end 8K livestreaming experience, providing a visible pathway for the future of low-latency, 8K resolution livestreaming over the internet. 

Broadcast servers powered by the latest Intel Xeon Scalable processors with Intel Deep Learning Boost technology will encode and compress the live signal produced by Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) at 8K/60FPS/HDR “More/Faster/Better Pixels” (48 Gbps RAW to 40-60 Mbps distribution using VVC standard) in milliseconds. An 8K over-the-top (OTT) signal will be delivered to the latest Intel-based PCs and laptops connected to 8K TV to selected locations worldwide in just seconds. This will pave the way for viewers around the world to enjoy future Olympic action through a high-resolution livestreaming experience with the highest broadcast-grade quality.

Intel also reported that AI automation will enable broadcasters to bring more customized digital content to viewers faster than ever. Olympic Broadcasting Services Automatic Highlights Generation, trained on the Intel Geti platform, can package tailored highlights across multiple disciplines and distribute to fans instantly, creating efficiencies in production and editing.

Intel technologies will also power what the company is calling "first-of-its-kind on-site immersive AI experiences."

AI applications powered by Intel processors and software solutions will demonstrate the potential of technology to benefit athletes, coaches and spectators leading up to and during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Intel will also create an interactive, AI-powered fan activation to take spectators on a journey of becoming an Olympic athlete. Trained on Intel Gaudi accelerators, running on Intel Xeon processors with built-in AI acceleration and optimized with OpenVINO, Intel's AI Platform Experience, in collaboration with Samsung, will use AI and computer vision to analyze athletic drills and match each participant’s profile to an Olympic sport, Intel said. 

During the Games, Intel’s technology will also be driving advancements in accessibility for the visually impaired throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024. Leveraging AI built on Intel Xeon, 3D models of both the Team USA High Performance Center in Paris and the International Paralympic Committee headquarters in Bonn, Germany, allow indoor and voice navigation via a smartphone application.

In addition, Intel also will be working to help continue the legacy of the Olympic Games with neural object cloning that will transform video of Olympic collections into 3D digital artifacts. This solution, developed by Intel’s Emergent AI Lab, is being tested to enable the Olympic Museum to bring some of its collections into interactive digital environments where viewers can rotate and explore pieces of Olympic history, as if they were in their hands.

Intel also reported that it will continue to develop and roll out new implementations of AI technology in the lead-up to the Olympic Games, with additional activations expected in the coming months.

Intel said that these technologies build on a history of innovation at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, using 5G, VR, drones and AI technology platforms to enhance the experience. 

This began with the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, highlighted by the Intel Shooting Star drone display, and continued at Tokyo 2020 where Intel Premium drones took to the sky to symbolize global solidarity following the pandemic. Intel also introduced 3D athlete tracking and VR training in 2020, while helping enable the first live broadcast over 5G at Beijing 2022.

“Our partnership with Intel has propelled us into a realm where emerging technologies, powered by artificial intelligence, are reshaping the world of sport for spectators, athletes, IOC staff and Partners,” said Ilario Corna, chief information technology officer at the International Olympic Committee. “Through their AI-powered solutions, Intel has enabled us to deploy AI faster than ever before. Together, in Paris 2024, our collaboration will create an Olympic experience like never before, embodying our shared commitment to building a better world through sport.”

The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will be July 26 to Aug. 11, 2024. The Paralympic Games will take place Aug. 28 to Sept. 8.

LAS VEGAS—As more 8K sets and content hit the market, the 8K Association has announced it has assembled a group of senior technologies to discuss the latest developments in 8K technologies at the 2024 NAB Show. 

The panel will feature leading experts from across the industry discussing the key factors related to 8K technology - including the latest developments in capturing, encoding and content delivery - and their growing impact on the production community. 

The panel, which will be moderated by Juan Reyes, Director of Operations at the 8K Association, features Abdul Rehman, Chief Product Officer, IMAX Corp;  Ravi Velhal, Technology Policy and Standards, Intel Research; Uday Mathur, CTO, RED Digital Cinema; and Mauricio Alvarez-Mesa, CEO & co-founder, Spin Digital.  

The session will be held on Monday, April 15 from 12:15 to 12:45pm at the Connect Zone Theater located in the West Hall near Futures Park.

The 8K Association (8KA) has been organized to educate, promote and evangelize on the many aspects of the rapidly evolving 8K ecosystem. From content creation and production to distribution and consumer consumption, its mission is to ensure the 8K ecosystem thrives and to help to accelerate industry-wide adoption of 8K content, products, and services.

The 8K Association is composed of key technology companies in the consumer and professional 8K ecosystem. To accomplish our mission, the 8KA has established Work Groups to help provide information about the state of the 8K ecosystem to consumers, organizations, and standards development groups. 

More information about the 8K Association is available here.

More information on the panel and the panelists are available here. 

More information on the 2024 NAB Show is available here. 

LOS ANGELES—Web caching, video streaming and content delivery software developer Varnish Software has unveiled new power efficiency achievements for both live-linear and video-on-demand (VOD) streaming.

The achievements, up to 1.18 Gbps per watt for live streaming and .74 Gbps for VOD, are presented in a new whitepaper from Intel. The paper lays out research into scalability of CDN edge node performance and energy efficiency over four different performance levels and builds on the collaboration of Varnish, Intel and Supermicro, the company said.

“As content delivery becomes more of a strategic function that organizations are bringing in house, benchmarks like these will help them understand what is needed to achieve sustainability goals and objectives,” said Varnish Software CTO Frank Miller.  “The need to deliver more throughput with less energy and at the lowest cost has never been greater.” 

