5G's Future Is Broken. Here's Why We Need 6G

Streaming Media

Think 5G is going to deliver VR, AR even eXtended Reality experiences? What about 8K VR, 6DoF and volumetric video? Think again. Telcos, scientists, and governments have reset expectations on 5G and found it wanting.

https://www.streamingmediaglobal.com/Articles/Editorial/Featured-Articles/5Gs-Future-Is-Broken.-Heres-Why-We-Need-6G-143447.aspx

"When you do a deep dive on road maps for XR and volumetric video and industrial IoT it very quickly points you to what is possible with 5G and that it won't be able to support longer terms roadmap of these use cases," says Alan Carlton, VP of InterDigital Europe. "6G must finish the work 5G set out to do."

5G isn't broken but nor is its design sufficient to follow through on its potential, he argues. Despite incredulity in some quarters not so long ago that a new generation would ever be needed after 5G, an international 6G standard is already on its way.

What is concerning from a telco point of view is that their ability to return the investment in 5G was predicated in part on selling new video-centric applications to consumers—VR, augmented and mixed reality, 4K streaming. While "entry level" versions of this will be possible, there will be a lot left on the table if 6G doesn't finish the job.

"You may say 'Wasn't all that supposed to be given to us by 5G?' but the truth of the matter is that 5G will only open the door on this roadmap of XR," Carlton says. "If you look at the baseline KPIs of 5G—the ambition is 100Mbps downlink and 50Mbps uplink as the average ubiquitous capability. The long-term roadmap of XR is to get to a truly pervasive everywhere experience. [To get there] you have to bump up those average experience data rates from gigabyte to multi gigabyte delivered to your devices."

According to Carlton, "Current generation 360° 4K video needs 10-50Mbps [to reach the consumer] and next generation 360° 8K needs 50-100Mbps. That is already more than 5G can deliver.

"Looking to the future of 6 Degrees of Freedom (6DoF) or free viewpoint video—technologies which are critical for full immersive experiences—this needs 200Mbps to 5Gbps. You can see how 5G will be challenged. You will get an XR experience on some level with 5G but the roadmap on XR and visual processing technology already breaks 5G in the future.

"In my view you will have great experiences of XR in industrial IoT private networking applications [running at 400Gbps over 5G] and decent entry level XR experiences for consumer purposes but to get the full immersive 'everywhere anytime' experience, then 5G is at least an order of magnitude short."

XR is not even the most demanding use case for video. Holography is the application usually mentioned as a futuristic use case but a conservative estimate of what holographic video needs is closer to a Terabyte in data rate.

"Holographic video is still very much at the end of the volumetric video roadmap. 6G plays a part to open the door to the roadmap in a way that 5G is fundamentally not designed to do."

Aside from being incapable of delivering enough data fast enough for applications like volumetric video, it is becoming apparent that 5G is simply not designed for the more ultra-precision real-time uses cases outlined in 5G scenarios (remote surgery, precision remote control of robotics in industry).

"What we [need] is not just an enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) service or a massive machine type communications (mMTC) service or an Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communications (URLLC) service. In a nutshell with 6G we're going need eMBB ++, mMTC++, URLLC ++ and some sort of new service capability which is likely to be a fusion of physical and virtual technologies as manifest in things like ubiquitous deployment of XR capabilities in the world.

Carlton continues, "The point is that all the talk of network slicing is a kind of brute force way of doing things. Having to deploy two or more network slices is fine for a limited number of deployments but to get to a massive scale it is not the most elegant architecture.  That's what people are now thinking."

The seeds of change already exist in 3GPP release 17. NT-Lite offers hybrid capability, a mix of URLLC and mMTC. "It is anticipated that we'll need something more to get us to a truly fully flexible system that is able to support all these hybrid services. This will necessitate a 6G evolution," he says.

While 5G networks have been designed to operate at extremely high frequencies in the millimeter-wave bands, 6G will exploit even higher-spectrum technologies. Exploration in this area is also revealing cracks in the 5G architecture.

"If we're going to get anywhere close to Gbps capabilities everywhere, the only way to go is up," he says. "We have push into new spectrum. The 3GPP has already tabled a work item to explore 72 Ghz spectrum bands and to support preliminary XR applications.

"But even when you start pushing 80Ghz or 100Ghz a fundamental problem begins to appear with the digital design of OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) methods. It is related to the underlying physics of dark silicon. There are already whispers and discussions among those exploring high level spectrum that we need to move to a more hybrid digital/analog type of design. There is a reasonable case that in going from 5G to 6G we will need a genuinely new radio design."

Another potential technology playing into 6G architectures is intelligent metasurfaces. Electromagnetic metasurfaces can be characterized as intelligent if they are able to perform multiple tuneable functions.

"This is proving quite promising in delivering a turbo boost to line speed and data rates," says Carlton. "It involves sticking a smart antenna in the radio channel that can manipulate Snell's law (a formula for light waves used to describe the relationship between the angles of incidence and refraction). So, we are talking about introducing a whole new RAN element into the network which has not existed before."

Carlton describes this as "the final frontier of network softwarization—where we are literally able to turn the radio channel into a software programmable entity.

"The basic physics and material science for this technology is pretty mature, but we're only at the point of experimenting with it in the 5G era now. This technology has the potential to inject another break point down the line in the 5G Ran. It may be a necessary technology that emerges in full force in the 6G era."

6G has moved out of academia into forums and into the industrial research and consensus building phase.

