Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

A timely migration to the cloud for motion compensated frame rate conversion

22/09/2022

James Shepherd, CTO, InSync Technology, takes a look at how frame rate conversion can help broadcasters meet the ever-growing demand for high-quality content

By Contributor

Published: September 22, 2022

James Shepherd, CTO, InSync Technology, takes a look at how frame rate conversion can help broadcasters meet the ever-growing demand for high-quality content

target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>

Meeting the demand for perfect high-quality content is something all broadcasters have at the front of their minds, but nowhere more so than during live events, where anything less than the best fan experience is critical. Even the slightest jerky motion, pulsing, flickering, ghosting or other visible defects is unacceptable to fans and advertisers alike. Motion compensated frame rate conversion analyses adjacent frames, detects, and calculates the movement of objects within the scene, creating new frames with appropriate object placement and display timing while converting content from one frame rate to another.

The main use cases for frame rate/standards conversion are linear channels with ongoing demand, assets that need to be distributed to different markets in different formats, and events-based content such as live sports. While ongoing services are not always financially viable in cloud environments, it is in the latter case where we see the greatest degree of demand with significant spikes around major events, such as the Olympics or major golf and tennis tournaments. Due to its highly specialist nature, this demand also comes all at once.

For many areas of the broadcast chain, while the migration to cloud is the ultimate destination, we will not be there for a few years yet. The huge spikes in demand are what make motion compensated standards conversion for premium live sports an exception. Traditional hardware-based solutions are not well suited to these high-volume peaks; adding capacity not only means a huge cost outlay, but in most live environments, where space is at a premium, also requires additional footprint.

When we are talking multiple, concurrent sporting events, the issues are further compounded. As broadcasters meet demand for new services and drive to give sports fans the best possible experience, with multiple camera angles, etc., demand for frame rate conversion spirals even higher and hardware is just unable to keep up.

The cloud answers these demands very neatly, delivering a degree of agility and scalability that hardware simply cannot match. Cloud services eliminate the need for costly capex-based infrastructures and allow broadcasters the flexibility of paying only for what they actually use, as and when needed. Additionally, almost unlimited CPU processing power allows processing to be scaled rapidly and cost-efficiently.

Meeting pain points While customers are keen to sweat their investments as effectively as possible, their hardware is becoming more difficult to maintain. Added to the need for flexibility, the availability of high-quality motion compensated standards conversion in the cloud has come at a timely point, just as many existing hardware assets approach end of life. Broadcasters are now looking at how these assets will be replaced, and with what.

In parallel, with so much of the IP transport and delivery workflow now residing in the cloud, it is an enormous operational inconvenience to bring those IP streams back to an on-premise facility, where hardware decoders take them back to baseband SDI for conversion before being reencoded and pushed back to the cloud. This adds latency which in a live environment must be kept to the bare minimum; the last thing audiences and broadcasters want is for a critical piece of action to appear on social media first. Any additional encoding/decoding cycle also results in a quality impact for the end user.

These pain points were driving the industry to look for answers even before the pandemic, which has only taught us the vital importance of having flexible capability built into systems. We are also able to benefit from the fact that so much of the IP and cloud workflows have already been established. Until recently, motion compensated frame rate conversion has been the missing piece; we expect it will be plainer sailing for customers to make the transition here than in other operational areas.

Anything to do with motion compensated standards conversion has traditionally been the preserve of a handful of specialists and so has been waiting its turn to get focus from the industry at large.

A vital niche The main challenge is ensuring the teams that will be deploying the solution work with it; they need to go through the proof of concept (POC), and confirm they are happy that the necessary controls, monitoring, and backup provision are of an equivalent quality and stability to the previous hardware solutions before deployment.

Of all the processing that has moved to the cloud, motion compensated frame standards conversion remains one of the most demanding and unique, exceeding even the most advanced codecs in terms of complexity. As a result, a big part of our job as a technology partner is building awareness around the growth in complexity that server-based technology can address and solve. InSync brought the FrameFormer standards conversion software engine to market and demonstrated live IP motion compensated standards conversion using CPU-only technology in 2019.

It might have been one of the last on the list to migrate to the cloud, but motion compensated frame standards conversion is by no means least the technology is available and is working now. We have shown that we deliver a quality result across the full breadth of customers' content property, providing complex technology in a plug-and-play format. We have seen an incredible response from broadcasters to ou
LINK: https://www.tvbeurope.com/media-management/a-timely-migration-to-the-c...
See more stories from tvb

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

01/04/2026

DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION

January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...