For the latest benchmark testing Varnish Enterprise 6.0 content delivery software was deployed on a Supermicro Superserver powered by Intel Xeon D, as well as CloudDC and Hyper 1RU and 2RU servers powered by Intel 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs. No specialized TSL offload cards were used, it said.

Efficiency gains were demonstrated over an array of performance levels and power budgets. The testing shows what is possible with commercially available software and well-configured Intel-based servers, the company said.

The whitepaper is available online. 

PARIS, DENVER, SINGAPORE & SYDNEY—ATEME today announced it has achieved up to 2x higher performance encoding for over-the-top (OTT) video delivery applications.

The improvement comes out of a collaboration with microprocessor giant Intel and harnesses the power of its 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor working in combination with ATEME’s encoders. The enhanced performance means OTT companies will enjoy high visual quality at a lower cost, ATEME said.

The latest Xeon processor demonstrated up to a 2x performance increase with ultra-high definition (UHD) video when compared to the previous generation of the processor. The improvement will reduce the cost per OTT channel without negatively affecting the quality of delivery. It also makes possible increasing the number of OTT services per server, creating additional cost savings, it said.

The latest 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor provides advances in architecture and throughput that benefit the ATEME Titan encoders, it said.

SKUs are available in a range of core counts, frequencies and power levels. They deliver built-in AI acceleration and advanced security capabilities, the company said. 

“A key metric for video-delivery providers is the optimization of the cost per channel, and the latest 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processor has allowed us to do exactly that,” Abdellatif Khindouf, who is responsible for Titan Live at ATEME. “Integrating Intel’s technology with ATEME encoders to achieve a performance increase of up to 2x for UHD encoding is undoubtedly a breakthrough technological achievement, which will result in more cost-efficient delivery of video. We’re excited to see what the future holds as we continue to leverage Intel technology moving forward.” 

More information is available on the ATEME website and on the Intel website.

LONDON—iSize Technologies has formed a strategic partnership with Intel to achieve a five-times improvement in speed performance using Intel’s AI-enabled CPUs to reduce streaming cost and achieve a 25% bitrate savings, the company said.

The performance enhancement made possible by iSize Technology’s BitSave precoding technology can save $176 per hour, per 5,000 streams, the company said.

“iSize is able to bring significant bandwidth savings and reduced energy needs to a variety of workloads such as VOD, live streaming, gaming and IoT,” said iSize Technologies CEO Sergio Grce.

To achieve the bitrate and cost savings, iSize worked with Intel to optimize its AI models of the Intel Xeon Scalable processors with Deep Learning Boost (Intel DL Boost) and the Intel Distribution of OpenVINO toolkit, powered by oneAPI, it said.

Distribution costs for premium high-resolution content are a major part of the total cost of ownership of video streaming. The cost savings available from BitSave running on servers with second generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors leveraging built-in AI acceleration of Intel DL Boost improve TCO, the company said.

Distribution accounts for between 75% and 80% of video streaming total cost of ownership, the company said. BitSave users can reduce bitrate up to 25%, which translates into $176 savings per hour, per 5,000 streams. This calculation is based upon a recent AWS whitepaper, iSize said.

Conversely, BitSave makes it possible for users to deliver higher quality content, for example 1080p vs. 720p, at the same total cost of ownership, it said.

BitSave precoding technology leverages artificial intelligence models to achieve these results. It can be integrated into existing workflows and runs outside of the encoder. BitSave works with any commercial and open-source codec, including AVC, HEVC, VP9 and AV1, the company said.

“Our work with iSize on software optimizations using Intel DL Boost shows how companies can take advantage of integrated AI advancements in Intel Xeon Scalable processors to reduce the compute power needed to run AI,” said Nagesh Puppala, senior director of the Intel Data Platforms Group’s Visual Infrastructure Division.

More information is available on the iSize Technologies website. 

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Intel has announced plans for a 5G-based VR, 3D and 360-degree platform for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and the Olympic Games Paris 2024.

In collaboration with SoReal, Intel Core and Intel Xeon processors will bring immersive experiences to the Olympics, including 5G-based VR/AR solutions, experiences and training assistance, as well as esports events and even a theme park.

Rick Echevarria, Intel sales and marketing group vice president and general manager of Intel’s Olympics program, said: “Intel is committed to help bring technologies including AI, 5G platforms and VR into the Olympic Games to provide innovative experiences for athletes, participants, spectators and stadium operators, as well as demonstrating how technology promotes successful business transformation.

“Working with an organization with deep expertise in VR/AR-related technology development as well as VR/AR content production, combined with Intel’s VR/AR expertise and 5G technology, we are confident in helping to bring more immersive experiences to participants.”

TOKYO—Intel hopes to offer fans a gold medal viewing experience for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo with its technological offerings, building off what it provided on-site and to fans around the world at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

One of the new technologies that Intel will deploy during the games is 3D Athlete Tracking, a computer vision system that uses artificial intelligence to provide viewers real-time insight and overlay visualizations during events. 3DAT, in partnership with Olympic Broadcast Services, uses four pan-tilt mounted cameras to capture the form and motion of athletes, then apply pose estimation algorithms to analyze the biomechanics of athletes’ movements. The data will then be transformed into broadcast overlay visualizations available during replays. Intel and the OBS plan to use this technology during the 100M and other sprinting events.