InterDigital is one of the organisers of the 6G Symposium (an event which will bring together industry heavy weights such as AT&T, Facebook, Samsung, U.S. Department of Commerce and Verizon). It announced FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and NIST Director Walter Copan as speakers.

Other initiatives include the University of Oulu in Finland; a Sony, Intel and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), collaboration and another from Samsung and LG.

"All of these activities will likely converge into an ITU 2030 requirements type doc with standardization anticipated to start on 6G around 2025," he says. "You might see commercial launch of 6G from 2030 onwards."

All of which begs the question, why stop at 6G?

"I see the relationship between 5G and 6G as quite symbiotic. 5G lays the groundwork and 6G carries it over the line.  The only argument I can muster for a 7G is if we all want to have holographic wireless experiences. That would take crazy TB per-second data rates just do that over fibre. But maybe that will be the use case that drives us beyond 6G.

This new 4K 3D display from Sony is utterly mind blowing, and it's a real product

RedShark

Sony has debuted the latest attempt to make a glasses-free 3D display. The Spatial Reality Display (SR Display) costs $5000 and is being positioned squarely as a business tool for VFX production or industrial design rather than for consumers.  

https://www.redsharknews.com/this-new-4k-3d-display-from-sony-is-mind-blowing-and-its-a-real-product

The SR Display is a 15.6-inch 4K panel that includes both eye-tracking and embedded lenticular lens array so users can view 3D content with the naked eye.  

A beta tester for the display is The Mill, and it’s not one to risk its reputation on any old tat. So, when Dan Phillips, its executive producer of emerging technology says, “We’ve all seen holographic effects but this is one you can see with your own eyes,” it’s worth giving Sony the benefit of the doubt.  

“This isn’t just a clearer screen moving more pixels around – this is something new,” affirms Andrew Proctor, The Mill’s Creative director.  “You’re not defining a set frame but you’re given a window you find yourself leaning around. It starts the cogs in your brain about what can we do with this.”  

The Spatial Reality Display creates its 3D optical illusion by combining several technologies.   

It is based on a high-speed vision sensor which follows the exact eye position in space, on vertical, horizontal and depth axes simultaneously. The display monitors eye and head movement “down to the millisecond”, while rendering the image instantaneously, based on the location and position of the viewer’s eyes. Sony says this allows creators to interact with their designs “in a highly-realistic virtual, 3D environment, from any angle without glasses.”  

Additionally, Sony has written an original processing algorithm to display content in real-time. This allows the stereoscopic image to appear as smooth as real life, even if the viewer moves around.  

Also on board is a micro optical lens that divides the image into the left and right eyes allowing for autostereoscopic viewing.  

Sony is offering the display up to developers by way of a SDK. This is compatible with games renderers Unity and Unreal Engine and can be used to develop interactive applications in gaming, VR and CAD.   

Mike Fasulo, president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics in the U.S said the tech would “advance an entirely new medium and experience for designers and creators everywhere.”  

For example, Sony suggest that in the automotive industry there is potential to integrate the product early on in the new vehicle design ideation process to improve the “tangible nature of the concepts themselves.”   

Indeed, Volkswagen has been testing the display and says it found it useful in multiple applications throughout the training, ideation and design process.  

Sony’s feature production arm Sony Pictures Entertainment also used the SR Display to help visualize characters and concepts in pre-visualization and 3D modelling.  

In a video testimony, The Mill describe building a CG scene of a futuristic car landing on a roof using the display.  

“We had to pare down in terms of camera moves and animation,” explains Proctor. “The things you were trying to achieve with movement with the camera you end up doing with the asset itself. It’s a slight adjustment to storytelling.”  

Unlike the more ambitious holographic displays in development at places like Light Field Lab, Sony’s display is only capable of having 3D content viewed by one person at a time.  

Nonetheless, it more perhaps more important for what it says about the direction of travel. We are moving toward a time when the flat two-dimensional image/screen will be consigned to archaeology.  

The industry is constantly fuelling our desire for audio visual immersion including greater dynamic range, ultra-resolution and sensory fidelity to simulate our real-world input.  

The last wave of stereo 3D a decade ago was a valiant effort to bring us closer to the depth and presence we actually feel in the world around us that stumbled on the need for facial hardware.   

The desire for virtual visual and audio experiences that merge with the physical world will be manifest when the technology becomes fades into the background.   

By the time we get to that point, it’s likely that video and even spatial (three dimensional) video will have birthed a new visual language.  

As architect Keisuke Toyota  says, “This really feels like a step toward remotely communicating in shapes.”

 

Green shoots herald AV recovery

AV Magazine

Covid shifted perception within the French market, and businesses across the country are ready to accept pro AV solutions more than ever before.

https://www.avinteractive.com/features/territory-features/green-shoots-herald-av-recovery-18-10-2020/

As with every other industry in every country, the pandemic has created an unprecedented situation for the pro-AV market in France. Profound consequences – organisational, financial, economic – have compounded to “create a complicated and tense market, with many projects delayed or cancelled and, for smaller integrators, financial difficulties,” says Philips PDS sales director, Fabrice Penhoat.

He says Philips is in close contact with customers to help where it can. “Some are at risk of disappearing or being absorbed, especially those operating in highly competitive and/or already fragile markets. Many are adapting their business model to maximise the allocation of their resources, to minimise the negative impact of the crisis and to prepare for the resumption of activity.”That said, since emerging from lockdown in May, the market has begun to pick up. “There’s no doubt that pro-AV has been profoundly shaken by Covid-19, but our perception is that French AV is adapting to the new challenges and requests are rapidly evolving to reflect this,” says Cecilia Wills, country manager, Matrox. “We’ve seen enterprises, higher education institutions, and other organisations adapt to remote work infrastructures. That in itself is a remarkable achievement, and these have been able to maintain a high level of productivity with the majority of live video or recording sessions at ‘good enough’ video qualities.”