20/03/2026

The Gauge: Poland | February 2026

After a series of increases, February brought the first slowdown in time spent in front of TV sets in a long time. While traditional television was losing viewi...

20/03/2026

Eric Wolff Joins Chyron as Director of Venues Sales, North America

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/03/2026

Study: Broadcasters Rebuild Live Operations Around IP

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/03/2026

Matt Conrad Acquires DSC Labs

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/03/2026

Glensound celebrates its diamond anniversary at NAB Show

60 years of audio innovation, driven by the people who use it...

20/03/2026

FCC Approves Nexstar's Acquisition of Tegna

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/03/2026

Icesi names Ronald David Reyes as the 2025 recipient of t...

Colombia's Icesi University and WSDG are proud to announce Ronald David Reyes as the recipient of the 2025 WSDG Excellence Scholarship, awarded to an outsta...

20/03/2026

Celebrating the greatest creators - One Battle After Ano...

Avid today celebrated the filmmakers, editors and sound teams that worked with Avid Media Composer and Pro Tools to create the vast majority of this year'...

20/03/2026

MRMC Names CP Communications Its Official U.S. Rental, Sales Partner

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/03/2026

FOR-A To Feature Software-Defined, AI-Driven Solutions At 2026 NAB Show

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/03/2026

2026 NAB Show Exhibitor Insight: Riedel Communications

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/03/2026

DirecTV Files Suit to Block Nexstar/Tegna Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/03/2026

Fujifilm Announces Four New Broadcast Zoom Lenses

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/03/2026

NAB 2026: Software-Defined, AI-Powered Workflow Tells the...

Real-time 9:16 AI-Generated Autocropping; Software-Defined Station in a Box; and Software Switcher with Unlimited Layering Are Among Show Highlights For the fi...

20/03/2026

Signiant Showcases New Content Innovations Driving Visibility, Access, and Action at NAB 2026

Signiant Showcases New Content Innovations Driving Visibility, Access, and Actio...

20/03/2026

Caffeine Relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for End to End Post Workflow

Caffeine Relies on DaVinci Resolve Studio for End to End Post Workflow Brie Clayton March 19, 2026 0 Comments Blackmagic Cloud helps Mexican post faci...

20/03/2026

It's time to play The Money List! Baz Ashmawy is back at the helm as the quiz returns for a fourth season

It's time to play The Money List! Baz Ashmawy is back at the helm as the qui...

19/03/2026

The Rise of Streaming, Particularly for Sports, Revives Loudness Issues

Live sports production increases complexity, with dynamic audio levels and an overall philosophy that encourages transient volume spikes Fourteen years ago, Am...

19/03/2026

Advanced Systems Group Names Peter Thordarson as Technical Account Executive

Advanced Systems Group, a technology and services provider for media creatives and content owners, announced the appointment of Peter Thordarson to the newly cr...

19/03/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Arya Taymuree, University of Washington

For this senior from the Bay Area, the speed and pressure of live sports production play right into her strengths In the live-sports-video industry, the future...

19/03/2026

Grass Valley Expands Partnership with University of Pittsburgh Athletics, Upgrading Production Infrastructure to SMPTE ST 2110 IP

Grass Valley has expanded its long-term partnership with University of Pittsburg...

19/03/2026

Audio-Technica Debuts ATV-SG1 and ATV-SG1LE On-Camera Shotgun Microphones

Audio-Technica has released the ATV-SG1 and ATV-SG1LE On-Camera Shotgun Microphones, designed for use with DSLR, mirrorless SLR, and other cameras. The ATV-SG1...

19/03/2026

NAB 2026: Harmonic Enhances XOS Advanced Media Processor to Streamline Next-Generation Broadcast Distribution

Harmonic (booth W2831) announces updates to its XOS Advanced Media Processor aim...

19/03/2026

DAZN and Top Rank Sign Multi-Year Rights Deal to Bring Marquee Events and Historic Archive to the Global Home of Boxing

DAZN and Top Rank have announced a multi-year partnership that will bring Top Ra...

19/03/2026

IHSE and Cyviz Announce Strategic Partnership

IHSE, a provider of KVM systems, has announced a partnership with Cyviz AS, a provider of technology solutions for collaboration and mission-critical operations...

