TVB Europe 69 November/December 2019

Intelligence for the media & entertainment industry

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

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CONTENT

END OF A CENTURY DECADE

Editor: Jenny Priestley jenny.priestley@futurenet.com Staff Writer: Dan Meier dan.meier@futurenet.com Graphic Designer: Marc Miller marc.miller@futurenet.com Managing Design Director: Nicole Cobban nicole.cobban@futurenet.com

Cast your mind back to the start of 2010.

David Tennant waved farewell to the TARDIS in Doctor Who’s New Year’s Day episode; Sky became the first broadcaster in the world to show live sports in 3D with a Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal; Britain was preparing to go to the polls (when isn’t it?); and a strange company called Netflix announced plans to expand its streaming services to audiences outside of the United States (whoever thought that would catch on?).

Not much has really changed over the past 10 years, although we do have a female Doctor now.

As we end the so-called 2010s, I start to

of this issue of TVBEurope.

We hear from some of the biggest companies operating in the MAM space about predictions and trends for the technology. Plus, we continue to celebrate the winners from our Best of Show at IBC 2019 Awards and if you missed it, there’s a roundup of our recent webinar looking at the state of the market with speakers from EY, UKTV and Google.

Speaking of General Elections, Philip Stevens takes a look at how broadcasters Sky and the BBC are preparing for the UK public to go to the polls once again in December. We celebrate the new season of Netflix’s multiaward winning drama The Crown, and ask

With all the new content being created it needs to be stored somewhere, and creators need to be able to find it quickly and easily. wonder what the entertainment industry will look like 10 years from now. Will we still be watching content at the current rate? Will the ‘Golden age’ of television still be happening?

Will we even be using screens? And how will that explosion of content be delivered to willing audiences? I’m not sure I have the answers to those questions at the moment.

But I’m certainly looking forward to finding them out over the coming months and years.

Of course with all the new content being created it needs to be stored somewhere, and creators need to be able to find it quickly and easily. That means they need the right media asset management system, and that’s the focus

how easy is it to correct visual effects when a trailer doesn’t go down well with an audience?

Hopefully that’s plenty to keep you going over the coming weeks. As always, the team will be busy updating TVBEurope.com with breaking news and features. We’ll be back in 2020, so it just remains for me to wish you a very happy festive season. n

Contributors: George Jarrett, Philip Stevens, Mark Layton Group Content Director, B2B: James McKeown

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TVBEUROPE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 | 3

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IN THIS ISSUE

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 09 The precariousness of the profession

George Jarrett reports from the 24th annual Rory Peck Awards

14 Colouring The Crown TVBEurope has a royal appointment with

colourist Asa Shoul

17 Managing the assets

Six MAM experts take part in a roundtable session on asset management

28 An Avid collaboration

14

Avid CEO Jeff Rosica talks to George Jarrett about an industry in transformation

36 Uncanny tabby

Dan Meier asks 3D World editor Rob Redman to purruse the Cats trailer

45 Impressive innovation

A look back on TVBEurope’s Best of Show winners from IBC 2019

60 On set with Emmerdale

Philip Stevens takes a trip to Yorkshire in the last of his series on the soaps

63 Going off-piste

The Ski A&E team tells Dan Meier how they filmed in extreme conditions‌ on skis

72 JT-NM vision

Ievgen Kostiukevych, Willem Vermost and

Andrew Bonney on the JT-NM Tested programme

28

63

OPINION AND ANALYSIS

The Move to Mobile – IP, 5G, and the future of our industry

By Matt Allard, product marketing manager for Vizrt Group

W

atching video on mobile devices has become a globally inescapable behaviour, and the number of mobile connections in use today exceed the entire worldwide population by almost one billion according to various industry studies.

Streaming is everywhere and mobile devices as senders and receivers of media is increasing all the time. 5G is not long off and has the potential to raise media usage across mobile networks to an unprecedented level.

With the dramatic improvement of camera quality in mobile devices, their use for acquisition of media content is now seen on a daily basis. Camera proliferation has enabled the capture of as many angles as anyone could want, and massive storage is cheap enough for all this material to be ingested and inserted into production.

At the same time the delivery of media content to mobile devices from sites and social media is becoming a bigger component of the worldwide digital economy. More than ever, an increasing amount of media content is created and delivered with mobile consumption being the sole, or primary goal.

Mobile connectivity and transmission infrastructures are inherently IP-based. IP is already the dominant methodology, as seen with the rapid ascendance of various streaming infrastructures and streaming services around the world.

Mobile devices operate with Wi-Fi and mobile networks and systems can be made to support network bonding for robust and reliable transmission. As media creation and production continues to migrate to IP as well, the synergy between the two becomes obvious.

IP has not just become the latest media standard but the last, because of its capability to grow and scale in bandwidth, complexity, and installation type.

Building media infrastructures around IP means avoiding the need to adopt a new standard again, therefore meaning

06 | TVBEUROPE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

that infrastructures are future proofed.

IP is omnipresent on a global basis daily for systems connection, and its use is exponentially increasing. Prior development on an enormous scale has gone into ensuring that IP can handle all relevant data types and does this proficiently. By its very nature, IP technology efficiently handles any and all of the data types of interest to media production and distribution. To a network, various formats and protocols are just ones and zeros, and – it is vital to appreciate – they are all equally viable.

As to the economics, moving high bit-rate live video over long distances by IP can be much faster and more affordable than alternatives. IP can send video and other data to computers and mobile devices in the next office, the next building, city, or state, or all of the above at once.

IP permits working in the protocols and formats that suit current pipeline needs, yet remains completely open to changing needs, and to standards being extended, merged, or otherwise adapted in the future. Therefore, media production infrastructures, software, computing systems, networks, and most importantly, standards, must be extensible to include using mobile devices for acquisition and delivery of video into digital media ecosystems. IP-based standards need to be aspect ratio, frame rate, and resolution independent to accommodate the cameras and displays of mobile devices. IP provides an elegant solution that merges all stages of media creation and delivery from start to fnish, live or not. In this new world, all production tasks and processes are united.

From searching, reviewing, and packaging content, to live switching and replay, to multi-cam editing, and on to streaming and transferring visual content, IP offers a seamless and transparent technology base to let all types of creatives tell their stories and deliver their creative visions, including with the use of mobile platforms. n

OPINION AND ANALYSIS

The strength of strategic media partnerships

By Mark Russell, chief strategy merger and acquisition officer, MediaKind

C

ollaboration. Partnerships. Innovation. Three words that are regularly bandied around the media industry. Yet, they represent more than just buzzwords. In order to drive cost efficiency and deliver more innovative services, we are seeing a rise in cooperative ecosystem and synergies across the media and entertainment space today. And with good reason. By working alongside trusted partners and developing stronger ecosystems with specialist media technology companies, each party has the opportunity to focus on developing products that align with their own strengths and expertise, for the mutual benefit of everyone involved.

According to Ernst & Young’s recent quarterly analytics report into the Tech, Media and Telecoms sector, strategic partnerships were ranked as the second biggest business trends (after the shift to software and services). Companies are leveraging strategic partnerships and acquisitions to create or enhance an ecosystem that can provide end-to-end services.

At IBC, we launched our own global technology partnership alliance, with a particular focus on advancing the industrialisation of OTT video to broadcast quality and scale. The wider partnership trend was also reflected in IABM’s IBC 2019 Show report, which noted that on the supply side partnerships are increasing across the industry to enable interoperability of different technology solutions and services. Some 92 per cent of media sector respondents in IABM’s October 2019 Buying Trends Survey said interoperability is essential. New technology is great – but only if it can work within existing architectures or can adapt to a software native future.

Creating alliances makes sense. Tapping into the work of other partners is not only very healthy for this sector but also lays the foundations for strong, robust end-to-end ecosystems. These kinds of collaborations (large and small) enable Cloud providers, technology specialists and operators to ultimately respond to the pressing challenges in media today. Working collectively, as an industry, we can overcome several of today’s technical and cost barriers. By closing the gap between legacy technology and more scalable, agile and flexible Cloud-native architectures, we can further advance all aspects of video delivery and user experience.

The benefits of strategic partnerships are multifaceted. Partners can easily tap into a wider range of compatible technologies and infrastructures that evolve and adapt to the latest media shifts at lower costs.

Indeed, when such ecosystems are designed with interoperable and standardised technologies at their heart, it’s possible to build highly

advanced, sustainable connections alongside like-minded innovators. It also takes pressure off companies having to develop off-the-shelf solutions to further their own technology where it makes more sense to collaborate instead of competing. Specialist companies retain ownership of their technology and autonomy over their own deals.

As more companies look to restructure or exit out of the video market, cooperation can stop the industry from becoming monolithic and dominated by one or two key players. We certainly don’t want to see media descend into a creativity graveyard!

As we’ve seen with the recent streaming wars, traditional broadcasters and service providers need to have better access to new technology and services to avoid lagging behind market disruptors and new, consumer-friendly business models.

Then, there is the intangible - the creative spark and blue sky thinking that only collaboration brings. In some ways it could be argued strategic partnerships offer more opportunities for innovation through the development of simpler operation structures for event-specific solutions. This is especially true of live sport, with sports rights making up 26 per cent of global content spend, according to Ampere Analysis. A strong ecosystem of shared technologies also helps to encourage the industry further towards open standards. As discussed, interoperability is the sticking point as the industry shifts from Capex to Opex software, Cloud-based systems. To take the burden off customers, it makes good business sense to provide end-toend packages which respond to their challenges.

So, what does this mean going into the next decade? The media industry is moving increasingly towards Cloud-based, bandwidth-efficient, IP-centric offerings. They are needed to accommodate new service models, overcome latency, reduce audience fragmentation, and bridge gaps between legacy and emerging technologies.

The list is lengthy and only the tip of the iceberg. But for me, this represents a wonderful opportunity. Just consider, for instance, the huge savings that can be made on today’s R&D budgets! Through dynamic industry collaboration, we can collectively bring together an array of extensive knowledge and experiences.

By investing in time and sharing our industry’s wealth of resources, the mutual benefits of these long-term partnerships represent a clear pathway towards achieving long-term innovation. n

TVBEUROPE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 | 07

OPINION AND ANALYSIS

The future for playout

By Steve Reynolds, president, Imagine Communications

S

ome say playout is dead. I really have to disagree with that idea. Yes, of course the traditional broadcast playout infrastructure – hardware switchers, servers and graphics devices, driven by a monolithic automation system – will gradually fade away. But the functionality is still required because the core business driver remains, more pressing than ever.

Media companies succeed by delivering the programming their audiences want, when they want it – and that remains their central business value. Even if audiences no longer want to watch scheduled content, they still need that sense of connection; of dealing with a trusted brand that will lead them to programming they will enjoy.

What has changed are the forms of delivery and consumption.

Consumers want to watch at home and on the road; they want linear and nonlinear engagement; they want to watch on a 55” OLED and on their phone. Whenever and wherever they choose to watch, they expect a familiar, high-quality experience – which can only be achieved with playout technology.

And here is the really key point: the size of the audience is pretty much fixed. A forecast from Eurostat suggests that the population of the EU will grow by 3.9 per cent from 2015 to 2040. That is not 3.9 per cent a year — it’s 3.9 per cent over 25 years. Emerging markets will grow, other markets will shrink but even with increasing hours of engagement, the largely static audience number limits how much can be consumed. That audience is now fragmenting across different platforms – over-the-air, OTT and mobile – yet revenues from subscriptions and advertising are relatively fixed because the size of the audience is fixed.

Add to that new entrants into the content delivery market. The giant production companies and some sports federations are now looking to offer their own content directly. Niche channels are springing up to meet particular needs: Indian ex-pats in the US wanting to keep up with the IPL, for instance. So broadcasters must aggregate their share of the audience by providing a better experience – delivering the right content to the right audience across the right distribution channel. And so playout systems remain critical.

As we are all aware, we have moved away from hardware devices in playout and the rest of broadcast, towards specialist software

08 | TVBEUROPE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

running on COTS hardware or in Cloud platforms. We can do that because we have adopted IT technologies to build virtualised environments, in which microservices can deliver highly efficient playout with optimal use of the infrastructure.

In this context, delivering to multiple outlets or formats simply becomes a set of options in a blueprint, which can be turned on and off at will. Optimised delivery across multiple devices, distribution technologies and consumption models defines the future for playout. Doing this in a cost-effective way ensures the business model for broadcasters.

As the required functionality is available in standardised, open software – complying to standards like SMPTE ST 2110 – we are free to implement playout (and other workflows) in the machine room, in the corporate data centre, or in the Cloud. Every broadcaster and content provider will have a different balance for their playout, but that decision will be made for business optimisation, not constrained by technology. It is simply a cost analysis exercise: delivery will be flexible, scalable and unified.

The real issue lies in the business question of return on investment. How can I make my content most attractive to audiences; how do I monetise that aggregated audience; and how much will it cost to boost the value in my content?

Again, the technology helps. If you want to try something, you can. If you want a pop-up channel, perhaps because you want to see if Ultra HD will win new audiences, you can decide to try it today and be transmitting tomorrow. If it is unpopular, you can turn it off again the day after, and all it has cost you is a few days of operating costs.

The message I have, then, is that we are at a point where the technology of playout can be completely abstracted from the skills of being a commercially successful broadcaster. You can use virtualisation or Cloud resources to do whatever you want, and you can build secure and flexible infrastructures.

The core business of the broadcaster or content network remains to build content, originate channels and sell advertising.

The playout suite of the future allows them to do just that, cost effectively and across every platform that matters to their business – without the capital and operational costs of cumbersome infrastructure or facilities. n

FEATURE

THE PRECARIOUSNESS OF THE PROFESSION George Jarrett reports from this year’s Rory Peck Awards

T

he 24th annual Rory Peck Awards were notable for two starkly bitter truths delivered by the finalists Spaniard Mikel Konate and Argentinean Rodrigo Vazquez.

First up Konate broached the biggest danger threatening news freelancing. He told the audience: “Without your support, we are unfortunately about to disappear.”

Vazquez had the rise of right wing governments, in nations such as Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Columbia and Ecuador in mind, when he declared, “Latin America is on fire.”

The challenges stacking up against freelancers mean that the Rory Peck Trust with its assistance grants, safety surgeries and training bursaries (covering hostile environments and first aid) has never been so vital to sustaining the wonder of free speech.

THIS BEAUTIFUL PROFESSION The awards consist of News and News Feature categories, plus the Sony sponsored Impact Award for Current Affairs. Entries came from 69 different countries, and the event sponsors were Google, AP and Sony.

The news prize went to the Nicaraguan Luis Sequeira, for his report Makeshift mortars vs bare bullets as Nicaragua resist an authoritarian regime. The other finalists were Konate with Survivor Stories from Syria and the Russian journalist Mikhail Galustov for Inside ISIS’s Final Flight.

Looking back on his story, Sequeira said: “It is pretty hard to work in an environment where the government follows the independent media. People we don’t even know follow you. They either threaten you, or we don’t know what they want to eventually do with us. This award is for all the Nicaraguan people who have fought

“Many entrants this year have endured public criticism, harassment, even imprisonment and exile. This is a growing reality for freelance journalists.

RORY PECK TRUST CHAIR, SARAH WARD-LILLEY for the democracy that we are looking for.”

Konate spoke for the multitude when he said: “The essence of independent journalism is having the privilege of going deeply into the causes and consequences of the stories that happen around the globe. This has always been the great reason for dedicating myself to this beautiful profession.

“We the freelancers do it for meaning and purpose

TVBEUROPE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 | 09

FEATURE

“Netflix and the other new players want cold stuff that must have constant value.

Current affairs change from month to month.”

MARTIN BOUDOT

PICTURED RIGHT: Martin Boudot

despite the hardship and risk, but the truth is that it is hard to find stability and year by year the precariousness of the profession makes it more difficult,” he added.

“The business, which is full of cuts, is changing and this change will take a lot of people away. It is not really interesting to people now and we are suffering.”

MORE WORK TO BE DONE The news feature winner was the Kenyan Peter Murimi for Suicide Stories: Are Kenya’s men in Crisis? The other finalists were the British journalist Benjamin Foley with the Yemeni war story The Battle of Hodeidah, and the British duo Paul Miles and Zoe Jewell for Night Shift on Malaria’s Frontline in Sierra Leone.

Murimi said: “This was not an assignment for me, it was a responsibility because with the access that the families and the community (of Nyandarua) gave me it was very important to get it right. In a sense they were going against the tide concerning the perception of mental health and suicide, so it was really important that I spent the right amount of time and made sure that I did justice to what is going on there (70 suicides in 2018). They opened their doors to me and to the whole world, so we could see what was really happening.”

Foley had a tough assignment in Yemen but said: “We had the luxury of being able to leave whereas 30 million Yemeni citizens do not. They are stuck in the middle of this senseless proxy war.

“Although our job is hard sometimes, I just want to urge my colleagues to keep fighting to tell the stories.

There is much more work to be done,” he added.

Miles established a nationwide freelance grid back in 2012 in Sierra Leone for election coverage reasons,

10 | TVBEUROPE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

by training a group of reporters on ethics, code of conduct and verification. This worked well for the Ebola crisis when borders were closed. Whilst Malaria is not newsworthy it killed more people during the Ebola crisis than Ebola itself. Myles’ grid unearthed some powerful Malaria stories.

“I encourage fellow journalists to think about how we can collaborate more deeply with communities, and how we can leave local skills behind and leave platforms behind – and keep reaping the rewards,” he said.

TRIGGERED A NATIONAL DEBATE The impact award prize went to the French duo Martin Boudot and his cameraman Mathias Denizo PICTURED LEFT: Mathias Denizo

FEATURE

“The growing solidarity between lawyers, the media industry and NGOs is driving things forward much faster than any one sector could do on its own.”

RORY PECK TRUST DIRECTOR, CLOTHILDE REDFERN

for Paraguay: Poisoned Fields. Rodrigo Vazquez with People and Power: Frontline Nicaragua and American Matthew Cassel with The Missing added to what became deep discussions.

Boudot has worked on environmental stories, helped by science, for several years, so Paraguay’s worrying deforestation rate in favour of soya crops saturated in nasty pesticides that cause genetic damage to consumers of meat was ripe for him.

“France 5 provided funding so we could expand the number of children to be analysed and we chose 50 from a village close to the pesticide spraying. It took eight months to set up authorisation, clearances and protocols, and when we reviewed the results the scientists decided to hold a press conference that was quite widely covered,” said Boudot. “Soya is backed by a powerful lobby group and it is 9 per cent of GDP but the national media went for the science and bought into the information, and the study was tabled by the Senate of Paraguay. This triggered a national debate.”

Cassel has covered issues around migration for much of his career. He went to five different and far apart communities for his films, and was supported by the international community of the Red Cross.

He said: “Media institutions do not have the financial resources they once did to pay for independent freelancers to go to these disparate places. This is one of the most important issues of our time, especially because immigration is connected to so many other issues, be it climate change, conflict, or global inequality.

These are huge themes that we are going to have to

tackle if we are going to address this crisis.”

Vazquez said: “In order to film in Nicaragua you need to be officially approved, so I needed to officially go there to make a film about the 20th anniversary of the revolution, but make another film under cover. I got one of the executives from the Venezuelan public broadcaster teleSUR to come with me to make the film.”

All the official meetings with Ortega, the vice president and wife, ministers and the Sandinistas controlling university campuses had to happen.

“That was the official cover and in parallel I organised the interviews and filming with students in hiding in Nicaragua, people in exile in Costa Rica, and the new anti-Sandinista gorilla force. How it played was that we tried to make an official film that was impossible to make in the end, but at the same time we filmed with the underground movement,” said Vazquez.

THE SAD TRUTHS OF FREELANCING Asked if he agreed with Konate about freelancers being a species in danger, Cassel said: “It’s like the plague. Over the 15 years I have been doing this I have seen one after another colleague having to quit the business and switch professions completely.

“They have full-time jobs but what they want to be doing is the investigative stuff. So yes there are fewer and fewer of us who are able to make it. But people will make it and even if there are smaller numbers we should support them.”

Vazquez added: “When I started doing this job 25 years ago for Channel 4 we were sent to places and the

TVBEUROPE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 | 11

FEATURE

commissioning editor would stand behind us when, for example, we made a film in Kashmir or Gaza and the Israeli and Indian embassies sued us and accused us of lying.

“We would always win the case because the executive would stand behind us, but that would not happen today,” he added. “The broadcasters are risk averse, and that is part of the problem we have.”