Peerless-AV’s local sales director, Gwenaelle Villette reports big projects coming through and that end users are making decisions quicker. “Pre-Covid this wasn’t so much the case.”

Noting demand for its Xtreme High Bright Outdoor Displays for stadiums and for standard LCD displays in retail and corporate markets, she says: “Users have a pressing need to communicate about the new rules and regulations to staff, customers and visitors across all verticals. Installation of displays and kiosks are more urgent than ever.”

Other respondents point to high demand for solutions in public settings to control social distancing and capacity management. “The next growth market we are starting to see is within retail,” says Laure Daniel, business unit director, Maverick AV Solutions, Tech Data Group. “Stores need more digital and IoT solutions to communicate health messaging to customers inside and outside of their stores in realtime.”

While many digital signage projects were delayed, Laurent Samama, senior business development manager, INFiLED says almost no project has been cancelled – “another very positive sign for the future of the industry. Some brands are taking the opportunity to re-design or renovate their flagship stores since customers are more reluctant to physically visit stores and prefer to buy online.”

A clear boom area is home and office digital solutions. The return to the office, lecture hall and on-site environments is now driving demands to improve the remote experience.

Sales of Peerless’ flat panel trolleys for video conferencing displays are “flying”; Maverick’s corporate video conference solutions sales have been “off the charts.” Sony’s French pro-AV is trading above last year’s numbers, “which has been a real achievement as we were not expecting such a fast recovery,” says Maxime Lemoine, segment and trade marketing manager.

“More generally, because there is no clear indication of when Covid will be over, most companies are implementing IP-enabled solutions adapted to their operational needs,” says Wills. “More than ever, these solutions need to be reliable, flexible, and provide high-quality content while allowing remote access to users that have limited bandwidth.”

The likely hybrid future of work which will balance office with remote participation requires enterprise level AV infrastructure. “Businesses now need to provide technical equipment to their employees to allow them to continue to successfully work remotely, rather than rely on meeting spaces within offices,” says Daniel.

“We’ve seen a one hundred per cent growth in business this summer, mainly from smart meeting spaces. Video conferencing solutions alone have increased fifteen per cent, with a demand for higher specification systems as everyone adapts to home working.”

Smaller footprints
Companies are likely to revert to smaller physical footprints and build out ‘digital offices’. “We’ve anticipated a major transformation of company real estate into gigantic collaboration spaces for a while,” says Sébastien Mari, CEO at PSNI Global Alliance member Wipple (one of the largest integrators in France). “Covid gave a huge boost to that trend. Many companies are rethinking the way they allocate square metres to employees in favour of a significant increase in common spaces, such as meeting and brainstorming rooms. Smart building technologies will soon be a standard to support employees at work.”

The crisis has also seen a surge in installs for surveillance and control rooms. Explains Drouadaine Francois, sales and account manager, France, Benelux and Maghreb, Datapath: “It will become even more important to communicate at the digital level, through screens, digital signage and installations with multiple screens and also with the control rooms. Many control rooms are required for firefighters, police, military and surveillance.”

Likewise, Matrox observes increased activity in this area. With its technology partner, Agelec, Matrox has deployed video wall solutions for the likes of RATP L4, SNCF Lyon Part Dieu/Toulouse Station and the Ministry of National Education, during lockdown.

The French market is also following the trend of IT/AV convergence. “It’s highly possible that larger IT businesses will eventually buy out the traditional AV players,” says Penhoat. “The market for corporate AV integration focuses mainly on meeting rooms, collaborative solutions, information sharing and video conferencing. Already a large growth area in France, demand will accelerate with the current situation.”

Indeed, UC adoption has “gone through the roof” in the last six months at Crestron. “All of us are coming out of this with experience with and a growing appreciation for the tools that allow a new way of working,” says regional sales director, Alain Solomon.

Distance learning
For obvious reasons the higher education and health sector are investing heavily. Mari says Wipple transformed 35 classrooms at Lille’s IESEG Business School from local learning to hybrid learning this summer, including to reach foreign students forced to educate abroad.

“Where some enterprises are still hesitant to see how business will evolve, it is much clearer to schools (and medical) that they have to invest and focus on remote collaboration and AV over IP projects,” says Solomon.

Sony points to technologies such as its beamforming microphone, AI-powered Edge Analytics, and PTZ cameras for supporting institutions with distance learning. Sony’s Education Business Developer for Europe, Philippe Remion has completed over 120 business meetings and seminars with universities and business schools to demo Sony’s solution for hybrid learning from his home, supported by a fully installed set-up.

“French culture has strong traditional roots, and can be slow to adapt to new technologies and opportunities – which is something we’ve seen in the pro-AV market for a number of years,” says Lemoine. “However, the lockdown period and the temporary shift to remote working and learning has encouraged many people to change their opinions on interactive solutions. The education sector is an example of this.”

Promethean’s head of sales, Jean-François Slonina notes a significant increase in ActivPanel enquiries in September. “It’s being used more than ever before to enable remote learning and working,” he says. “We’re also seeing opportunities in new sectors including heavy industry and manufacturing, as the ActivPanel will not only equip businesses with the tools to work from a distance where necessary, but also support visual management strategies to improve efficiencies within the production process.”

