June 2017 - More Than Technology

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TVBEurope Supplements

June 2017

More than technology Why the mix of technology, services and expertise is the real enabler to building brands and audiences

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www.pro.sony.eu/imageipworkflow

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More than technology Technological innovation has never been more exciting, but it’s just an enabler for business transformation, argues Richard Scott, had of media solutions at Sony Professional Solutions Europe. Today, success is measured by helping customers build their brands and attract bigger audiences

S

ince joining Sony I’ve enjoyed a fascinating shift in perspective. Looking in from the outside, I’d long been an

admirer of Sony for the excellence of its products – all the way from acquisition and production, from news through to cinema.

“By harnessing the power of our open IP technology we can give content creators a big payoff in terms of greater flexibility, resilience and economies of scale.”

Now I’m here, what’s truly exciting is how fast

Back in January, BBC Studioworks announced

we’re moving to offer our customers genuinely

it had chosen Sony to deliver 4K over IP in

innovative solutions that transform the entire

its Television Centre studios at White City in

media supply chain.

Central London. IP makes real sense in this

There’s one thing that’s become clear to me.

kind of environment, where resources are

As a company today we’re about so much

being constantly reconfigured to suit very

more than technology. That’s not to overlook

different requirements, from sitcoms and

our innovations in image, IP and workflow that

entertainment to large live scale productions.

are helping content creators deliver consistently

IP gives unprecedented flexibility: just as

better looking pictures for less. But that’s just

importantly, it meshes smoothly with the

the baseline. Our wider mission is helping our

BBC’s legacy infrastructures without disrupting

professional customers to build their own brands

their established workflows. And naturally

– and build audiences, too. And there are three

it’s futureproof, opening up a commercially

key ways we’re making this happen.

compelling pathway to HDR and other industry

Firstly, we’re empowering amazing storytelling. That idea of ‘stories’ embraces a

developments that are just around the corner.

Coupled with developments in pure IP,

huge range of narratives – right the way from

we’re building virtualised media applications

news gathering, drama and sport to top-

that can reside entirely in the cloud. A great

models. That’s something that comes in direct

end cinematography for the world’s leading

example of this is Media Backbone Hive,

response to pleas from our customers to

film makers. So whether you’re talking about

our unified content platform that drives

help them pivot away from capital-intensive

4K, HDR or high frame rates, we’re helping

multi-platform production and delivery. Hive

purchasing of hardware and services to pay-as-

content creators connect with viewers on a

re-invents news production around open

you-go models that are kinder on companies’

more intimate, more emotional level. A great

source technologies and an agile cloud-

cashflow. It’s also a far more flexible approach

example of this is our HDC-4800 camera system

based datacentre model, breaking down

that’s typically manifested through SaaS or

that captures ultra high frame rate images in

the sluggish, restrictive silo-based approach

some kind of managed services agreement.

4K HDR for the smoothest, most extraordinary

of old. This allows news-makers to streamline

This is something where we’re seeing a big

super-slo mo footage you’ve ever seen. It really

their operations – and re-connect with modern

uptick in interest right now. There are lots of

is quite beautiful, and it’s giving broadcasters

audiences who grab their phones the moment

advantages from a purely operations point of

and rights owners a whole new creative palette

a story breaks, rather than waiting for the

view, and of course it’s a strategy that’s very

to enrich sports production.

nightly ten o’clock bulletin.

attractive to CFOs, too.

