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 ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

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

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

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 ...

25/04/2026

Mediagenix Sweeps 2026 NAB Awards With Wins for Product of the Year and Best of Show for Scheduling Optimization

Mediagenix Sweeps 2026 NAB Awards With Wins for Product of the Year and Best of ...

25/04/2026

SCHOEPS Microphones Announces Desert Island Boom Set for NAB 2026

SCHOEPS Microphones Announces Desert Island Boom Set for NAB 2026 Brie Clayton April 24, 2026 0 Comments Compact modular set ideal for location sound ...

25/04/2026

Berklee Africana Studies Hosts Gospel Extravaganza 2026

Berklee Africana Studies Hosts Gospel Extravaganza 2026 The Signature Series event will honor three new inductees to the Berklee Gospel Hall of Fame and celeb...

25/04/2026

Student Spotlight: Siva

Student Spotlight: Siva Maja Gierszewska, who performs under the artist name Siva, shares how she found her songwriting confidence at Berklee. April 24, 2026...

25/04/2026

WNBA Offers Free Streaming of all Preseason Games

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

24/04/2026

Churchill Downs Inc. Acquires Preakness Stakes for $85 Million

Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) has announced a definitive agreement to acquire the intellectual property of the Preakness Stakes and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes from 1/...

24/04/2026

Inter Miami CF Opens Miami Freedom Park with 26 LED Displays From Daktronics, DCL

Daktronics has partnered with DCL (Design Communications, Ltd.) to design, manuf...

24/04/2026

NAB 2026: Chyron Launches PRIME Translate for Multi-Language Live Production

Chyron has announced PRIME Translate, a workflow solution that produces live content simultaneously in multiple languages within the PRIME platform. The system ...

24/04/2026

Eutelsat Supports Co-op Cable in Launching Expanded DTH Offering Across the Caribbean

Eutelsat has announced a new partnership with Co-op Cable, introducing an expand...

24/04/2026

Pitch Dublin Deploys Panasonic Laser LCD Projectors for Indoor Golf and Hospitality Venue

Pitch Dublin, an indoor golf simulation and hospitality venue on Dawson Street i...

24/04/2026

G&D and VuWall Appoint Mirko Aubel as EVP Sales EMEA/APAC, Eric Hnique as Chief Revenue Officer

G&D and VuWall have announced two senior leadership appointments, effective Apri...

24/04/2026

Victory+ Becomes Exclusive Local Streaming Home for Minnesota Lynx

Victory , the free sports streaming service from A Parent Media Co. Inc. (APMC), has announced a multi-year agreement to become the exclusive local streaming ho...

24/04/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Jason Weitz, University of South Florida

The former business major from Massachusetts has found his home in graphics and bug operation while contributing to live ESPN productions In the live-sports-vi...

24/04/2026

MASN and Spectrum Announce Multiyear Carriage Agreement

The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) and Spectrum have announced a multiyear carriage agreement making MASN available to Spectrum customers in areas of southe...

24/04/2026

Case Study: 4Wall Entertainment Powers 2026 NFL Draft on NETGEAR AV Line Network

The NFL Draft is rebuilt from the ground up in a new city every year. The three-day fan festival is expected to draw 500,000 or more attendees, with millions fo...

24/04/2026

Diversified Continues Live Sports Expansion, Supports Mobile TV Group Ops Center Buildout

Diversified has continued expansion of its sports and media capabilities to supp...

24/04/2026

NAB Show 2026 Is In The Books! Our Coverage Continues at SVG's SportsTech@NABShow Blog

NAB reports that the 2026 NAB Show wrapped with more than 58,000 registered atte...

24/04/2026

NAB 2026: Clear-Com Announces Updates to Arcadia Central Station and Eclipse HX with New ARC Architecture

Clear-Com has announced significant updates to its Arcadia Central Station and E...

24/04/2026

NAB Reports 58,000+ Registered Attendees at 2026 NAB Show, Up From 2025 but Down From 2024

NAB reports that the 2026 NAB Show wrapped with more than 58,000 registered atte...

24/04/2026

Ratings Roundup: NHL Sees Best Regular Season Average Since 2013; CBS Sports Secures Most Watched Final Round Masters

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...

24/04/2026

Bleacher Reports Live NFL Draft Stream Builds on Record-Breaking Audience With Player-Driven, Interactive Production

B/R NFL Draft Live' refines the digital giant's productions around footb...