Vendors adapt
AV vendors have had to adapt their own business to support customers. Philips, for example, introduced PeopleCount a capacity management display option on its cloud-based hotel TV remote to help reduce the spread of Covid-19. It has rerouted budgets from marketing activities to a new InSync programme to support integrators and their customers.

Explains Penhoat: “This includes the enhanced meeting room functionality we’re bringing with our new B-Line and C-Line collaborative displays. This is something we’d already identified as a growing need, but no one could have foreseen the requirement for the virtual collaborative meetings we’re all now experiencing.”

TIG has put together specific product bundles aimed at helping integrators restart their sales. “Three of the most common areas we are seeing product innovation in is remote work, hotel environments, including restaurants and workplace,” says Christophe Malsot, director of hospitality, leisure and retail EMEA. “To support our integrators in the hotel sector we have proposed solutions that provide touchless interactions.

He continues: “We’ve offered special kits and prices to our dealers who wanted to provide their employees with Crestron products to train on and to install them inside their home. This was a great success and kept them ahead on the technical field.”

Centreville
France is a very centralised country with company HQs and vendor excellence centres based in Paris. Generally speaking, 60-70 per cent of AV activity is in the capital and the North-East. The second city (Lyon) has less than half of the sales potential of Paris, says Solomon. “In the South, there is less demand for corporate solutions. There, the focus lies more on hospitality and residential solutions, including yachting technology.”

Smaller cities including Lyon, Nantes, Dijon, Bordeaux and Montpellier are investing in Smart City projects. “Many are also seeing business districts dedicated to start-ups and innovative companies utilising new technologies,” says Lemoine. “Euratechnologies in Lille is a very good example of this. This innovation hub is now one of the most recognised in Europe and demonstrative of how the tech industry is helping to rejuvenate old industrial city districts.”

France has a notably fragmented market with few truly large dealers and many average size ones. “Very few AV dealers have experience with IT systems,” notes Solomon.

“The top sixty resellers cover sixty per cent of the market, so making sure that you are well known to them is essential,” advises Daniel who maintains that the rest of the share filters down to over 4,200 regional resellers which cover the SMB market.

Matrox says it’s vital to have relationships based on trust with partners and customers – perhaps more so than in some other markets in Europe. Those who have close and long-standing partnerships have been better placed to weather the challenges, such as a lack of face-to-face meetings, brought about by the pandemic.”

“The truth is that the French are known, among other things, for being be late,” says Mari. “There is no exception for AV – which makes our country reluctant to implement digital tools to support new ways of working.”

Le jeu commencement
With the Tokyo Olympics likely to be a muted affair if it goes ahead at all next year, Paris’ host of the Games in 2024 could be dynamite in terms of audience spectacle. Work has already begun.

“At this stage, from an AV perspective, it mainly involves the monitoring and management of sites under construction,” says Francois.

AV tenders have been delayed due to the pandemic but construction on a new 8,000 seater Arena La Chapelle begins in March.

“The Games will undoubtedly bring new business to the AV market – either through refresh campaigns of main stadiums or through infrastructure projects led by the French government and main regions,” says Samama.

The public sector is a huge contributor in France for all IT/AV solutions and continues to be so even in the wake of the Covid crisis.

Remote working sees Blackbird soar higher

InBroadcast 

Ian McDonough, CEO, Blackbird 

 

http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/lesommet/inbroadcast_202010/index.php?startid=24#/p/24

 

You’ve worked at the top of some of the biggest media companies in the world including Viacom and BBC Worldwide. Why did you join Blackbird?  

 

I enjoyed the the corporate world for many years. I was running a $150m P&L which sounds big but was tiny in the blue-chip media landscape. Over time it became a little too bureaucratic and had lost its edge for me. I was really keen to back myself in a business where I could make many more of the key decisions without swathes of board approvals. I looked at private equity but Blackbird was one step better. Here was a listed UK company with a proven world leading technology gem at its core at a time when ten industry was moving to the cloud. They required a reboot. A focussed strategy, clear branding and a strong front office team to take it forward. I was confident I could deliver on that. 

 

 

What were the ‘gems’ as you saw them? 

 

The company had developed an incredible web-based video codec from scratch and built a fully featured sophisticated editing toolset around. I didn’t know quite how special it was until I took it to the biggest tech giants companies on the West Coast. At Google, Apple and Microsoft, the universal response was ‘Wow! We’ve not seen that before!’. That told me that instead of being a strong, niche company, this could be a world beater. That was when I was persuaded to invest in the business directly and persuaded my family to. 

 

 

That was in 2017. What key developments have happened since? 

 

The main goal for us was moving from being an artisan product in Soho servicing a small part of the post industry to being a much more industrial product under new brand and company name. 

A big breakthrough was striking a major deal with A&E Networks over three years which demonstrated how hundreds of users every single day were accessing and adding value their archive and publishing content directly from Blackbird. 

Another five-year deal with a major New York-based global news organisation closed in November 2019 took us to the next stage. This was for production and delivery of live news, daily, to a worldwide audience. 

In the background we were also winning multiple smaller deals with a number of OEM operations – Deltatre, IMG, TownNews – across a wide variety sports and 50 US TV news stations. This gave us an insight into how business side of things was going to take off by working through third parties, so integration of Blackbird into other systems became a priority. 

 

 

What has been the impact of COVID on Blackbird and its customers? 

 

Ironically, one of the things we didn’t talk about much in the first two years of Blackbird was remote working. Our technology is incredibly fast and efficient and we’re able to scale easily because anyone can use us in any browser on any laptop over bandwidth as restricted as 2 MB/s. But culturally, remote working was not high on the agenda.Since COVID-19, the most important aspect is remote.  