Virtual reality will also continue to be a part of Intel’s Olympics plan following its debut at the 2018 PyeongChang games. Intel’s True VR technology will be used to create immersive experiences for a number of sports and venues during the games, including the opening and closing ceremonies, track & field, gymnastics, boxing and beach volleyball. The content will be distributed by rights-holding broadcasters.

In addition, the Intel World Open esports tournament will be hosted and powered by Intel prior to the games in Tokyo. Intel will provide live coverage of the tournament, which will be powered by Intel Core i7 gaming processors.

Intel’s technology plan expands beyond providing the above experiences for fans, but to also help with training and other services needed during the games. This will include VR training for the organizing committee to practice situations at competition venues; NeoFace facial recognition technology powered by Intel to help with security; and assisting Cisco with providing network technology to connect competition venues, the athlete’s village, broadcasting setups and more.

“We’re excited to be partnering with Intel to make Tokyo 2020 the most innovative Olympics in history,” said Masaaki Komiya, vice director general of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games. “Working together with Olympic partners like Intel will be how the Olympic Games is ushered into the new age of technology and innovation.”

SANTA CLARA, Calif.—Intel has acquired U.K.-based Omnitek, a provider of video and vision FPGA IP technology.

Omnitek, which was founded in 1998, has developed more than 220 FPGA IP cores and accompanying software. Its technology enables customized high-performance vision and artificial intelligence capabilities on FPGA across a range of markets.

“From data centers to devices, compute-intensive applications like 8K video and artificial intelligence require a multitude of innovative compute engines,” said Roger Fawcett, CEO of Omnitek. “FPGA devices play an increasingly critical role, often complementing other processing architectures, and Intel is at the center of this revolution.”

Omnitek will now fall under Intel’s Programmable Solutions Group.

“Omnitek’s technology is a great complement to our FPGA business,” said Dan McNamara, senior vice president and general manager of the Programmable Solutions Group. “Together, we will deliver leading FPGA solutions for video, vision and AI inferencing applications on Intel FPGAs and speed time-to-market for our existing customers while winning new ones.”

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible. — Arthur C. Clarke

Sometimes the news is so big, a guy has to stop what he’s doing and write an article for his favorite technology magazine. Such an event happened the other day with Intel’s announcement of the Neural Compute Stick 2. It’s a full capability artificial intelligence and vision processing device in a USB stick. I’m a pragmatic guy who is always thinking about what will be in the future, but with this announcement, the future’s arriving a little sooner than I had planned. It’s time to think about the impact on the broadcast industry and what we can prototype, RIGHT NOW.

To be sure, AI of this horsepower, about 4 teraflops/second (which I am guessing is smarter than a mosquito, but not as intelligent as a flounder), has been with us for a while and has been available through the cloud (think Amazon Alexa or Siri). This isn’t even Intel’s first neural network stick. But the addition of vision processing with this level of capability and without an internet connection means it can be used in real-time applications. And at just $99 each, every device will soon have the capabilities of being “smart.”

So what will this change? The short answer is ... just about everything. But readers of this article want to know how this will affect TV production and consumption. So here are some predictions:

Smart Brilliant TVs Will Know Us.

It won’t take long for the CES guys to pick up on this. Finding the right content to watch is hard and getting harder. I’ve observed for a while that trying to find a good film to watch across your cable, Netflix and HBO subscriptions is futile. The next step is for TVs to know exactly who is in the room and to recommend choices for us. Perhaps the television has a personality and participates in the debate. The set will get real-time feedback on the choices from all of us based upon our body language — improving the accuracy of recommendations over time. Whoever owns this algorithm is going to have a lot of influence. AI in the set can put this power back in the CE manufacturers’ laps.

Cameras Will See Things We Don’t

All the way on the other end of the signal path, cameras will get a lot smarter. Remember those old analog “skin tone color correction” circuits to smooth out wrinkles? Well, of course they went digital years ago, but what happens when they’re smart and driven by a neural network? Live de-aging correction is possible. Barbara Walters would be soooo jealous. It does not take much imagination to see that live replacement of an actor’s image with an avatar would open new doors for the effects industry to work their magic in live, more interactive ways.

Without a doubt, autofocus will now be able to anticipate the subject. Pan, tilt and zoom controls will follow the action and frame automatically, perhaps even mimicking a particular cinematographer’s style. It’s not a leap to say that robotic cameras will soon become self-driving. Ross, Vitec? Are you paying attention?

Compression

There’s no doubt these cost-effective, local, massively parallel processors will be used to create new compression algorithms. With computer vision, we can dedicate bits to only the most important parts of the image and create an architecture totally different than what we use now. I wonder who will do it first, how much latency there will be, and whether we’ll still owe royalties to MPEG-LA.

A Helpful Hand In Editing

Editing is akin to storytelling and therefore a creative art — but AI can help by organizing clips automatically based upon who is in them and create automated logs. The user interface may change to support gestures and voice control (no more carpal tunnel or backaches!). Perhaps the editing device itself might even learn the style of the editor and begin a rough-cut on their behalf.

Real-Time Automated Captioning

Silicon-based captioning solutions have been making steady progress in reaching the accuracy levels of their carbon-based competitors for prerecorded files. With localized AI, real-time live closed-captioning with acceptable accuracy should be a slam dunk. While we’re at it, let’s use the video recognition to automate VDS (Video Descriptive Service). Heck, all of this could move into the set-top box or even the TV for use on demand, and spare the broadcaster the cost of doing it at all. Let’s go one step further and add real-time translation into any language, executed in the TV, at the request of the viewer.

