Net TV sets the pace

RTS Television p27 May

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“The TV set and viewing of our childhood is gone,” said Google president of global partnerships Daniel Alegre in the closing keynote to broadcast equipment trade fest NAB. “A newer better TV is rising from the ashes.”

While Alegre was referring to the rise of globally popular online content creators like Pewdiepie, the Las Vegas event showcased the disruptive potential of internet technologies, higher resolutions and panoramic video streams.

Ultra HD: The Next Wave

Broadcasters including CBS Sports, Rogers Media and Swisscom beginning to introduce premium 4K services based around live sports and entertainment. The world's most experienced 4K live broadcaster, BT Sport, plans to ramp up its schedule including its entire portfolio of EPL matches from next season, in anticipation of Sky's 4K debut.

This is where the weight of new production technology is aimed. Panasonic and Grass Valley unveiled 4K cameras but the pick was probably, Sony's HDC-4800. It offers 4K recording at a whopping 480 frames per second for 4K slow-motion. The system also allows an operator to zoom in and extract an HD cut out from the 4K image. Available from August, CBS already aired images captured by it during the Super Bowl.

Solutions for wirelessly transmitting 4K video are overcoming the frame delays currently required to transfer the huge amount of data. Leading the pack is Vislink's Ultra camera-back module and signal reception units which launched at the show.

Outside broadcaster NEP Visions, which suffered a huge fire at its Bracknell facility last November, confirmed the build of four new 4K trucks packed with Imagine Communications routing equipment. It's main contracts are with Sky.

4K is not just for sports though. Panasonic expanded its 4K camera line, calling its £2750 AG-UX180 a “cost effective” camcorder which features 60fps recording. Sony even touted a 4K version of its XDCAM, a system popular for news reporting, bringing 4K within reach of the newsroom.

For drama the focus is on enhancing the 4K image with greater colour and contrast by retaining higher dynamic range (HDR) through to the screen. Netflix and Amazon are commissioning all their originals with an HDR finish, including fresh runs of Daredevil and new episodic newsroom drama Good Girls Revolt.

Monitoring video for HDR content on-set has been extremely tricky but the new Shogun Inferno from Australian vendor Atomos changes that. The £1665 unit can record and playback 4K 60fps and 10 stops of dynamic range.

“HDR leaves even the most experienced video professional excited like a kid in a candy store - never before have you actually been able to monitor and shoot what you are actually seeing,” said CEO Jeromy Young.

Sony's OLED monitor, already the most widely used for grading HDR content, is joined by a larger 55-inch model [Trimaster EL PVM-X550] which can display four separate pictures in HD HDR for use in post houses or mobile units.

IP: Change is gonna come

The use of internet-based protocols and generic computing resources may not be the most attention grabbing topic but it cuts across every aspect of production to distribution. Familiar broadcast tech brands are having to rework entire product lines from bespoke hardware to software that runs on commodity kit.

“2015 was the worst year in the market I’ve ever experienced in this industry,” SAM CEO Tim Thorsteinson declared at the company's press event. “Customers are driving us to be interoperable. Adoption of IP technology is new and there’s fear around that.”

Nonetheless its software-based playout systems have seen four quarters of growth and

it released Go!, a solution for remote editing news and sports over the internet. It also bowed IP Edge, a unifying interface for its products that eases the transport of video over IP networks.

Avid has also struggled with the perception of being more closed than interoperable with other systems. It will hope that an alliance with rival Adobe puts a stop to that.

“The industry is littered with siloed, disconnected products that haven’t changed,” said Avid chief executive Louis Hernandez Jr. “We’re the most open, extensible company here.”

He supported this by announcing that Avid has collaborated with Adobe so that users of Avid's work share platform MediaCentral can access material built within Adobe Premiere Pro.

Avid is also to replace its Isis range of shared storage products (sensibly retiring the unfortunately tarnished Isis brand) with Nexis, a software system that uses off-the-shelf hardware. The Nexis Pro targets indie producers and small post firms and costs £975.

There was much debate before NAB about whether a universal standard for IP production was possible. At the show, Evertz and Sony both joined AIMS, a lobbying group backing SMPTE standards. While they will continue to promote their own proprietary routes, there were sighs of relief that the industry appears to be finally taking interoperability seriously.

Virtual Reality: 360-video streaming

YouTube's introduction of live-streamed panoramic videos was timed to coincide with NAB where virtual reality products were trending. Anyone owning a compatible 360-degree camera and the ability to upload video at between 10Mbps and 20Mbps can now broadcast on Google's platform.

Choice of camera ranges from the $60000 Nokia Ozo, which now includes live VR broadcasting capability, to the $500 ALLie Cam which is the first to enable live streamed 360-degree video on YouTube.

The momentum behind VR, and in particular for application in live sports, appears unstoppable. GoPro unveiled a six-camera Omni rig complete with video stitching software and live streaming software for £3,520 and announced LiveVR - its own “broadcast-quality" live-streaming system. This will be soon used by the MotoGP and MotoAmerica racing competitions.

Orange-owned developer Viaccess Orca demoed a live broadcast it made for Sky Italia of a US basketball match; and NextVR trotted out what it billed as the first VR outside broadcast truck. It will be used at 'marquee' sports and concerts, the company said, noting that after its appearance at NAB the vehicle will hit the road to cover events for Fox Sports with which it has a five year partnership.

Adobe revealed an update to its Premiere editing software that makes it easier to work with 360-degree media and Teradek launched a device for wirelessly streaming and monitoring of 360-video.

“Television has always been a window into the world, but VR is really about transporting you into the world,” said Fabrice Loreanceau, co-founder of broadcast VR firm LiveLike. “Here you can get the best ticket, choose your own experience, jump to a specific camera, and go to the best seat in the house.”