 

The competitors in this area are traditional on-premise solutions who have virtualised cloud offerings. To operate such a system in virtual instances requires 30-50 MB/s bandwidth, local and cloud storage and a very fast GPU on the ground. Blackbird’s footprint is insignificant in comparison. This allows people to work from home. Any home.  

 

The longer term move toward cloud has been on the cards for a number of years but a dramatic cultural shift needed to happen and that has been COVID. People don’t want to go back to five days a week, many would prefer a hybrid model and it all means tools like ours which are cloud-native will be increasingly in demand.  

 

The Genii is out of the bottle on flexible working. As a CEO and someone who has run large teams, I admit to being skeptical about working from home but now we’ve seen how productive teams can be when individuals are handed responsibility with the right tools and left to their own devices. In future we will all see a better work-life balance. 

 

How important is sustainability to Blackbird? 

 

Sustainability manifests in three ways. Users of Blackbird, such as editors, don’t need to travel to location, they don’t need to get on a plane. Secondly, we don’t need any specific hardware which means the carbon emission in manufacturing, distributing and ultimately disposing of equipment is very low. But really what is key is that we can move high bit rate content around at a fraction of the energy and power consumption of competitors. For example, if you just want to publish 7-minutes of highlights from a 90-minute match, with Blackbird you can edit from anywhere and just that 7 minutes needs to move and the rest of the media can reside where it is required. Given that we are a very powerful software means we can be a part of the sustainability program for our customers and our investors.  

 

 

Can you tell us about Blackbird’s latest wins? 

 

We have built on the idea of third parties selling Blackbird and built a significant partnership with TATA Communications, one of the largest telcos in the world. 

In the last month we have also secured direct deals with Sky News Arabia and esports customers Riot Games and VENN TV. a win with a live event company in New York which will see Blackbird used on fast turnaround live coverage and social media publication of the Democratic National Convention and the US Open Golf in August. 

 

What is on your product roadmap? 

 

The key areas to work on are data in and out, which includes AI such as speech-to-text metadata, as well as video sources; and systems integration into OEMs. We are always improving the sophistication of our tools and pushing the codec and technology forward but we know that there is a sweet spot where we are a fantastic. Interoperable, web-based tool for super-efficient, rapid turnaround, high quality production. No-one else does what we do.  

 

How do you view the new normal? 

Optimistically. Our tool is very versatile and well designed for numerous use cases. For example, the National Rugby League in Australia was one of the first contact sports to return to action after lockdown and we were able to help their team execute production and, crucially, to do more work with fewer people all working safely and remotely. We have had several other sports clients go live since then including a deployment by the National Hockey League to assist with the NHL’s ‘return to play’ plan. Blackbird’s vital use in remote production not only conveys all the thrill of the action on the field but keeps the production team physically distanced and working safely from home. This will not only become the new normal for living with the virus but become a permanent fixture because of the productivity and efficiency gains it delivers.  

 

The cost of COTS

InBroadcast

Virtualized integrated playout systems are enabling broadcasters to shift from the playout centre to the cloud without having to redeploy, retool or maintain expensive, underutilised systems.   

https://t.co/07eGEXD1zy?amp=1

 

Automation is vital for efficiency; it has to be entirely reliable; and it has to be in continuing development to meet the challenges of new formats, new platforms and new delivery requirements.  Now technology has evolved to the point where it’s possible to deliver linear, non-linear and live content from the public cloud. Radical and continuing gains in off-the-shelf compute power coupled with rapidly evolving IP standards for video and audio streams is unleashing the potential of virtualisation.   

Hardware devices have been completely replaced by software modules, with SDI transport replaced by IP streams. This means the complete playout chain can be virtualised and deployed in a private data centre or public cloud.  

“This technological transformation opens up a world of possibilities,” says Ciarán Doran, Exec VP, Pixel Power. “For instance, using a pop-up broadcast channel you can test a new service for six months without incurring high initial start-up fees. With a virtualized platform you can make adjustments as you go and get to market faster than your rivals.” 

Pixel Power Gallium Automation and StreamMaster Integrated Playout virtual machines can be spun up to play out content in sync with the main facility within 15 minutes from launch, he says.  

As with all Pixel Power solutions, these are enterprise scale software ready to run on standard IT servers virtualized in a data centre or in the public cloud. Virtualised software-centric integrated systems make it possible, for example, for an automation system to master control sophisticated graphics, switching and server ports in a unified way through a single interface, helping to significantly reduce broadcasters' overall equipment costs.   

“Your equipment options should not be constrained once you have committed to a particular automation platform,” Doran says. “The virtualised automation solution should give broadcasters the freedom to test, evaluate and execute business plans as and when needs dictate and without having to rip and replace bare metal.    

Gallium FACTORY, for example, will fully automate the creation of promo versions as well as offer nonlinear, store-and-play content delivery operations such as IPTV, VOD, mobile and digital viewing applications.  

“Free of the traditional signal chain, running on COTs and leveraging software modules to be configured and reconfigured on command, Gallium FACTORY consigns automation lock-in to history.” 

Most vendors are launching integrated open automated playout systems with the flexibility to be deployed on-prem or in the cloud (or hybrids of the two). For example, Pebble Beach’s flagship automation system is Marina.  Marina systems are built using modular services blocks, so the installation can be customised. Pebble Beach can provide constant synchronisation with disaster recovery applications and remote devices which protects the integrity and security of the system. Scalability is guaranteed with the ability to add an almost unlimited number of channels, operator positions and devices while the system remains live. Marina also uses a single system-wide database which allows for highly efficient media management. 