19/03/2026

Net Insight appoints Larissa Grner-Meeus as Chief Product Officer (CPO)

Net Insight has appointed Larissa G rner-Meeus as Chief Product Officer. She joins the company's executive management team. G rner-Meeus holds a Dipl-Ing. ...

19/03/2026

Leader Appoints Rob Stanley as Regional Sales Manager UK & Northern Europe

Leader Electronics of Europe has appointed Rob Stanley as Regional Sales Manager for the UK and Northern Europe. In the role, he will manage key accounts and ha...

19/03/2026

FIFA and YouTube Team Up in FIFA World Cup 2026 Preferred Platform Agreement

FIFA has announced that YouTube will be a Preferred Platform for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Under the agreement, FIFA's Media Partners will be able to publis...

19/03/2026

Upgrade to NCAA March Madness Live App Expands Multi-Game Viewing, Enhances Second-Screen Experience

New features across mobile, connected devices, and automotive platforms undersco...

19/03/2026

PSSI Global Services Welcomes Ben Bradshaw as Director of Product and Network Development

PSSI Global Services has appointed Ben Bradshaw as Director of Product and Netwo...

19/03/2026

NAB 2026: Cobalt Digital to Unveil Additions to End-to-End IPMX and ST 2110 Ecosystem

Cobalt Digital has announced its NAB 2026 product lineup, which includes additio...

19/03/2026

Sportradar Releases Industry Outlook on the Future of U.S. Sports Viewing

Sportradar has released a new report, Innovation in Sports Media: The Next Era of Sports Viewing, examining how the sports viewing experience in the U.S. is evo...

19/03/2026

Matrox Video's ConvertIP Awarded in Rai Framework Agreement Supporting IP Modernization Strategy

Matrox Video has been awarded a three-year framework agreement to supply its Con...

19/03/2026

Controlled Chaos: Inside the Mighty Production Engine Behind the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament's First Week

CBS Sports' Jason Cohen and TNT Sports' Chris Brown lead the charge on n...

19/03/2026

Loud and Fun Is the Goal for NCAA Tourney Audio

A1 Dave Grundtvig and his team deploy plenty of mics to capture the sounds and energy from the stands as well the court March Madness is a tournament in which ...

19/03/2026

Spotify Marks 5 Years of EQUAL With EQUAL: The Podcast and Global Events

In 2021, we launched EQUAL, a program designed to address an industry reality that persists: Women artists, songwriters, and producers too often face fewer oppo...

19/03/2026

Toontrack release Transistor Organ EKX

Latest EZKeys 2 expansion arrives Toontrack's staggering collection of EZKeys 2 expansions has grown once again, and the latest instalment delivers a on...

19/03/2026

Roland preview Melody Flip

New generative AI plug-in due in May 2026 Roland have announced the upcoming launch of a new generative AI tool created in collaboration with Sony Computer ...

19/03/2026

Native Instruments CEO Statement

Nick Williams updates users on insolvency process Nick Williams, the CEO of Native Instruments, has released the following official statement regarding thei...

19/03/2026

Milab to restart production

Iconic Swedish mic manufacturer back in action Legendary Swedish microphone manufacturer Milab have announced that production is now fully underway, and mic...

19/03/2026

FT1-EMU plug-in from Freqport

Acclaimed saturation unit goes virtual Freqport's Freqtube FT1 (reviewed here in SOS February 2023) offers a convenient way to integrate real valve-base...

19/03/2026

SGL Carbon: Restructuring ensures earnings forecast and creates basis for new growth

The discontinuation of loss-making business activities as part of the restructur...

19/03/2026

Silicon Valley satire The Audacity premieres 15 April on SBS and SBS On Demand

Silicon Valley satire The Audacity premieres 15 April on SBS and SBS On Demand 19 March, 2026 Media releases From one of the writer/producers of Succession...

19/03/2026

SBS brings communities together at Bondi Pavilion for Harmony Week multilingual broadcast

SBS brings communities together at Bondi Pavilion for Harmony Week multilingual ...

19/03/2026

Clarification from SBS regarding Western Sydney expansion

Clarification from SBS regarding Western Sydney expansion 19 March, 2026 Media releases From an SBS spokesperson: SBS wishes to clarify some media coverag...