Staffers have so much more security and support than what is implemented for freelancers. “If you are hired as a fixer from Turkey, Kurdistan or Syria they are not given any kind of protection or assurance.

There is no cover for them post transmission, and this is shocking,” said Vazquez.

Boudot pointed to the new players like Netflix and OTT in general: “The new platforms are not in tune with current affairs or the investigative stuff because it does not age well. They want massive catalogues.”

Freelancers in France are getting scarcer for legal reasons. “The channels want to work with a production company, because they do not want any legal issues if something happens. In my current affairs work I talk to a huge corporation that has made a great history of suing and degrading journalists,” said Boudot.

“We have been sued three times and won every time,

12 | TVBEUROPE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

but the channel from where we had the commissions did not help us out. It costs €15,000 for being sued.

You can ask for it to be reimbursed but you only get back up to €5,000, so now the companies are suing journalists because they know it is an easy way to keep us silent,” he added. “Freedom of information is not a crime and we are gathering all the French freelancers and journalists together to defend ourselves because it is hard to pay for lawyers.”

Cassel, who was a staffer will Al Jazeera for many years, believes that freelancers have some kind of freedom of speech that staffers do not. “Everyone who works for these big news organisations is engaging in some sort of self censorship because they do not want to upset their bosses. That’s why I love being freelance. I want to do a story in the way I want to. On the flip side, we can get screwed.”

Vazquez added: “There is an exclusion in terms of freedom of speech at a very basic level. Martin has to go to Paraguay to make a film, but where are the Paraguayan filmmakers, and why don’t they have a chance? It is a lack of access to the technology and the platforms. The democracy has not reached that point where the people with very little can get their content out there.” n

“There are 5,000 people illegally detained in Chile, and one of my friends had his finger nails pulled out.”

RODRIGO VAZQUEZ

PREPARING FOR POLLING DAY

FEATURE

Philip Stevens investigates how broadcasters have started their coverage of the 2019 election

W

ill they? Won’t they? First, the date of 12th December for an election in the UK was voted down in parliament.

Twenty four hours later, the same date was accepted by the same members of Parliament.

John Ryley, head of Sky News, says the broadcaster has spent months planning for the possibility of an election this year and has produced a far-reaching set of programme ideas to provide a fresh way of following the events leading up to 12th December.

Although plans are still to be confirmed for the election night coverage, the broadcaster is already running a raft of special programmes.

ALL PLATFORMS “With Brexit dominating British politics for more than three years, and no way forward, this December election is a frantic bid to break the parliamentary deadlock over how we leave the EU,” states Ryley. “Given the importance, we have begun providing comprehensive coverage for ‘Brexit Election’ on TV, mobile and digital platforms and will continue to do so up to polling day.”

He continues, “The Sky News team is led by political editor Beth Rigby and deputy political editor Sam Coates, and alongside the very best journalists, they are reporting from Westminster at a tumultuous period of history. But we are not confined to Westminster; Mark Austin is out and about visiting a different constituency every weekday with our mobile reporting unit.”

Ryley says that with trust in politicians at an all-time low, checking and verifying the facts that are given on the campaign trail is a crucial part of Sky’s coverage. “We have already seen this in action with Ed Conway leading our Campaign Check feature with the help and support of the UK independent fact-checking organisation ‘Full Fact’.”

Using Sky News’ multiplatform facilities,

makes it even more important for Sky News to be on the front line of making sense of that for our viewers. We will make full use of all our considerable presenting, production and technical resources – for this will be unlike any election in history.”

PICTURED ABOVE: Fran Unsworth (picture credit Jeff Overs, BBC); John Ryley

Rowland Manthorpe is presenting a series called Under the Radar which looks at how voters are profiled and then served specific messaging to influence their voting intentions.

In addition, every weeknight Niall Paterson is hosting The Campaign live from Sky News’ Westminster studio with a look back on each day of campaigning. Sophy Ridge’s oft-quoted Sunday morning show is also airing on Saturday mornings, to bring twice as many in-depth interviews with the key players from Parliament.

“The recent past has been a period of huge political instability,” says Ryley. “And that

AUDIENCE PRIORITY Fran Unsworth, director, News and Current Affairs at the BBC agrees. “It is a democratic event of huge significance. This is an election like none of recent times. The last December General Election was in 1923, a year after the first ever BBC News broadcast.”

She says there is one simple priority over the next few weeks - the audiences. “They have a wide range of views, and political allegiances, and we are here to serve all of them, wherever they live, whatever they think, and however they choose to vote.”

That approach means covering the political parties proportionately and fairly - taking into account a range of factors, including their past and current electoral support.

Unsworth continues, “We’re not trying to include voices from opposing sides in every single news report, programme or tweet. On some days one party may be in the news more than the others - for example if it launches an election manifesto or if there is some particular controversy. There is no exact mathematical formula when it comes to this.”

She says that it will take the combined resources of the whole of the BBC - from every corner of the United Kingdom - to do justice to this. “It’s impossible to predict the next few weeks. But whatever happens, we want our audiences to know they can continue to rely on us.”

TVBEurope will be following the broadcasters’ plans for election night with more content available online in the run-up to polling day. n

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COLOURING Colourist Asa Shoul describes giving The Crown’s new series the royal treatment AS THE SERIES MOVES INTO THE 1970S, HOW DO YOU REFLECT THIS NEW TIME PERIOD IN TERMS OF COLOURING? For season three of The Crown, cinematographer Adriano Goldman and I considered a number of options and approaches to the look.

We decided there should be a familiarity and consistency to the look of the show whilst subtly shifting the palette to emphasise the modernist feel of the era. Adriano decided to use a new set of lenses with some added clarity and I introduced the production team to High Dynamic Range (HDR) which Adriano embraced.

The fashion of the ‘70s gave us the opportunity to enhance certain colours which popped in established settings which had appeared

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muted and pastel in previous seasons. In one episode Princess Anne wears a red dress which is a beautiful accent and hints at her rebellious nature.

HOW DIFFERENT DOES THIS SERIES LOOK TO THE PREVIOUS TWO? Generally we followed the same rules we’d set ourselves on season one; lighting should feel natural, if characters are not in direct light then they shouldn’t be pushed brighter but rather live in dark, subdued light. There are new locations and actors which bring their own energy and colour schemes. We contrasted rich golden tropical

FEATURE

“I generally use FilmGrade as my primary grading tool, and when doing the HDR pass we used Texture Highlight extensively to soften speculation highlights.” islands with the drab grey of Aberystwyth where Charles spends a term learning Welsh.

client session. The production team are extremely trusting and let us complete the grade without the need for executive reviews.

WHAT FEATURES MAKE FILMLIGHT’S BASELIGHT A GOOD COLOURING TOOL FOR THE CROWN? I generally use FilmGrade as my primary grading tool, and when doing the HDR pass we used Texture Highlight extensively to soften speculation highlights to make sure they didn’t appear too harsh or distracting. I composited a number of windows and curtains if we had any clipping in them and also replaced skies. I used Baselight’s matte merge tool extensively when given multi-channel alphas where VFX had added mountains and jungle to a runway sequence.

WERE THERE DISCUSSIONS ABOUT A COLOUR THEME FOR THE WHOLE THIRD SERIES? Not as such but as each episode has its own storyline we often find room for new expression and experimentation. We also do extensive testing with costume and make-up for each season and discuss what worked well or might need addressing for the next season.

HOW CLOSELY DO YOU WORK WITH EACH EPISODE DOP AND DIRECTOR? I work closely with the cinematographers and directors on the series but try to have a day to balance the episode together before the first

HAVE YOU STARTED WORK YET ON SEASON FOUR? DO YOU GO TO SET TO SEE HOW THE SHOOT IS GOING AND GET A SENSE OF THE COLOUR? Yes, I asked Adriano to look at the Sony Venice camera which they are now using and we have looked closely at the new characters/ actors for both skin tone and costume. I’ve seen some scenes and done a number of tests for different looks around the world. n

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FEATURE

THE FUTURE OF NATURAL HISTORY L

ast year, Japanese public broadcaster NHK launched the world’s first 8K channel. This commitment to producing programming in the highest visual quality available benefits content producers across a variety of genres, perhaps none more so than the world of natural history. The broadcaster has teamed up with British production company Icon Films and the Botswana-based Natural History Film Unit (NHFU) to produce Okavango: A Flood of Life, an 8K exploration of the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana.

“I grew up there and I’ve been making films there for 25 years,” says NHFU founder Brad Bestelink, the filmmaker behind Okavango: A Flood of Life. “What excited us about the Delta really, in terms of the 8K, is it’s the place we love and the place that I’ve grown up and you tell stories again and again and again out of that area on different subjects. To be able to show what the Delta really represents to us in such detail is what we’re really attracted to.”

Bestelink notes that the crew’s filming practices did not have to change much to accommodate 8K, but that processing all the extra data is the biggest challenge. “I think you’ve got to be a lot more decisive and a lot more specific about how you shoot it,” he adds. “Because it has so much resolution, it has very little room for error.” He speaks of the risk of 8K images looking “too real” if imbalanced: “You’ve got to really use the backlight, you’ve got to use the harsh environments, to sort of soften the slightly electronic look that that amount of resolution gives you. But you balance those two things together and it just becomes a totally absorbing experience.”

For Bestelink, 8K is the future of natural history cinematography. “I think as cinematographers we’re trying to engage people on the sort of visceral level. The higher the resolution, the more immersive it becomes, the more of an experience and the more visual experience it is,” he says. “And I think that there’s no better way to watch natural history other than in the detail that 8K gives you. Watching films that we’ve done in 4K, and then watching back sequences that we’ve shot in 8K, there is a substantial difference to us and it becomes more of a visual experience than merely relying on the narrative and story. I’m going to find it very difficult to go back from shooting 8K really.”

Coming in Spring 2020, the film was shot using RED Weapon Helium cameras with super 35 8K sensors. “We have several of those in the field, we’ve got three teams, and we’ve been working on the Okavango film for about 16 months,” Bestelink explains. “About 80 per cent of it [was shot in 8K]. Where we haven’t used 8K has been for ultra high speed, where 8K hasn’t got that sort of ultra high speed frames for that.” NHK has also developed 22.2 immersive sound, though Okavango’s audio is more

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Dan Meier asks filmmaker Brad Bestelink how 8K brings the wild to life

conventional. “We haven’t got the gear to do that,” says Bestelink, “so sound for us has been very similar to what we’ve done in the past. We have external recorders, we have various mics, and obviously we’re recording very little of it sync. It’s gathered during the production as we go.”

Given the Delta’s protected nature and high tourist intake, it’s important for Bestelink and his crew to limit their impact on the area. “We are albert recognised filmmakers, which means we have a very sustainable model,” he says. “We live in vehicles completely. We sleep in the vehicles, eat in the vehicles, we never build fires, we never do anything.

And because of that, we have very lightweight crews. So in terms of our environmental footprint, it’s incredibly small in relation to other production companies and other productions that go on. We’re not flying crew and kit all over the world.”

Not only does this help protect the environment, it also serves the purpose of capturing the best nature footage. “We’ve grown up with wildlife, and we are about getting behaviour,” says Bestelink. “So the best behaviour that you’ll get from animals is when you don’t impact on what they’re doing. We pride ourselves by having the least amount of impact.

“You work with a leopard and if you’re impacting on the way that she hunts in terms of sound, in terms of noise, in terms of harassment, they’ll lose you quickly or they’ll just stop hunting,” he continues. “The minute a safari vehicle comes in she’ll just stop hunting. The minute the tourist vehicle goes and we’re there, she knows she can trust us and she’ll carry on hunting.

So we get a lot of acknowledgement from the animals and their behaviours to know that we’re not impacting on their lives. All the films that we do are very behaviour driven, and we get that because we have a very light touch and very little impact on the actual animal itself.”

Are other broadcasters embracing 8K as NHK are? “I’m not sure that many are,” says Bestelink. “I think the 8K issue is having the platforms to broadcast and how they transmit that signal into everybody’s home. I think Japan is one of the few countries that is really geared for 8K. And I think it’s going to be a slow phasing into other countries. Having said that, I think that people recognise that 8K is definitely the future. I think it’s as far as we can go in terms of resolution that represents closest to what our eye resolves. I think a lot of people will shoot in 8K, and they will down-res it to the formats that they can distribute on currently, so they’re future-proofing for redistribution when 8K becomes a more commonplace format.” Who says a leopard can’t change its spots? n Images courtesy of Icon Films, NHFU Botswana and NHK

MANAGING THE ASSETS

TVBEurope invited a number of MAM experts to a roundtable session to discuss thoughts, predictions and trends for the asset management space IT’S CLEAR TO SEE THE AUTOMATION EFFICIENCIES THAT AI BRINGS/CAN BRING TO ASSET MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, BUT WHERE ELSE CAN AI HAVE AN ENABLING BENEFIT FOR MAM, BOTH NOW AND IN THE SHORT-TERM FUTURE?

PICTURED ABOVE: Ray Thompson

RAY THOMPSON, DIRECTOR OF BROADCAST AND MEDIA SOLUTIONS MARKETING, AVID AI expands to machine learning (ML). Once the AI system is trained, ML adds another layer to content search and extraction that speeds up workflows and content monetisation. This will, and is starting to, pick up momentum in sports broadcasting as it detects clips

through facial and scene recognition to help facilitate the creation of highlight reels, for example. Once you have this deep set of data wrapped around these assets, search is only going to become more powerful. AI will analyse searches down to a level that we haven’t necessarily thought of. And when people and organisations start to migrate their assets to the Cloud at large economic scale, AI can begin to aggregate a lot of user data in terms of how they’re accessing content and deciding where it may live.

JULIAN FERNANDEZ-CAMPON, CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, TEDIAL Over the next three years we’ll see how machine learning

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FEATURE

PICTURED ABOVE: Julian Fernandez-Campon

tools increase the accuracy of results due to intensive training with more data. This is useful for certain scenarios, such as speech-to-text commentary track or interviews; facial recognition, sentiment analysis and place recognition. Manually logging this information is costly. By automating this process production teams can focus on creating value rather than “tagging”. The way we foresee MAM systems taking full advantage of this is for the MAM to become an AI aggregator to ensure business value of all information.

ROD FAIRWEATHER, HEAD OF TECHNICAL OPERATIONS, TVT The biggest benefit of AI will be automatic tagging. When we can throw old as well as new material at an AI engine, the material becomes searchable, and becomes valuable again. Particularly useful for news (facial recognition) where material may have only been lightly logged, it’ll be combined with more traditional speech-to-text conversions and object/event recognition to offer options to producers quickly, and enable content owners to make best use of their archives.

STEVE RUSSELL, HEAD OF MEDIA MANAGEMENT AND OTT, RED BEE MEDIA Benefits of machine learning have certainly been in the spotlight the last few years, with some fascinating use cases. We are excited about its potential, and developments in consumer and Cloud technology are driving advances that we can leverage in our market. Red Bee ensures that our platforms are ahead of the curve in their ability to tap in to those resources. Many of our early wins have focused on allocating resources to automate processing tasks, where our machine learning innovations have dramatically improved efficiency through automating tasks across our hubs.

JEREMY BANCROFT, DIRECTOR, MEDIA ASSET CAPITAL You might be forgiven for thinking that the whole of the broadcast industry’s R&D budget is being spent on developing AI tools. In fact, these tools are available to anyone with an AWS account. They have not been developed specifically for broadcast, but their ability to extract metadata from audio/video clips is extremely useful. As these tools improve, one of the areas that will be impacted is news, both in the analysis and cataloguing of incoming feed material and of archive content. These tasks are currently very labour intensive and require a very specialised skill set.

JULIAN WRIGHT, FOUNDER, BLUE LUCY The opportunities that AI affords our industry is

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probably an essay in itself, for example: applications for temporal logging of sport content using image recognition are easy to implement and very powerful.

At Blue Lucy we are not planning to re-invent AI algorithms for BLAM, instead we build connectors to all the platforms so that operators can create workflows which seamlessly connect to the technology most appropriate for their operational application.

HOW HAS IMF IMPACTED MAM? RT: In a B2B scenario, IMF flattens the file format, so the media and metadata that comes with it is delivered in one package. Leveraging the IMF standard allows people to spend less time creating all these different formats on their own. With everyone pulling content from different places, IMF has everything you need in order to understand what the content is, what the content titles are, the different bitrates, and any localisation that’s been done – all in the same file format. From a MAM perspective, rolling out IMF as the future B2B distribution format will simplify processes. We’re still in the early days of this happening, but once some of the bigger players make it a requirement it’ll accelerate quickly.

JF-C: IMF methodologies provide real-world, measurable savings in storage and distribution technology cycle times. This means storing media components - video, audio channels and subtitles - as individual assets related to the master and the combination descriptions for each deliverable version. A true IMF compliant MAM saves the “ingredients” and “recipes” instead of storing the individually crafted versions. Actual versions are only created when required. Since the ingredients and recipes are in the system, they’re not “stored” and can be re-created any time. This saves huge amounts of storage over the standard method of making and keeping each required version.

RF: It’s starting. Technically a number of MAM systems can manage the IMPs, and can create the versions based on the CPLs on demand that are at the centre of IMF. However, successful change is not just replacing technologies, as it also requires a matching change in people, organisations (technical and human), and business models. To make best use of IMF, organisations need to change the way they store and manage their componentised assets, and adjust workflows to integrate with these new IMF capabilities. This is a big project for major broadcasters, and needs to address whether you go back to create new CPLs for material that has already been complied (the legacy issue).

SR: IMF is a welcome enabler of greater efficiency in

FEATURE the production to distribution workflow. The greater the fragmentation of localised assets, the greater the benefit of IMF. Aside from well documented headline use-cases, we see a patchy level of adoption and there is often more ‘industry push’ than ‘client pull’. As a service provider Red Bee welcomes any initiative that simplifies processes and reduces costs.

JB: We are starting to see the potential of IMF being taken seriously by broadcasters and service providers.

Imagine multiple versions of a commercial where the first 27 seconds are the same but all with different end boards and voice overs. IMF Composition Playlists allows these variants to be stored and delivered within a single package.Whereas many MAM systems treat each version as a separate clip, each with its own metadata, there are at least two enterprise-class solutions that support advanced IMF capabilities. As customers continue to adopt IMF, we will see varying degrees of support being added by other MAM vendors.

JW: If properly implemented, IMF has the potential to replace some of the key functionality of a MAM and deliver consistency in delivery. The virtual versioning

within the packaging allows for lightweight distribution workflows to be built that do not rely on a hierarchy being explicitly built in the MAM. A sight caution might be that operational workflows need a degree of planning at the outset and rigorous testing is advised. Start simple. When a key end-to-end workflow has been created and proven, it may be readily extended to provide internationalisation, for example.

RT: Content consumption is going to become much more integrated. The rollout of 5G and the growth of virtual reality (VR) will mean that larger files will need to be stored and higher bit rate content will need to be sent to head-mounted displays. VR changes the game not just because of the immersive experience it provides, but the interaction between the content viewer and the content rights holder. MAM systems are going to be dealing with UHD, higher bit rates and file sizes, but also a lot more user data. Metadata will represent not just consumer data but the data around the media itself.

MAM systems are going to have to do a really good job in managing all that information.

PICTURED ABOVE: Rod Fairweather

JF-C: Multiple format management including 4K, 8K,

The SaaS content supply chain management solution from

bluelucy.com

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PICTURED ABOVE: Steve Russell

HDR and 360VR, pose extraordinary challenges to MAM technology. The size of files grows extraordinarily (several terabytes). In addition, these formats usually imply that a version is composed of several files, segments or even hundreds of thousands of files in those versions where each frame is a file (DPX). This presents multiple disadvantages: Individual file manipulation and the movement of giant files is not scalable. As such, MAM technology needs to provide a level of abstraction that allows users to seamlessly access and manipulate files and enable them to be future proof.

RF: The increasing number of UHD files primarily impacts storage size, bandwidth for movement and CPU cycles for processing. The top MAM systems of the future will be able to work out the most efficient way for a piece of material to be processed. Depending on the business priority (speed or quality or cost), MAM systems, which will know delivery requirements and timings, and will either fire up an instance of the appropriate processing application, or hire the SaaS for the duration of each “job”. As soon as the resource is no longer needed, it will be killed off. Costs will shift further towards Hire by the Minute/Gigabyte, using the lowest cost service that matches the business requirement.

