SANTIAGO, Chile—As Chile’s exclusive free-to-air rights holder for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Chilevisión was responsible for delivering reliable, high-quality coverage of one of the world’s most demanding live sporting events. We also wanted to give viewers access to an enhanced 4K Ultra HD experience while continuing to use the production infrastructure supporting our core HD service.
To achieve this, we worked with Appear, pay-TV operator ClaroVTR and cloud-video enhancement specialist Pixop to create a hybrid ground-to-cloud architecture. The deployment combined Chilevisión’s broadcast environment with Pixop’s cloud-based video enhancement platform hosted in AWS cloud infrastructure, enabling ClaroVTR to offer a dedicated 4K channel to subscribers throughout the tournament.
Premium Service Without the Heavy Lift
Our starting point was Chilevisión’s live 1080i HD-SDI program feed. Replacing the complete production chain with a native UHD system would have added significant cost and complexity. Instead, we used our existing feed as the source for cloud-based enhancement, allowing us to introduce a premium service while retaining our existing infrastructure and operational practices.
An Appear X20 sat at the heart of the contribution chain, encoding the 1080i signal using High Efficiency Video Coding and securely transporting it from our facilities to AWS cloud infrastructure using Secure Reliable Transport.
For live sports, this connection needed to deliver consistent performance with low latency. Appear’s hardware-accelerated SRT technology provided a robust link between our on-prem operation and the cloud, helping us maintain the quality and resilience required for continuous live coverage.
Once the feed reached AWS, Pixop’s AI-powered platform enhanced it in real time. The processing included deinterlacing, restoration, super-resolution upscaling and image optimization, transforming the interlaced HD source into a high-quality 4K UHD signal.
The enhanced output was then transported back from the cloud. A second Appear X20 received and decoded the signal, preparing it for downstream delivery by ClaroVTR.
Each partner had a clearly defined role: Chilevisión originated the live program feed; Appear connected the broadcast and cloud environments; Pixop performed the video enhancement; and ClaroVTR delivered the finished channel to its subscribers.
This open ecosystem was essential, allowing us to bring specialist technologies together within one end-to-end chain, rather than depending on a closed architecture or replacing systems that were already performing effectively.
An event on the scale of the World Cup places considerable demands on live production and distribution infrastructure. We needed the solutions we deployed to be technically robust, operationally flexible and capable of moving high-quality video between SDI and cloud environments without introducing unnecessary delay.
The X Platform brought these requirements together through high-density HEVC encoding, low-latency SRT transport and straightforward cloud integration. It provided the bridge between our facilities and the processing resources in AWS, while fitting into the wider architecture developed with ClaroVTR and Pixop.
The signal path remained clear throughout the project. Our HD-SDI feed was encoded and carried into AWS as an HEVC SRT stream, enhanced in real time and returned as a decoded 4K output for distribution. This made the system easier to manage and operate during the high-profile live event.
Crucially, it allowed us to adopt cloud processing where it provided a specific benefit without moving every part of the production chain off-premises. We could preserve the reliability of our ground-based infrastructure while accessing the flexibility and specialist capabilities available in the cloud.
Scalable Path to HD
This project demonstrated that broadcasters can introduce new cloud-based services without undertaking a wholesale infrastructure replacement. By using the Appear X Platform to connect established broadcast technology with AWS processing, we added a dedicated 4K service practically and efficiently.
The deployment transformed our live 1080i feed into an enhanced UHD channel for ClaroVTR subscribers, giving Chilean audiences a new way to experience the World Cup. It also established a flexible model for future projects that need to combine the reliability of broadcast infrastructure with the processing capabilities of the cloud.
More information is available on Appear’s website .
