The Appear VX Software Platform, launching at IBC2024, compliments the architecture of Appear’s award-winning hardware-based X Platform, providing open and flexible foundations to enable next-generation broadcast workflows and services
Appear, the global leader in live production technology, announces that it is launching a major new software architecture at IBC2024: the Appear VX Software Platform.
The aim of this new open platform is to fulfill current and future broadcast workflow requirements, providing agility and flexibility. VX empowers Appear customers to swiftly create next-generation software production workflows that distribute functionality across multiple infrastructure and connected hardware solutions, while delivering the power, resiliency, and ultra-low latency of today’s hardware platforms.
Visitors to Appear’s IBC2024 booth (1.B41) will be the first to see live demos of the VX Platform, including:
- The contribution of live action from stadium to studio for AVC, HEVC, JPEG XS with ARQ (Automatic Repeat reQuest) protection
- Hyper-efficient distribution of affiliate feeds using Appear’s new advanced SRT application and deployed in the cloud and on low-cost fully redundant off-the-shelf hardware
- Appear’s next-generation node-based workflow management
- Integration with Prometheus and Grafana to provide real time monitoring of system metrics.
“At Appear, we are highly regarded for the power and flexibility of our modular and award-winning X Platform,” said Thomas Bostrøm Jørgensen, CEO at Appear. “We are now complimenting this approach with VX, building live production media processing functions in individual software modules. Visitors to our IBC booth will be able to see the functionality we offer in contribution over JPEG XS, AVC, HEVC and SRT as well as how VX enables broadcasters and operators to quickly build, spin-up, adapt and spin-down entire production workflows.”
To meet all the challenges faced by a fully IP-based infrastructure, VX features:
- End-to-End workflows with a single support management structure, delivering peace of mind and enabling interoperation between Appear and third-party hardware, software and cloud deployments
- Simplified operations via a single unified user experience and API
- Low latency media processing and delivery functions with rapid set-up of streams and channels
- Software deployed anywhere, anytime, simplifying operations and maximising infrastructure ROI
- Easy versioning support and lifecycle management enhancing operational efficiency
- Seamless scaling for fluctuating and peak processing and compute demands, including ‘pay for what you use’ billing.
“Our X Platform leads the industry because of its modular approach, with configurable modules for different functionalities, compression and file formats. Appear will continue to invest in producing new hardware modules and enhancing existing ones, but the media & entertainment industry also needs new architectures that enable businesses to work with increased flexibility and efficiency,” said Andy Rayner, CTO, Appear.
“The media industry needs to be agile, it wants ‘pay for what you use’ billing. It needs to be free to switch between, and mix-and-match, on-prem hardware, multiple clouds and on-prem clouds. It wants to increase agility through using IT-standard approaches such as containerisation and building workflows out of microservices. It needs to increase the level of workflow control and management as it moves to a software future. It needs to do all of this, not just on one hardware device or one cloud instance, but to distribute these abilities over multiple platforms and hardware solutions. Our new VX Platform enables media and entertainment businesses to do all of this, so that our customers can deploy VX to make the most of the extra dimension of flexibility that software provides,” concluded Rayner.
About VX
The VX framework technology stack has been designed from Appear’s extensive knowledge of 20 years in the contribution and live production space combined with the collaboration of our industry partners and customers.
VX is a highly resilient framework of functional software components which are used to build media transport and processing workflows, delivering high value video content for next-generation cloud and datacentre-based production. VX makes it possible to process and transport content from Appear’s X10/X20 encoders over secure and reliable transport systems directly into the VX framework and software production systems.
Appear is championing and helping to drive industry initiatives to provide open software-centric media data exchange and control, a key part of the VX architecture.
Today, a workflow is likely to be deployed with ultra-low latency HEVC or JPEG-XS encoded content and presented to the VX framework using Appear accelerated SRT technology, transcoded ready for NDI, JPEG-XS or uncompressed-based production systems.
The platform will evolve with Appear and partner technology to provide a comprehensive chain of modular software tools for live production workflows. The VX framework is designed to efficiently build highly resilient distributed, dynamic and open infrastructures for specific high value events, utilising an intuitive graphical workflow builder tool or through an extensive API.