Orca is the vendor’s virtualised IP channel solution. It’s a software-only implementation of Pebble’s Dolphin integrated channel device. Dolphin and Orca share the same underlying architecture and operate under the control of Marina, making it easy to mirror channel templates for simultaneous playout to SDI as well as IP. 

Pebble Beach is also launching new cloud-based service-oriented technology platform, Oceans. This is intended to help broadcasters move or upgrade their broadcast workflows and services into the cloud and all from a single unified interface.  

“Oceans is designed to enable broadcast teams to handle their complex workflows in simple and intuitive manners, thanks to common core services across multiple functional applications,” states the firm. “Oceans provides greater visibility and control of the playout infrastructure. Regardless of scale, Oceans will also enable broadcasters to expand deployment as new services are released and allow them to write and integrate their own functionality using open and secure APIs.” 

Qvest Media’s cloud-based playout SaaS is called q.air. This combines cloud applications from various manufacturers for ingest, playout, automation, and graphics in one scalable package. These applications include HMS Media Solutions’ playout automation Makalu, Singular.Live’s graphics software Singular and the live video streaming application Wowza. Makalu also supports dynamic ad insertion into live OTT streams and digital broadcasts which helps generate additional advertising revenues. 

Q.air is orchestrated with the multicloud management platform Qvest.Cloud and runs on the AWS cloud infrastructure. To complicate matters a little, Qvest.Cloud is now being rebranded as qibb, the development for which is being handed over to an independent but Qvest-owned company. 

Peter Nöthen, group CEO, explains, “By transforming qibb into an independent company [called Techtriq], we can bundle resources better than before. The current focus is on products for content archiving, cloud playout and channel disaster recovery in the cloud. Further modules for content production and editing as required in fictional production or in live sports for instance will follow shortly.” 

The qibb package offers an integrated cloud app store for clients looking for a simple way to gradually move their IT infrastructure, software applications and workflows to the cloud.  

“With qibb ultimate, third-party software products can be efficiently orchestrated, managed, and analyzed either on-premise, with a single cloud provider, in a multicloud environment or in a hybrid model. System resources can be scaled according to demand as typical for the cloud while clients have the full control over running processes and user rights at all times.” 

Belgian media company DPG Media’s daily newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws (HLN) recently launched its new digital channel HLN Live using qibb ultimate. 

Czech developer Aveco claims to be the industry’s largest independent automation provider This includes the ASTRA MCR, the “only” master control automation that handles on-premises as well as remote stream splicing and cloud playout all in the same user interface. 

For master control on-premises and cloud-based hybrid playout, Aveco has teamed with Harmonic for integration of Harmonic’s VOS 360 end-to-end video cloud infrastructure as a service platform. ASTRA MCR manages hybrid on-premises and cloud-based playout using a single user interface enabling users to manage on-air operations in multiple locations. 

“The ability to control on-premises, remote and cloud-based playout functions from a single interface brings new capabilities to broadcasters and media organizations who desire the best of all worlds,” says Pavel Potuzak, Aveco’s CEO. “For example, users can deploy SDI and 2110 playout on-premises, run remote stream-splicing ad insertion and handle cloud-based channel playout OTT, all managed from Aveco's automation screen. Media companies pick which operations happen where, based on their business model and services desired by their viewers.” 

Another example is where broadcasters use their on-premises playout for their main TV channels, while using the cloud for disaster recovery, for temporary channels and for niche/low cost channels. 

Softron says OnTheAir Video 4 “is probably one of our biggest releases ever with a host of new features to enhance both the user experience and the performance”. As an example, it is adding a built-in Character Generator for adding animated logos, tickers and lower thirds into a playlist. 

OnTheAir Video, which is optimised for the Mac, can be used for automated playout using its own scheduler or it can serve as a clip store for live news operations, local broadcast or live shows.  

“We have improved the built-in scheduler of OnTheAir Video for easy broadcast scheduling,” the company states. “We have also added features to be used by major broadcasters, such as a new integration with Wide Orbit Traffic software for advanced master control operation. OnTheAir Video can now be used as a playout automation solution with features that were until now available only with expensive solutions.” 

BroadStream offers the OASYS Integrated Playout solution recently installed at public broadcast station KRSU, Claremore, Oklahoma. The timing for the launch wasn’t ideal given social distancing rules. According to Kevin Shoemaker, Chief Engineer at KRSU: “We know, moving forward, that if necessary that our OASYS system and staff can perform all necessary functions remotely and our ability to broadcast will never be in jeopardy. The change from traditional Master Control to OASYS is a huge step ahead for us.” 

Based on a software model OASYS, run on consumer-off-the-shelf hardware, making it easier to support and maintain. The approach also reduces overall requirements for hardware, multiple support contracts and multiple manufacturers. Its software modules can be tailored around solutions for SDI, IP and UHD, ingest and recording, program preparation, captioning, scheduling and more. 

PlayBox Technology has evolved its channel-in-a-box systems to the cloud under the brand name Cosmos.  The company explains: “The distributive virtualised architecture of the playout engine from Cosmos provides a fast and trusted cloud-based playout solution enabling broadcasters and service providers to spin up both OTT and traditional TV channels in a few minutes thus lowering the cost of ownership.” 

Channels can be hosted from data centres or from an MCR over a private or public cloud. It facilitates playout of file based and live services, supports AES67 along with the main SMPTE standards. 

