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Thought leadership articles by IABM and our members Articles taken from IABM's journal and at show papers To submit your article email marketing@theiabm.org
Based in Florianópolis in Brazil’s Santa Catarina state, NDTV is a commercial TV network that operates seven affiliate stations under the RecordTV brand. NDTV and Primestream boast a long and successful partnership, and the network has leveraged Primestream solutions for more than 10 years. Today the Primestream Workflow Server drives virtually all of NDTV’s media workflows and ensures a highly efficient broadcast operation from ingest through to production and playout.
Primestream, a leading provider of asset management and automation software solutions for media production announced that Brazilian broadcaster NDTV has migrated its media asset management (MAM) operations to the award-winning Xchange™ platform. With remote content workflows driven by Xchange in the cloud, NDTV has been able to double its content output while enabling production teams to collaborate and contribute from any location.
RSI Turns to Primestream to Power Media Assets and Editing
When Swiss Italian language broadcaster RSI (Radiotelelevisione svizzera di lingua italiana) needed to overhaul its approach to media assets and editing, it found a unique challenge The public service broadcaster - based in Lugano, Ticino – operates three radio stations, two TV channels and a wide range of multimedia services and is part of SRG SSR.
RSI wanted to overhaul its asset management, but at the same time needed a tool for post-production, that would help it import, acquire and organize all the material needed for editing video in Apple Final Cut Pro® Xand audio in Avid® Pro Tools®.
As we’ve seen with the global events of the last eight months, a world without video would be dreadful. Imagine this situation without global connectivity, or the sharing of information. 100 years ago, Spanish Flu devastated the world, and one explanation for that outcome was a lack of information. We have come a long way since then, and the media and entertainment world has played a vital role in dealing with the current pandemic.
The industry revolution that saw new antenna and satellite technology, along with more efficient compression techniques, enabled the number of television channels to grow from just a few channels per satellite to hundreds. This drastically increased payload, transforming the way we broadcast content.
From there we went into smaller antennas with higher gain, we improved the efficiency of the LNAs and LNBs. We began to accomplish cooler Kelvin degree temperatures, which in turn, allowed us to use smaller aperture antennas. Soon, we moved from seven meter antennas to fly-aways that were 1.8 meter and 2.4 meter. But those flyways still require a complex process of alignment.
It took time to align those uplinks because you had to have line of sight. If you had a building in front and the satellite you were trying to broadcast was behind that building, you couldn’t do it, or you had to use another satellite, so two satellites were required to accomplish the same broadcast.
The same was happening with microwaves as they went from analogue to digital. And now we could transport better quality with less power via a microwave. But again, the logistics to initiate a broadcast was highly complex, because you had to be able to see your tower. And sometimes you had to use relay stations, put one antenna on top of a building, another one down the endpoint linked to the one on top and to have a repeater to go over any line of sight obstacles. So, all that complexity was very demanding on hardware and implementation time.
In my view, since then, we have migrated from the RF tuner, to the IP tuner, so the infrastructure required is very different than when I started out in broadcasting. Then, in order to broadcast from an uplink, you needed 200-400 watts for a small fly-away uplink, or much higher amplifiers with kilowatts of power. Now, with a small encoder – 110 or 220 power input or with battery operated devices – you can reach the world.
On the receiving end, you would have a video operation center which would receive the feed from the satellite or microwave. Those video sources, that came through an antenna and were fed through a downconverter, would need to be viewed through an analogue monitor with audio output, which would be connected to a router. In order for the source broadcast to be recorded, that was done via video tape and later on solid-state drives.
Of course, once you throw editing into the mix, you have an even longer process, with the need to wait for this recording to complete, and then be passed over to the editor.
COVID COMPLEXITY
With coronavirus, we’ve seen more than ever the need for flexibility in broadcasting. The complexity of systems of the past do not allow for as much flexibility. Broadcasters across the world are beginning to recognize the importance of reducing complexity across networks, and the switch to IP transmission protocols is playing a huge role in this.
With the advanced technology available in an IP network operation center, we can receive a stream that is coming as one format; say SRT or RTSP or HLS. In real time, we can convert that protocol, which is useless and cannot be seen by an editor, live into a house format such as AVC, XDCAM, or ProRes, or so on allowing editing and subclipping to take place with a growing editing file.
Now, one stream-based source can be used without the need for complex hardware converters and transcoders, without waiting for the stream to finish recording. In an IP network operation center (IP-NOC) any received stream is immediately available and can be redirected in realtime through another network, or be sent to different servers, all while editors immediately start editing content.
Computers have become the monitoring tools, thanks to this path from analogue to digital, from radio frequency to IP facilitates a huge reduction in logistics, wires and hardware. You can input a video stream, record it, edit the content by many editors, and publish the video to many devices, all with the click of a button.