24/04/2026

Sportradar Report: The Viewing Experience Is the Product' as Sports Media Enters New Era of Personalization, Data-Driven Storytelling

Study highlights five pillars shaping modern fan engagement as broadcasters reth...

24/04/2026

ESPN/ABC, NFL Network Prepare for Record-Setting NFL Draft Presentation From Pittsburgh

The 2026 event, the first Draft with NFL Network under the ESPN umbrella, will b...

24/04/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 12: Detroit Lions' Jessica Shlemon - Motor City Football at Ford Field

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

24/04/2026

Van Wagner Brings Warhol-Inspired Pop Art Vision to NFL Draft Videoboard Production

Integral to the Draft production for three almost decades, the company tells the...

24/04/2026

Film Festival Watch: 17 Sundance Institute-Supported Films to Screen at the 2026 Hot Docs Festival

Championing documentaries that illuminate and expand the artform is at the core ...

24/04/2026

Audiobooks About Climate, Conservation, and the Stories They Inspire

Earth Day is a chance to reflect on our connection to the natural world. To mark the 57th Earth Day on April 22, Spotify's editors have pulled together a co...

24/04/2026

From Page to Stage: Spotify Celebrates Storytelling at the LA Times Festival of Books

This past weekend, Spotify was at the heart of the largest literary event in the...

24/04/2026

What 20 Years of Spotify Data Reveals About Our Listeners

All data tells a story, and in our case, that story is written by you. To celebrate 20 years of Spotify, we're sharing bite sized moments that capture how t...

24/04/2026

The Look Behind the Sound

Over the past 20 years, Spotify's look and feel has evolved with the way people use our platform, while ensuring we preserve an intuitive, personal, and fam...

24/04/2026

Spotify at 20: The Most Streamed Music, Podcasts, and Audiobooks of All Time

It's been 20 years since Spotify began, but the real story is what the world chose to play. For the first time, we're unveiling the most streamed artist...

24/04/2026

Spotify Brings Music and Podcast Recommendations to Claude

Whether you're relaxing at home or on the go, Spotify is there across more than 2,000 devices, ready with your favorites or something new to discover. Now, ...

24/04/2026

Nintendo and Spotify Bring Nostalgia with New Super Mario Galaxy' Playlists

Nintendo and Spotify are welcoming fans to the Super Mario Bros. 40th anniversary and the release of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie with new playlists and a speci...

24/04/2026

AES Show moves to Nashville

30 October - 1 November 2026 The Audio Engineering Society (AES) have announced that the AES Show 2026 will be held on Halloween weekend - Friday 30 October...

24/04/2026

Sennheiser introduce the HD 480 Pro

New closed-back design promises honest' low end Sennheiser have just announced the launch of a new pair of flagship closed-back headphones which they s...

24/04/2026

Cre8audio unveil the Programm

Powerful 12-channel hardware sequencer announced Cre8audio are renowned for their innovative, and often visually striking designs, and although their latest...

24/04/2026

IK Multimedia ARC X Immersive arrives

Room correction now supports full 9.1.6 Dolby Atmos setups The software element of IK Multimedia's room-correction system has just received an update th...

24/04/2026

VSL announce free Big Bang Orchestra expansions

New content for BBO Tutti & BBO Riffs VSL have recently introduced some new free content expansions for two of their most popular Big Bang Orchestra Packs: ...

24/04/2026

Rohde & Schwarz to highlight its R&S EVSD1000 UAV-based navigation analyzer at IFIS 2026

Rohde & Schwarz to highlight its R&S EVSD1000 UAV-based navigation analyzer at I...

24/04/2026

Call for NFVF funding applications to attend Film Festivals and Markets taking place from 01 30 June 2026

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...

24/04/2026

Andrea Riseborough & Ashley Walters To Star In ITV Thriller First Woman' About Race To Find Missing Astronaut

ITV's Director of Drama Polly Hill has commissioned six part propulsive, lun...

24/04/2026

NASA Receives L3Harris' Modified Next-Generation Research Aircraft

The NASA 777 aircraft departs the L3Harris facility in Waco, Texas....

24/04/2026

L3Harris Closes $1B Investment from Department of War in Missile Solutions Business

WASHINGTON, April 23, 2026 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE: LHX) has closed a $1 b...