What caught my eye at IBC 2018
IBC is a good time to take a snapshot of where broadcast technology is heading. Except it's not just about conventional broadcast any more; there are plenty of stands with a keen eye on digital media.
Here are my personal headlines. See also my separate blog here on IBC for mojo (aka mobile journalism)
BONDING KIT
All the main players were there, all now with HEVC options. LiveU launched their LU300, a significant upgrade on their compact LU200 unit, with HEVC and a bigger battery offering around an hour extra TX time. Should be shipping by November. LiveU also announced a tie-up with Eutelsat to offer hybrid satellite/bonding via Ka and Newspotter. This follows Dejero’s deal with Intelsat in North America announced last year. Incidentally Dejero will roll out their hybrid service in Europe from Jan 2019.
A curious reversal of the situation a few years back, when the bonding companies were rather looked down on by the satellite operators as the brash new kids on the block, with a rather wacky and unreliable product. How times change!
Aviwest showed their new-ish Air range of compact units, with HEVC and a new chip set.
Mobile Viewpoint stepped away from their core bonding business to demo VPilot, an automated studio which can be taken on location. Sensors alongside PTZ cameras can detect faces, and cameras are switched according to who is talking.
Livewire showed their Silver Blade 2, a tiny bonding unit fitting easily in the palm of your hand, using external modems to bond wifi, cellular and satellite at up to 100Mbps. Unlike the other main players in the bonding world, this unit doesn’t encode video…hence the small size. It’s a lot cheaper too…TX unit around £1,650 with the receive software £850. Not very weatherproof though. Link here
GREEN NEWSGATHERING: THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME?
Broadcast vehicles aren’t very green, especially if they have a dirty diesel generator belching fumes out of the back. This all-electric vehicle, built by Megahertz for BBC Newsgathering, is a pilot for a cleaner way. Based on a Nissan e-NV200, it should deliver up to eight hours operation, with a range of 70/80 miles per day, good enough for city working.
The IBC vehicle had an Advent Ka dish on display, but the BBC will use an AVL Ku dish to fit in with existing BBC operations. The vehicle interior is a little cramped for a long day, with a large tech battery under the bench seat. But with bigger vehicles, such as the Mercedes e-Vito due out next year, that shouldn’t be a long-term obstacle to e-vehicle working.
FLAT PLATE ANTENNA OVZON
Achieving really fast upload from a flat plate antenna has long been a bit of a Holy Grail for newsgatherers. Swedish company Ovzon claims its terminal can achieve 20Mbps up and 60 down in Ku band.
The antenna is not much bigger than a traditional BGAN unit (though at 7-8kg, it is heavier) and fits in a laptop bag. Should be ideal for first response and newsgathering if the price is right. Ovzon are a little cagey over pricing, which appears to involve a kind of subscription model.
SEMATRON OU FLEX
A new IP offering from Sematron mixing Ku satellite and Aviwest bonding. Low-delay, multipath, full duplex capability. Can upload three HD streams simultaneously (2 x Ip and one DVB-S2). Sematron say price per GB is now similar to KaSat.
REMOTE CONTRIBUTION CAMERAS
Two offerings in this area: Solocam TX from Broadcast Wireless Systems and Quicklink Studio-in-a-box. Both are designed to put journalists/guests live on air remotely and with the minimum of fuss at the contribution end.
The Solocam unit is slightly smaller, more robust and suited to outside locations, while the Quicklink solution is targeted more at office-based environments, has more diffuse lighting and a bigger screen. Both are easily portable, can handle autocue.
VORTEX CALL-ME
Also in the remote contribution business, CallMe is a cloud-based audio codec designed to put radio contributors on air in quality without any fuss at the sharp end…eliminating the need to send anyone to hold a mic or set up the broadcast.
The radio station just sends a web link to the guest, who opens it on his/her device, without the need to download anything. That connects the guest to the station’s CallMe portal (branded with the station’s logo). They also make a small hardware audio codec, the CallMe-T that can be married with, say, a Glensound unit to give 15 kHz quality on location
INVID
Video verification tool still under development by an international consortium, including AFP and Deutsche Welle, with EU backing. It analyses key frames to detect whether they’ve appeared elsewhere, detects resolution changes in the video etc. Free plug in for Chrome already available here
BBC R+D DYNAMIC SUBSTITUTION
This could really change things in the not-too-distant future if it catches on. Essentially, it allows TV viewers to be targeted with personal content/trailers and although the BBC doesn’t do advertising, it isn’t hard to see the application there. This ability to personalise and target content is something the social media giants have had all to themselves for years. HbbTV carries the main broadcast stream with the personalised content delivered in a DASH IP stream. Both streams are synchronised and the viewer can switch seamlessly between them.
BBC R&D were also showing their Turing HEVC/H265 open source codec, which boasts better CPU utilisation, uses less memory and is optimised for 4K.
EBU 5G-XCast
This system anticipates using the upcoming 5G rollout to crack the problem of broadcasting video direct to smartphones, using eMBMS, rather than going via the internet. They ran trials in Munich in the summer using the European Championships in Glasgow and Berlin. A technology that could really change the way we view video on the move in a few years time.
WHITE LIGHT AR STUDIO
White Light demonstrated their AR studio technology that powered ITV’s Red Square studio for World Cup 2018 coverage, showing how AR can work effectively away from the broadcaster's main base. The key difference from the old green screen technology is that anyone on the set can see the AR set and interact with it.
WACKY BUT RATHER WONDERFUL
Take a look at this spherical drone from NTT Docomo. Inside the sphere is a 4-rotor drone. Around the outside are rotating bands containing 320 LEDs. As you'll see, they spin fast enough to create the impression of video. The drone then lifts the sphere into the air for all to see.
Take a look at these rather endearing dancing robots from MRMC. Not my sphere of expertise at all, but rather wonderful to watch. Hypnotic even...
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