BREAKING THE PARADIGM
The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the adoption of IP solutions, with plans to switch to IP that were maybe a year or several out, being fast-tracked. Inability to access studios has meant new ways of working have had to be developed, and having access to IP networks has played a vital role, with signals getting switched in the cloud.
The paradigm of reaching remote space has been broken. Regardless of space, new protocols are bringing in very low latency; 30 milliseconds, which is almost unperceivable. And we are in the beginning of a new world which is going to dramatically change once again.
Across the world, we are seeing the deployment of 5G mobile networks. 5G will revolutionize our industry by carrying such huge bandwidth that we can transmit Ultra HD signals, multi cams, and yet still maintain tremendous quality all over. You just put up a 5G network and away you go.
This could be in a stadium, with the likes of the NFL already deploying microcells in stadiums, allowing users to view different segments of American Football games via different cameras and different sources.
As the deployment of this mobile technology grows and develops, the future of protocols such as HEVC and VVC will also improve. This will allow us to collaborate much better, to consume more diverse information. But it will also democratize broadcast access for our audiences.
Where we once had three or four channels, we have now moved to hundreds or even thousands of channels. But with IP, we will move to millions of channels, and this will help humanity to unite in sharing more information which can be propagated faster.
If we were to look back at those days of satellites carrying only a few channels, no-one would have predicted how far the industry has come. But, as 2020 has proven more than most years, broadcasters and media and entertainment companies continue to play a leadership role in technological advancements to the benefit of our society.
Switching to IP, and using IP NOCs, can drive us on even further.
Primestream CEO and president Claudio Lisman offers his vision for the future of IP in this Q&A, also from November’s Issue of TVB Europe.
WHAT ARE THE KEY AREAS OF FOCUS FOR PRIMESTREAM AT THE MOMENT?
During the coronavirus current pandemic, we realized the importance of remote collaborative workflows including the capability to produce live programs based on IP streams as the new sources that replaced the typical baseband signals. This presented a challenge to our industry which has had to adapt very fast to a new modality of work.
The incorporation of IP Cloud-based streams together with switching and producing in the Cloud had to be adopted quickly. Primestream Xchange Cloud and on-premise technology have been our main focus. Additionally, our award-winning Media IO server and Media IO Desktop solutions enable real time stream conversion from IP Stream such as SRT, RTSP, HLS into XDCAM, AVC, ProRes and HEVC. This format conversion takes place live and enables live Cloud editing and fast production turnarounds.
THE MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY HAS SEEN A MAJOR SHIFT TO IP – WHAT ARE THE MAIN DRIVERS BEHIND THIS?
The fact that local operations had to migrate to remote operations had a significant impact on how a typical newscast or interview takes place. In order to enable this kind of operations, IP streams with low latency encoders as well as bonded cellular solutions had to be implemented quickly. Today we see how an adoption that would have taken a few years in the future has now taken place at a record time.
TELL US ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF IP NETWORK OPERATIONS CENTRES…
In a standard Network Operations Centre (NOC), you had to have your satellite, fiber optics or microwave sources, a receiver and from there, your baseband sources were wired to a routing switcher that routed your signals to a monitor and disk or tape recorder. Once the program recording was completed, the video file or tape was delivered to an editor who in turn would complete the edit and once the edit was completed the video was sent to a playout server for distribution.
An IP NOC has a completely different topology: first the sources are IP streams originating from encoders that transport the signal via IP and the Cloud. At the receive location (or multiple locations) the IP signal coming as an SRT, RTSP, HLS or MPEG encapsulated protocol is received by a computer and a browser. The same computer can facilitate the monitoring of a single or multiple IP signals, and routing is done via a network switch. In this topology, recording, editing while capturing and playout for distribution can be performed in the same device, therefore significantly reducing the logistics while facilitating new and advanced workflows totally based on the capabilities of the IP NOC.
HOW IS PRIMESTREAM HELPING TO FACILITATE ITS BROADCAST PARTNERS IN THEIR SHIFT TO IP?
Our award-winning Media IO Server and Desktop applications empower broadcasters with the ability to receive an IP source and transcode it in real time to any house production format. Basically, we can have an SRT source converted in real time into XDCAM, AVC, UHD, H.264, HEVC or ProRes, this allows the incorporation of IP streams into a full production environment in ways that were not possible before.
WHAT ARE GOING TO BE SOME OF THE KEY TRENDS YOU EXPECT TO SEE IN 2021 AND BEYOND?
I see a new way of operating in which the world moves more and more into IP remote production workflows and distribution methods. In the early ‘60s we only had over the air channels and there were only very few channels transmitted via radio frequencies in the VHF and UHF bands. If you wanted to view those channels, you needed a television with an RF Tuner and you could only see a program live. Today we have advanced to thousands of channels, distributed both via satellites, Cable and the internet, this is going to continue to expand with more diverse programming available and smarter audiences that will be addressed with more content via more devices. In essence, I believe that we are transitioning from an RF tuner to an IP tuner in which every computer or phone is a receiver powered by many different receiving browsers that act as our screen interfaces to the desired content.