I’m Sorry, Dave, I’m Afraid I Can’t Do That

This exciting news is especially fitting on the week when Douglas Rain passed away. For those who did not catch the news, Rain played the voice of HAL 9000, the sinister AI computer in “2001 a Space Odyssey,” as well as a much more helpful sidekick in “2010: The Year We Make Contact.” So in one lifetime, we’ve gone from imagining pervasive artificial intelligence to making it available for under $100. Arthur C. Clarke would sum it up nicely, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

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Every pundit worth his or her salt is making predictions about the impact of 5G on the world economy. Intel just released a report that attempts to measure that impact on the media and entertainment market.

According to a new “5G Economics of Entertainment Report,” commissioned by Intel and conducted by Ovum, nearly $3 trillion in cumulative revenue opportunities will be spurred by wireless technology from 2019-2028 and experiences enabled by 5G networks will account for nearly half of it (close to $1.3 trillion).

The report cites 2025 as the “tipping point” for 5G, predicting that by then, 57 percent of global wireless media revenues will be generated by the next-gen cellular standard, which promises bandwidth up to 100 Gbps. With speeds potentially up to 1,000x faster than the current 4G protocol, the buffering issues that come with livestreaming and large downloads will be a thing of the past.

5G’s speed will also enable the growth of immersive services such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), which will generate more than $140 billion in cumulative revenues between 2021 and 2028. Ovum predicts that gaming will be at the forefront of 5G-led innovations, with AR gaming comprising annual revenues of nearly $36 billion globally, or more than 90 percent of 5G AR revenues.

By 2028, new “immersive,” currently non-existent applications will provide an annual revenue bucket of $67 billion, which is the value of the entire current global mobile media market--video, music and games–in 2017, Ovum predicts.

For the current media market, 5G is characterized by Ovum as a “major competitive asset” which will allow telecom companies to better compete with cable, satellite and IPTV. The term “cord-cutting” will seem like an anachronism a decade from now as telcos offering 5G will be able to offer most, if not more than the same services as current wired cable service providers.

5G will also have a major impact on mobile display advertising, as higher speeds will enable social and media immersive experiences, leading to an expected market of $178 billion worldwide by 2028.

The average monthly traffic per 5G subscriber will grow from 11.7GB in 2019 to 84.4GB per month in 2028, at which point video will account for 90 percent of all 5G traffic, according to the report. Ovum also warns that the demand for applications for 5G will mean that evolved 3G and 4G networks will suffer as their capacity will be insufficient to handle the increased video viewing time, content evolution to higher resolutions, more embedded media and immersive experiences.

“5G will inevitably shake up the media and entertainment landscape. It will be a major competitive asset if companies adapt, said Jonathan Wood, general manager of Business Development & Partnerships, 5G Next Generation and Standards at Intel. “If not, they risk failure or even extinction.”

PART I

The worst-case and highly-feared—yet widely anticipated—"doomsday scenario" for broadcasters (and many other satellite communications users) in the United States has taken another dramatic and strong step toward becoming reality.

The FCC voted unanimously in its July 12, 2018 meeting to proceed with an Order and NPRM aiming to gather information and explore opening the entire 500 MHz of C-band downlink frequencies (a.k.a. "Mid-band Spectrum") for use by mobile and terrestrial wireless broadband companies.

If that sentence was overwhelming in its scope and meaning, here's the simple version in layman's terms:

The FCC officially still thinks it's a good idea to reallocate and repurpose the satellite downlink frequencies that just about all radio and television broadcasters use to receive content. From a pragmatic view, that means simply that the FCC is not looking to protect and serve its existing licensees and frequency users who already serve the public interests; it instead is looking to appease big data and wireless companies' financial interests and generate revenue for the government in the process.

Now don't get me wrong—I've been a big fan of some of Chairman Pai's moves to roll back some of the obvious overreaches of the prior administration's FCC. It's been refreshing to see the FCC move back toward allowing the free market to work things out under the gentle "light touch" oversight by the official overseers of all things related to radio frequency and telecommunications. History has shown time and again (at least here in the United States) that when people and companies are free to innovate, new products and services abound. Thankfully, our forefathers had the foresight and forethought to encourage innovation by the establishment of the United States Patent Office, and that freedom has allowed U.S. technical companies to lead the United States to become the global leader in technical advancements and prowess (at least from my humble perspective).

HIGH-DOLLAR LOBBYING

But, alas, it seems that yet again, the governmental agencies can't help but bow to pressure of the high-dollar lobbying campaigns put on by big companies who stand to realize large capital and operational infusions by taking resources from one group and giving it to others. The behemoth chipmaker Intel's original proposal to reallocate parts of the C-band downlink spectrum obviously would benefit that manufacturer directly through increased product sales, and no discussion is needed to figure out why Verizon, Google, CTIA, and a variety of other companies want the spectrum ( See footnote #2 on page 4 of General Communication's Comments for a short list).

Yet one satellite operator seems to have taken a desperate measure to survive, almost like a parent being willing to sacrifice one child so another could have a chance to survive. In particular, Intelsat's willing participation in that Intel proposal seems "strangely" akin to Dr. Strange voluntarily turning over his Infinity Stone to Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War." Any company involved in or utilizing satellite communications that would willingly suggest it's a good idea to give up their most valuable resource—RF spectrum—obviously must have done so out of a desperate and final play to survive... yet that's not the perspective or playbook shared by any terrestrial broadcasters with common sense and a heartfelt mission to serve the public.