As an industry we’ve always talked about

Secondly, we’re enabling advanced cloud-

“Coupled with developments in pure IP, we’re building virtualised media applications that can reside entirely in the cloud.”

change. But it’s a conversation that surely

broadcasters and content creators a big

This idea of hosting applications in the cloud

excited today about taking conversations

payoff in terms of greater flexibility, resilience

leads on to the third area where we’re focusing

with our customers to the next level – and

and economies of scale that the IT world has

a lot of energy at Sony right now. We’re

successfully tackling real business challenges in

been enjoying for years.

building very attractive dynamic businesses

profoundly new ways.” n

native media operations. There are two distinct dimensions to this. In terms of hardware-based production infrastructures, we’re managing the smooth migration from SDI through to IP. And by harnessing the power of our open IP technology we can give

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resonates now more than ever. Broadcasters are reaching out for help to reconnect with lost audiences who are being lured away by other platforms – OTT, social and more. At Sony we’re immensely respectful of the past. Equally, we’re

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Recapture lost audiences Break the news first across all platforms with Media Backbone Hive.

It’s time to reconnect with your lost audience in a more cost effective way. As viewers look to the internet, mobile and social media for their news fix, broadcasters can now reclaim this ‘Lost Audience’ with Media Backbone Hive, a Unified Content Platform linking everyone within the organisation to enable unified news production. One production system to deliver stories faster across multiple platforms online, TV and radio. No more silos.

No more duplication of effort. And lots more flexibility.

Media Backbone Hive

WINNER

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Find out more pro.sony.eu/lost_audience 22/05/2017 16:40

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Believe the hype

prefer the HDR representation of the scene over its lower dynamic range counterpart.”

Broadcasters and Internet streaming service providers are responding to this demand. Netflix and Amazon Prime already create and stream

Consumers like it, creatives love it – suddenly everyone’s talking about HDR.

content with HDR. And with industry-wide standards for production and delivery to the

Of all the next generation imaging technologies

image that’s more detailed – and the result is

home in place, broadcasters are progressing

being talked about right now, High Dynamic

more natural looking pictures.

numerous real-world trials. At the same time, HDR

Range (HDR) is the step-change in television

Content creators love the additional artistic

quality that’s considered most likely to provide

freedom that HDR offers: but are consumers

viewers with the ‘wow’ factor.

interested? Yes they are - absolutely. When you

The deeper blacks, brighter highlights and

televisions have hit a price-point that makes them a viable option for many homes.

Producing content with HDR right now has

show viewers an HDR image side-by-side with

minimal impact on costs, and needs only subtle

richer colours afforded by HDR add increased

a standard dynamic range picture, more often

changes to existing operations. Cameras and

realism to moving images and help make

than not they prefer the HDR one. But don’t take

workflows are now available for HDR production

content significantly more immersive. And

one manufacturer’s word for it. The Warwick

across all budgets. So if you’re activity considering

contrary to what you might have heard, HDR

Manufacturing Group (WFG), an academic

HDR – or if you’re still sceptical – we’re right here

isn’t about making TV pictures brighter. It takes

department at the University of Warwick, has

to answer your questions. Whatever your starting

advantage of a modern television set’s ability to

conducted research into HDR images. Its findings,

point, Sony can help you make the move to HDR

show pictures with a greater contrast between

in a paper called ‘A study on user preference of

as your trusted partner, providing all the expertise,

the blackest blacks and the whitest whites. And

high dynamic range over low dynamic range

training, technology and solutions you need for a

it uses that extra dynamic range to present an

video’, show that “given the option, end-users

smooth HDR journey. n

As featured in TVBEurope’s March issue, Sony, along with other technology partners, supported Vatican Television Centre (CTV) during its live coverage in 4K HDR of the Ceremony of the Closing of the Holy Door in November 2016 by his Holiness Pope Francis.

CTV used 12 HDC-4300 cameras and a Sony HDR S-Log3 production system, as well as an MVS-7000X switcher and the PWS4400 replay server. The Hybrid Log-Gamma profile was used for delivery with distribution taking place via Eutelsat’s HOTBIRD satellites.

Globecast provided the satellite uplink using the HEVC compression format while Ericsson, NTT Electronics and Vislink supplied the encoding and decoding equipment. The broadcast was made available on Channel 200 of the Tivùsat free satellite platform. Dario Edoardo Viganò, Prefect of the Secretariat for Communications for the Holy See, commented, “This is a state of the art set up that reflects Pope Francis’ aim to keep up to speed with the rapid developments in global technology, to support the Catholic Church’s communication mission.”

