You may not have heard of the open source video company Kaltura. But you probably will have heard of Harmonic. Together the two companies made an announcement at IBC that is indicative of where multi-screen, multi-platform TV is heading.
They have teamed up to develop and market a cloud-based video infrastructure and OTT TV platform that will provide broadcasters with the opportunity to offer virtualized over-thetop pay TV linear, VoD, catch-up and nPVR options without the need for up-front capital expenditure.
By opting for a service-based model rather coughing up for installed infrastructure, a broadcaster or telecoms company should fi nd it easier to to experiment, innovate and try out new ideas that could result in genuinely new ways of receiving and consuming media.
That might mean subscriptions and pay-per-view but it may also mean pay-per-service or even pay-per-dimension: by recording space, household members, device quantities or stream concurrencies.
It certainly shakes things up at this end of the market.
Cobham has announced that its broadcast transmitters and receiver/decoder technology will be used to support television coverage of the Volvo Ocean Race 2014-2015, which begins in Alicante on 4 October. Each of the 65 racing boats, plus chase craft and helicopters, will be equipped with Cobham’s Solo H.264 transmitters to provide live HD video to a media compound established at each Volvo Ocean Race port of call. In the media compound a combination of Cobham receive systems and IP Mesh networks will receive the transmissions from the on-board systems and remote cameras deployed around the village and be sent to a production centre where it will be edited and distributed across all platforms to the public.
Triveni Digital has developed what it describes as an ‘optimised’ version of its real-time DTV transport stream analysis and troubleshooting tool. The StreamScope MT-50 HDT allows cable operators to be more effi cient and helps to ensure a superior quality of service (QoS) by providing them with a touch-screen HD interface, e MPEG analysis engine and a 10GigE interface.
Anevia used IBC to launch venue a new video delivery service that will allow cloud storage and cloud streaming of OTT media contents. Damien Lucas, Anevia co-founder and chief technology offi cer, said: “This new system is based on the integration of Anevia’s core ViaMotion products with Amazon Web Services. It enables operators and broadcasters to expand their multiscreen services quickly effi ciently by extending their storage and processing resources in the cloud.” ViaMotion is an OTT video software suite that can be used for deploying multiscreen TV for head ends and CDNs including live, nPVR, catch-up and time shifting.
PESA used IBC to showcase PESA Live, its new streaming app. The Android and iOS compatible application allows users to manage their own viewing experience during a sporting, music or other event, providing access to multiple live cameras and fully synchronized audio. Logos and other branding can be added to the video, and revenue generating ad insertion capabilities allow for targeted advertising and messaging. Content distribution options include local Wi-Fi or publishing to a content distribution network (CDN). “PESA Live works in conjunction with our PESA Xstream C58 streaming appliance to provide an affordable way to enhance a live event with personalized video selection,” said John Naylor, vice president, global sales and distribution, streaming products.
Personalized TV services are becoming increasingly important for young viewers according to new research from Irdeto, the multiscreen, revenue assurance and media protection company. The research revealed that roughly a third of American (36%) and UK (30%) consumers see personalized recommendations as either important or very important, however this rises to 45% for 18-34 year olds in the US and 55% among 18-24 year olds in the UK. Live TV viewing habits are also drastically different in younger age groups with 58% of UK consumers and 49% of US consumers still watching the majority of TV shows live as they are broadcast on TV yet these fi gures drop to 36% for 18-24 year olds in the UK and just 29% for US 18-34 year olds.
Broadpeak is to develop and test live TV for LTE networks after joining the Nokia Networks’ AppFactory. “Distributing live TV over mobile networks has been a challenge to date, with regards to scalability, quality of experience, start-up time, and latency,” said Dirk Lindemeier, head of Liquid Applications at Nokia Networks. “We are very excited to welcome Broadpeak as a member of our AppFactory, and we support their efforts for improving live TV delivery quality by leveraging our base stations.” Nokia Networks’ Liquid Applications changes the role of the base station as it facilitates application hosting including those from third-party providers. At its centre is the Nokia Radio Applications Cloud Server (RACS), which deploys cloud technology and service creation capabilities inside the base station.
Harmonic has teamed up with the open source video company Kaltura to develop and market a cloud-based video infrastructure and OTT TV platform. Combining a virtual headend with a service delivery platform, the offering will provide telecoms companies or broadcasters with the opportunity to offer over-the-top pay TV linear, VoD, catch-up and nPVR options without the need for up-front capital expenditure. The managed service is made up of Kaltura’s OTT TV, content management and service delivery platform along with Harmonic VOS software-based media processing and Electra’s XVM virtualized media processor and the ProMedia Origin steaming video server.
Pixel Pow er has brought together a software implementation of its real-time graphics engine Clarity with its Gallium workfl ow technology to create a unifi ed graphics and media assembly system for fi le-based environments. Pixel Factory automatically generates different versions of a programme or promo, channel branding, and localisation or personalisation of content. “Pixel Factory is ready to transform production and playout by eliminating repetitive manual tasks and releasing staff for creative work,” said James Gilbert, chief executive of Pixel Power. Pixel Factory is sold as a software product to run on standard IT servers.