HEADLONG AND HEADSTRONG

The NAB's comments were an excellent reflection of the entire broadcasting industry's views, concerns, and preferences regarding the (then-potential) possibility of the FCC giving away the C-band spectrum. Many other comments filed with the commission (and many more broadcasters' public forum comments not officially submitted to the commission) sided with the NAB, and for good reason.

Initially, the FCC seemed to be willing to listen to petitioners: To gather information about the number of existing C-band downlink sites, the FCC created a 90-day window wherein C-band downlink users could register their downlinks without the expensive frequency coordination study previously required. And then, in response to concerns that users needed more time to register all their downlinks, the Commission extended that window another 90 days, also reducing some of the complexity and cost of registering multiple sites.

In spite of those moves, however, the FCC marched headlong and headstrong along its much-trumpeted path toward 5G, voting on July 12 to formalize the NPRM to take away part—or all— of the C-band downlink frequencies that broadcasters (and many other government and commercial users) use on a daily basis and instead give it to the wireless and broadband industries. What is notable is that the FCC voted on the NPRM even before the original downlink registration deadline of July 18, 2018 had arrived and over three months before the extended registration deadline.

Showing disregard for the information it said it wanted, the commission's vote clearly reveals their agenda is much like the Communist paradigm of taking resources from those who have them and give those resources to those who don't (all ostensibly in the name of the "Common Good"). The obvious conflict of interest here is that the government stands to gain much financially from a possible auction of spectrum (like they did from the Incentive Auction in which some television broadcasters participated between 2016 and 2017).

In this, the commission has publicly bumped themselves back down a significant notch in their self-proclaimed move toward a light touch and market-driven approach. Even though their July 12 vote on the issue aligned precisely with their previously-stated intentions of closing the "digital divide" and therefore wasn't a surprise, the commission's ongoing move in this matter toward the "communal good" still reeks strongly of corporate lobbying and self-aggrandizement. It also sadly confirms that even good intentions of excellently-qualified individuals (like Chairman Pai and Commissioner O'Rielly) get buried in the swamp of politics-driven Washington, D.C.

Time continues to tell the story that the public—including broadcasters commercial and non-commercial alike—suffers as a result of Big Government's expansion and overreach under corporate influence and lobbying.

Simply put, this proposed action could realistically result in everything needing to be delivered over the Internet. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want to be worried as a broadcaster that the backhaul delivery of the FIFA World Cup final or Super Bowl could be interrupted by an Internet outage—yet that's precisely the direction the FCC and many commenters seem to think is best for this country.

Broadcasters (and other SatCom users alike), beware! Now is the time to stay (or get!) actively involved in this NPRM. Its affirmation could mean dramatic—or fatal—impact on how live and prerecorded content gets delivered to hundreds of millions of listeners and viewers every day.

Lastly, by all means (even if it seems like an exercise in futility), at the very least go ahead and register your C-band downlinks. There are some extremely well-written and thorough instructions on Intelsat's site, SES's site, and the FCC even has some sample forms available for review. There are several consultants and/or private companies that can provide assistance with registering your sites, so don't let inexperience keep you from letting the FCC know about your C-band usage.

In Part II, we'll look at the impact of worldwide implementation of 5G and alternatives to C-band will have on the future of satellite communications. 

Sherrod Munday currently serves as vice president of engineering for Sky Angel, a 2-channel TV network found on Dish Network. His experience includes full-time and consulting engineering in both TV and Radio, delivering live and preproduced content over the air, via satellite syndication, and directly to consumers across the Internet. You may reach him at smunday@ieee.org

LEXINGTON, KY.—WLEX-TV, the NBC affiliate in Lexington, Ky., has begun using a new mobile news vehicle from Frontline Communications with connectivity provided by Dejero CellSat, Dejero announced today.

Built upon a Chevrolet Traverse SUV, the station’s new remote vehicle does not require a specialized operator or pre-arranged satellite slot to contribute stories and live shots. “You simply put up the dish in case it’s needed, and it connects on demand –and only when the cellular signal alone isn’t strong enough,” says Sam Gordon, operations manager at the Cordillera Communications-owned station.

CellSat takes advantage of Dejero’s patented network blending technology to improve reliability with the combination of cellular connectivity and a Ku-band IP satellite link provided by Intelsat, the company said. If there is a falloff in cellular bandwidth, up to 7.5 Mb/s are available via satellite.

[Read: Dejero And Intelsat Partner On Video Transmission Solution]

“We have a full remote production facility connected directly to the studio, plus anyone can jump in and drive the SUV as there is no need for special licenses,” says Gordon.

Operators back at the studio can control the vehicle’s transmitters in the field, monitor and route incoming video feeds and view detailed performance data with Dejero’s cloud-based management system, the company said.

Having satellite connectivity available for times when cellular networks are congested proved useful for the station in December when it sent a crew to Nashville to cover college bowl play from Nissan Stadium.

“Although the Nissan Stadium in downtown Nashville, which usually has solid connectivity available, with somewhere around 70,000 fans, we figured that the cell networks could get overloaded—so we needed a backup. CellSat gave us the extra confidence that we wouldn’t lose connectivity during a live shot,” says Gordon.

LOS ANGELES—Fox Sports will put 5G to the test for wireless camera contribution next month during the 118th U.S. Open Championship at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club when it will use an AT&T ad hoc 5G network to transmit 4K HDR shots from two cameras on the course’s par-3 seventh hole to the Fox Sports production truck covering the tournament.

“We have a fair amount of 4K flying around the U.S. Open,” says Michael Davies, senior vice president, Field & Technical Operations for Fox Sports. “We are doing some native 4K production for DirecTV as we’ve done the last two years. This [the wireless camera use] is more of a proof of concept. But overall, these cameras will be incorporated into that 4K workflow, so if production needs them, they have them.”

