Net Insight Focuses on 4K Remote Production, Ethernet Services, and DTT Over Internet
At NAB 2015, Net Insight (SU4321) focused on how 4K is fueling remote production, customer provisioned networks for Ethernet services, and DTT over the Internet. In addition, Net Insight took the opportunity at NAB to announce that China Unicom, the state-owned telecommunications operator, has selected its Nimbra platform for a video contribution network to support transporting media content from live sports games.
4K Fueling Broadcaster Demand for Remote Production
At NAB 2015, Net Insight discussed why the growing demand for 4K content is now a key driver for using remote production and centralized workflows in the broadcasting of live events. The live events industry has grown massively over the past few years. It has been driven by an increase in demand for higher quality live content, a change in behaviour in terms of viewing habits and the pursuit of greater revenues by broadcasters and media service providers.
One way for broadcasters and media operators to increase revenue and enhance profitability is to offer more live content of a higher quality, but this poses a major challenge since the costs associated with such productions are very high. As an example, some of Net Insight’s customers have highlighted they would need to invest up to around $10 million each year in new outside broadcast (OB) trucks to keep up with the increased number of live events, and with more 4K productions on the horizon they will require new production equipment, including OB trucks that will need to be rebuilt or exchanged in order to work with the new 4K ultra high definition (UHD) standards.
To deliver live content in these new higher quality formats and achieve greater revenue and profits, broadcasters and media operators need to streamline production in order to keep costs down, avoid bottlenecks in production facilities and make efficient use of resources such as people and equipment. One of the most important technology trends to address this rising cost and at the same time help broadcasters and media operators gain greater efficiencies in transporting more high quality live video is remote production and centralized workflows with the potential to produce more content with less resources.
Normally live events require an entire crew and on-site production facilities to capture, edit and transmit content back to production and distribution centers, usually over a satellite communications link provided by an OB truck. Using remote production dramatically cuts operating expenditure by reducing the volume of personnel required to travel to events, cuts down on on-site equipment costs, eliminating the need for OB trucks, and perhaps most importantly opens up the content contribution side to smaller crews, which offers the potential to increase the number of live events that can be broadcast through the efficient the use of personnel.
“With new centralized workflows associated with remote production techniques, the potential for savings are huge, by not having to transport equipment to every event – eliminating the need to send an OB truck, and its associated crew, with an uplink to the event site,” says Martin Karlsson, CTO and vice president product portfolio at Net Insight. “We can see from our customers that 4K is accelerating the shift toward remote production workflows. By employing remote production techniques there is no need to update OB trucks, which helps broadcasters and media service providers keep down capital and operational expenditures, while using high-fiber offers the potential for massive network cost savings.”
Net Insight Launches Industry-First Customer Self-Provisioning of Ethernet Services
At NAB, Net Insight launched its new industry-first customer self-provisioning of Ethernet services solution. In partnership with ScheduALL, the global provider of Enterprise Resource Management (ERM) solutions for media, broadcast and transmission businesses, Net Insight is adding to its unique customer provisioned network solution that allows for full automation of on-demand network services over existing IP infrastructure while maintaining the quality expected by the broadcast industry, with the introduction of full self-provisioning support for Ethernet services.
Net Insight now enables broadcasters and media companies to book by-the-minute Ethernet services along side traditional media services. This will enable broadcasters to virtually extend their new IP-based infrastructures beyond campuses with full control of bandwidth and quality, which drastically simplifies the introduction of new workflows.
The new service provides support for VLAN virtualization and can be combined with a selection of different redundancy mechanisms including hitless 1+1 protection. The first implementations in service provider networks have already taken place with successful results, and customer provisioned Ethernet services specifically addressing the media industry are expected to launch during spring this year.
“Our solution is the first to support automated provisioning with full resource and cost control, delivering adaptable and guaranteed bandwidth by-the-minute in full scale commercial deployments,” says Martin Karlsson, CTO and vice president product portfolio at Net Insight. “Combined with support for hitless protection our solution brings both the quality and reliability required by broadcasters to extend their IP/Ethernet based live editing capabilities beyond the campus. This provides broadcasters with the ability to use remote resources when they want and need them as if they were part of their local network.”
To discuss Net Insight’s Customer Provisioned Networks concept, see the other demos on display and learn more about how the company’s solutions are helping operators, service providers and broadcasters to transport content across all types of networks efficiently, please visit the company booth (SU4321) at NAB 2015.
Net Insight Enables Use of Internet for Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) Distribution
Net Insight also highlighted its Nimbra VA 200 solution to helping broadcasters to introduce Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) in a scalable and affordable way.
By leveraging the reach and capabilities of readily available public infrastructures, such as the Internet, the Nimbra VA 200 series is the ideal choice to reliably and cost-efficiently transport digital video signals to transmitters or head ends for local distribution. Based on the successful and reliable transport properties of Net Insight’s Nimbra VA 200 series, transporting TV channels with high quality of service (QoS) over the Internet is now a reality, offering more flexibility than traditional satellite distribution models.
Broadcasters, however, hesitate to make these investments as digital television markets in many countries have yet to grow. With the Nimbra VA 200 series it is possible to scale up networks in economically viable areas first, without taking on the burden of full satellite operational costs from day one. In addition, the Nimbra VA 200 series provides a very flexible solution for occasional-use contribution from these remote sites. At NAB this year, Net Insight will share examples of deployments where the use of the Nimbra VA 200 series has reduced costs for DTT operators by up to 90 percent.
“Today most “free-to-air” DTT distribution requires heavy investment in dedicated high-quality IP networks or a costly satellite distribution solution from day one. Our solution provides a truly scalable investment that is reliable and offers high QoS, while using the Internet to transport high quality content makes it extremely accessible and very cost efficient,” says Martin Karlsson, CTO and vice president product portfolio at Net Insight.
To find out more about how the Nimbra VA 200 series complements DTT networks, see the other demos on display and learn more about how Net Insight’s other solutions are helping operators, service providers and broadcasters to transport content across all types of networks efficiently, please visit the company booth (SU4321) at NAB 2015.