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Embracing the change Moving from legacy SDI infrastructures to IP Live brings many benefits… and the transition can be a lot smoother than you’d think.

The way we produce live broadcast television

bandwidth costs are coming down every year

is changing. On one hand, our much-loved

and already deliver speeds faster than we

SDI environments have just about reached

actually need. What’s more, IP makes it possible

their technical limits. And on the other, today’s

to reduce the amount of cabling needed for

standard computer processors can now perform

live production. But cost is just one factor. An

almost all of the tasks that a live production

IP-based infrastructure built on open standards

infrastructure requires. So the next time content

lets content creators and broadcasters flex to

creators refresh their OB trucks, studios and

meet future business requirements. Once you’ve

broadcast facilities, it’s unlikely their shopping

installed your IP pipe you can pour just about

lists will include specialist SDI boxes and cables.

anything down it – video, audio, metadata and

Instead, they’ll be buying Consumer Off The Shelf

consumer data. And unlike SDI, an IP-based

(COTS) hardware and faster Ethernet networks.

live production network is format agnostic, and

In short, live production is moving to IP. And for

doesn’t have to be upgraded to accommodate

many that transition cannot come soon enough.

new resolutions or frame rates. IP technology also

Broadcasters today are under increasing pressure to create more and better quality

enables audio and video streams to become omnipresent in the production ecosystem.

content, against tighter constraints on cash,

Where connectivity was previously point-

facilities and staff. This demand is becoming

to-point, now everything can be multiplexed,

almost impossible to meet in our legacy SDI

opening up possibilities for flexible workflows

world. There’s a clear business case for moving

that can be re-shaped in minutes. And then

to IP. And it’s one that comes down to cost

there’s remote production. With less crew on

and flexibility. Thanks to the huge scale and

site, centralised resource sharing and simpler

development speed of the IT industry, COTS

logistics, remote production offers up incredible

hardware evolves faster and is cheaper than

possibilities – and even promises to be better

specialist broadcast kit. At the same time,

for our environment. n

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Why Sony for IP Live?

Still wondering which vendor can help you move to live IP? Here are five great reasons to choose Sony – so you can be Ready Today, Open for Tomorrow.

1. We offer flexible, interoperable solutions based on open standards.

Sony’s large portfolio of IP-native high-end open production solutions is interoperable with a complete ecosystem of systems within the IP Live Alliance.

2.We can make your life easier with the Live System Manager Simplify your migration to IP by letting our LSM do a lot of the hard work for you, from IP address setting to device configuration.

3. We deliver industry-wide, non-Sonyspecific training Our training courses do provide guidance on using Sony systems but they concentrate on IP live production in general, giving course attendees a full and honest insight into how to successfully put in place and manage IP-based workflows.

4. We’ve got a rich history of innovation.

We’ve been developing IP-based production technology for more than 15 years: and today we want to share that know-how with the industry to help it to make the move successfully to IP. 5. We’re here for the journey From initial consultancy and planning to technical implementation, operational support and training, Sony’s Professional Services division can design and deliver a solution that complements your business goals and ensures a smooth migration to IP-based live production.