“Cosmos virtualises the process of channel management under control from a standard enterprise computer via a firewall-protected secure internet connection. Programme playout can be automated to any required extent while always retaining the freedom to insert live content.” 

iTX is Grass Valley’s integrated playout offering. It is claimed to be the world’s most widely-deployed TV playout platform for broadcast television. Among its attributes is IP/SDI format flexibility and scalability for future readiness, along with workflow tools for greater process automation and lower OPEX.    

For applications with live content that are “highly reactive”, Grass Valley’s Morpheus Automation is capable of scaling from small, single-channel systems to very large systems. Its scalability is a result of a modular architecture that allows users to tailor make a system based on the services and components required for the playout operation. Morpheus supports Grass Valley’s ICE Integrated Playout for SDI to IP and Masterpiece, the firm’s 12G-SDI master control switcher, along with a vast list of third-party devices. 

GV has made a clutch of recent iTX sales into India including at news channels News J, in Chennai; Hindi-language broadcaster Swaraj Express; and Marathi language channel, Lokshahi News. 

VEDA Automation is the playout platform from France’s SGT capable of managing local, thematic and premium channels as well as multi-channel playout centres.  It features a fully redundant client-server architecture to run multi-playout systems in 24/7 operations. It is compatible with systems from Harmonic, Grass Valley, Imagine Communications, Evertz and more and works with traffic systems including MediaGenix and LORA. 

The VEDA Automation client optimizes operations client-side by monitoring playlists and reducing clicks and popups. It’s possible to perform live automatic recording from a playlist and to set alerts for highlighting ad quota overruns, adapted to local regulations. 

wTVision develops integrated solutions for MCRs offering scalable, flexible and customizable channel demands. Its playout automation setups, also available in the cloud, have ChannelMaker at heart and are extremely flexible. The product’s plug-in based architecture is adaptable to fit a client’s existing structure or to use wTVision’s suite of applications for Ingest and Trimming, asset management or 3D graphics. Its open architecture means ChannelMaker can be integrated with a wide range of third-party broadcast devices and solutions including Blackmagic Design, Grass Valley, Imagine, WideOrbit, Ross, Vizrt and Harmonic, 

To keep its partners on air, wTVision developed a web-based playout automation solution, that makes it possible to monitor and broadcast all channels while keeping everyone safe.  

“wTVision has provided us with a remote integrated broadcasting environment guaranteeing the safety of our staff while maintaining a high delivery capacity and a high-end quality broadcast capability, across our linear and digital platforms,” tated Jorge Pavão de Sousa, MD at Eleven Sports Portugal, one of the many channels to whom wTVision provided its safe playout solution. 

 

Behind the scenes: Project Power

IBC

VFX supervisor Ivan Moran grounds the superpowers of new Netflix sci-fi in plausible pseudo-science. 

In Netflix’ recently-released sci-fi action film Project Power anyone can potentially tap into their unique super power, a conceit that gave the film’s VFX team tremendous scope to wield their own. 

https://www.ibc.org/trends/behind-the-scenes-project-power/6815.article

“We found ourselves in a really enviable place with almost a blank canvas to explore the drug and its effects,” explains Ivan Moran (Arrival, Ghost in the Shell). “A lot of the characters were changed based on the advice or designs we came up with.” 

Like most VFX Supervisors, Moran’s involvement in the storytelling begins with interpreting the director’s vision into concepts that can work technically and within a budget. He was instrumental in guiding the production away from wall-to-wall CGI and toward shooting as much practically as possible. 

“When I first met directors Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost it was clear that most of the movie plays as a kidnap crime thriller and they wanted a gritty, visceral reality to the VFX to match. There’s no fantasy world or alien planet to hide behind where you can take a more stylistic license. This had to be real.” 

Moran took inspiration from work he had done as a compositor on the Two-Face for The Dark Knight (2008) 

“In my personal experience I find it easier to copy reality rather than completely invent it. If you create a shot out of nothing and its 100 percent CG you risk falling into the uncanny valley where it might look real but doesn’t feel right. In contrast, when you work with real elements you can build from highlights and shadow detail. Two-Face was half real, half not so that was the approach I took.” 

Starring Jamie Foxx, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dominique Fishback, Project Power depicts a murky world where a new designer drug can, for good or for ill, unlock five minutes of latent power in the person taking it.  

“The script suggested that individual super powers were derived from the animal kingdom in some way,” Moran says. “The problem we had at the beginning was why does everybody get a different power and how does the pill actually make it work? The director’s tasked me with coming up with some pseudo-science to explain this.” 

With art director Jonathan Opgenhaffen and production designer Naomi Shohan Moran’s research led them to root the drug’s side effects in actual science – that every living creature is subject to subatomic vibrations.  

“Each one of us experiences subatomic vibrations slightly differently and make us unique,” he says. “Rather than altering the body itself, the power pill amplifies what is already there. It chemically changes your physiology to such an extent that it manifests itself physically.” 

This idea was coupled with the notion that all of us share DNA along the chain of evolution with every other type of creature or matter in the universe. 

“The power pill awakens remnant DNA, those animal basic instincts, and amplifies their innate characteristics,” says Moran. “For example, the character in our story who radiates fire signifies that he is boiling with rage on the inside.” 

Animal instincts 
One character started out in the script as an invisible man but Moran’s pseudo-science suggested they base the design on that of a cuttlefish which has the ability to camouflage according to its surroundings. 

