LiveWire’s M-Link implemented at ITN
Following a comprehensive review of products from a range of manufacturers, from both a technical and commercial perspective, Livewire Digital’s M-Link package of live and file-based laptop news gathering applications has been selected for use by journalists and news crews reporting from around the globe for ITN.
ITN produces ITV News, ITV News London, Channel 4 News and 5 News, the news programmes of the UK’s terrestrial commercial broadcasters. Completing ITN’s upgrade of all news gathering, production and broadcast facilities to full HD, all ITN’s mobile journalists are now equipped with a MacBook Pro running M-Link Live X for live links anywhere a crew can get connected, and M-Link NewsCaster for reliable, high quality transfer of edited news packages and rushes back to the studio over the Internet.
Geared towards reporters on the move, M-Link Live X and NewsCaster, complete with fully integrated BGAN HDR Control, maximise the quality of the video delivered regardless of the link conditions. Dynamic feedback from the network provides real-time information on the available bandwidth and is used to manage the live Adaptive Bit Rate encoder as well as accelerated file transfer.
M-Link Live-X and NewsCaster work equally well over Ka band satellite technology, VSAT, BGAN, 4G, 3G, DSL, and other broadband connections. Reporters using M-Link NewsCaster, the professional solution for the delivery of HD and SD store and forward video, can make use of advanced features such as automated background encoding, automatic transmission, MXF encoding, aspect ratio and orientation correction, and choice of transmission protocols. The NewsCaster Mobile iOS app, available in the iTunes App Store, integrates with existing M-Link workflow to add options for all iPhone-equipped staff to contribute video from the field.
A quarter of the size of its predecessor, the M-Link Exchange Server is designed to operate on the Windows Server platform, and occupies just one unit of rack space, helping broadcasters better utilise space, power and cooling within their server rooms. With considerably more processing power, the new 1U Exchange server will provide the backbone of future M-Link receiver systems utilising HEVC encoding and handling multiple live calls. The new M-Link Exchange server allows users to simultaneously ingest live video streams and to play out files on the same piece of equipment.
Commenting on the positive outcome for Livewire Digital, Richard Aylmer-Hall, product manager, Livewire Digital, said: “Recent updates to M-Link dramatically improve performance and workflows for our broadcast and other news gathering customers, and ensure that the M-Link product suite cements Livewire Digital’s position as a market leader in mobile news gathering solutions. ITN set us a challenge to prove that M-Link met their needs, and within their budget, and we are delighted to continue working with them.”