[Read: DirecTV To Offer Quad-Screen, 4K U.S. Open]

Deploying 5G for 4K wireless camera contribution is a collaborative effort of Fox Sports, Fox Innovation Labs, Ericsson, Intel and AT&T. Ericsson will provide the 5G radios, baseband, simulated network core and 4K video encoder and decoder; Intel will supply its 5G Mobile Trial Platform, a compact 5G device capable of transmitting 1.6 Gbps that will provide 5G to IP translation; and AT&T will set up a temporary millimeter wave network connection to deliver the 4K shots from the seventh hole.

The seventh hole is in a secluded part of the course, so when Fox Sports did its site survey of Shinnecock, that hole made the most sense for the 4K wireless camera test, says Davies. Wireless 4K contribution will be in addition to, not in place of, Fox Sports’ HD shots from the seventh hole.

“When technology is in its early stages, like this, we layer base cameras on top of what we have,” he says. “The only difference is these cameras will probably stay at the seventh hole. They won’t roam the course.”

The sports network has established “some reasonable goals” for the test, which include limiting the range of the test cameras from their 5G receiver, he adds. “In theory, a future 5G network would allow you to walk wherever you have coverage.”

“I was first exposed to the promise of 5G at the Mobile World Congress a couple of years ago,” he says. “I thought about 5G but never really knew how powerful it was going to be. But now it’s clear this technology has the ability to increase our capabilities by exponents, not percentages.”

In Davies’ view, there is nothing in the broadcast business that isn’t potentially touched by 5G technology. From very large shows like the U.S. Open to small shows where there is no need to wire cameras, 5G will make its presence felt, says Davies.

[Read: The Dazzling Future Of 5G Wireless]

That’s especially true now that Fox Sports and others in the industry are on the IP production path with the adoption and deployment of SMPTE ST 2110. “What's nice is the way we are doing production in IP. IP and 5G are going to meet up quite nicely in the future,” he says.

“Obviously, it’s a lot of wait and see [regarding 5G], but I think we will look back at this small test as our very first shot at using this technology to get our heads around what it’s capable of. I think ultimately this technology will be extremely disruptive,” he says.

While testing 5G technology is the primary objective, there are other benefits. “We get to know companies like Ericsson, Intel and AT&T, and they get to see how we work,” Davies explains. “When they are thinking about things at this very early stage, we’ve got a chance to explain to them what we think could be very useful in the future and they can build that in.”

Although the shots from the seventh hole will be the first Fox Sports use of 5G at a golf tournament, AT&T already has provided 22 live 5G links to support 3,8000 terabytes of network capacity in February at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

The 118 U.S. Open Championship will air on Fox and FS1 June 14-17.

CUPERTINO, CA.—Altia Systems today unveiled PanaCast Live, a fully integrated, portable video system being used by Intel Sports for live 180-degree 4K 3-D video at 60 frames per second over 12G-SDI.

The new system has been selected to complement Intel’s True VR technology to deliver a 180-degree 4K 3-D experience to fans.

PanaCast Live incorporates six 13-megapixel cameras with onboard real-time processing to synchronize, stitch and optimize video streams at 2,358 megapixels per second, the company said.

The system scales all that data down to produce a 4K 60fps signal delivered over the 12G-SDI interface, says company co-founder and CEO Aurangzeb Khan.

The new product has been designed with enough headroom to scale to 8K with minimal changes to the optical path although additional output interfaces will be necessary, he says.

Altia Systems is unveiling the PanaCast Live system to the public at the Intel Capital Global Summit, May 8-10, in Palm Springs, Calif. The first use of the system by Intel was in January when it was used to stream major live sporting events to fans around the world.

[Read: NBC Olympics To Deliver 50 Hours Of Winter Olympics VR Coverage]

PanaCast Live delivered close-to-the-action shots, delivering a new level of fan engagement, the company says. Live streams of various sporting events are available through the Intel True VR app as well as partner-branded apps for Samsung Gear VR and Daydream.

To capture a sporting event, PanaCast Live can be positioned on the side of field to capture the whole field of play, such as on a scorer’s table, or on the upper level to capture a view of an entire stadium, says Khan.

Altia Systems isn’t stopping with PanaCast Live. It plans to release additional video-based solutions throughout the year and is focused on “driving the industry towards a future of advanced intelligent vision,” says Khan.

More information is available on the Altia website.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF.—A new proposal from Intelsat and Intel that would allow for joint use of parts of the C-band spectrum (3700-4200) for 5G wireless, which would call for satellite operators to give up spectrum in metro markets for a price set by the marketplace. Intelsat and Intel believe that the proposal will be a voluntary, efficient and expeditious route to more spectrum for mobile broadband, while protecting their broadcast/cable clients from interference.

To read the full story, visit TVT’s sister publication B&C.

PONTE VERDA BEACH, FLA.—PGA Tour broadcasts will have a new tool in its bag with the announcement of an exclusive relationship with Intel to produce and distribute live virtual reality and live 360 video for six future PGA Tour events. This relationship came after Intel had previously provided VR coverage of The Players 2017 tournament in May.

Intel will produce these live VR experiences with Intel True VR Technology. Intel True VR uses panoramic, stereoscopic camera pods to create the immersive VR environment.