SR: Shifting to UHD is just part of a long continuum of format evolution. As a service provider, our job is to focus on the outcomes that our customers want and expect. Our role as a service provider is crucial within this changing market. We take on the investment in people and platforms to ensure that content looks its best wherever it needs to go. This way, our customers can focus on the content and their audience.

JB: MAM systems are (or should be) format agnostic.

HDR, 4K, 8K etc. should make little difference to the functioning of a MAM system, other than having to manage larger amounts of storage. Tools used by MAM to process the video do have to work harder with increased resolutions and bitrates, but these are usually external to the MAM itself. The biggest challenge for vendors and developers is understanding what users want to do with the MAM, and realising that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution. It appears that few MAM vendors have any idea about real-world broadcast workflows.

PICTURED ABOVE: Jeremy Bancroft

JW: I don’t see challenges so much, certainly not technical ones – the technical barriers are a lot lower than they were 10 years ago. That said, I hope the supply side maintains investment in R&D mapped to business needs and avoids gimmicks. The mid-term requirement will be for greater integration of systems and platforms, fortunately that is

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easier in the Cloud. For operators the most significant operational and business benefits come from integrated systems, exchanging data, business information and instructions; and ideally minimising media file movement or the need for humans to fill the integration gaps.

HOW MUCH WILL MAM PROVISION BECOME A SAAS RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SUPPLIER AND USER, CAPEX TO OPEX, GIVEN THE INCREASING AGILITY NOW REQUIRED OF SYSTEMS TO ADAPT TO USERS’ FAST-EVOLVING BUSINESS MODELS? RT: A SaaS offering is either a subscription service sitting in the Cloud or it’s a fully managed experience. What we’re seeing today are typically on-prem or hybrid deployments from MAM systems that include on-prem and the Cloud.

People are becoming more confident in not only the scalability of the Cloud, but the security of it – which continues to improve. And as it improves, costs will come down. That’s where people will start to migrate away from big Capex to more of an Opex model. It’s still not 100 per cent there yet for everybody, especially large companies who have massive media libraries sitting in their facilities.

JF-C: For some small-medium enterprises, moving to an Opex model minimises investment risk by funding growth through operational revenue. However, in our experience service providers or large media companies who adhere to a four-year business plan still prefer a Capex model where they can directly manage the ROI and help to increase the EBITDA. RF: The key benefit going forward of using SaaS is that you can change suppliers very quickly. This will encourage a competitive supplier environment, where users can play one provider off against another. Additionally, new functionality becomes easier to use, since you don’t have to go through an upgrade process on your owned equipment.

This needs to be tightly tied in with billing, where departments get clear visibility of the cost of processing each asset.

SR: That ship has sailed. Our customers want to pay for results rather than infrastructure and potential capacity.

The days of deploying capital, risk and time in a system that may or may not deliver are over. Pay as you go, pay as you grow and scale on demand is the only way forward. Our customers expect us to handle their assets, no matter the volume, so that they can focus on wowing their audiences and delivering amazing viewer experiences – that’s the game we’re in.

JB: The transition from software sales to SaaS models is a challenge for many larger vendors and broadcasters.

FEATURE Investors like predictable annuity revenues. Vendors that are reliant on one-off sales know that a transition will result in a drop in revenues until SaaS receipts grow. This affects investor confidence, and often management remuneration.

However, many vendors that have moved to SaaS are seeing recurrent revenues that allow them to better manage their budgets. Some broadcasters have been slow to adapt to a subscription model for ‘broadcast technology’, whereas their IT departments have been dealing with this scenario for many years.

JW: SaaS is the new reality for MAM providers. Operators expect MAM functions to be provided on an ‘as a service’ basis. The benefits of rapid prototyping, scaling and - significantly - the pro-rata cost model drive this.

Implementation of MAM should not be an extended leap of faith costing many hundreds of thousands and taking months of effort before benefits are realised. A platform should be running in a matter of hours and enable an incremental service migration. On an ongoing basis the platform needs to provide sufficient flexibility so that operators may configure their own workflows to meet the evolving consumer landscape.

HOW OFTEN ARE YOU FINDING CONTENT OWNERS ARE WILLING TO GO FULLY CLOUD WITH THEIR MAM? WE BELIEVE A LOT OF EUROPEAN COMPANIES ARE STILL EMPLOYING A HYBRID OF CLOUD AND ON-PREMISE. IS THIS WHAT YOU’RE EXPERIENCING? RT: We experience the same thing. When a media company has up to 50 years of content sitting on tape libraries, it not only requires a big professional services engagement to migrate all the content into the Cloud initially, but then once it’s sitting there, it’s the cost of storing and accessing it. As some of these dynamics start to change and some of those costs become flatter, it will accelerate. From an asset management perspective, a lot of people have hybrid environments. This gives them the ability to scale as they want. But I don’t see the really big companies putting massive amounts of content into the Cloud yet. It’s like they have another tier of storage that extends on-prem into the Cloud. We’re seeing a hybrid extension into the Cloud, and I think over time that it’ll tip.

JF-C: We see a future where metadata, proxies and business process management could exist in the Cloud, while high-resolution content is stored on premises – and possibly in the Cloud as well – in one or multiple locations.

To take proper advantage of Cloud processing, we’re transitioning to a microservices architecture, which gives flexibility to add new functionality, like AI video and audio analysis to allow existing archives to be swept for new

descriptive metadata, an ideal Cloud application.

RF: While many people would like to move 100 per cent into the Cloud immediately, the reality is that we have to sweat our expensive assets, and we tend to amortise them over a number of years. Hybrid systems allow base level processing to be cost-effective (on-prem machines working 24/7), with the option to burst into the Cloud. This lets us offer our businesses commercial options. We can do things quickly bursting wide into the Cloud at price X, or you can wait a few weeks then we can process them in our quiet times at price X/Y. As machines depreciate, fewer and fewer people are wanting to invest in capital heavy equipment requiring specialist support.

PICTURED ABOVE: Julian Wright

SR: A few years ago, Red Bee placed a big bet on the hybrid approach and developed Nucleus, our own multitenanted, hybrid Cloud media management platform, and it has paid off handsomely. Nucleus is the result of massive investments our own private Cloud facilities combined with adoption of the public Cloud. The smart thing about our platform is that we are able to leverage each environment to its strengths while managing workflow, metadata, orchestration, automation, visibility across the entire estate.

JB: The biggest concern for content owners is security of content. There have been several high-profile examples of premium content being leaked prior to broadcast. In most cases, this is due to malicious human intervention; either someone in the production chain making a copy, or a dedicated hacker breaching the digital security of the producer’s content store. Content owners want to feel that they control their content, and in our experience, they feel more comfortable keeping the content on-premise prior to distribution. The fact is that if someone is sufficiently determined, and has ample resources available, regardless of whether the content is stored on-premise or in the Cloud, it is potentially vulnerable.

JW: It is rare that a new client states at the outset that they are looking for a hybrid ground-Cloud solution, although in some cases this is the best technical solution which presents itself from the operational needs analysis. Most of our new projects are entirely Cloud based with hybrids limited to the transitionary arrangement to a ‘fully Cloud’ end-state. Increasingly, content supply chain functions are accessible via Cloud services, so it is more efficient to ingest to Cloud storage and work from there – ideally without moving the file too much. Consumer distribution is mostly Cloud based and therefore fulfilment/distribution may be affected by a bucket-to-bucket transfer or generation of secure bucket key. n

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FEATURE

CAN MAM VENDORS SUCCESSFULLY RE-INVENT THEIR SYSTEM?

By Craig Bury, partner and CTO, Three Media

‘The next generation MAM must be lightweight and able to easily integrate with any platform component.’

T

oday the media and broadcast industry is in a true state of flux. Long established service companies are struggling or in administration.

Every week there is a new acquisition or merger and the role and functions of systems are converging as they try to retain their market share. Additionally, content owners need to generate new revenue streams and require dramatically reduced costs to process and exploit their content. This sea change presents a challenge for all companies but especially for those vendors providing Media Asset Management (MAM) systems as they are being forced to adapt to retain their client base and competitiveness in the market.

The impact of the 2008 financial crash on spending cycles affected how media companies used traditional MAMs and their ability to shift the way they worked. The shift was often limited by either not having the relevant technology or simply lacking the necessary functionality

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and flexibility in other core systems. Traditionally, a MAM is still viewed as a core technical component of the media, broadcast production and distribution process. However, to address these new industry demands a MAM’s focus must now extend to offering a multi-functional system which spans from contractual data to finance to operations to technology and also support extended business and commercial user communities.

As an example, the next generation MAM must support configuration driven workflows, managed via a business process management function, in order to simplify implementing changes. Practically speaking, most traditional workflow code is embedded in the main product. However, a move towards metadata driven workflows is now required.

For flexibility, branching of workflows should be quick and simple, defined and controlled by business rules and thus requiring only token regression testing. This approach

FEATURE minimises or even eliminates the need to manually rewrite workflows or processes, dramatically reducing costs and speeding change. As importantly, it also moves the control to the business.

As the media industry adapts to the changing landscape, the demand to drive down processing costs and increase profits becomes paramount to remaining competitive. Additionally, the flexibility to onboard new workflows, platforms and clients within hours/days is critical not only to keep costs down but also to ensure that new revenue streams can be secured. The ability to respond quickly to changing customer requirements and shifting market demands is now a key requirement for any next generation MAM. This represents a significant and perhaps challenging change for the traditional MAM vendors, all of whom are moving towards increasingly automated processes but typically are still encumbered with heavyweight deployments where implementation and change is not easy (nor fast). For most MAM systems, any workflow typically incorporates numerous manual steps which are the ‘glue’ that holds it together and often acts as an interconnect to other workflows or processes. These systems tend to be highly customised, heavily technical and often riddled with extensive bespoke workflows with all or most logic buried in code. These broad limitations, coupled with limited flexibility and significant degrees of vendor ‘lock-in’ (and cost to change), form the fundamental issues which must be addressed in the development of the next generation of MAMs. The next generation MAM must be lightweight and able to easily integrate with any platform component with business rules and workflow logic sitting outside the integration logic. While today’s MAMs have come a long way in enabling media companies to locate, organise, distribute and archive content, a great deal more is achievable. Equally, advancing technology will unlock the full potential. The development of enhanced AI driven metadata processes is crucial for ‘labelling’ and cataloguing content for exploitation purposes.

Three Media has been working closely with media companies and a top-flight university to develop and advance methods of searching the content itself. This has led to employing AI and ML functionality in a highly automated fashion to assist with identification and validation of content and its metadata. However, there is some way to go before it adds real value to the business, but there is a level of confidence that is achievable and consequently the MAM must be able to support the complex data schemas and management of the ever larger data sets to support it.

And here lies possibly the greatest challenge for the MAM vendors. Many of the traditional MAM data schemas

are built on the foundations of a ‘video tape’ concept, essentially a physical media model, which limits the ability to introduce virtualised hierarchy layers and then to further extend to support multiple layers of metadata extracted from content, or supporting files, or scraped from industry websites. The extension is significant as changes will be required within the data schema from the ground up but must also be supported within the UI, all the time ensuring the system remains performant.

Professional services companies like Three Media play a pivotal role in assisting media companies with how a MAM can be used to drive the business and how it can be extended to deliver all these new capabilities, always striving to maximise content exploitation with reduced costs and improved timelines.

Functionally, Three Media believes a MAM must be able to analyse its workflows and processes to identify future resource issues and requirements, both technical and human. Iterative optimisation ensures that platforms are configured and operating at optimal levels, and associated costs are controlled and minimised. We believe this capability must quickly become a key feature for any MAM. From our experience of working with broadcasters and content owners on defining and implementing MAM systems, we have progressed the development of our own commercially available media management toolsets. This began with the XEN: range of media management tools, which was re-built from the ground up, evolving into a new product bringing all our capabilities into a common application. XEN:Pipeline was launched at IBC 2019 and is aimed squarely at addressing next generation MAM demands including ‘big data’ mining, analytics, ‘codeless’ workflows, extensive automation and integrated business process management.

Next generation MAMs and metadata management tools like XEN:Pipeline must rise to all these challenges to “stay in the game”. The next 12 months will be interesting to see who is successful and who is best positioned to adjust to the next set of demands the industry throws our way. n

PICTURED ABOVE: Craig Bury

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TVBEurope recently hosted a webinar asking media tech experts to examine the state of the market and consider how the viewing experience may change in years to come. Mark Layton reports.

T

he media technology market has seen a lot of mergers and acquisitions activity lately, both in terms of suppliers and end-users.

In a recent TVBEurope webinar, Ernst & Young’s media and entertainment lead, Martyn Whistler, Google’s head of broadcast and entertainment for the UK and Ireland, Justin Gupta, and UKTV’s chief technology and operations director, Sinead Greenaway, got together to discuss this activity, the current state of the market and to take a look at what the future holds.

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Whistler describes today’s market as being a little like the wild west: “Anyone who sits back and thinks we are in a state of maturity is in for something of a bit of a shock, I suspect. We’ve gone through so much transformation over the last few years. We’ve got new services launching from the behemoth heavyweights, we’ve got new players coming in and, at the same time, all these different business models are changing. We’re sort of at the frontier of what could actually happen, and I think that’s very exciting and a big opportunity.”

FEATURE He also expects to see more transactions, mergers and acquisitions taking place in the next two years as companies try to better position themselves in this changing landscape.

Gupta agrees with this forecast: “I think we’re going to see a lot of collaborations. I’m following very closely the new streaming platforms which are entering the market. For example, we have BritBox in the UK, Salto launching in France early next year. We already have Joyn in Germany, which launched earlier this year, and I read another similar joint venture between Polsat and Discovery is launching in Poland, so we now have four major European TV markets, with a cross-broadcaster overview service, which people can watch over the internet.

“I think the likes of Netflix and Amazon have really proven that there is a significant demand for on-demand content and now we no longer have the traditional constraints of linear distribution, you can have everything available for broadcast.”

However, Gupta cautions that as an increasing number of streaming services become available, each offering different content, consumers might not be willing to subscribe to so many different services to get everything they want.

Greenaway suggests that the market will pull through, despite this concern: “The famous line about ‘the more ways we have to watch TV, the more we watch it’ has held up. We have grown from three and a half hours to over four hours a day as consumers, and yes, the way we are choosing to watch telly is changing, but it’s actually a pretty phenomenal holding up of telly. We are consuming far more than we ever used to, ad revenues have held up while platform revenues have levelled out.”

Content, of course, is only half the story, as companies require the right technology to power these changes and the three experts suggest that some may be falling behind in this area.

“I think the problem we’ve got is our market is moving at very different paces,” says Greenaway. “So there’s a little bit of the market not being able to sell us the things that we want to buy and that’s the gap between niche broadcast products and the shift into more generic technology, which is really thanks to the Cloud and IP - and just oldfashioned procurement.”

Whistler also stresses the importance of companies having the right technology in place for their specific needs: “What’s good for one company may be very different to another, depending on what you are trying to achieve. I think we’ll see different relationships emerging with technology companies and vendors to define what is right, rather than simply off-the-shelf products.”

Gupta cautions that anyone who is not already investing in Cloud-based services does not have their “eye on the

ball,” explaining: “As consumer behaviour changes, we’re now getting to a position where a double-digit percentage of viewing is now happening over the internet.

“If we go back a few years it was just one or two per cent, just a bit of VoD, and now if you’ve got 20 per cent of your audience watching online, you need to completely rethink your business.”

The way people watch TV and the way that content is distributed has changed radically in just a handful of years and those changes are likely to continue. Considering the future of the marketplace, Whistler says: “Ten years ago, the iPlayer was a relatively new launch, we didn’t have the iPad, Netflix wasn’t such a big thing.

“A lot of content viewing is still a relatively passive exercise. You sit on your sofa and watch the TV, you turn on your iPad or phone on the bus, you’re not actively engaging with a lot of that content.

“I think that is going to remain, therefore a lot of the development is going to be around B2B applications and where it’s going to hit the consumer it’s going to be around tourism, gaming, even health and fitness, but probably not within media and entertainment as much as was suspected.”

Gupta predicts that the next innovation in TV will be the proliferation of screens. “Windows, tables, fridges, the cost of screen technology is rapidly falling, and I think everything will be able to be a screen.

“I would expect there to be a move to more interactive and companion content. Sports will drive some of this, so imagine a Formula 1 race from the perspective of a specific driver or specific stats that you’re interested in overlaid on the screen or on another device.

“But for me the big change is going to be consolidation and aggregation of content into bundles. I think on the bank statement of the future, TV will look the same as paid TV is today, a set of subscription bundles giving you access to content, with some consolidated TV devices so you can access them.”

Greenaway says: “TV is an emotional experience and we still want that connection. I think it will just be a continuing evolution of that sort of companionship, consolidation and connectedness.”

However, she adds: “I think two more cultural shifts still have to play out. I think as an industry we’re going to care more about how we do things. I think sustainability is already becoming higher on our agenda and as an industry we have got a lot of questions to ask ourselves about how we deliver things and what impact we are having on the environment.

“The other thing is our makeup. I hope in the next 10 years, the people leading our industry are representing our communities in a much better way and driving technology in a way that reflects that diverse audience makeup.” n

PICTURED ABOVE: Martyn Whistler (top), Sinead Greenaway, Justin Gupta

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ORDER FROM CHAOS: AI AND THE THREE ‘V’s OF DATA COLLECTION Lance Podell, senior vice president and GM at Iron Mountain Entertainment Services, breaks down the power of AI to make sense of data PICTURED ABOVE: Iron Mountain’s InSight interface

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olume, velocity and variety. These are three of the key data-related challenges facing media and entertainment (M&E) businesses in today’s world.

It’s no secret that modern media organisations are creating more media assets, at a quicker pace and in a wider variety of formats, than ever before. They often find themselves with large content libraries spread across a complicated ecosystem of diverse systems and data types, making it difficult and time-consuming to serve the right content to the right audience at the right time.

What’s more, the volume and variety involved negatively impacts their ability to generate business insights from this data, while many businesses lack the internal skills, systems and resources to realise the

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potential of their media assets. All of these factors act as a barrier to future growth. The three Vs have never been as true and tangible as they are today. M&E businesses are struggling to manage such gigantic (and growing) data archives, not to mention making them available and searchable when needed.

But what if this wasn’t the case? What if organisations could easily identify media assets such as video and film and the relevant information contained within them?

What if they could remove the inefficiencies associated with big data and get the most out of their media assets?

AI HAS THE ANSWER This is where artificial intelligence (AI) comes into play.

AI-driven workflows are currently growing in popularity

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‘A common mistake is for businesses to adopt AI without understanding the problem they are trying to solve.’ within the M&E industry, driven by the ability of AI and machine learning to add a lot of value around how we make sense of data.

As the amount of rich media content continues to explode, applying metadata to describe and categorise this content is vital, particularly when it comes to providing better search visibility. The quality of the metadata directly affects an organisation’s ability to find content efficiently and accurately – and therefore optimise content for specific audiences. With AI (especially machine learning), businesses can run algorithms to understand all the data they have, tagging and labelling relevant metadata. As a result, uncountable hours of footage, or gigantic piles of images or documents, suddenly become searchable and readily available.

This is where Iron Mountain InSight comes into play.

Built on the Google Cloud platform, the solution gives M&E businesses the power to unlock the potential of their media assets. Iron Mountain InSight’s machine learning technology rapidly analyses vast amounts of unstructured content and enriches it with meaningful metadata, shining a light on ‘dark data’ and classifying different types of content stored on multiple repositories on-premise or in the Cloud. This helps humans become much more efficient, given that they can sift through what has already been found, rather than having to analyse all the data within the organisation. Producers can analyse footage of a specific actor in a particular place, instead of all the scenes available within the archive. Or, sport broadcasters can identify specific players and associated brand logo placement within minutes to support contract negotiations.

Using metadata in this way provides an opportunity for brands to drive future value. For example, a high-profile football player like Cristiano Ronaldo might be about to celebrate his 200th career goal in European tournaments.

As this would be an impressive and unique milestone, a brand with a history in football sponsorship such as Heineken might like to sponsor it. AI would enable Heineken to quickly identify all the content that includes the player scoring a goal with its logo in the background, helping it get extra value from its existing content by using the milestone as a springboard to drive brand awareness.

Not only does this enable businesses to drastically increase their speed and effectiveness in accessing and assessing their media inventory, the use of AI can also

generate actionable insights to help organisations monetise their content libraries. And the even better news for businesses is that AI technology is continuing to become more affordable. The combination of powerful algorithms with cost-efficient computing power coming from the Cloud creates a very favorable scenario for businesses to exploit and reap the benefits.

