IBC 2019: Synamedia to launch new video network solutions 

At IBC, Synamedia will unveil a torrent of new additions to its video network (formerly video processing,) portfolio designed to ratchet up the quality and cost effectiveness of live streaming. New solutions will also help customers make more intelligent use of virtualisation and cloud, as well as smooth service providers’ infrastructure transformation journey to IP.

As the industry moves closer to achieving synchronised latency between live broadcast and OTT streams at scale, Synamedia will show a real world use case with a latency from content ingest to display on the OTT device of just 6 seconds, which is equivalent to broadcast latency. This is made possible by incorporating Common Media Application Format (CMAF) to reduce workflow complexity and enable bandwidth-efficient, highly scalable delivery across the whole technology infrastructure to ABR-aware client devices including a low-latency DASH device. Synamedia will also unveil plans to support Apple’s Low Latency HLS protocol.

Also on display will be a demo of Synamedia’s virtualised Digital Content Manager (DCM) with Smart Rate Control showing how automation using machine learning can optimise quality levels across the entire footprint to deliver a premium live OTT viewing experience cost effectively.

Synamedia will also use IBC to preview content-aware encoding, fuelled by AI and machine learning techniques. The demo will show a new content-aware encoding algorithm that incorporates information such as programme recurrence, programme similarity and genre taken from sources such as programme guides and the IMDb database. Using pattern matching techniques, operators will be able to predict the required quality/bitrate per programme (or event) to optimise the encoding. Applying machine learning techniques will hone the encoding algorithms to further minimise the number of bits used, while maintaining premium video quality.

Operational workflow efficiencies will also be in the spotlight at IBC, with the launch of the PowerVu Insights module for video operations teams in the distribution segment. It incorporates a set of monitoring, analytics and remote troubleshooting tools for IP-connected receivers to help customers monitor the video distribution chain and drive greater efficiencies.

Synamedia is helping customers boost operations with enhancements to its cloud workflow optimisation tools. With a new automation feature for Synamedia Converged Headend, customers can find the right balance between on-premise, public/private cloud and hybrid deployments to optimise OPEX and CAPEX. New for IBC is a partner-enabled range of monitoring dashboards that let customers monitor every part of the processing and delivery chain, helping to control costs and optimizing the end user experience. Synamedia integrates its solutions with best-in-class third party products from companies such as Agama and Telestream to offer customers proven ecosystem solutions and services.

Synamedia will also highlight how it can increase uptime by isolating channels using its cloud-native containerized microservices approach. This allows customers to specify how resilience is handled based on each channel/programme’s characteristics. For example, for premium content this might require building two synchronised channel container pipelines so that if the original source fails there is no impact on viewers.