Ian Hamilton, CTO, Signiant, looks at the increasing importance of live streaming events at remote locations
Author:
ContributorPublish date:
Aug 24, 2017Social count:
0
Ian Hamilton, CTO, Signiant, looks at the increasing importance of live streaming events at remote locations
0
SHARES
Live streaming of video from events taking place at remote locations, such as sporting events, has become an increasingly important piece of today's media and entertainment world.
Consumers want and expect to be able to see all the action, live, in high-quality video, wherever they are and on whatever device or platform they choose. Increasingly, watching live video streams delivered over the internet has become the normal experience for the motivated fan.
In order to meet this demand, broadcasters and other media rights holders of remote events have massively increased the amount of video content they produce on site, and then had to decide how to deliver it to the CDNs for live streaming to their audiences. Typically, there have been two models for the latter. Either the video is processed for real-time delivery to the CDN (often in a mezzanine quality) on site, or it is brought back in full broadcast quality to a permanent facility, where it is similarly processed and delivered live to the CDN. The at home production model has become particularly popular for some since it reduces the expense of the temporary infrastructure and staffing deployments needed each time they produce a remote event.
Each approach has its pros and cons, but in both cases, there is one common challenge: how to transfer live content from the remote location to the CDN without unacceptable delays or loss of quality, both of which impact the ability of the CDN to avoid passing on the same to the consumer. The challenge is primarily one of cost versus quality (in the broadest sense, meaning the entire end consumer experience when watching the live stream of the event). The cost here is the cost of delivery, which, when we are talking about transporting high quality live video over long distances, can be considerable. Since at a certain point quality becomes non-negotiable, particularly when there is a lot of money and a company's reputation at stake, the normal default position is to spend the money on the transport infrastructure to ensure that the desired quality video is reliably delivered to the CDN in a timely fashion.
Cost enters the picture because to achieve the kind of QoS content providers are looking for has historically required utilising purpose engineered networks and expensive, dedicated, satellite or fibre connectivity. And these connectivity costs scale linearly with the volume and bitrates of the video delivered over them both of which just grow ever larger as the demand for content increases, and as the resolutions of video continue to get higher, up to 4K and beyond. Such costs may be more readily absorbed by the big broadcasters covering major events with mass appeal, but they can quickly become a big hit on the budgets for smaller events, or for smaller companies working with far less resources.
An obvious alternative approach would be to take advantage of the economies of scale, the commodity-based infrastructure, and the open, standards-based, nature of the public internet and cloud technologies, and simply migrate the contribution side of the supply chain to these. This is of course how the OTT distribution side the live streaming to the consumer has been done from the outset, with tens of millions of videos streamed online every day. But there are well developed technologies for optimising the streaming of lower bitrate content, already cached on the CDN, to consumers. The real-time delivery of high quality video streams over the public internet on the contribution side, with its less forgiving QoS requirements, is a greater challenge and has remained a stubborn holdout.
The reason for this is due to limitations within the TCP layer that is built into the architecture of all TCP/IP networks, including the internet. These limitations, deriving from the way in which TCP works, are generally not a problem when sending relatively small data sets over the internet. But the reliability and congestion control mechanisms of TCP do not deal well with moving large data sets such as streaming high quality live video - over long distances, where high latency and packet loss can cause transfers to become slow, or fail entirely. Signiant, and others, have developed technologies to mitigate this problem for the asynchronous transfer of file-based video (or any other data type) content, whether to CDNs for VoD streaming, or for a multitude of other video production, contribution and distribution use cases. By eliminating packet loss and taking latency (i.e. distance primarily) out of the equation, we have developed file transfer solutions that fully utilise the available bandwidth and achieve the kind of speeds and reliability required for moving large files efficiently across long distances over the internet (or any TCP/IP network). Such solutions are in use by most major media and entertainment companies, and many smaller ones, all across the world.
More recently we have migrated this technology to the cloud a movement Signiant pioneered delivering the same accelerated file transfer capabilities as cloud-native SaaS solutions capable of moving huge data sets into and out of cloud storage quickly, reliably and securely without the need for expensive, dedicated connectivity.
At this year's NAB, and the most recent HPA Tech Retreats in LA and the UK, we demonstrated our next generation transport architecture that brings our acceleration technology to standard HTTP(S) transfers. Designed for a cloud-centric, standards-focused world, the recently patented scale-out architecture deliver
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
04/05/2024
NEW YORK As the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month kicks off in May, Nielsen has released an extensive new report diving into their media habits with data sh...
04/05/2024
PHILADELPHIA As National Military Appreciation Month gets underway, Comcast has announced several new initiatives to help veterans, service members, and their f...
04/05/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has announced a tentative agenda for the May Open Commission Meeting scheduled...
04/05/2024
The Broadband Forum has announced major enhancements to key 5G convergence standards that the group said will help advance next-generation applications, improve...
04/05/2024
Spotify Wrapped Campaign Spot Graded With DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 3, 2024
0 Comments
Blackmagic Design today announced that Colorist M...
04/05/2024
Three Boston Conservatory at Berklee Alums Nominated for Tony Awards An additional eight alums and two current students performed in nominated productions.
...
03/05/2024
An innovative learning tool to help media and civil society better understand ho...
03/05/2024
PARK CITY, UTAH - JANUARY 21: (L-R) Actors K stutis Cic nas and Greta Grinevi i t , Director Marija Kavtaradze and Producer Marija Razgute attend the 2023 Sunda...
03/05/2024
If you aren't familiar with Danny Ocean's music, it's only a matter ...