RECIPE FOR FUTURE SUCCESS With all this in mind, M&E organisations simply can’t afford not to embrace AI over the coming years. In a few years’ time it will be everywhere, as the technology continues to become cheaper and more powerful. The only way to keep pace with the rate of data and content creation will be to adopt AI/ML solutions that can help manage all of this information.

But, there are some things that businesses have to keep in mind to ensure success. For example, a common mistake is for businesses to adopt AI without understanding the problem they are trying to solve. The use of AI/ ML should always start with the business goal that needs to be met, which will help shape how the technology is deployed. This might involve in-depth speech-to-text analysis in order to capture the moments where a certain actor speaks within content, or landmark detection to find/produce the best stills within particular parameters.

The more specific, the better.

The next step is integration. Businesses have to choose AI and machine learning platforms that can integrate with the solutions already in place. AI should add value to existing workflows, either by enhancing current processes or by allowing teams to be more productive/efficient. As a result, AI will be used in a way that provides tangible business benefits and enables future growth.

Ultimately, it has never been more important for M&E businesses to maximise the potential value of their media assets. Although it’s clear that they have some serious data-related challenges on their hands, AI has the ability to provide answers to the toughest questions.

From enabling them to better service their customers, to driving operational efficiencies and opening up new revenue opportunities, AI-driven tools can give M&E organisations the power to transform the way they manage data and monetise their content libraries for many years to come. n

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AN AVID COLLABORATION George Jarrett talks to Avid’s Jeff Rosica about working with Disney and Microsoft on new workflows, and the many issues and challenges of the moment

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eff Rosica joined Avid in January 2013, to head up its commercial activities. In 2017 he became president and COO, and then in February 2018 became president and CEO following the departure of Louis Hernandez Jr. “Initially it was a great opportunity to join Avid’s next phase of evolution and transformation. Becoming CEO has been an interesting ride, and it has been fun helping to point the company in some new directions,” says Rosica. “We want to be that platform provider for enterprise customers, to help them solve their most challenging issues.”

In fact, Avid has a million users and tens of thousands of enterprises for which it manages their technology estates. It is also lucky to have invented Pro Tools and Media Composer three decades ago because currently they are Avid’s fastest-growing products. “Our role is to build platforms and tools that power creativity in the media industry,” explains Rosica. “We have a pretty strong set of platform services, tools and applications in our enterprise strategy.”

LIVE PRODUCTION CONTINUITY Going into IBC, Avid had been working with Microsoft and Azure on putting full creative editing into the Cloud. At the show the purpose of this was made clear – it had won a huge contract to enable Walt Disney Studios and Microsoft to create scene-toscreen content workflows, with its solutions running natively on Azure. So was edit on demand the key new factor?

“People are focused on a number of editorial wrinkles, but obviously what they are looking for is an editing solution in the Cloud,” says Rosica. “They are also looking for the media and workflow management, making it a complete editorial solution in

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the Cloud. Being able to spin up and spin down and giving people access wherever they are is a very popular workflow.”

This deal also encompasses many other workflows that merit ‘Holy Grail’ status. It uses the whole nine yards of Avid technology – Media Central, Cloud UX, NEXIS and Media Composer – and must be the most significant deal it has done in such a huge futuristic concept. How does it elevate the company in the market?

“It definitely is transformative, but we are working in this way with other companies. This one is unique because Disney really worked with us to compile and bring into production a number of vital workflows. Obviously it was about editorial on demand so that Disney’s people can work in a much more efficient way in putting content together,” explains Rosica.

“The other areas they looked at saw us work on what I call live back-up or live production continuity. This solution works as a production is happening,” he adds. “All the content and metadata is being backed up and it can move because of the way the Cloud works. You can ensure a pretty strong continuity day-to-day, even as people move from London to Atlanta to LA. We did a lot of workflow management in that area, and we also created some archive workflows.”

This is archiving all content during production, from the RAW camera capture all the way through the production process.

“This is a lot of archival content, and there were several workflows that Disney worked on that were part of the initial phase of the project,” says Rosica. “Streaming is used from the standpoint of working with the content. It will be a streamed image because the actual content is in a remote location. This is true if you are editing or browsing.”

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AN ML ALGORITHM Avid has nothing to do with the audience analytics and farming data for advertisers, but it is right there with the metadata coming into any production.

“It is very helpful for people creating content, whether advertising or content in general. When you look at personalisation or being able to help any kind of digital distribution of digital display, having full metadata is important, so what we have been working on is to allow that data and metadata to be visible, and to be used more downstream,” says Rosica.

“Another thing that was important was machine learning. We have our own phonetic engine (basically an ML algorithm) that gives a lot of power to people wishing to search and browse content,” he adds. “When people are working in a unified and collaborative way they are able to see a lot more content. There is a lot of visibility because you don’t have those disparate systems sitting in buildings around the world any more. You have everybody sharing the same content.”

Avid also has an API on its platform and at IBC we saw how it worked with third-party AI via the Media Central Platform.

“This is the ability to launch services in Microsoft Azure. You can use the media services within Azure to do picture recognition, and all those things the industry talks about are possible. People can do their searches and get the help to automate production.”

“A lot of AI is powered by the Cloud, and when people start putting workflows in the Cloud it opens up a lot of possibilities around AI and ML, and helps them create more efficient production pipelines,” Rosica adds. “There is a lot going on there, and it is going to transform the industry. We are just on the doorstep of innovation in this area. Cloud does change things because the whole ecosystem shifts. People don’t disappear. Their roles change drastically.”

CLOUD COMPLETELY CHANGES THE GAME The economics of the business and the enabling

“5G is a game changer for people like us who build tools for end customers.”

“The Avid brand is amazingly strong, like I had never seen in this industry before.”

technologies may change some core skill sets, but hopefully not take too many people out of work.

“You could argue that smaller productions are going to have a better opportunity, especially if you look at the democratisation of distribution that is happening,” says Rosica. “It is not just a few networks in a given country that control the output. Democratisation in the Cloud also gives access to high-end tools at a much lower price, so media people do not have to spend millions of dollars per production. They could just produce it in the Cloud – editorial, media management, storage, archive and spin up and down. It really optimises the cost base for productions.”

Now people are leveraging common infrastructures, we see software vendors talking about adjunct markets, and using AI to create automated highlights that would work in any video-using industry. Companies from other industries often figure that their software has more to offer than the media specialists. So, what course does the good ship Avid set in this era of technology acceleration?

“A large part of our business is the traditional, everything from Hollywood to broadcast and music creation, but an element of our business has always been in other areas. Education is important and our focus has been training the next generation of journalists, editors and music creators,” explains Rosica.

“But using video goes much wider with governments and corporations; it is a ubiquitous tool and a lot more accessible now everywhere.

“The power of what we can do now is getting so significant, and we can do it at much lower costs.

Corporations and other industries can get access to the same tools that Hollywood and the big broadcasters use, and on demand in the Cloud completely changes the game of how automotive education, human resources et al can get access to very professional tools and create high-quality video content.”

A TALENT ARMS RACE On the issue of skill sets, Rosica points to the history

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of freelancing. He says: “Today it is very much a gig economy, combine that with the fact that there is a high demand for content creation, and not just in our industry. It is exploding, and there is going to be a talent arms race, and it is not just going to be in front of the camera, which we have seen happening for a number of years with Netflix and the OTT services.

“Behind the camera there is going to be a talent arms race, and we are at the early stages of it,” he adds.

“It is going to create the interesting possibility for a lot of people to enter content creation roles that maybe were not there before. That is going to trigger a lot more demand for training, and it is going to create more work for us as manufacturers, to make the tools more accessible.”

Access to learning the craft is key but Rosica thinks there will always be a bit of a talent arms race that impacts employers, but they do already have the comfort that in a tight market technology helps to make work more efficient, and removes the mundane jobs from creative people. “It also allows a bit of release because that talent can be spread a little bit more across the whole of the content, or more programmes, and even more companies.”

When it comes from competition from new entrants Rosica believes there has always been an ebb and flow of vendors around big transitions such as file-based working, HD and UHD TV. “Clearly, with Cloud, this is one of the bigger influxes of new entrants. When we were going through filebased or say multi-channel audio we were dealing with one or two transitions at a time, but now we are dealing with dozens of things at the same time,” he says. “The huge technology transition of Cloud and AI has meant we are seeing a lot of interesting new entrants. I am not sure we have seen the next Sony or Avid, but we are going to see a lot more technology players. We are probably at an all-time high.”

VIRTUALISED ENVIRONMENTS Returning to Disney and its use of Media Composer, and training the eye on incidences from Azure, the user has a virtualised desktop.

“There is a little bit of a performance difference from where these tools are seen on PC or Mac, compared to being hosted in the Cloud,” says Rosica. “But a lot of the feedback from users is that the difference is minor, and then there is the value of being able to log in anywhere and to work with the Cloud.

“HBO has a private Cloud and it virtualises all of its several hundred media composers. This virtualised environment is on the big enterprise customer side, and today we are also in the early adopters, and pilots in the Cloud,” he adds. “With users in the virtualised environments the software is in the Cloud, but there are other models we are doing, with companies like SVG in Sweden. We have 10,000 people using this other thing we call Media Composer Cloud Remote. And in that case the software is on the device. The content, kept in the Cloud, streams into the device.”

That is a different experience for the editor, and typical of serving up the technology in different ways.

How does Rosica see 5G and 8K as impacting trends?

“The sooner 8K can become manageable and costeffective for people they are going to like the idea of

We are still a little way off from 8K, but we do a lot of 8K work in Japan and Korea.”

shooting with it to open up capabilities, as they did with 4K. As 4K grows, 8K will grow behind it, but it will take time because we are still cranking up 4K across the industry,” says Rosica.

“5G is going to be transformative – another gear shift change on content consumption. It cannot come fast enough, and it is going to be a game changer for remote and on the go working – people like journalists, editors and creative people of any kind. I wish 5G was in every corner of the globe today because it would open up a huge opportunity for our whole industry,” he adds.

Presently Avid is influenced standards-wise by IMF deliverables, ACES colour space, and Atmos and immersive audio standards collectively. Rosica wants standards to always be there for basic formats such as HD, UHD and 4K. “We cannot lose sight of these, but at the same time people are producing for digital or social, or mobile and boy there are no standards there. Every little app that comes along has its own view of how they are going to do it,” he says. “There are going to be a lot of marketdriven ‘standards’ or ‘demands’ and a lot of working practices driven either by users or manufacturers.” n

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BLENDING IN

Dan Meier speaks to ACCESS:VFX about their work diversifying the visual effects industry

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report by the UK Screen Alliance, Animation UK and ACCESS:VFX in September revealed that the visual effects industry is 19 per cent BAME and 33 per cent women; a greater level of representation than the wider film and TV industry, but for ACCESS:VFX, still not enough.

ACCESS:VFX was established in 2017 as a consortium of over 50 studios, education partners and industry bodies aiming to increase diversity and inclusivity in the visual effects industry. “We formed ACCESS:VFX to get stuff done,” says the organisation’s director and founder Simon Devereux, group head of learning and development at The Mill. “And we do that through training initiatives, through eMentoring; we connect people to real jobs, real opportunity; we demystify all the routes in, you don’t have to go to university, don’t have to have a specific VFX degree to work in industry.”

For ACCESS:VFX non-executive director Amy Smith, head of talent at Framestore, the industry’s lack of diversity stems from… well, from STEM. “We have the problem of girls as young as the age of seven deciding that science and maths aren’t for them,” she says. “I think there are lots of problems in society that encourage that; you walk into any toy shop and there’s the pink section and the blue section and all the science and technology toys are in the blue section, and so it goes on.

“Additionally I think there is unfortunately a lot of bad stereotyping out there; you only have to look at things like The Big Bang Theory where they are white, male and geeky, and if someone perceives that’s how an industry is then that’s

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off-putting if they don’t look like that,” she adds, noting the extent to which nepotistic hiring went on in the early days of the industry.

Daniel Waterman, company director of Carse & Waterman, is ACCESS:VFX’s regional lead, working towards opening up the industry outside of the capital. “I think there are a lot of people that are not living in London and feel like they’re being forgotten and left out,” he says. “We’re saying this industry isn’t just for people in London; there are companies all over the UK that are doing this, it’s a really fun industry and whoever you are, wherever you’re from, you’re welcome.”

The group has seen success with programmes ranging from an Animation Summer School, where kids as young as six could try the animation software Blender, to apprenticeship programmes and eMentoring conducted online via a Slack channel. “So a kid from Stoke-on-Trent can sign up who wants to be an animator and their mentor could be the creative director at Framestore in LA or Carbon in Chicago,” says Devereux.

“There should be ACCESS:VFX for every industry,” continues Waterman. “What we really hope is that it’s not just about the VFX industry, it’s actually about the job market entirely as people start taking responsibility for the way their industry is seen and the way they outreach. And hopefully people will look at us as an example.”

“I would like to challenge the German visual effects companies to all come together and create our German arm, that would be awesome,” adds Smith. “Come on Germany, join ACCESS:VFX!” n

“You walk into any toy shop and there’s the pink section and the blue section and all the science and technology toys are in the blue section.”

AMY SMITH

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MAM AND COMPLIANCE NOT SO STRANGE BEDFELLOWS Fully integrated workflows, with media asset management and logging systems working together, will only enhance the production process and viewing experience, says Mediaproxy chief executive Erik Otto

T PICTURED ABOVE: Erik Otto

he areas of media asset management (MAM) and compliance logging and monitoring may at first glance appear very distinct and unconnected in the overall broadcast and OTT workflow structure. But both are now integral to the smooth running of modern production and distribution chains, particularly with the transition to file-based operations.

Despite their specialised areas of application, MAM and compliance are similar in fundamental ways by relying on information from and about the programme material to carry out their respective tasks. When MAM systems as we know them today were first being discussed, much was made of their use of metadata. This was seen as the vital element in managing the increasing amount of material that needed not only to be stored in archives but moved around broadcast centres to an equally growing number of platforms and devices.

Simply identifying the programme, run time and those involved in its production was not enough anymore. Metadata is crucial in detailing the file format of a specific version and which outlet it is intended for.

Many MAM system developers give users the option to design their own metadata, hierarchies and structures for time and other details but even a more general template goes a long way in tracking down particular titles or versions.

This crosses over into compliance monitoring where

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it is necessary to identify and locate a file that might have a QC (quality control) problem. Searching by predefined metadata parameters is now an established method to find material. Among the elements that can be used to track down specific files are: As Run Logs, merged documents or files that describe what was transmitted on a channel from a specific system during a designated time period; electronic programme guides (EPGs), a display of when something is being broadcast; and closed captions, a feature that has moved beyond being an option for hearing-impaired viewers and is now a fully integrated part of a programme.

MAM plays a part in all areas of programme making and broadcasting, from acquisition, news reports, live sports production, drama and documentaries through post production up to the distribution process. Asset management systems have become ubiquitous tools in this chain, covering all the essential parts of the process before transmission. They also allow for media orchestration and play a vital role in identifying what programmes are destined for which platforms. In addition, MAM is a vital component in archiving.

Similarly, logging and monitoring is no longer confined to the playout centre. Compliance technology can be implemented anywhere along the distribution chain, something that is necessary due to not only the large number of outlets but the utilisation of edge points for relaying programme feeds. Many of the different

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platforms and broadcast stations playing out the material need to insert commercials, which are either targeted at the individual viewer on a mobile device or local to a particular region.

Despite these parallels, logging and monitoring systems continue to be regarded as separate from MAM systems because they sit on the other side of the operational fence. But both cover a wide gamut of functions and applications on the various individual platforms, so it makes sense for the two to communicate with each other. This is already beginning to happen, although it is still in the early days of development.

Mediaproxy has been adding this type of functionality to its LogServer software-based IP logger, monitor and analysis system for some time. In 2011 version 7.8 introduced a new integrated transcoding engine that supported the export of data to multiple formats for mobile devices, NLE (non-linear editing) workstations and MAM systems. This made it possible to schedule exports to provide automatic publishing to network shares, Web or FTP servers.

Those capabilities have since been built on to allow publication to social media as well as MAM systems.

There is also the ability to find content quickly, with the system operating as a one-stop shop to review and publish content. A major part of this is the ability to integrate directly with MAMs, with support for the MRSS (media really simple syndication) multimedia (audio, video, image) file format. This allows users to seamlessly extract media from live content or our log archive and be able to turn clips around quickly. Going in the other direction, being able to publish from the logger side back to the MAM system makes for fast publication of media assets to social media, websites and OTT apps.

An emerging trend is the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to facilitate faster and more efficient searching and reading of metadata. This has great potential for both MAM and compliance logging. If both types of technology can be taught what to look for within set parameters, then both the asset management and monitoring processes can be enhanced and speeded up considerably. The opportunities for AI and ML in the broadcast field are unfolding rapidly; these range from metadata management to the automation of production, post production and distribution workflows to adding business and competitive intelligence. Both AI and ML also use strategies and technologies for the analysis of data relating to commercial activities.

With many aspects of broadcast production and distribution coming closer together, it makes sense that MAM and compliance, two of the most important background operations in TV and OTT, should also become more aligned. Being able to connect the two sides more effectively and efficiently in the future will certainly produce better, streamlined workflows, benefiting broadcasters and viewers alike. n

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UNCANNY TABBY Dan Meier asks Rob Redman why the Cats trailer left some viewers feline uncomfurtable

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hen the trailer for the movie version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats arrived earlier this year, something about it stuck in people’s throats. Maybe it was the sight of a furry James Corden spitting food at a humanoid cat. Maybe it was the sight of James Corden in general. Or maybe it was the visual effects, a confusing digital cat-onesie situation that had viewers clawing their eyes out.

“The odd mix of species were blended so well that it became a little uncomfortable,” visual effects specialist and 3D World editor Rob Redman says of the trailer reaction. “When you see it on stage you forgive the physical outfits but digitally they are so believable that it tricks the mind out of being able to forgive the inaccuracies. It also, for some people, looked a bit too like it was sexualising animals. That became a bit of a subplot to the social media backlash and, whether rightly or wrongly, had an impact on the project.”

So catastrophic was this backlash that post production has been extended and the film is expected to miss a number of high-profile awards deadlines, potentially robbing Taylor Swift of her trophy, Kanye West style.

How likely is it that these effects can be licked into shape? “It’s probably a very big task and doubtful too much can be done,” acknowledges Redman.

“Remember these are mixed CG and footage. It’s quite possible that it wouldn’t be cost-effective to reshoot so much and talent will be working on other shows. CG could be used to replace elements but that might defeat the object and would also rely on old footage for reference, rather than going in to recapture performances to update the shots.

“The problems arise from making sure the talent is recognisable, able to give their performance and that different vendors working on a show can produce consistent results,” he continues. “Cats was a mix of digital doubles, physical makeup and digital makeup, so the talent would

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have been scanned or cast for the 3D teams to create the digital assets.

The actors were performance captured on set using motion tracking techniques, then the animators and compositors put it all together to create a seamless whole, which can go on to post production.”

Even the cream of VFX talent would struggle to rescue such a conceptually misguided creative decision, the kind one hopes would be caught in focus groups or at some point before a trailer is released to the public. “It’s hard to know what changes are made in the early stages of a production; a few probably make it to focus groups but clearly not all viewers react the same way to on screen images,” Redman explains.

“As shows can take years to complete, a pre production design might be approved but three years later trends have changed, the movie going public has a different relationship with the content, or technology has made a leap. So many factors are involved in the final experience it can be very hard to predict what will succeed. This explains why so many tropes, designs and general visual languages are used.”

Cats, however, are not the only member of the animal kingdom to receive such a paw response from the public. Sonic the Hedgehog had to be redesigned ahead of the film’s release on Valentine’s Day 2020 for the benefit of disgruntled fans and people on really weird dates. “Well this is easier,” notes Redman. “Sonic is a full CG character, with a huge history of very consistent design. I can understand why the design was altered or adapted for a modern audience but the flip side of this is that gamers can often be fanatical about details and even the casual gamers will have strong connections to such a star of the games world. Recreating a CG character is cheaper and easier than dealing with a whole cast of semi digital actors.”

Cats is unleashed upon UK cinemas on 20th December. Maybe. n

Intelligence for the media & entertainment industry

SUPPLEMENT

TVBEUROPE SEPTEMBER 2019 | 43

SUPPLEMENT

SHAPING THE MEDIA FACTORY TECHNOLOGY

By Emilio L. Zapata, CEO of Tedial

“T

he first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency” (Bill Gates).