Another key sequence references an armadillo’s leathery protective shell. In this sequence there’s a full-frame shot of Frank (played by Gordon-Levitt) staring into the camera as he takes - and survives - a bullet point-blank to the head.  

“The last thing we wanted was to create a fully-CG face of Frank/Joseph particularly because his face fills the frame. We tried all sorts of ways to do this and settled on the old school method of firing an airgun at him. What gave it away was that his hair flapped up so we had to replace it with GG hair.” 

This was filmed in slow-motion using a Phantom Flex 4K at 900 frames per second but not even that was fast enough to capture the muzzle flash or speeding bullet of a real gun so these elements were added digitally, referencing gun shots filmed at over 70,000 fps. 

In keeping with the film’s aesthetic realism Moran devised an ingenious solution for an eye-catching sequence in which the character played by rapper Machine Gun Kelly becomes a superheated body of fire.  

Not only did this involve overcoming the perennial film-making challenge of convincingly setting a cast member on fire, but the sequence took place over 100 shots, in nine different locations and culminates with the characters being dunked underwater.  

“The hardest problem with fire is lighting. If you shoot an actor and digitally put fire on them it will always look fake because the actor is not illuminated by the fire itself.” 

Moran and the prosthetics and electric team developed programmable strips of flickering LED lights which were applied as a layer to the actor’s body encased in a head-to-toe prosthetic suit.  

“The process took up to eight hours to install and MGK chose to wear it three days in a row to not have to go through it twice,” recalls Moran. “It was about 20-30 panels with wiring, battery packs and transmitters underneath the prosthetics including two on his collar bone to illuminate his face. We ran a looping fire gif so we could swirl ‘fire’ around his body, extinguish and reignite it and control colour temperature.” 

As well as providing a flickering, fire-like light source on the actor, the suit also illuminated walls and objects as MGK ran past them. They also had a stunt actor - actually on fire this time - recreate the scene to provide real-life reference. 

“It is ground-breaking. LED suits have been used before but rarely on camera. We just warped the in-camera effect in post so they look like coals on a camp fire as if illuminated through his skin. It would not be possible without that interactive light source.”

Powering up 
The most challenging scene was the finale in which Jamie Foxx’s character Art lays bare his explosive inner power. 

“It’s easily the most challenging sequence I have ever attempted to devise, plan and film in my career,” says Moran. “The shots were filmed at night, on location, in rain, at extremely high camera speeds which was immensely challenging given the lack of light.” 

The pseudo-science for Art’s power was based on how infrasonic soundwaves interact with physical surfaces and can theoretically change the state of water into plasma. 

“If you put two halves of a grape into a microwave, and run away, it will turn into plasma,” says Moran of the real-world effect he was looking for. “I don’t recommend you try that at home.” 

He continues, “We’ve seen so many explosions on film from nuclear bombs on down but we had to make this one different. We didn’t want the energy blast to come magically out of him. We want the audience to understand the physics and chemistry of the explosion actually happening.” 

The problem was complicated by having to explain his idea to directors, VFX team, cast and crew. “I could close my eyes and imagine how that it was going to look but no one else could. I’d explain it to my team and they’d ask ‘is this really going to work out?’ I had to trust my gut and experience more than ever before because I didn’t want it to look like a normal explosion. That’s why it became a drawn-out slow-motion ballet which is visually telling you that Art is creating this explosion.”

Bang for your buck 
Close-ups were shot on the Phantom at 900fps, wider shots on a Sony Venice at 200-300fps which caused immediate lighting issues shooting such high speeds at night. Stunt performers were flung around the set for later digital augmentation, dozens of background details were added so VFX could distort them to show the shockwave exploding away from Art. The actors were also instructed to move in slow motion to enhance the effect. 

Framestore (London and Montreal) completed around 400 shots on the show including all the most complex character effects. Image Engine in Vancouver and Outpost in Montreal added 600 ‘invisible’ FX including CGI of the large tanker in the finale. Distillery VFX in Vancouver worked on a car crash sequence. 

Moran works for Framestore but was loaned out to Netflix as overall VFX Supe on location in New Orleans for the show. 

“There are supervisors who are permanently freelance but increasingly a studio will pick a lead house to do most of the VFX and that house will nominate a supervisor to go client side and run the project from a VFX standpoint,” explains Moran. “The advantage is that if you are in house you know the pipeline and crew like the back of your hand. Vendors set up slightly differently to arrive at results so close knowledge of a lead supplier gives you a short hand to making key decisions.” 

He adds, “We didn’t use cloud on this show but it’s a trend that will definitely happen. The main hurdle is security. It’s not that cloud is insecure but certain studios with major VFX projects are acutely sensitive to security. Suddenly the cloud makes even more sense as necessity when artists have to work from home. They are basically windowing into remote servers which causes slow-downs and lags but cloud software and connectivity will become much more efficient.” 

Moran enjoys his super power which as with all the best VFX supervisors is a mix of creativity and technical mastery. 

“At school I was really good at science and geeky but I was also into arty, floaty, theatrical stuff,” he says. “I struggled to choose a career. There seemed no way to combine them. I thought of being an actor or a scientist. So, I’m incredibly fortunate that this career offers a mind meld of both.  

“I’ve done a lot of photography and creative imagineering at the same time you have to take a brief and technically disseminate that the team. That involves working out what is technically achievable and cost efficient and involves a lot of to and fro to arrive at solutions. It’s this strange mix of the two disciplines that I love. 

“Over and above that, everyone always wants to do something different, so we’re constantly coming up with new schemes to produce something that no-one has seen before.”