The first event that will feature the live VR experiences will be the Tour Championship, Sept. 21-24, at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Live and on-demand VR and 360 coverage will feature holes No. 1, 15 and 18, available through the PGA Tour VR Live app on Samsung Gear VR headsets. The 360 video stream will be available via Twitter and Periscope, the exclusive social media platform to distribute this coverage during the deal term.

The 2017 President’s Cup international team matchup, held from Sept. 28-Oct. 1, at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, N.J., will also feature Intel’s VR coverage. Coverage will include footage from the driving range and fans. Golf Channel hosts Robert Damron, Rex Hoggard and Bailey Mosier will be part of the VR coverage, which will be available through the temporarily rebranded Presidents Cup VR Live app, as well as PGA Tour, Presidents Cup and Golf Channel Twitter and Periscope platforms.

The other tour events on the schedule will take place in 2018 and will include the Waste Management Phoenix Open and The Players Championship. The remaining events will be announced at a later date.

NEW YORK—NFL fans won’t have to watching on their TV at homes to get the best highlights, as Intel and the National Football League are partnering to deliver Intel’s freeD technology to eight new stadiums, bringing the total to 11 across the league; the Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans and San Francisco 49ers had previously instituted the technology.

Each of the stadiums will be equipped with 38 5K UHD cameras to capture plays from all angles. The footage will then be used to create 360-degree highlights and immersive player perspectives.

Intel’s freeD technology will now be available at stadiums for the Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots and Washington Redskins. Minnesota will be the host stadium for Super Bowl LII.

Fans will be able to access the freeD generated highlights through NFL.com, the NFL Mobile app, the NFL YouTube channel and NFL team’s digital offerings. The replays will also be featured in-stadium.

In addition to the 5K cameras, each venue is equipped with servers that can process up to 1 TB of data per 15- to 30-second clip. The volumetric video is then sent to a special control room where the Intel production team virtually recreates the clip in 3D.

Here is a video example of the freeD replays from Intel:

NEW YORK—Intel will be bringing its technology to the pinnacle of sports with a recently announced partnership with the International Olympics Committee. The goal of this technology partnership, according to the official press release, will be to “transform the Olympics Games and the Olympics experience.”

Among the highlights of the deal will be the use of Intel TrueVR, starting at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in PyeongChang, South Korea for live virtual reality broadcasts. Intel will also provide its 360 Replay technology to allow fans to experience Olympic moments from different angles.

Photo credit: IOC/Greg Martin

Additional offerings will include drone light show technology for creating images in the sky; technological and content support for Olympic Broadcasting Services’ host broadcaster operations, as well as for the Olympic Channel; and demonstrations of Intels 5G platforms.

The deal, which have Intel join The Olympic Partner sponsorship program, will go through 2024. In addition to the 2018 Winter Olympics, it will participate in the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo, the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing and the 2024 Summer Games.

SANTA CLARA, CALIF.—We may have to start thinking about changing the lyrics to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” with the continued emergence of virtual reality in Major League Baseball. Intel and MLB have announced a three-year partnership that will bring VR experiences to fans through Intel True VR, including a weekly livestream of an out-of-market game, post-game highlights and on-demand replays from every game.

The live “Intel True VR Game of the Week” will begin June 6 and use 4K cameras to capture the game with fans having the ability to control their vantage point by selecting up to four camera angles per game or a produced VR broadcast experience. Fans will also have access to player and team statistics and hear exclusive in-app commentary.

The “Game of the Week” will be available for free through the Intel True VR app using a Samsung Gear VR headset.

Games will air live on Tuesday. Here is the schedule for June:

• Cleveland Indians vs. Colorado Rockies – June 6, 8:40 p.m. ET/5:40 p.m. PT
• Kansas City Royals vs. San Francisco Giants – June 13, 10:15 p.m. ET/7:15 p.m. PT
• Detroit Tigers vs. Seattle Mariners – June 20, 10:10 p.m. ET/7:10 p.m. PT
• St. Louis Cardinals vs. Arizona Diamondbacks – June 27, 9:40 p.m. ET/6:40 p.m. PT

SANTA CLARA, CALIF.—Ready for the experience of floor level seats for this weekend’s Sweet 16 games of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament without leaving your couch? Intel will be looking to give you just that with its new multi-year exclusive partnership with the NCAA, Turner Sports and CBS Sports for Intel True VR to be the exclusive VR live game partner of the NCAA, starting with the upcoming Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games.

Intel will provide its VR experience to the upcoming slate of games in San Jose, Calif., through the new NCAA March Madness Live VR app, available now in the Oculus store. Through the app, fans can get a virtual courtside seat where they can either control the viewing perspective or opt for a produced VR broadcast in their VR headset.

Twelve camera pods with a total of 48 cameras will be used to capture the VR coverage of the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games. Intel True VR will also be used during the Final Four in Phoenix, with a planned total of 84 cameras being used for coverage. In addition, Intel 360 Replay technology will capture game highlights during the Final Four using 28 5K UHD cameras.

The Intel True VR brand is a result of the Voke VR acquisition and will seek to deliver live and on-demand sports experiences, in-game highlights and produced game feeds. Voke VR co-founder Sankar “Jay” Jayaram has been tapped to lead the Intel True VR team.

The Sweet 16 games that will be available through the Intel service this weekend will include Gonzaga vs. West Virginia and Arizona vs. Xavier.

SANTA CLARA & SAN JOSE, CALIF.—You’re telling me what?That the media facility of the future rests on a programmable chip? That an app is my access point into the brain of the facility? And that facility-control can be manipulated and managed through a mobile device?

