Deluxe MediaCloud platform utilised for historic live 4K broadcast
Deluxe Entertainment Services Group Inc. (Deluxe) has announced that its MediaCloud platform has successfully broadcast live 4K video between Europe and North America at over 50Mbps using the public Internet, delivering 100% uptime and availability.
The video was delivered using Deluxe’s own software-based Broadcast Delivery Network (BDN), which recently facilitated live NFL games including the Super Bowl, across Europe.
“This is a significant development for broadcasters, content owners or any rights holder moving live video signals across continents,” says Alec Stichbury, chief technology officer at Deluxe MediaCloud. “As a whole, the industry is constantly battling with delivering increasingly higher bit-rate formats at lower costs, like when moving from SD to HD, and now from HD to 4K. Using the public internet, Deluxe’s BDN provides a highly secure, lower cost solution at a higher quality and without the bandwidth limitations of traditional satellite or fixed fiber transport mechanisms.”
The broadcast signal, which is encoded using HEVC 4K at a video frame rate of 30p, leaves a Deluxe MediaCloud European facility on diverse ISPs using multi-pathing technology and delivering a total data load of 106Mbps. The signal then transverses Deluxe MediaCloud’s private data centres and is delivered on dual ISPs into the GDMX facility then to Deluxe locations in North America for consumption. The live video delivered across Deluxe’s BDN is highly secure, protected by military-grade AES256 encryption. Beyond the lab, Deluxe has deployed 4K streaming in production as part of a live colour grading session between studios in Europe and North America.
Deluxe’s BDN comprises a sophisticated suite of tools in Deluxe MediaCloud’s unique virtual MCR platform PortaLive, which provide diagnostics, record capability and routing control. In this instance, PortaLive is used by the operational teams in Sweden and London to monitor and control the 4K signal and has measured a round-trip latency across the world of 600ms.
Deluxe’s BDN global reach covers five continents, connecting a community of broadcasters, satellite earth stations, production facilities, playout facilities and sporting venues. By connecting to Deluxe’s BDN, media companies and broadcasters will instantly become part of this community and have easy access to other members, immediately opening up customer and supplier bases allowing organisations to generate new revenues and source new suppliers at a more cost effective method.
Deluxe MediaCloud is a component of Deluxe’s comprehensive delivery solutions ecosystem, which offers content preparation and delivery for home entertainment, theatrical, linear and OTT.