When the media industry moved from videotape-based workflows to file-based workflows, many of the processes did not change; however the storage media did. We moved from duplicating and shipping videotapes to duplicating and shipping files or data tapes/ hard drives. This was during the times of linear broadcasting at the beginning of the millennium.

It is in this context that the first MAMs emerged, replacing videotape databases. The components of an asset were very basic: an HR file with all media tracks embedded, a proxy, a storyboard and a thumbnail.

The metadata was organised into three sections: descriptive, timeline annotation and technical. Workflows were also very basic, including the partial restoration of segments. Subsequently, files were added with additional audio and subtitle tracks.

A recent report by IABM (Special Report IBC 2019) and a whitepaper

by MovieLabs (The Evolution of Media Creation) show us quite clearly the technological need for the production and distribution of content in the coming years. IABM highlights multi-platform content delivery as a priority, followed by 4K/UHD. In addition, efficiency, interoperability and agility to make changes remains the most important driver of product purchase.

MovieLabs presents the technological needs of script-based productions organised in 10 principles that share three fundamental ideas: not moving the media files (“Applications come to the media” and “Propagation and distribution of assets is a publish function”); media workflows are non-destructive and dynamically created; archive the media in the Cloud where “individual media elements are referenced,

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accessed, tracked and interrelated using a universal linking system.” All in a highly secure environment where “every individual on a project is identified and verified”.

THE MEDIA FACTORY The current scenario is completely different from the beginning of the millennium. One of the main challenges for media companies is the task of versioning and distribution of content. A single episode or feature title can be transformed into multiple content versions (airline edits, special editions, languages…). These versions, which share common assets sourced from high-quality masters, are ultimately made available to multiple distribution channels (linear and OTT) across multiple territories. Further, managing the media elements used throughout productions has become an enormous burden, a feature can include hundreds of thousands of discrete media elements.

Competition, content and platforms are growing, requiring media companies to become media factories that produce, manage and distribute greater volumes of content as quickly as possible. In many organisations, the goals of the business are not yet perfectly aligned with the goals of IT. And as long as the business and IT are not on the same page, there’s no moving forward for either.

Media companies need technology providers to develop a new generation of workflow BPM applications (MAM) that are truly flexible, scalable and more business-centric than data-centric. A human-centric workflow diagram looks extremely simple and takes the work that systems carry out in the background for granted. It might look useless to a programmer, but it makes immediate sense to a business leader. The best design approach for these applications is to consider the low/nocode development paradigm.

SUPPLEMENT FEATURE

LOW/NO-CODE DEVELOPMENT PLATFORMS The easier it is for you to build and deploy working workflows to complete a specific task or solve a particular problem on a team or throughout your organisation, the more efficiently you’ll be able to address any sudden requirements. In an effort to make the workflow creation process easier on the IT department and, at the same time, more accessible to everyday business users, businesses have begun to turn to low-code no-code development platforms. In 2014 Forrester coined the term ‘low-code’ to signify the reduced manual coding that these platforms promoted.

Low/no-code development creates workflow applications with less manual effort by offering blocks of pre-built code to build programs with a drag-and-drop, or easy-to-follow, visual interface. Low/no-code development platforms let teams develop applications faster and with fewer errors than traditional coding.

The term “low-code, no-code application development” didn’t exist until a few years ago but the concept isn’t a new one. There’s long been a notion in IT companies of the “power user” or “citizen developer,” meaning business users who see an opportunity to optimise a process and take it upon themselves to create their own apps.

The Gartner IT glossary defines a citizen developer as a user who creates new business applications for consumption by others using development and runtime environments sanctioned by corporate IT. Citizen developers are end users whose full-time job is not development but they’re able to contribute in some way by building applications for their own use, for the team, or for their department.

Unlike a professional developer, a citizen developer may not have formal training in programming, and developing may not be part of their actual job description. They think of creative ideas to improve areas of business such as customer internal operations and product

development. And they know the business better than anyone, because they are the business.

In 2016 Tedial strengthened its position as a pioneer in the media technology marketplace with the launch of Evolution Version Factory, the world’s first true media factory workflow. Version Factory is a single efficient and cost-effective workflow that supports millions of file inputto-output configurations and can be managed from a single operator screen. It interfaces with content management, rights management, traffic and work order systems for automated operations.

Version Factory has pioneered the media technology marketplace. It was designed based on the low/no-code development paradigm, only two years after Forrester coined the term “low-code”. Version Factory was recognised for its innovation by being presented the IABM Game Changer Award 2016 in the System Automation and Control category.

Interoperability is essential for media companies to develop their media factory, and Version Factory gives them flexibility, scalability and a RESTful API to integrate with existing infrastructure.

Technology is changing at an incredible speed and MAM technology has to evolve with it to remain the best option for media supply chain management. The new generation of MAMs have to meet several customers’ requirements including: the agility to facilitate changes implemented by business experts while simultaneously respecting the changes made by IT experts; identify and efficiently eliminate the many wasted hours that media companies face; and they must facilitate the growth of revenue, which includes saving money in operations.

Tedial is fully aligned with the IABM report, which emphasises that MAM “tech providers need to collaborate and become an integral component of media companies. If they expect media companies to simply replace older technologies with new versions, they are exposing/ risking their future.” n

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SUPPLEMENT

PROVIDING BT SPORT WITH A SOPHISTICATED PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT

By Jerome Wauthoz, VP Products, Tedial

T

imeline Television, an industry-leading provider of broadcast technology and services, widely recognised for reliability and trusted by UK networks, required an asset management solution for BT Sport’s major sports production installation. The system needed to handle and orchestrate all media processing and archiving workflows at its Stratford and BT Tower facilities in London.

The BT Sport facility, which Timeline Television manages, includes three large TV studios, seven sports production galleries, a master control room, 24 edit suites, a dubbing theatre and an audience holding area. The scope of the project included 32–50 live ingests; 60+ delivery destinations; 8.5PBs of legacy archived content; 325 users; 354 workflows; and more than 10,000 events.

The MAM had to be capable of maintaining and protecting the security of its complete archive with a fully integrated and resilient system – BT Sport previously relied upon multiple systems which led to complex integration and limited scalability. Requirements included a multi-site archive management system with content accessible by production users, irrespective of location, to enable greater workflow control and allow them to independently locate and restore content to enhance the creative output of the various BT Sport channels.

It also needed to automate delivery to the playout workflow and integrate with Provys traffic and Aspera File delivery systems. Workflows had to synchronise metadata bi-directionally between the MAM and traffic system, an EVS IPDirector Live Production system, and AVID Interplay and Adobe

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Premiere Pro on the post production side to significantly reduce processing time and manual data entry - virtually eradicating metadata errors. It also had to be format agnostic capable of working with 360 VR and HDR content.

The MAM had to operate on an enterprise level and include sophisticated sportscentric functionalities including live logging and clipping, integration with BT live and post production environment systems, and integration with the archive tape libraries spread across multiple geographical disparate locations for resilience and security.

The challenge was to re-orchestrate all the workflows globally and have one central MAM for the whole ecosystem, connecting all production and post production entities within BT Sport so the system could easily scale up in the future.

The answer was Tedial’s Evolution MAM platform, an enterprise system capable of servicing sports production customers, efficiently and economically.

Tedial’s MAM system met all the requirements, including migration of content and metadata of the entire BT Sport legacy library to the new MAM, sustaining a migration speed of 35-50 TB per day.

Creating a future-proof, format agnostic system that integrates with existing technology in a facility that operates 24/7 producing tier one sport content was challenging and required close collaboration. Timeline had to ensure that it could leverage all of Tedial’s technical capability, create workflows that augmented current production values and anticipate workflows that didn’t yet

SUPPLEMENT exist, and be able to seamlessly add new formats when required. Timeline Television’s experience as a systems integrator allowed it to create bespoke scripts and profiles to ensure the whole implementation was as smooth as possible.

The system had to be designed to address all major aspects of a production facility from ingest to archive. Content import and multiple format management from HD to UHD, from SDR to HDR and 360 VR content was key. As part of the project, Tedial enabled BT Sport operators to ingest HDR assets with SDR proxy vision so that the production teams can easily view content and drive the HDR asset to the correct workflow. Tedial also built a 360 player that allows a producer to drag a 360-degree clip from the archive into the player where it immediately clicks into 360 mode so the operator can navigate within that space. This functionality helps to drive sophisticated 360 workflows, which would otherwise only be possible by dragging files in and out of specialist players.

The system includes faster access to the tape robot and increased storage capacity, controlled by Tedial’s Evolution aSTORM multi-site content management solution. It also provides BT Sport with more bandwidth to access content to enable a fast, collaborative production environment from a single HTML5 Tedial Evolution interface allowing any user to connect from anywhere,

anytime, resulting in increased throughput.

The sophisticated system is also future-proof in terms of scalability and advanced technologies including AI. The project delivered an extremely smooth transition providing BT Sport with innovative production workflows and creative enhancements - the major business drivers for the investment. The many benefits for BT Sport include: significantly enhanced remote production workflows; improved agility in terms of diversity of people geographically; and quicker responses and real-time access to its entire library from within its OB trucks. This means if a story is breaking before a match for example, operators can immediately respond editorially. The system adds real value to production, is easy to search, restore, archive and deliver. BT Sport is a cutting-edge company with very high standards and requirements that Tedial was able to meet by providing a scalable solution at the forefront of technology.

The future-proof system will allow BT Sport to expand with new workflows and move to new formats including 360 VR, 4K or 8K or HDR content seamlessly.

The production teams transitioned seamlessly from using a PAM-only solution to a PAM/MAM overnight. The benefits were apparent from the start and Timeline will continue to develop the system with Tedial to suit all future BT Sport requirements. n

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VERSION

FACTORY

A SINGLE WORKFLOW TO SUPPORT A MULTITUDE OF DELIVERIES TO MULTIPLE PLATFORMS AVOID CONTENT DUPLICATION EFFECTIVELY REDUCE YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE AND OPERATING COSTS AUTOMATED TRANSFORMATIONS AND DELIVERY FOR EACH SPECIFIC PLATFORM

PROVEN INCREASED TEAM EFFICIENCY GROW YOUR MEDIA DISTRIBUTION OUTLETS AND YOUR REVENUE SUPPORT OF A WIDE RANGE OF FORMATS AND NON-LINEAR PLATFORMS

E U R O P E · U S A · M E A · L ATA M · A PA C

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SUPPLEMENT

HOW DOES METADATA ENABLE CONTENT MONETISATION?

By Esther Mesas, CSO/CMO, Tedial

T

here is a phrase that’s become commonplace in the broadcast MAM environment: “The useless existence of orphan content.”

Although this sounds like a philosophical reflection, the reality is that securely storing content in a premium and costly infrastructure alongside thousands of additional pieces of content means nothing if you can’t find it.

Often broadcasters put their focus into buying the best and most secure technology to store many TBs of valuable content, but forget to invest in enriching it to make it accessible. If there is no metadata strategy in

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place the broadcaster cannot monetise its content and will therefore lose money. If content is king, metadata is queen and a MAM archive with no metadata results in orphan content and that is a disaster for broadcasters.

THE IMPACT OF AI AND MACHINE LEARNING Technology in the broadcast and media industry is changing fast and MAM systems are no exception. Enterprise MAM manufacturers have listened to the requirements of broadcasters and content owners and have delivered increased operational efficiency.

SUPPLEMENT AI techniques have become an essential part of the technology industry, helping to solve many challenging problems in computer science, software engineering and operations research. Machine learning is closely related to computational statistics: the basis of prediction through the use of computers. On the other hand, artificial intelligence is intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans and other animals. Colloquially, the term artificial intelligence is applied when a machine mimics cognitive functions that humans associate with human minds, such as problem solving.

Machine learning tools are having a huge impact on the broadcast and media industry enabling automatic processing and management of mundane and repetitive chores. The MAM system is key to this technological shift enabling management of fast or complicated searches, finding correct assets, managing rights and access and delivering media to the correct place. One of the key MAM requirements today is the ability to use AI tools to automatically create metadata that can drive workflows and further increase efficiency.

USING AI GENERATED METADATA In a MAM environment, AI enables a significant increase in the quality and quantity of metadata that can be created for each piece of content.

AI-generated metadata can be used to drive efficiency across several aspects of content management including cataloguing, subtitling, OTT distribution, sports highlights creation and more. AI technology can leverage MAMs to help content owners maximise their content. It provides automatic tools that allows broadcasters and content owners to create metadata from video.

When integrating AI tools broadcasters must understand that machine learning tools have no intelligence other than the data we as trainers supply. They have to train the engine to recognise the chores that they need it to complete. Once trained the engine can recognise faces, places, scene changes and optical character recognition (OCR) placements. All image processing can be taught to a software machine learning engine, which over time will get better at recognising individuals and locations etc. thereby automatically generating metadata. That metadata can then be pulled into the MAM, matched to the proxy and a MAM metadata engine can use the annotation that came from the machine learning tool to generate workflows and automate processes. This is hugely time-saving and cost-effective.

SPEECH-TO-TEXT Speech-to-text is a key part of this automated metadata process. Software tools have been used for years to convert speech-to-text and systems have been applying this technology to annotate frame-accurate proxies with text-for-media searches. This technology has gone a step further by enabling the underlying data model to recognise and trigger automated orchestration workflows based on the occurrence of specific key words and automatically create an edited clip of the action or automatically distribute the media to appropriate locations or downstream services.

With speech-to-text, instead of the software being trained by the broadcaster, the training can be carried out by the manufacturer. This

is because unlike faces and objects, with speech-to-text the words are typically the same no matter who speaks them. Earlier this year Tedial announced that it has integrated Speechmatics’ industry-leading Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) technology with its live sports system, SMARTLIVE. This integration allows operators to seamlessly search for comments made by commentators during a sporting match or live event. This eliminates the need for production teams to scale up, freeing them to create personalised stories while maximising efficiency, output and profitability for broadcasters.

Tedial’s MAM enhances speech-to-text by applying it to a proxy and then allowing that annotated proxy to be searched and edited. By enhancing the MAM metadata engine users can find key words and take automated actions. This means that the MAM can trigger workflows based on actual words that the speech-to-text software has converted to text annotations.

Tedial has developed a metadata engine, which is a module of its Evolution MAM platform that merges all metadata that comes from all the available metadata sources creating an enriched cataloguing information for every piece of content. Enriched metadata will ultimately enable content monetisation and open the road to new revenue streams for operators.

THE FUTURE Modern enterprise MAMs are focused on increased efficiency and by tying in a machine learning platform, a greater level of productivity can be achieved. Tedial has leveraged the use of MAM including applications such as automatic highlight clipping, edits, speech-to-text annotation and tuned metadata engines to automatically manage media throughput.

These applications are key to enhancing content discovery. AI tools allow broadcasters to find valuable content that could be sitting in an archive for many years to enhance broadcasts today.

Over the next three or four years we will see machine learning tools become a must-have module in every MAM system. Every library system on the planet will have a machine learning tool attached to it or have access to multiple tools. Broadcasters and content owners will have less metadata annotation chores, which will free up their time and MAM systems will trigger workflows and drive operational efficiency to higher levels. AI-enriched metadata will make content easier to manage, automate and ultimately monetise. n

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PERSONALIZED CONTENT WITH AUTOMATED STORYTELLING CONNECTS INTO YOUR EXISTING LIVE PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT ONE CLICK PUBLISHING TO ANY DESTINATION

MANAGE, ENRICH, PRODUCE AND DELIVER LIVE EVENTS CONTENT WHILE IT'S HAPPENING AGNOSTIC ARCHITECTURE: ON-PREMISES OR IN THE CLOUD ANY SPORT, ANY DATA FEED

E U R O P E 路 U S A 路 M E A 路 L ATA M 路 A PA C

FEATURE

IMPRESSIVE INNOVATION There is arguably no better way to see the true innovation on show at IBC than as part of the judging panel for the Best of AT IBC 2019 Show Awards.

Each year, our judges are given the privileged task of visiting each and every company that has entered a product for consideration; racking up the steps and wearing their soles thin in the process. The beauty of the programme is that it provides an annual snapshot of the

Adder Technology ADDERLink INFINITY 4000 Series (ALIF4000) 4K is fast becoming the world’s visual standard. According to Statista (2018) it is predicted that by 2020, the global 4K display market could be with $52 billion. But the use of 4K technology in broadcast workflows has been held back by constraints on 4K-ready KVM solutions.

BirdDog P4K P4K is the real deal. A huge 1” Sony Exmor R CMOS back lit Sensor and 14.4 million effective pixels enable P4K to deliver stunning pictures in 4K resolutions with Full Bandwidth NDI. Perfect for all broadcast applications, sports, remote studios, newsrooms, house of worship and any shoot where quality matters.

innovation being carried out by R&D and product development teams across the industry and, intriguingly, a glimpse of where we may be headed with certain technologies and their potential applications in our field of vision.

This year was no exception, as we were treated to an inundation of high quality entries across the board representing the evolving variety of technical solutions required by modern day content producers and broadcasters. Here, we list the winning entries from the TVBEurope category of the Best of Show Awards at IBC 2019.

AWS Elemental, an Amazon Web Services company AWS Elemental MediaConnect AWS Elemental MediaConnect is a fully managed, on-demand Cloud service that transports live video into, out of, or within the AWS Cloud.

BT BT Sport Ultimate At this year’s IBC in Amsterdam, the BT Media & Broadcast stand witnessed a series of recordbreaking firsts. Among those firsts, BT’s Media & Broadcast division and BT Sport hosted an event to demonstrate what is believed to be the highest spec broadcast ever of a live English Premier League match, in 4K HDR with Dolby Atmos.

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FEATURE

BRIDGE TECHNOLOGIES Widglets™ API for the VB440 network probe The Bridge Technologies VB440 probe monitors all traffic on an IP network, and provides user-configurable graphic views of that data.

“We demonstrated the Widglets API for our VB440 at IBC, and the response we got from the industry was hugely positive and highly encouraging. They could clearly see that it delivers something new, unique and valuable to the industry that is potentially transformational in production – and the user effort required to leverage its potential is minimal. The Widglets API allows the user to have multiple cameras with multiple waveform scopes via a single HTML5 video monitor view. It’s perhaps the most exciting thing we’ve ever done, so we’re delighted to have been honoured by a Best of Show Award at IBC 2019.”

SIMEN K FROSTAD

Judges comment:

“Bridge’s Widglets API has been in use with some market leading broadcast companies ahead of IBC, and the feedback so far has been incredibly positive. You can certainly see why, with a number of potential benefits particularly in remote production.”

Cinegy GmbH Cinegy Capture PRO - No one scales better

Cinegy GmbH Cinegy Air PRO - No one scales better

One of Cinegy’s latest Capture PRO flagship deployments is for a major sport league that requires more than 200 channels of HD capture to be able to concurrently record (and edit) all of the games taking place in North America. This successful installation is further proof of the scalable nature of Cinegy’s software architecture and that Cinegy’s motto “Software Defined Television” is absolutely real.

Cinegy’s slogans have not always made industry friends - “SDI MUST DIE” for instance. Another is “Software Defined Television”, exactly what Cinegy is about. For more than 10 years, Cinegy has been delivering on today’s buzz of software and Cloud-focused world ‘revelations’ that almost anything that was done using bespoke broadcast hardware could be done entirely in software on commodity PC hardware - given enough processing power.

Cloudian Cloudian HyperStore® Xtreme, Powered by Seagate To claim media and entertainment industries were always devoted users of storage technology would be an understatement. Broadcasters and production houses used to shoot film on tape or celluloid, which was typically stored in large libraries or vaults. Then came digitisation, which shifted the dynamics of media and entertainment towards new formats and resolutions such as 4K, 360 degree, and 60 frame video.

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FEATURE

COBALT DIGITAL 9992-DEC-4K-HEVC The Cobalt® 9992-DEC-4K-HEVC is a software defined broadcast decoding platform capable of meeting the needs of everyday broadcasters to high-end at-home production environments.

“A companion to the 9992-ENC encoders, the 9992DEC is designed to meet the stringent requirements for today’s broadcasters, supporting up to 4K resolution with a full complement of audio decoding. Its pay-as-you-go licensing means users only pay for features when needed.

The series includes the 9992-DEC dual-channel decoder, and the 9992-DEC-4K-HEVC with single-channel 4K or dual-channel 2K and support for H.265.

“Our new 9992-DEC joins our popular 9992-ENC to create a complete transport solution for broadcasters.