That reality seems a stretch—especially for those living and working in a thriving, humming engineering backroom with racks of SDI gear stretching from floor to ceiling.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF FUTURE

It’s not impossible to imagine a time when physical facilities built around proprietary hardware and SDI no longer look like a wise long-term investment. And the cost of constantly upgrading a facility with proprietary technology running powerful, bandwidth-demanding systems like HDR and Ultra HD may not be sustainable over the long term.

“This is [in part] driving a migration away from SDI and proprietary hardware toward IP-based technology running on commercial off-the-shelf hardware and increasingly at data centers both on and off premises, also known as the cloud,” says Deborah McAdams, executive editor of TV Technology magazine.

“The promise of this technology is a type of operation that expands and contracts on demand and has pay-as-you-go workflow functions. A type of elastic virtual media facility, if you will,” she says.

While the app-running-a-facility reality is not yet viable, the companies Intel and Cisco have joined forces specifically to court broadcasters on this idea. The goal is to offer a glimpse of what might be possible under the umbrella of virtualized technology.

“We would like to provide all the transport that SDI currently is providing to the industry—from attaching acquisition devices to backhaul, use in studios, use in media production facilities—we’d like to provide all that underlying transport,” says Cisco’s David Ward, CTO of Engineering and Chief Architect. “Then we’d also build this out as IP datacenters where it’s a combination of networking, storage and compute.”

A roadmap for broadcasters who are considering the benefits of an IP-based open solution.

The combination of Cisco and Intel computing and networking platforms will meet the strict requirements set by the media and broadcast industry when it comes to processing and delivering video, these companies say.

A Cisco/Intel platform could take advantage of benefits like server volume economics, virtualization technology and scalable cloud platforms to help broadcasters meet the growing demand for more video.

IS IP TRANSITION A NECESSARY EVOLUTION?

TV Technology’s McAdams asks how broadcasters might approach the new age of virtualized video infrastructure. Frankly, McAdams asks, is it necessary?

“It’s absolutely necessary to do in a cost-effective way,” Intel’s Sandra Rivera, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Network Platforms Group, says. “Big iron [fixed-function devices] have done the job for which they were deployed quite effectively. The problem is that so much of that hardware is underutilized; not every single box in that delivery chain is used 100 percent of the time.

“The idea behind network virtualization is that you are actually instantiating a lot of those capabilities in software as virtual machines. When you do that, you’re able to then share those computing networks and storage resources across a broad variety of applications and get much better utilization of that asset,” she says.

Developing this new IP environment will also open up new opportunities for other companies looking to improve media and broadcast workflows in the future, Cisco’s Ward says.

LOS ANGELES—Those of us watching Super Bowl LI this year will likely never have the chance to know what it feels like to be on the field in the year’s biggest football game, but Fox Sports and Intel are making it so we can get an idea. Fox Sports has introduced a “Be the Player” replay enhancement to provide a player point-of-view perspective during Super Bowl LI, all without a camera attached to a player.

To capture this unique view, Intel uses the cameras around the stadium to synthesize a player’s view on the field. Backed up by Intel computing power, the camera footage is recreated into a 3D space, placing what Michael Davies, Fox Sports SVP of field and technical operations, calls a “virtual camera” at a player’s eye line.

To produce this new replay footage, Fox Sports production efforts for Super Bowl LI will include Super Motion and 4K cameras, three production trucks, and more than 70 cameras during the game.

The technology was previously tested during the Fosters Farm Bowl between Indiana and Utah in December. See the video here.

Super Bowl LI will be broadcast of Fox stations on Feb. 5 from NRG Stadium in Houston.

SANTA CLARA, CALIF.—According to Intel, it has been working to deliver new, immersive sports experiences for fans, with one element of that being virtual reality. As part of these efforts, Intel has announced it has acquired Voke, a virtual reality company that was founded in 2004.

Voke’s TrueVR experience offers a proprietary paired lens, stereoscopic capture system to display realistic proportions and depth. Voke offers the experience on PCs, tablets, phones or VR headsets. Intel and Voke will use a model that will allow broadcasters and league channels to integrate the technology, per Intel’s announcement.

“Together, we can innovate and scale our new immersive sports business faster to bring fans the most personalized, fully immersive VR experience ever imagined and change the way networks, sports leagues and teams engage with their audiences,” said James Carwana, general manager of the Intel Sports Group.

PARIS, MIAMI, SINGAPORE—Ateme, Dell and Intel have teamed up to create the Titan, a 4K-UHD and HD transcoding system that addresses the broadcast industry density standard.

The Titan is a combination of Ateme’s video compression skills, Intel’s Video Compute Accelerator PCIe card, and Dell’s optimized hardware. It delivers 200 HD channels in a 1RU server, with 5W per channel. The system delivers high video quality at minimum bit-rates for DTH, DTT, cable and OTT. Based on Ateme’s fifth generation Stream compression engine, the Titan utilizes Intel and Dell’s infrastructure with support for high-efficiency MPEG2, H.264 and HEVC.

Dell is currently showing the Titan at its booth (Hall 3 stand 3K30) at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

ARLINGTON, VA.—The Consumer Electronics Associations has announced the first participant in its series of keynotes for CES 2016 with Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. Krzanich will give a pre-show address on Tuesday, Jan. 5.

After previously speaking at CES 2015, Krzanich returns to discuss new ways the consumer world is being reshaped by the expanding boundaries of technology, and the experiences enabled by this transformation.

CEA will announced additional keynotes for CES 2016 in the coming weeks.

CES 2016 will take place in Las Vegas from Jan. 6-9.