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Re-connecting with lost audiences Media Backbone Hive is Sony’s unified content platform that helps news-makers reach audiences across multiple platforms with unprecedented speed and efficiency If you work in TV news you’ll be aware of one

the gap. But it’s also resulted in an inefficient,

In today’s fast turnaround world, this agile, efficient

indisputable trend: your audience is declining.

siloed news operation – with different teams

and adaptable approach to news production

Times have changed, and the way we consume

using different systems and different resources

could be the difference between locating that lost

news has evolved. Where nightly TV bulletins or

to produce variations of the same content for

audience – and losing it forever. n

hourly radio reports would traditionally provide

different outlets.

the most complete – and often only – source of

This results in work and technology being

current affairs, information is now available every

needlessly duplicated. It’s inefficient, and it’s

second of the day.

expensive. Faced with these hurdles, broadcasters

From live streamed video reports to tweets

typically face two options: continue to lose

on your mobile, tablet or smart TV, it’s the online

audiences or spend more money trying to keep

world where stories break today, with television

them. Fortunately, there is another way. Now

broadcasters then providing extra context and

it’s possible to entice back that lost audience,

detail. The millennial generation, in particular, look

with a lower cost base and fewer silos. And it

to the Internet and apps first. According to UK

requires a Unified Content Platform (UCP) that

regulator Ofcom, more than 60 per cent of 16-24

links everything and everyone within a news

year-olds get their main daily news fix that way.

organisation together.

But this isn’t a wholesale shift away from

Imagine a TV station needs to cover a breaking

traditional broadcasting to online: nearly 90

story throughout Europe. Without a UCP, with

per cent of British people aged 55 and over

news teams and journalists working in isolation, it

still get their news from the TV. Instead it’s a

would be complex, time-consuming and costly.

dispersion of audiences, with Ofcom suggesting

With a UCP, however, that station can share

the average consumer now uses 3.5 different

content, allowing regional teams to tailor it for

sources for their news. This democratisation of

their audience and across all platforms. And this

news provision might be great for those of us

includes mobile journalists out in the field, who can

keen to know what’s happening in the world. But

collaborate with the rest of the team using the

for broadcasters it’s become a real headache.

same resources and tools.

Not only are they competing with each other:

At Sony, that UCP is Media Backbone Hive –

they’re also competing with this migration to

our network production system that’s built on a

other, often quicker, sources of news by what’s

future-ready UCP. Customisable, cloud-native and

now considered to be the ‘lost audience’.

scalable, it can be deployed on-premise, in the

In an attempt to entice them back,

cloud or a combination of the two. With a host of

broadcasters have changed their modus

built-in tools and compatible with third-party ones,

operandi. They’re refreshing newsroom systems,

it lets journalists, producers and editors collaborate

while investing in dedicated online and social

from anywhere in the world, breaking the story first

media teams and tools to get news out quicker

across online, TV and radio. No more silos. No more

and onto more platforms. This has plugged

duplication. And far more flexibility.

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Hive - How does it work?

• Integrated assignment and planning tools automatically send assignments directly to the news crew or a mobile journalist’s camera, linking and structuring key assets.

• Web-based dashboards provide operational insight, real-time business intelligence and remote monitoring and support.

• With its multiple ingest capabilities, Hive intelligently routes video inputs to the right places, making a proxy instantly available to all users.

• Hive updates newsroom systems with new content, linking metadata to news content.

• Full integration with wireless cameras lets journalists begin editing with proxy footage as soon as it’s shot. Packages can then be switched to using high res files once they’re available.

• Hive handles any file type, format or resolution, whether it’s video, audio or other types of data.

• Simple and advanced logging options let users add markers in real time, building metadata that’s immediately usable.

• Journalists can quickly search the entire newsroom system to find what they need – current or archived content, or material arriving in the moment.

• Stories can be created wherever they’re needed, in a web-based environment or remotely in the field.

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IP Live production Ready Today, Open for Tomorrow www.pro.sony.eu/IP

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Your teams can Grow your Brand.

We’re simply here to help them do it.

From freelancers to global broadcasters, emerging start-ups to growing corporations, customers from all over the world have trusted Sony Professional for over 40 years to transform their media operations.

Why? Because our unique mix of technology, services and expertise allows us to be a true business partner, working together to deliver innovative and transformational solutions to help them achieve their goals.

Let’s Re-imagine the Future of Media Production together. www.pro.sony.eu/imageipworkflow @SonyProEurope

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