With its support for 5.1 audio, the 9992 Series is a costeffective solution for contribution-level transmission.”

CHRIS SHAW

Judges comment:

“The 9992 Decoder/Encoder series is an impressive, cost-effective transport solution for media companies that allows users to only pay for what they need.”

Cyanview CY-STEM Cy-Stem is a unique solution to integrate any specialty camera in professional live broadcast workflows.

Designed for vision engineers being frustrated by the subpar performance of specialty cameras, this universal control system does remove the technical barriers that prevent directors from achieving the shots they need.

Dalet Digital Media Systems Dalet Media Cortex The new version of Dalet Media Cortex, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered media service from Dalet, puts content intelligence at the fingertips of media professionals.

Dejero Dejero IronRoute Recently launched and currently being trialled by leading-edge broadcast organisations, IronRoute for media delivers dependable connectivity by blending broadband, cellular (3G/4G/5G), and satellite connectivity from Intelsat’s global network. Dejero’s Smart Blending Technology combines all available network connections to create a virtual ‘network of networks’ with the necessary bandwidth to deliver broadcast-quality content.

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FEATURE EditShare EFS 2020 At IBC 2019, EditShare showcased EFS 2020, EditShare’s nextgeneration file system and management console, slated to hit the market in Q4 of this year. This new release is the culmination of three years of hard work and will deliver EditShare’s most secure and most performant storage platform ever.

Facilis HUB Shared Storage system The Facilis HUB Shared Storage system is an entirely new platform. This is the answer to customers’ requests for a more powerful compact server chassis, lower-cost (SSD, HDD and Hybrid options), built-in Asset Tracking, and integrated Cloud and LTO archive features.

GatesAir Maxiva IMTX70 Intra-Mast Transmitter GatesAir’s newest product, the Maxiva IMTX-70 Intra-Mast Transmitter, is a very compact modular multi-transmitter system that has been scaled to allow installation within typical hollow mast/ tower structures, or vertical poles.

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Embrionix emVirtu All-IP Core Infrastructure and Media Processing Platform When addressing the new media over IP, broadcasters, media production and military/mission-critical environments must adapt and seamlessly integrate into their workflow, a wide range of signal types, formats, frame rates, timing and resolutions – this adaptation can present very real cost, time and space challenges, driving up Capex and Opex considerably.

GatesAir Intraplex Ascent AoIP Transport Platform GatesAir’s Intraplex Ascent is a scalable, multichannel Audio over IP transport solution that addresses the convergence of broadcast operations with IT infrastructure.

Glensound Electronics Ltd DIVINE AoIP PoE Powered Monitor Dante /AES67 Diecast Network Audio Powered Loudspeaker The new DIVINE DSP controlled Powered Monitor is our new concept in PoE powered network audio monitor speakers. Featuring up to four audio inputs, and powered

by Power Over Ethernet, using just one cable for audio and power, this compact loudspeaker will enhance any configuration and work seamlessly with existing equipment.

Interfacing to other manufacturers’ equipment within your AoIP infrastructure is completely trouble free as it supports both Dante and AES67 protocols.

FEATURE Grass Valley GV STRATUS One

Haivision SRT Hub

GV STRATUS One provides a cost-effective, fully featured set of workflow tools, with ingest (SDI, web streaming or file based workflows), asset management, editor integration, playout and social media publishing all in a single, 2RU, easy to deploy solution.

Haivision SRT Hub is an intelligent low latency Cloud media routing service built on Microsoft Azure for broadcast contribution, production, and distribution workflows.

SRT Hub is the ideal solution for broadcasters seeking alternatives to costly satellite links, purpose-built fibre networks, or proprietary transport solutions​. With SRT Hub, global media workflows connecting vendors and spanning multiple Azure datacentres and broadcast services can be defined, orchestrated, and launched within minutes.

InterDigital Research & Innovation Digital Double InterDigital R&I’s Immersive Lab develops solutions for tomorrow’s interactive media environment, enhancing the immersive video experience.

iSize Technologies BitSave Loudspeaker The BitSave AI-powered upscaling encoding platform by iSize is a first-of-a-kind, fully AI-powered encoding platform that takes advantage of AI and deep learning to enable up to 70 per cent bitrate saving versus non-AI competing codec enhancement solutions.

intoPIX TICO-RAW codec Engineered at intoPIX, TICO-RAW is an innovative, lossless quality, low-power, lowmemory and line-based image processing and compression technology.

Iron Mountain Entertainment Services Iron Mountain InSight Today’s media organisations often find themselves with large content libraries spread across a complicated ecosystem of diverse systems and data types, making it difficult and time-consuming to serve the right content to the right audience at the right time. A lack of standardisation across departments also negatively impacts their ability to generate business insights from their physical and digital assets – which can impact future growth.

LiveU and Griiip LiveU and Griiip Unveil Unique Motorsports Live Viewing and Data-Driven Media Solution Platform LiveU has been working with Griiip, a media solution technology platform for motorsport series, for the past two years. Griiip launched its G1 racing series in 2018, using LiveU cellular bonding technology as a compelling, cost-effective way to deliver a flawless HD live video experience – from inside the racing cars, around the tracks, and from airborne drones – without the need for any complex infrastructure, using unique bonded cellular technology.

The solution has been successfully implemented in this year’s G1 Series across Europe, watched by fans around the world, including on ESPN in Brazil.

LYNX Technik AG HDR Evie - HDR to SDR conversion and image processing There are HDR to SDR conversion tools, which apply “global correction” across HDR content. However, for truly exceptional results which will automatically adapt for changes in image composition, brightness levels encountered in production or live events, then frame by frame processing is required.

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FEATURE

MEDIAKIND Cygnus 360 Events To overcome the challenge of delivering live 360-degree video content to different classes of devices, MediaKind developed its Cygnus 360 Events solution. Launched in April 2019, the solution provides a Cloud-based workflow for live 360-degree video processing and multi-platform publishing which enables consumers to become fully immersed and engaged in their favourite live event.

We are delighted to win the Best of Show at IBC 2019 Award for our Cygnus 360° Events solution. With this content contribution solution we are enabling content owners, distributors and rights holders of live sporting, music and esports events to deliver a more compelling and differentiated service within their media service lineups. MediaKind’s Cygnus 360° as a Service solution efficiently captures, processes and delivers high quality live 360-degree video with up to 8K resolution offering unique immersive content with delivery bitrates of between 10-15Mbps providing the consumer with new opportunities to self-curate and experience being at their favourite live event like never before.

Judges comment:

“As we move further into the 21st century, it seems inevitable that VR/AR will become more and more commonplace. MediaKind is there now with this easily deployed, scalable, and costeffective system.”

Mediaproxy Pty Ltd LogServer

Ncam Technologies Ncam Mk2

Mediaproxy is a leading provider of IP broadcast solutions specialising in software-based monitoring systems for logging and analysing linear television and OTT production and distribution chains.

The Ncam Mk2 is a camera bar that mounts freely on any camera, with Intel RealSense technology that captures spatial data to feed back to the Ncam Reality server, enabling sophisticated augmented reality (AR) work.

PHABRIX QxL – 25G IP Enabled Rasterizer The QxL, the world’s most flexible and most compact, feature-rich 25G rasterizer, has been conceived from the outset to address the needs of Professional Broadcast Media IP workflows.

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FEATURE Prime Focus Technologies AI for Cricket - CLEAR Vision Cloud Sports broadcasters and streaming platforms are always looking for new ways to engage fans and deliver immersive experiences that get them closer to the real time action. PFT’s media recognition Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine, CLEAR Vision Cloud offers a custom model for cricket that helps achieve this.

Primestream Elastic Data Viewer for AI Primestream is bringing Artificial Intelligence to multiple industries by providing easy access to media with AI in the Cloud. Primestream enables users to analyse and modify video metadata alongside AI data sets in a simple-to-use platform.

Pixit Media PixStor At IBC Pixit Media debuted the latest version of PixStor, its leading software-defined storage platform. Purpose-built for demanding media requirements, PixStor dramatically improves workflows and reduces the cost of infrastructure and shared services.

QUANTUM Quantum F-Series Over the years, media and entertainment organisations have been very adept at using a variety of methods for storing media, including spinning disks, hard drives, magnetic tape, celluloid and film.

“Quantum F-Series is a high-performance, highly available storage array designed for studio editing, rendering, and other performance-intensive workloads. Available in three capacity options – from 92 to 184TB – the F2000 is a 2U, dual node server with two hot-swappable compute canisters and up to 24 dualported NVMe drives. F-Series is powered by StorNext which enhances performance via out-of-band metadata management, and allows seamless integration into a multiple-tier end-toend storage solution with remote monitoring and performance management GUIs. The F-Series provides maximum throughput across both ethernet and fibre channel networks. We’re pleased to see F-Series recognised by TVBEurope for the innovation it brings for M&E workloads.”

Judges comment:

“This storage array comes with three capacity options, can handle numerous high-load processes, and is powered by Quantum’s renowned StorNext software. Highly efficient, and highly impressive.”

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FEATURE Singular.live Singular.live Singular.live is a Cloud-based digital overlay platform that is revolutionising live video stream productions. With a robust authoring environment, built-in control applications, integration with the industry’s leading streaming software and devices, and an open API and SDKs for additional integration and customisation, Singular is a complete platform for adding animating overlays to livestreams.

Rohde & Schwarz R&S PRISMON.cloud R&S PRISMON.cloud is a Cloud-based A/V OTT monitoring solution that broadcasters and content providers can deploy quickly and without dedicated hardware.

Ross Video Ross PIERO Sports Graphic Analysis Ross PIERO is an award-winning sports analysis tool. PIERO uses image recognition and state-of-the-art graphic overlays to augment sports content with visually engaging and informative effects.

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STREAM CIRCLE A.M.O.S. - Autonomous Metadata Oriented Scheduling Executive summary Stream Circle’s A.M.O.S. is a revolutionary, rule-based AI engine which builds continuous playlists automatically and autonomously using static and dynamic metadata. When connected to a content source, it will immediately create and broadcast a new channel, all at minimum cost.

Ross Video Ross Ultrix IP Software Defined Platform Ultrix-IP and associated control innovations are the logical evolutions of Ross’ award-winning Ultrix connectivity platform.

The Ultrix IP-IO board now allows customers to route and process signals via both IP and SDI transport streams agnostically using industry standards into one of the most powerful, integrated software-defined hardware platforms.

FEATURE Telestream OptiQ Monitor At IBC Telestream introduced a second OptiQ live service. OptiQ Monitor creates major efficiencies in Capex and Opex whilst assuring optimum levels of Quality of Service and Quality of Experience for broadcasters, service providers and network operators.

Telemetrics, Inc. PT-RE-2 (RoboEye2) Robotic Pan/Tilt/Zoom Camera More fully-featured, reliable and with better performance than any PTZ camera on the market today, the new Telemetrics RoboEye2 (PT-RE-2) is an aesthetically pleasing indoor robotic camera system with a built-in lightweight 4K/HD broadcast camera equipped with a 1”-type EXMOR R CMOS sensor and zoom lens fully integrated to a Telemetrics compact pan/tilt head. It also features a Night Mode for lowlight conditions and professional image stabilisation for rock-steady image capture.

ThinkAnalytics ThinkAdvertising ThinkAdvertising debuts at IBC 2019 – the industry’s most personalised addressable advertising solution.

TVLogic IS-mini 4K - Real time digital video colour processor IS-mini 4K, a real time digital video colour processor (4K/UHD Color LUT Box) is used for onset camera preview for live event shooting, SDR and HDR broadcasting and post production.

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FEATURE Vela Version 6.0 of Vela Luna/Encompass SmartLoggers Vela launched version 6.0 of Luna/Encompass SmartLoggers at IBC 2019, introducing a series of exciting new compliance monitoring and logging innovations into an extremely feature-rich and comprehensive solution that allows television broadcasters, MVPDs and media companies to turn what were previously capital cost purchases for the engineering department into operational and strategic investment that enhance competitiveness, deliver value throughout an organisation, and produce a return on that investment.

Vionlabs Vionlabs Content Discovery Platform Today’s consumers are spending 25 per cent or more of screen-time looking for something to watch: this is far too long. Currently, the most common content discovery recommendations rely on external metadata sources for information on the video content in an operator’s catalogue, which results in poor recommendations. This in turn leads to a viewer leaving a service, because they are frustrated by the, seemingly, limited content choice.

x.news information technology Gmbh x.news - conceptr x.news is the award-winning live monitoring, research, collaboration and verification application for media, corporates and public institution. At IBC we introduced our next gen AI based module called “conceptr” which increases the efficiency and accuracy dramatically for each individual user. conceptr is utilising the latest machine learning technologies which will keep us ahead of the curve in our aim to support each user in a fast, accurate and relevant news creation process on any internet connected device. Personalised AI generated hot topic maps as well as relevance based results are just two of the features conceptr offers.

Zixi The Zixi Platform

Zylight Go-Panel

Zixi is an Emmy-winning Cloud based and on-premise software platform that enables broadcast-quality video delivery over IP. The Zixi Platform makes it easy and economical for media companies to source, manage, localiae, and distribute live events and 24/7 live linear channels in broadcast QoS, securely and at scale, using any form of IP network or hybrid environment.

Designed for broadcast news and other run-and-gun shooting situations, the Zylight Go-Panel is an LED panel light which features Bi-Color operation, IP65 weather protection and Active Diffusion technology for electronic filter adjustments. It is no longer necessary to carry diffusion gels or panels with the Go-Panel which features electronically adjustable diffusion.

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PRODUCTION AND POST

KEEPING THE ASSETS SAFE Philip Stevens investigates a modern way of preserving files

PICTURED ABOVE: Searching for archive content is made easier with easy to read windows

T

he English word ‘archive’ comes from the Latin ‘archivum’ which, in turn, originated from the Greek name for Town Hall – the place where public records were kept.

However, things have moved along, and broadcasters have little desire to maintain their records in a public building. But they do need to archive. And to maintain the security of those important files.

“Data management, backup, archive and replication are all needed in broadcast and in all stages of a media production workflow,” states Dr Marc M Batschkus, business development manager at Munich-based software manufacturer Archiware.

“Archive – even at a local level – has grown in importance in recent times. Referencing and re-using existing assets saves time and money. Protecting and preserving assets that could become or are of historic relevance is a key point in broadcast.”

He says that the goal of Archiware is to make data

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PICTURED ABOVE: Dr Marc M Batschkus

management and data protection as easy and as efficient as possible, independent of storage hardware and operating system. “Our software suite Archiware P5 covers archive, backup and cloning in one solution for all common operating systems, including Mac, Windows, Linux, and NAS (Network Attached Storage) systems like Synonolgy, QNAP, NetGear and Lumaforge.”

Batschkus goes on, “The storage industry changes constantly driven by demands for bigger and faster solutions. New products come out and fill specific niches or have a new price or performance point. Our customers combine many of those products and want to use P5 with them. This means we have many partnerships with storage vendors to offer the best solution and integration.”

Disk, tape and Cloud storage can be used with Archiware’s P5 to protect data with the best individual strategy. Growing data sets mean more time needs to be invested in keeping them organised, and this software reduces the period needed to secure and archive such files.

THE SUITE The P5 software suite consists of four products: P5 Archive, P5 Backup, P5 Synchronize and P5 Backup2Go. “P5 Archive has some MAM features that makes it extremely easy for all users to find files and restore them.

The extensible metadata fields, image thumbnails and proxy clips are very helpful in this process,” says Batschkus.

“It is worth emphasising that it is really easy to start a first backup/replication or archive using the built-in setup assistants of the software. These offer automatic configuration after answering just three questions. In most regions we have local partners who are experienced with P5 and help customers if needed. Third level support is done from our headquarters in Germany.”

Security is, of course, vital – so how does this solution

PRODUCTION AND POST handle this important consideration?

“Archiware P5 can segment data access for backup and archive so that, for example, different departments see only their data. Transfer as well as storage of data can be encrypted. Checksums can be used and data integrity can be checked automatically,” Batschkus explains.

to P5 Archive, assures that only the files used in the edit are restored. Backup to LTO is a routine process for all productions using Archiware P5 Backup. Every file is written to two LTO-6 tapes. Again, one tape stays in the SL150 library, the other one goes in the safe for maximum security.

MAKING CHANGES From time to time, changes need to be made to broadcast files – and re-archiving can take extended periods of time. However, using incremental archiving, a feature included in the program, means that only changed files are transferred. The result is a much faster re-archiving cycle.

Batschkus continues, “After completion of a backup run, automatic verification can be used to check the integrity of each file. This is less important if backups run very frequently – for example, hourly – rather than when they run only over the weekend.”

Archive assets can often offer a source of monetisation for the holder of the content. “An archive that holds all finalised assets becomes the ‘Single Source of Truth’ for a company,” says Batschkus.

“There is only one place to look for files. Whether returning customers, referencing, compliance or licensing of media, all becomes easier and faster. This way existing production value can be re-used and monetised in any way and maybe for the first time.”

JOINING FORCES Earlier this year, Archiware and Wasabi, the Cloud storage company, announced the formation of the Media Innovation Cloud Alliance. This is a coalition of best-of-breed media technology companies integrating

IN USE DeMensen is one of the biggest production companies in Belgium, producing everything from reality TV to game shows, documentary, drama, feature films and TV advertising. When DeMensen switched from video tape to LTO tape for file-based delivery, system integrator VP Media Solutions installed an end-to-end workflow to suit their needs.

CatDV MAM catalogues all files and is connected via the QLSArchive middleware to Archiware P5 Archive as master archive. That way, users can trigger archive and restore jobs in CatDV. For maximum security, P5 Archive is used to create two identical tape sets, one of which stays in the Oracle SL150 library while the other goes in the safe.

Editing is done on 10 Mac workstations running Avid Media Composer 10 suites. All rushes are archived using the Archiware P5 interface, with hard disks connected directly to the P5 server.

To keep storage usage low, footage is transcoded to DNxHD120 for editing. When completed, the resulting EDL is used to restore the original footage from LTO tape for colour grading. ArchiveAssistant, an add-on

across multiple Clouds to deliver a price/performance ratio vastly superior to first-generation Cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.

“The alliance aims to make Cloud storage and services more accessible, especially for media companies and their respective needs. Reducing cost and offering easy to use software like P5 that integrates with Cloud storage makes it easier and more cost-effective to use,” explains Batschkus.

PICTURED ABOVE: Having one solution for all platforms and data management requirements enables ready restoration of files

THE OVERALL BENEFITS So how does Batschkus sum up the solution Archiware is offering? “Having one solution for all platforms and for all data management requirements makes it easier to protect data and restore them if needed. Less overhead and a smaller number of solutions also reduce cost.

Maximum flexibility and use of disk, tape and Cloud storage is available to build the best individual solution.”

He concludes, “Right now we are laying the foundation for exciting new features and much more flexibility in the future for our customers. We want to help them manage their ever-growing data set even easier. So, watch this space!” n

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PRODUCTION AND POST

PRESERVING THE IMAGE Philip Stevens finds out how film and tape content is being protected for posterity the Vintage Cloud Steenbecks streamlines the operation and allows the team to complete the work as quickly as possible and to the highest standard.”

Although most of the transfer work involves using previously graded content, some ‘tweaking’ is possible when it comes to saturation levels or improving contrast that may have been lost.

The aim is to bring the content back to the standard to which it was originally made.

PICTURED ABOVE: James Macmillan

S

et up originally as the custodian of the commercial broadcaster’s archive in the UK, ITV Content Delivery based in Leeds has refocused its activities to provide a digitisation service to the wider film and television industry.

“Although we have been around for about 25 years, the current activity started around five years ago,” explains James Macmillan, technical operations manager. “Previously we had solely been responsible for the digitisation of ITV’s archive, but in the last few years we’ve started providing our services to customers from outside ITV, whether that’s other broadcasters, archives or even private individuals. Just because people see the ITV logo, they shouldn’t think our work is confined to the broadcaster.”

The department is currently in the process of transferring over one million physical assets to digital formats for preservation purposes. “Obviously film, if it’s not archived under perfect conditions, will deteriorate and in worst case scenarios it will become progressively worse to a point where the content is past the point of retrieval,” states Macmillan. “Once a film gets past a certain point it’s very difficult to get the content from that format.

When we make a digital file, it will last indefinitely.”

ITV Content Delivery has two of the only Vintage Cloud Steenbecks in the UK, capable of digitising film from either 16mm and 35mm direct to 4K file. From there the content can be restored if necessary.