Like multinational organizations everywhere, Cisco Television started the year with one set of goals and expectations in mind – and then woke up to a harsh new reality when the global Coronavirus pandemic hit. Almost overnight, we had to transition from a producer of major, high-profile, in-person events to an almost completely remote operation. Here’s the rundown on how we’ve accomplished that and the enabling technologies that have come into play.
First, a little background.
Nested within the Cisco sales and marketing ecosystem, Cisco Television provides video production, creative services, engineering, and connectivity for the company’s internal and external meetings and events. With main studios and control rooms based at Cisco’s main campus in San Jose, California, we operate from four other geolocations: Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; Bedfont Lakes, U.K.; Bangalore, India; and Singapore.
Globally, Cisco Television produces about 1,500 broadcasts a year including around 250 external productions – ranging from our Cisco Live tradeshow, Cisco Partner Summit, and Impact national sales meeting to product launches, webinars, and events such as those for the Cisco STEM program.
We’re Cisco, so we were better positioned than many for the sudden changes.
Cisco is already well-known for its technologies and product lines enabling collaboration and remote workflows. Two great examples are the Webex video conferencing platform and the TelePresence SX80 product line, which works almost like an extremely low-latency “satellite in a box” for video collaboration. Another important element is our Primestream infrastructure, which includes comprehensive ingest, automated master control playout, and the Xchange media asset management (MAM) platform.
At our San Jose hub, we operate with 18 record and 16 playback channels in Primestream. The Xchange MAM acts as a “single source of truth” for our entire operation – providing a centralized archive for all content produced by each Cisco region and giving our teams at the other four geolocations immediate access to the assets they need.
Pre-pandemic, Cisco TV was already using these tools to produce around 20% of its shows either as partially or fully remote events, including a mix of on-premises and off-premises presenters. When the COVID hammer dropped in early March (California was one of the first states to go into quarantine), we were therefore well-prepared to transition to an almost 100% remote operation.
The current setup
Within a week of pivoting to our new COVID reality, we jumped right in with a weekly, 90-minute “COVID Check-in” presented by Cisco executives to employees worldwide. These early presentations were very basic, but as we have continued to build out our remote studios our shows have become more elaborate, incorporating elements like PowerPoint graphics, lower thirds, and roll-on videos. We’re now able to leverage our TelePresence SX80 units to include multiple presenters on separate outputs of the same box, enabling back-and-forth interaction like banter and Q&A sessions.
We are now operating with nine virtual studios and six control rooms capable of running shows concurrently. The remote setup is powered by the TelePresence SX80s, Blackmagic ATEM live production switchers, and the Primestream master control playout and Xchange MAM based on-premises in San Jose. For a typical show, the full complement of staff – TD, producer, technical manager, Primestream operator, graphics operator, and audio engineer – all work and collaborate remotely.
Reaching this capability was relatively easy; it involved making sure the remote Primestream operators could easily access the on-prem control points, providing an easy means for remote editors to perform ProRes editing, and making a minimal capital purchase of additional ATEM systems. As we mentioned, the single source of truth already in place and powered by the Xchange MAM made it easy to expand our remote capabilities as needed.
Remote workflows for the long haul
More than six months since the onset of the pandemic, we’ve produced more than 1,000 shows remotely – and we just wrapped the 2020 edition of the Cisco Impact national sales meeting. Over the course of three days, our teams played out more than 180 pieces of content to an audience of 22,000 people.
Impact was a ringing success, but it begs the question: do we see ourselves staying with mostly remote workflows even after the danger of COVID-19 has passed? In the short term, our company has adopted a shelter-in-place policy until June 2021 and possibly longer. In the longer term, we do see a return to in-person events like Impact and Cisco Live, because there’s no getting around the fact that these events are more effective when people can meet face to face.
One thing is certain: as a video operation, we’ve all learned just how much is possible with remote workflows and how little actually needs to be done on-premises. It’s valuable insight, accelerated and sharpened by a short-term, acute need. Cisco has always been a very video-centric company, with top-level leadership committed to connecting over video. That commitment, coupled with our mature technologies and product offerings for seamless collaboration, means our remote capabilities will continue to grow and evolve into the future.
IABM Sector Trends Reports track developments in technology adoption, use cases, and workflow models in different sectors of the media industry such as audio, sports, and news. The purpose of these reports is to enable member companies to better understand sector-specific drivers of change.
This will provide those who access more tools to better address the challenges lying ahead, from new product development to marketing strategy. These reports contain actionable insights for both suppliers and media companies.
This report is best viewed using the interactive version below but a PDF is also available here.