“The Vintage Cloud scanners look very much like a traditional Steenbeck editing table, but instead it is used to digitise film in real-time direct to 4K files. It also offers huge flexibility in the audio formats that we need to digitise. Using

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RESTORING QUALITY Alongside the transfer element of the department’s work, restoration procedures are available. “All our content is cleaned prior to scanning to remove as much surface dust and debris as possible. But sometimes more is required when it comes to the restoration of images. And for that we have just bought Digital Vision Phoenix software. Phoenix is used to digitally remove dust and dirt from images. The program will also clear scratches and grain noise, but will also sharpen images. We use the solution to upscale SD to HD and HD to 4K and we are really impressed with the results. I’d say it is really phenomenal and it’s unlocking the potential in the images by restoring lost quality.”

As well as offering film transfer and restoration, the facility in Leeds also specialises in digitising content from tape. “We use a number of Sony Flexicarts to digitise content held on tape in bulk,” explains Macmillan. “The system is fully automated and will work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We also have a range of legacy and heritage tape decks that we maintain to capture content from 1”, D2 and U-Matic. These machines are way past their natural life expectancy. The tapes themselves may last another 100-150 years, but without a deck to play them on the content is effectively lost. If you have content on these formats, the time really is now to get it transferred if you plan to use it in the future,” concludes Macmillan. n

PRODUCTION AND POST

IMAGE PRESERVATION Philip Stevens looks at film restoration technology

D

ft (Digital Film Technology GmbH) has a long and varied broadcast history, starting with the establishment of Fernseh AG Television Company in 1929 by John Logie Baird, Robert Bosch and other partners.

The company was later taken over by Philips and Thomson; in 2008 it was renamed as Digital Film Technology GmbH and then acquired by Prasad Corporation in 2012. “dft develops and manufactures highly specialist, technological equipment for the film, broadcast and restoration industries,” explains dft sales director Simon Carter. “These state-of-the-art film scanners digitise film, preserving images with precision for future generations.”

Scanity HDR is dft’s flagship film scanner and is one of the most sought-after film scanners from the company’s range, supporting almost all of the leading film archives across the globe. “Scanity HDR has been developed specifically for archive and restoration facilities to manage a range of difficult and historically-aged film issues. It allows the ingest of fragile and difficult dense black-and-white materials at real-time speeds using a unique simultaneous tripleexposure technology,” explains Carter.

MANY FORMATS dft’s scanners can handle a range of formats, including 8mm, 16mm, 35mm, and large formats like 65mm and 70mm. “We also launched a new 65mm scanner – OXScan – at IBC 2019.

Additional film formats are regularly added as we expand the range to meet market demand,” explains Carter. “The Prasad Corporation also offers the data management and digitisation services for all formats and resolution of film scanned.”

Those services include both picture and sound restoration facilities with solutions for removal of dust and scratches, vertical lines, torn and damaged film, stabilisation, chemical stains, colour management, gate hair, colour breathing and warping.

“For dft, the challenge is in creating a scanner that can safely and gently handle delicate, fragile, aged film materials that have gone through physical damage and deterioration over time. Soft handling makes it more feasible to recover most or all of the film safely and without further damage.”

Those digital restoration services are labour intensive, and the company has an experienced workforce for taking care of manual restoration of the digitised content.

“Colour grading is not automatic and is done manually

after digitisation,” states Carter. “We provide highresolution grading solutions using the latest technology and creative expertise.”

PICTURED ABOVE: Images before and after dft’s restoration processes

PICTURED ABOVE: Simon Carter

MORE THAN FILM Alongside the film formats, Prasad offers services for tape digitisation and can handle formats from VHS, Hi -8, U-Matic Hi band / Lo band, Betacam, Digibeta, DVCam, DVC Pro, HDCAM, 1 Inch and 2 Inch broadcast tapes of PAL / NTSC. dft’s product portfolio not only includes state-of-the-art film scanners, but also audio scanning. In 2016 dft took over Sondor Technologies based in Switzerland. Through dft, Sondor continues to provide product development, sales and service on the audio front.

Prasad director, Kavita Prasad, takes up the story: “As you’d expect, we have many examples of how our services have enabled old footage to be restored. In one instance, we had a client whose archive included 1,600 feature film titles out of which 600 had to be restored within a stipulated timeline.”

Some of these assets dated back to the 1940s and included a range of black-and-white and colour negative and positive films. Apart from the usual defects the material had severe stabilisation and warp issues, running scratches and bands.

“The scale of the project and the quantum of footage to be restored demanded an offsite approach,” explains Kavita Prasad. “Our team analysed the client’s assets and came up with a customised process workflow. This involved a combination of both software-based and manual restoration. Using state-of-the-art technology, highspeed scanners and systems, we were able to deliver the project within the specified time frame, while maintaining stringent quality control.”

Carter concludes: “dft’s film and sound digitisation technologies undergo constant innovation and invention.

We have several patents for our inventions with strong R&D, proving our manufacturing competency with decades of experience. In fact, dft products set the world standards for film digitisation. Beyond that, dft is expanding its digitisation technology beyond moving images for the film, broadcast and archive industries. Digitisation could also benefit other industries and purposes, such as scanning valuable art and artefacts which have cultural and heritage importance, geographical terrain and so on.” n

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PRODUCTION AND POST

Philip Stevens concludes his look at soaps by visiting Yorkshire

E

mmerdale is the United Kingdom’s second longest-running soap opera (after ITV’s Coronation Street), having first been aired in 1972 (in those days it was known as Emmerdale Farm). Set in the fictional Yorkshire dales village of the same name, the programme attracts an average of five to seven million viewers per episode.

Outside of the UK, the series is shown in Ireland, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Finland.

“The biggest challenge is maintaining the high level of storytelling that our viewers have come to expect over around 340 episodes a year,” states Kate Brooks who, along with Laura Shaw, produces Emmerdale.

Jane Hudson is the executive producer. “That is a lot of space to fill and we need to keep the stories relevant and fresh without compromising the characters or storylines.”

Brooks goes on: “Those stories result from long-term conferences every three months where potential ideas are pitched. We work around six months in advance of transmission. We also coordinate with Coronation Street to ensure there is no replication of stories.

Directors also attend script meetings in advance of shooting in order to bring an extra perspective to the process.”

She reveals that the scripting team comprises 28 writers who need to deliver final versions of the script 10 weeks before transmission.

“After the stories have been approved, Laura and I oversee their progress through the numerous draft script stages and resolve any issues that may arise.”

Once the scripts are completed, the directors – of which there are 45 on the Emmerdale books - are given two weeks of preparation before rehearsals begin. The schedule calls for 14 episodes to begin shooting on the same day with three directors looking after the output. Two directors cover five episodes, while the third will oversee four.

PICTURED ABOVE: Kate Brooks and Nader Mabadi

THE SHOOTING SCENE Alongside the four studios with their permanent sets at the ITV facility in Leeds, the programme uses a nearby village for the now-familiar exterior shoots. “We make the best use of the beautiful surroundings that are available to us in the Yorkshire dales,” says Brooks.

Although the location action is shot mostly in single camera, the studio scenes are covered with three cameras and cut by a vision mixer. “Although some directors prefer to work from the floor, most will do a run through with the cast, but then move to the gallery for the take in a conventional multicamera set up. We have been running training courses in multicamera directing and have recently taken on several new directors. It is important to try out fresh new talent,” states Brooks.

She adds: “Shooting multicamera means that editing time is considerably reduced and that is important when you consider the amount of throughput that is involved. Both the directors and the relevant producer oversee the edit.”

“We have a very talented team who look after scheduling the sets and the actors – and great script supervisors who oversee the continuity on set – essential when so many episodes are in production at any one time.”

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PRODUCTION AND POST BALANCING ACT Senior production manager, Nader Mabadi, picks up the story. “I see my role as being the intermediary between science and art. Based on the schedule, I have to figure out how to meet the production needs within the budget we are given. So, the challenge is making sure we get the best out of the available resources.”

He says there are three things that come into the equation: time, money and ambition. “Concerning the last point, people’s expectations of what can be achieved are greater than they were in the past and with the discerning audience we have, there is no way that we can cut corners. For example, we have to ensure the sets in the studio are believable. So, we use real cookers, all the plumbing is piped in, the fridges work and so on. You just can’t get away with fakes – they would soon be spotted and the realism would be lost. Today’s lenses are unforgiving.”

He believes that in competing with the likes of Amazon and Netflix with their considerable budgets, the Emmerdale team must – and does – achieve a high level of creativity.

“The fact we have ideal locations helps in that regard. And we encourage the directors to make full use of the sky, the fields, the cows, the horses. Why sit on a close-up of the actor when there is so much else to see? And we like to use cameras and lenses which give us a greater depth of field so we can see the beauty of the locations.”

THE TECHNOLOGY Technical manager, Andy Whiston, whose responsibility covers both production and post production, goes on to talk about those cameras. “We use Sony HDC2500 for both the studio and location shoots. We normally use two cameras on location which are not vision mixed with the camera output recorded on two Panasonic AJ-HPM200 portable recorders that are located in vans we have converted as mini scanners.”

Amira cameras have also been used to some measure where the pan, zoom and pinch technology has been utilised.

Back at base, he explains that all the galleries are equipped with FOR-A HVS-100 vision mixers. “We wanted continuity across all production galleries, so we have standardised on much of the equipment. When it comes to audio mixing, we have opted for Calrec – and are in the process of upgrading some of that kit.”

Studio ingest is carried out using FastServe via the Jelly Bean Isogroup interface which talks to the vision mixer to create an Edit Decision List.

Both craft and online edits are carried out within Media Composer.

“We go straight to a craft edit without the need for any offline,” says Whiston. “This gives us a high-resolution result immediately. Because the studio is shot multicamera, and there is a vision engineer in the gallery, there is little need for colour correction as this is handled at source. The footage shot on location can be more varied where the skill of the colourist and Baselight software come into their own. The same principle applies to audio dubbing, but where that is needed, we use Avid Pro Tools with a S6 M10 console.”

DECISIVE DEVELOPMENTS So, what does Whiston see as the most important developments in the recent past that have helped with Emmerdale production and delivery?

“The big thing in post production has been cineXtools. Previously, when

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PICTURED ABOVE: Sony HDC2500 cameras are used for both the studio and location shoots

a file was submitted for technical assessment and something needed to be changed – maybe a boom shadow in shot, for instance – the correction would have to be made and a whole new file created. Now, with cineXtools we can just correct the frames in question and drop them in without having to create a completely new file. That saves a dramatic amount of time in the evaluation process.”

He says that a recent upgrade in studio communication has been beneficial. “We installed a Riedel Bolero talkback system to replace the existing RF analogue equipment. The clarity of the digital system helps communication to be more effective and, thus, time saving. All these things help when the schedule is so tight.”

At present, there are no plans to switch to 4K production, although there is interest in HDR. “We still use 1080 interlace, whereas most productions are progressive. With HDR we know we will get an improved image on whatever size screen is being viewed – and the colour range will be better.”

Back in her office, Brooks sums up the role of the complete Emmerdale team. “It is to ensure that all our viewers have a pleasurable experience and we have a great team – a family – to achieve that goal.” n

PRODUCTION AND POST

GOING OFF-PISTE The team behind Ski A&E tell Dan Meier how they overcame a series of uphill struggles

I

f you’ve ever tried skiing a black run without poles while holding a professional camera you’re either a danger to yourself and others or a director on Ski A&E, a new series landing on UKTV’s W channel this December that follows the rescue teams at Val Thorens ski resort. But you don’t have to be a qualified pisteur or producer to work out that filming 3,000 metres up, against 120 mile per hour winds, in minus 40 degrees, on skis, is no cakewalk.

“I can’t emphasise enough the extremities of the conditions we were in,” says series producer Sean Doherty. “Morgan Phillips, one of the directors, we thought had hypothermia at one point because obviously you’re standing around outside so you’re not moving because you’re filming, and Val Thorens is the highest resort in the Alps, so there are very extreme conditions up there.”

These conditions caused major issues in terms of camera operation, since plastic eyepieces are liable to snap off due to the cold.

Armed with Sony PXW-FS7 and Alpha a7S cameras, along with a Panasonic Lumix DC-GH5 on a gimbal and 10 GoPros, the team spent a week testing the equipment at Val Thorens and established what would and would not work - the gimbals, for instance, were affected by the magnetic field at that altitude. “We decided to just bring three FS7s,” explains DV director and drone operator Alex Levitschi. “The main teams had FS7s, one FS7 in the medical centre, two FS7s on the mountain teams.”

The crew had access to helicopters for aerial shots, using the FS7 on a gimbal, as well as a DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone, compact enough for Levitschi to take up the mountain in his backpack.

“Obviously I wouldn’t fly in high winds, but in very, very cold conditions it held perfectly,” he recalls. “I did run through a few propellers because the top of the propellers would get icy very quickly. And they would crack a little bit so then I would have to change them and get new propellers.”

“The drone shots and what Alex did with time lapses just give this series something quite unique,” says Doherty. “Some of the time lapses you look at and go, ‘oh yeah that’s beautiful, that’s lovely.’ What you probably don’t realise is that Alex got up at four

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PRODUCTION AND POST

“We very quickly just got rid of the booms because in an emergency situation they weren’t up to the job.”

SEAN DOHERTY o’clock in the morning, walked up the mountain because there weren’t any ski lifts on at that time, and stood there in the dark until the sun came up. And he did that on many occasions and at night as well. So it was really a labour of love and Alex deserves awards for what he’s done I think.”

“It was the exercise I needed to get rid of all the bread and the raclettes I would eat!” laughs Levitschi.

RECORDING TRICKS The GoPros also proved invaluable, both in terms of their durability and ability to record sound at high enough quality to use in the show. “The side has a tiny hole which is the GoPro microphone, we just put a wind protector there and it works perfectly,” adds Levitschi. Zaxcom microphones were also disguised within pens placed in the medics’ top pockets, enabling recording while they moved around the medical centre.

“I think the sound was probably our biggest challenge in many ways, especially on the mountains,” notes Doherty. “We started off by taking booms with the two-men crews, which would be a camera man/shooting director and an AP who would be doing

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sound. We very quickly just got rid of the booms because in an emergency situation they weren’t up to the job really. We just used the top mic, the mics on the GoPros and the radio mics on the pisteurs and that was the best way to capture the sound in those conditions.”

PRODUCTION AND POST

Three of these crews were positioned in the huts at the top of the mountains, from where they could reach the scene of any accident on the slopes. “It’s a vast area to cover, and so it was very much an opportunist shoot really because we just had to go with whoever we could get,” says Doherty. “But with full crews for two months, shooting six days a week, it was a wealth of material. We probably shot 80 medical stories, and we probably used about 50 in the 10x60’ series, so it was four or five medical stories per show.”

The team was also granted permission to film in Albertville hospital, as Doherty explains: “We were allowed to film up close some of the operations, where one guy in particular had his back broken and his arm shattered - it was pretty gruesome to see the orthopedic surgeon wrestling the bone back together and then basically drilling the steel plate into his arm. So as you can imagine, skiing brings a myriad of injuries and we managed to catch pretty much the whole gamut of different injuries that you get in those sorts of places.”

UNTOUCHED POWDER The crew was mindful to limit its impact not only on the work of the medical teams but also the environment, for example in maintaining the batteries of the drones and GoPros. “We had thermal bags that would keep us from having to charge those batteries all the time or all the time overnight,” says Levitschi. “In terms of big camera batteries, it’s a similar situation, they would all

be in our backpacks, most of the time in thermal sleeves or bags, which would keep the batteries at a normal temperature.”

When it came to release forms, Doherty notes a similar avoidance of waste: “We were as paperless as we possibly could be because paper and snow don’t go well together! Thank goodness for WhatsApp - each ski team had a WhatsApp group and we had a general WhatsApp group for the storylines. As you can imagine, the logistics of covering something like this is a very complicated machine, so you would get an accident happening on the top of one slope and straight away as soon as anything happened the AP would be putting it on the WhatsApp group.”

How did the crew make sure to avoid impeding on the work of the rescue teams? “We had a protocol, which was we did not in any way get in the way, interfere, prevent, slow down or inhibit the emergency medical teams’ jobs,” says Doherty. “It was absolutely the patient’s health that was priority. Filming with French emergency crews for two months can be quite challenging, but we came away from it with those guys as our friends and they understood what we needed to do, and they were fantastic, they let us into their world and they were great.”

As well as the medics, the heroes for Doherty and Levitschi were the directors, skiing with their hands full of camera equipment and sound gear for 10 hours a day. “They would ski 70, 80 miles an hour to keep up with the pisteurs with the camera while filming down the mountain,” says Levitschi. “I’m surprised nothing actually happened to any of us!” n

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BUILDING AN OTT FIELD OF DREAMS

By Luke Durham, CTO, Switch Media

O PICTURED ABOVE: Luke Durham

ver-the-top (OTT) viewing has really shaped the television landscape. More of us are turning to online services to feed our growing appetite for content, tailored to our viewing preferences. Our desire to watch what and when we want and binge several episodes at a time means that OTT services are competing with, and in some cases complementing, traditional linear channels.

Live sport is one of the few genres where broadcasters have been able to sustain their audience, but the tide is turning, and fast. The sports market, particularly for big spectator sports like football, Formula 1, NFL, baseball, basketball and golf, is a billion-dollar industry.

In 2018, the Dallas Cowboys were ranked the world’s most valuable sports team ($4.8 billion) for the third consecutive year. Unsurprisingly, the next three most valuable sports franchises in the world were: Manchester United ($4.123 billion); Real Madrid ($4.088 billion); and

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Barcelona ($4.064 billion). Television access to clubs like these command huge broadcast rights fees, which have traditionally been fought over by major global media companies with zero competition from outside. That is, until now.

THE CHALLENGES FOR SPORTS OTT BROADCASTERS

So what are the challenges when it comes to broadcasting live sports via OTT? Dealing with high numbers of viewers - the “stampeding herd” - for a short period of time is the key issue. Every OTT platform will experience bottlenecks, but the stampeding herd can significantly increase pressure. If you don’t plan for what happens and those bottlenecks cause the system to fail, it can bring down the entire platform. Things will fail, and this can result in some very unhappy viewers!

Another challenge is metadata, which is very different for OTT sports content. If a match is coming up at a

PRODUCTION AND POST certain time, creating an event schedule is a simple process, but when you get into fan engagement, it can be a challenge. You might want leaderboards, team stats or bios etc. These stats are constantly being updated during and after each event and the metadata is different across each sport. You can’t expect a single template system to cater for every scenario.

For most viewers, if they’re not watching an event live and haven’t isolated themselves from all forms of communication, then that moment is gone. This is where highlights are king but are traditionally labour intensive to produce. Modern machine learning and AI tools now provide the ability to automatically identify specific incidents as important and valuable. If a score changes or a player gets a red card, the system can detect that shift in play by identifying changes in on-screen graphics, audio commentary and crowd noises. Not only can this metadata be used for augmenting the content archives, it can automate the generation of clips and highlight reels that can then be automatically published onto social media.

across different devices and requires adjustments to the entire video delivery system, from encoding to packaging, encryption, CDN and, most importantly, the player in the device itself.

IF YOU BUILD IT (PROPERLY) THEY WILL COME

As well as considering the technical requirements to build a successful sports OTT platform, you need to think about eyeballs. The key is to create powerful fan engagement for each sport to suit the requirements and expectations of that specific fanbase. They may want detailed information, to see leaderboards, commentary about what’s coming up next weekend; possibly view interviews with players, as well as historical games. This may be presented as a traditional linear channel between scheduled events, but also incurs significant costs. OTT technologies enable optimisation via manifest stitching, allowing live, on-demand and advertising content to be seamlessly combined in real time and personalised to the individual viewer’s interests.

THE NEED FOR SPEED

Latency is also a key consideration. Latency is a measurement of delay between stimulation and response, or in terms of TV, between the event happening and when it’s presented on the viewer’s screen. Normally people don’t perceive latency; it’s too subtle for the human brain to detect. This is demonstrated when watching a thunderstorm. When it strikes near you, the lightning and sound seem to occur simultaneously, however when it occurs on the horizon, it’s possible to determine the distance by counting down the seconds between the lightning and its corresponding thunder. These light and sound signals have different latencies for the same event.

OTT services introduce many different ways to watch the same event, and when you compare them side-byside they are rarely in sync and, compared to traditional broadcast, could be over 30 seconds different. This in itself isn’t a problem because typically you don’t watch two things at once. It becomes a spoiler when your neighbours are watching the same game and start cheering before you’ve seen the excitement. Or perhaps more frustratingly you’re watching on your phone and a notification comes in saying ‘GOOAAL!!’ overlaying the video, but you’re still many seconds behind the action.

With the increase in automation, these notifications can spread faster than the video can be delivered. This delivery delay can be related to the network, website performance and device/hardware, but not to encoding. The biggest challenge for content owners is to ensure that the OTT experience they’re providing matches as closely as possible to that of the linear TV broadcast experience.

The solution to this challenge varies considerably

Building an OTT platform is a complicated beast.

It’s recommended that media companies work with experienced OTT platform providers rather than attempt to create their platform in-house. To succeed you must architect the failure scenarios into the whole system; this can’t be an afterthought. From experience, a generic platform is unlikely to deal with stampeding herds.

With all these considerations, what does a benchmark platform look like for live sports streaming in 2020? It could just be a simple linear stream but if you’re serious, your OTT platform will include machine learning and AI, sophisticated metadata, personalised Server-Side Ad Insertion, low-latency delivery, ongoing fan engagement and rapid turnaround of highlights to publish on social media. These workflows will undoubtedly drive a seamless, powerful user experience with high engagement and viewer satisfaction. n

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PRODUCTION AND POST

ISLAND LIFE WITH LIVEU

By Eyðbjørn við Skipá, technician, KVF (Kringvarp Føroya)

O

ur story with cellular bonding and LiveU is a little different from that of many other users. The Faroe Islands have a small population – approximately 50,000 people – across an 18-island archipelago and we’re part of the Kingdom of Denmark. We sit between Iceland and Norway in the North Atlantic.

Being so isolated gives us some specific challenges when it comes to broadcasting, but it would be wrong to assume that we are behind in our communications infrastructure. We are a very connected society and, as an example, 5G testing is quite advanced here with rollout by both our telecoms operators possible by the time you’re reading this. We benefit from having access to a large amount of spectrum, meaning that bandwidth isn’t an issue for us domestically. However, until we began working with LiveU, TV content generation – including receiving live content from overseas – was challenging.

I first started working for the radio station here – Radio of the Faroe Islands (UF) – initially as a freelance audio engineer, in 1995. In 2005, UF merged with the TV broadcaster to create KVF (Kringvarp Føroya). We broadcast one TV channel and one radio, with TV viewers watching either via digital terrestrial or IPTV service and there’s an increasing use of OTT. Of course, there are many other commercial stations available here.

We are the size of a local station, but we have the obligations of a national broadcaster. With only 80 employees, most of us do a bit of everything. My main role is technological: I take care of LiveU products, technology investments, cameras and so on. With radio we produce 100 per cent of the content.

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TV is a combination of bought in content, content generated here and working with other broadcasters – Scandinavian and Icelandic mainly. We produce sports, news and documentaries and we broadcast in 100 per cent Faroese. We also buy documentaries from Scandinavia and Iceland and material from broadcasters further afield.

We have a public service contract with the government, which is renewed every four years, and that means we are obligated to reflect Faroese culture and language, among other things.

I first became aware of cellular bonding – specifically LiveU – at IBC in 2014. Initially, I didn’t really understand it, but I was very curious. After that I spent time researching online and then spoke to colleagues in Scandinavia and found out that many were using it, alongside other major broadcasters elsewhere.

Before LiveU, we didn’t have an SNG truck on the island.

For major events/special occasions, we could rent SNG units from around Europe, but that’s 36 hours sailing in either

PRODUCTION AND POST

“I borrowed a LiveU unit and we started to use it for news. And we haven’t stopped since.”

direction and the cost is pretty significant. We tried a lot of technology over IP and radio links; we tried everything. But it was analogue and always unstable. We were a bit early in terms of using IP and the internet, meaning that it wasn’t a success. The various solutions we tried before LiveU were very restrictive to work with as we always had to be close to a fixed line. We had to build the story around where the nearest one was. It took a lot of preparation and because we have so few staff members, we didn’t do it very often.

Initially, I borrowed a LiveU unit and we started to use it for news. And we haven’t stopped since. We then ordered an upgraded unit – we were one of the first to use the LU500.

We could see immediately with LiveU how easy it was to transmit, to get footage that was beyond us previously.

Their technology doesn’t care what feed you give it – we are literally using it for everything. We have used it for very fast, demanding sport too.

We have continued to expand our use and we now have multiple units, including LU600s with HEVC as well as the new LU300. We capture content in 1080 HD. We also have a rackmount encoder for our OB unit and we use the LiveU Xtender active external antenna on the OB unit to maximise reach. Of course, we can’t live without their LiveU Central management platform, which allows full control and monitoring of the entire ecosystem and content via any browser-supported computer; it’s vital to what we do.

Our main question to LiveU is probably different from most as we have a lot of bandwidth here so we’re always asking what the maximum bandwidth achievable is with

each unit. We understand that LiveU is uniquely designed to work in limited bandwidth situations, but it’s different for us.

We want to be able to use as much bandwidth as possible.

A key sporting event that we cover is rowing in the summer. We have a reporter, commentator and cameraman on a boat, plus our OB truck with the LU210 rackmount and Xtender on the roof with an LU2000 server. The OB truck is connected to the internet and the feed from the cameraman is received in the truck. We then do the full production onsite.

For our last two elections, we have sent teams out to all the polling stations and they used store and forward for that. We use it quite a lot. On Sunday mornings, we have a small OB truck that we drive out to church services and that footage is broadcast at 4pm. In the old days it was recorded, then rushed to the station on tape. Now, as soon as the service is finished, the content can be sent and received and then easily prepared for broadcast. It’s simply too expensive to use a satellite uplink here.

As I write this, we are preparing for the NatWest International Island Games XVIII Gibraltar 2019, using two units this year. These are like the Olympics but for island nations, though the event is being held in Gibraltar this year, an honorary island.

When we started using LiveU, this also gave us the possibility to work with other users by pairing units. This is massively important to the way we work. Let’s look at an example. A handball match took place this year in Russia involving a Faroe Island team, but we couldn’t access the satellite coverage from our position. I called DR (formerly Danmarks Radio) and using their biggest antenna, they could just receive the signal. But how could they get it to us? Well, by inputting that signal into a LiveU unit with us contacting LiveU so they could pair that unit to our server, which is done very quickly. We could then receive the signal. We have done this multiple times with Iceland, Greenland and Denmark.

This is very important for us and was a key reason we chose LiveU. We were producing a handball competition for our viewers in the Faroe Islands and we were contacted by KNR in Greenland as they wanted our feed. LiveU paired the units and they did this in a matter of minutes. I simply press start and they receive the signal. This is also important to us with breaking news.

I love to tell LiveU that per head of population, we are the biggest user in the world. We have five units now and 50,000 people, so one unit per 10,000. When they promoted the extensive use of LiveU to cover the last US elections, we had local elections on the same day, and we used LiveU extensively. You’d have to use 3,600 units in the US to match that penetration!

Cellular bonding, and LiveU in particular, has fundamentally changed the way we work and what we can achieve. It’s essential for us. n

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TECHNOLOGY

RIST: ENABLING INNOVATION FOR VIDEO OVER UNMANAGED NETWORKS

By Alexander Sandström and Jacob Kinsey, The RIST Forum

L

ive video is more in demand than ever before, with a large and growing consumer appetite for coverage as it happens, whether that is live sports, breaking news, key events, or even 24/7 linear channels. At the same time however consumers have very little patience for any drop in quality. Delivering live video while ensuring the quality levels required in professional media workflows and a great end-user experience can be challenging, especially as connectivity can often vary depending on a huge array of factors. The Reliable Internet Stream Transport (RIST) protocol aims to combat that.

WHAT IS RIST? RIST is an interoperable protocol for low latency video contribution via unmanaged networks, including the internet. What that means is that it is a way of delivering lossless broadcast-grade video quality over any type of infrastructure. Most of the organisations using it today are doing so over the public internet, for professional media workflows

such as contribution, remote production, affiliate interconnect, primary distribution and Cloud ingest.

A dedicated working group within the Video Services Forum (VSF) put together a technical specification, outlining the RIST protocol for contribution using unmanaged networks. The aim of RIST is to create an industry wide, interoperable solution that can be implemented by any vendor into its equipment and we are already seeing the result of that, with a wide range of IP video delivery equipment supporting it, from Cloud platforms to encoders, decoders and playout services.

As well as being based on the recommendations outlined in the VSF specification, RIST is the result of leading vendors and global broadcast operators working together. This is a key part of the strategy around RIST because it is only by genuine collaboration at this scale that you can develop something to be truly interoperable. With so many different ways to produce, package, and deliver video and a plethora of different tools available, ensuring interoperability between them is absolutely key.

‘The aim of RIST is to create an industry wide, interoperable solution that can be implemented by any vendor into its equipment.’

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TECHNOLOGY

WHY IS RIST NEEDED? The internet is definitely getting better and at the same time much faster. This means that broadcasters and video providers are suddenly looking to use it for delivering broadcast video, sometimes as a complement to satellite and/or fibre, but in some cases as the only method. We are also seeing a trend for using standard off-the-shelf IT hardware with broadcast grade software From the consumer point of view, they just want to consume the content when and where they want it and have very little awareness of how it is contributed, produced and distributed. All of this means that the internet is suddenly being relied upon to deliver video with the same level of quality as if it were distributed using fibre or satellite.

The challenge there is that the public internet is inherently ‘lossy’. Broadcasters are challenged with delivering low latency, high quality video, no matter how it is distributed. Simply sending over the internet means reduced quality in the process.

Also, internet connectivity is not the same the world over. In certain regions it is less reliable and there are many regions where it varies greatly from one area to the next. If you are distributing across those areas, you don’t want your signal to vary and degrade as it does so.

HOW DOES RIST TACKLE THIS? Using selective retransmission of lost packets, through Adaptive Repeat Request (ARQ) technology, RIST is able to recover information that is lost in transport between sender and receiver. It does so while keeping latency both low and consistent over time, which is crucial in professional broadcast workflows.

While ARQ is far from new, RIST is the first open specification and interoperable implementation that enables the use of ARQ in multi-vendor scenarios.

But RIST does more than just provide an interoperable ARQ implementation for reliable transport over public internet. With the upcoming release of the RIST Main Profile, support for interoperable encryption of content adds a security layer that protects any video being transported.

Other capabilities added are modes for transport of lightly compressed or uncompressed content, reduction of bandwidth usage that contributes

to higher quality video over the same network link, and interoperable support for transporting multicast video over the unicast-based internet.

With these new capabilities the Main Profile builds upon the features of the already existing Simple Profile to provide backwards compatibility, while opening the door for full-scale adoption across the internet.

THE USE CASES Several vendors have already added support for RIST in their products. This includes, but is by no means limited to AWS Elemental, Cobalt, DVEO, Net Insight, Open Broadcast Systems, VideoFlow, and Zixi. A list of certified products can be found on the RIST website.

We have already seen many interesting use cases of RIST enabling IP contribution and distribution. For example, Mankin Media, an audio, video, and lighting systems integration company offering managed services, has built its contribution network over the open internet.

Thanks to RIST, it has reduced its infrastructure cost by 90 per cent and reduced time-to-market for new services by 50 per cent. On top of this, AWS adding RIST support to its MediaConnect service allows the ingest of live video content from any encoding vendor supporting RIST into AWS Cloud services and beyond.

WHY RIST BREEDS INNOVATION Video contribution and distribution is evolving.

Companies need to innovate to stay ahead of the curve and keep consumers engaged. We are already seeing some significant innovations emerging in the way that content is produced, and distributed.

For innovation to be possible, it is important to have a reliable way of getting high quality video content to the right place without quality loss. At the same time, any method needs to be interoperable and enable the industry to come together and build joint solutions to future challenges in broadcast.

With an open specification, any vendor or implementor of RIST is also able to continue innovating on top of RIST while retaining interoperability with others. We look forward to seeing the innovations this open approach will enable in the coming months and years. n

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TECHNOLOGY

JT-NM VISION

Earlier this year, a number of industry bodies came together to launch the Joint Task Force on Networked Media (JT-NM). Ievgen Kostiukevych and Willem Vermost, senior IP media technology architects, EBU T&I; and Andrew Bonney, senior R&D engineer, BBC R&D, explain the JT-NM’s role and what happened during its recent test

W

hile many broadcasters and vendors are busy implementing SMPTE standards into their workflows and technology, work has already begun on the next phase of IP implementation. The Joint Task Force on Networked Media (JT-NM) was created and is currently sponsored by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and the Video Services Forum (VSF).

The aim of the Joint Task Force on Networked Media (JT-NM) is to: n Help manage the IP transition n Collect user requirements n Identify gaps in technology n Recommend best practices n Coordinate industry activity

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WHAT THE TEST INVOLVED The first JT-NM Tested programme offered documented insights into how vendors’ equipment aligns with the SMPTE ST-2110, ST 2022-7 and SMPTE ST-2059 standards. It has proven that the SMPTE ST 2110 is a go-to standard for the media over IP transport. However, as described in the “EBU Pyramid” (pictured above), having just a media transport without an open control plane is not enough. We decided that the next iteration of the programme has to address that.

Therefore the second iteration of the programme included three types of tests: n Data plane: Basic SMPTE 2110 behavior (this time with (UHD formats) n Control plane: AMWA NMOS and JT-NM TR-1001-1 behaviour n Cyber Security Vulnerability Assessment

TECHNOLOGY The official sets of tests were: the data plane (media transport) – the ST 2110 test plan and catalogue; and the control plane – the NMOS/TR-1001 test plan and catalogue.

One of the goals of the programme is to encourage the industry to address all the layers of the EBU Pyramid and NMOS is certainly a piece of the puzzle. The JT-NM TR-1001-1 mandates the use of NMOS IS-04 and IS-05 and adds even more standard IT protocols to enable the enduser to manage their ST 2110 installations efficiently.

While IS-08 is not mandated by the TR-1001-1, it is required by the EBU Pyramid. Therefore we decided to include it.

The data plane ST 2110 test plan was expanded to include UHD testing, more sophisticated ST 2022-7 (multiport redundancy) testing.

The UHD testing was as extensive as HD testing, however, unfortunately, there were not a lot of devices that were submitted for UHD testing.

THE RESULTS The results of the tests are so-called ‘badges’ (pictured right). The green version is the SMPTE ST 2110 JT-NM Tested Badge and the red is AMWA NMOS/JT-NM TR-1001-1 JT-NM Tested Badge. Vendors are able to display the badges and use them for their marketing of a device if the results of the tests of that device were published in one of the open catalogues.

THE ST 2110 BADGE TESTS REVEALED: n 31 out of 71 devices received 100 per cent pass rate n All but 22 devices achieved over 90 per cent pass rate across the board n The worst test results were ST 2022-7 related n 21 per cent (7 in total) failed the 2110-21 test. This is critical in order to have interoperability and reliability n 26 per cent (9 in total) failed to deliver an SDP file or delivered a faulty SDP file n A lot of products are still struggling with RTP timestamping, this can be linked to the ambiguity in the standard n There are still not a lot of UHD-capable products THE AMWA/NMOS BADGE TESTS REVEALED: out of 34 devices received 100 per cent pass rate n 20 out of 34 devices received 100 per cent pass rate for NMOS IS-04 and IS-05 n All but 4 devices achieved over 90 per cent pass rate across the board n LLDP had the worst results with a 39 per cent pass rate for management interfaces n DHCP support was better: 92 per cent support on management interfaces, 78 per cent support for media interfaces n Almost 8,000 individual tests were carried out, with around 90 per cent carried out using automated means n Very few common failures across devices beyond items which simply hadn’t been implemented n6

THERE WERE SOME ISSUES WITH: UUID consistency

n IS-04

PICTURED ABOVE: Andrew Bonney, Ievgen Kostiukevych, Willem Vermost

n IS-05

changes taking effect in streams and use of IGMPv3 source filters We observed DHCP configuration confusion across Nodes with multiple network interfaces n

IMPACT ON THE INDUSTRY Whilst the JT-NM Tested event acts as a snapshot in time for equipment capabilities, it also acts as a focal point for vendors to improve their implementations. All vendors who participated in the August event were required to publish JT-NM Tested Event IP Showcase the software or firmware which they used at the event by the IBC2019 start of IBC. As a result, any users or facilities with existing equipment which underwent testing should already be able to upgrade to take advantage of the improvements seen during the testing process.

For users who may currently be planning new facilities and conducting procurements, the results should provide key guidance as to which vendors are engaged in supporting JT-NM Tested Event IP Showcase the various standards and specifications. This should provide IBC2019 immediate assistance in the selection of products which will ensure a smoother deployment.

PHASE TWO? We are currently evaluating the possibility of repeating the JT-NM Test once again. The event may take place in early March 2020 in the US. The scope of the programme will be expanded even further. The cybersecurity assessment will become an official part of the program.

We will include more workflow-oriented testing and some additional NMOS specifications.

VALUE OF THE TESTS The results of the Tested events are supposed to drive the industry forward. We stay in close contact and collaboration with standardisation bodies and of course we expect that certain progress will be made. We are currently discussing the potential revision of JT-NM TR-1001 that may include IS-08. The EBU Pyramid should also be revised to adapt to new challenges, as more and more broadcasters decide to go full IP. There is definitely a need for publication of best practices and technical recommendations and the EBU will be working very closely with JT-NM in this field. n

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THE FINAL WORD

THE FINAL WORD Google’s head of broadcast and entertainment for the UK and Ireland, Justin Gupta, has this month’s final word

How did you get started in the media tech industry?

I have always been fascinated by how technology can be used to deliver media. As a child, I was captivated by Ceefax, the text information service from the BBC and it inspired me to learn more about information technology and TV distribution. Throughout my life I’ve been setting up computers and televisions for friends and family and I always dreamed of making this into a career. I started working at Sun Microsystems, the computer hardware vendor that were part of the dot com boom - making the computers which powered the early internet.

How has it changed since you started your career?

Unfortunately the dot com bubble burst and I moved to the BBC. I got the opportunity to fulfil my ambition and work at BBC Interactive on Red Button TV services - including Wimbledon Interactive and Digital Text, the update to my beloved Ceefax! By 2002, the service had been given a visual overhaul from its teletext roots, but was essentially still limited by the content being broadcast. Nowadays though with the ubiquity of the web, everyone has access to news and video content at the touch of their fingertips.

What makes you passionate about working in the industry?

It has never been a more exciting time to be a TV viewer - and that’s been enabled by streaming technologies, new devices and user interfaces and internet powered means of production and distribution. The result has been the creation of a global market of high quality and increasingly diverse content. The technology in itself is interesting, but the business opportunities in both driving efficiencies and growing distribution are exciting too.

If you could change one thing about the media tech industry, what would it be?

We’re too focused on product features versus how products can solve real world problems, which is confusing for customers and is doubtless leaving opportunities unmet. The most compelling presentations in media tech are stories showing how people have put technology into practice in order to deliver better services for their end customers.

How inclusive do you think the industry is, and how can we make it more inclusive?

We can do better. In engineering functions in particular, media tech

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companies tend to lack gender diversity, although we are seeing a better balance in female leadership. Media tech does have a broader ethnic representation (in particular from the Asian community) than some other industries. Diversifying hiring pipelines is one way to ensure you are attracting underrepresented talent (e.g. women in tech) - but the real challenge is making people feel psychologically safe and empowered when they arrive - and a lot of that is about educating people about their biases and ensuring there is a culture of inclusion.

How do we encourage young people that media technology is the career for them?

Participating in efforts to get kids interested in STEM topics is one way the industry can help create awareness of the huge diversity of careers in media and technology. There is huge variety in roles - both technology and people facing - from product development, user experience design, project management and business development. If you can identify people with a passion for media tech at a young age, that’s half the battle - there will be roles that are suitable for them in these companies when they are ready.

Where do you think the industry will go next?

TV is starting to break free from the living room - my prediction is that screens will start appearing everywhere: windows, coffee tables, fridges; driven by lower-cost screen technology. It will enable more content consumption and may even drive different sorts of content creation.

What’s the biggest topic of discussion in your area of the industry?

Diversity, equity and inclusion are big topics right now. As well as driving wellbeing and retention, it’s good for the bottom line - more diverse companies are more successful as they are able to better understand their potential customers and generate a variety of ideas.

What should the industry be talking about that it isn’t at the moment?

Sustainability. With so many services now delivered on-demand, all businesses need to consider their broader impact on the environment and the world. n

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