03/05/2024
Spotify has an unwavering commitment to supporting emerging artists across all genres, to helping them launch and thrive in their careers, and to connecting the...
03/05/2024
Como uno de los sonidos de mayor expansi n en el mundo, la M sica Mexicana va m ...
03/05/2024
As one of the fastest-growing sounds worldwide, M sica Mexicana is more than jus...
03/05/2024
NEW YORK FuboTV reported that it lost 110,000 subs in Q1 2024 but it exceeded its guidance for the quarter with double digit year-over-year increases across key...
03/05/2024
Only 3 Weeks Left To Enter The Creative Industries Most Award
Brie Clayton May 3, 2024
0 Comments
Creativepool is giving a last call to the creative i...
03/05/2024
WePlay Studios Transforms the Future of Live Event Storytelling with AJA Gear
Brie Clayton May 3, 2024
0 Comments
By 2032, the esports market is expec...
03/05/2024
WASHINGTON Shannon Bream, Fox News Sunday anchor and chief legal correspondent, sat for a keynote chat at The Business of TV News, with Tom Umstead, senior co...
03/05/2024
WASHINGTON Asked how important is local news, Martha Raddatz, who has covered foreign conflicts for decades and moderated presidential debates for ABC News, s...
03/05/2024
Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management have made a $26 billion cash offer fo...
03/05/2024
CBS announced its 2024-2025 primetime schedule, which features the new dramas NCIS: Origins, Matlock and Watson, and new comedies Poppa's House and Georgie ...
03/05/2024
Sports-focused streaming service Fubo said it reduced its red ink in the first quarter, despite losing 110,000 subscribers since the end of the year....
03/05/2024
Walmart is reportedly about to release a new 4K streaming box/smart speaker hybrid device for Google TV that could retail for as low as $50, according to a repo...
03/05/2024
Enhancements to its Delivery Workspace solution provide increased content delivery robustness and security
By Matthew Corrigan
Published: May 3, 2024
Enha...
03/05/2024
According to reports, if the bid is successful, Sony would be the significant majority shareholder of the new private company
By Jenny Priestley
Published: M...
03/05/2024
Located in Manchesters Spinningfields district, the course aims to equip students with the skills, knowledge and industry insight for a career in the creative s...
03/05/2024
Lightbridge has created a new Cine Reflect Lighting System kit, dedicated to enabling artistic lighting with consideration of today's productivity practical...
03/05/2024
Broadcast media systems integrator BeckTV and Lawo worked together on a large-scale AES67 build of radio control rooms at KPBS, San Diego's NPR and PBS memb...
03/05/2024
Raleigh, NC, April 12, 2024 SmallHD announces PageOS 6, a powerful software update free for owners of SmallHD monitors, featuring increased functionality, exp...
03/05/2024
SmallHD announces the Quantum 32 a new 31.5 OLED monitor designed to provide reference HDR/SDR images for post-production final color grading, as well as cri...
03/05/2024
By 2032, the esports market is expected to grow to $9.29 billion, bolstered by a global player count and fan following that both continue to climb. The 2023 Lea...
03/05/2024
Amagi, the global leader in cloud-based SaaS technology for broadcast and connected TV (CTV), today announced that the 11th edition of the Amagi Global FAST Rep...
03/05/2024
Riedel Communications today announced that Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) is relying on a media and intercom network based on Riedel technology for the renewal of...
03/05/2024
Broadpeak , a leading provider of content delivery network (CDN) and video streaming solutions for content providers and pay-TV operators worldwide, announced t...
03/05/2024
Media technology innovator Limecraft will exhibit the latest updates to its online platform on stand G79 at the 15-16 May 2024 Media Production & Technology Sho...
03/05/2024
Audio interface specialist Prism Sound is partnering with console manufacturer Solid State Logic, professional monitor manufacturer PMC and acoustic panel and d...
03/05/2024
Intinor, Sweden's leading developer of products and solutions for high-quality video over the internet, is set to join forces with its UK partner Zest Techn...
03/05/2024
NAKIVO Inc., a fast-growing software company dedicated to protecting physical, virtual, cloud, and SaaS environments, announced its Q1 2024 financial results to...
03/05/2024
Hiltron Communications announces an addition to its range of satellite communication products and systems: a field-upgradable motorisation kit specifically desi...
03/05/2024
Visit LiveU at Stand D30
With this year an exceptional one for major sporting events alongside multiple, key elections, the power and flexibility of LiveU'...
03/05/2024
Agile Content, the leader in the development of technology and solutions for the provision of television services over the Internet, announces Koldo Unanue as i...
03/05/2024
Eight co-signers representing streaming services, pay TV operators and public interest groups have sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging their Committee...
03/05/2024
BOSTON Brightcove has announced that it has implemented Amazon Q Business, a new generative AI assistant on Amazon Web Services (AWS)....
03/05/2024
NEW YORK CBS has declared that it will finish the 2023-24 season as Americas Most-Watched Network in primetime for the 16th consecutive season....
03/05/2024
A new survey indicates that U.S. businesses and consumers had an overall positive attitude towards their technology spending plans in the first quarter of 2024,...
03/05/2024
Sony and Apollo Global Management have sent an offer letter to Paramount Global's board of directors making an $26 billion all cash offer for Paramount Glob...
03/05/2024
EMG / Gravity Media has appointed Charlie Cubbon chief operating officer (COO) and Jamie Hindhaugh regional CEO for the U.K., U.S., Australia and the Middle Eas...
03/05/2024
Final 2024 Season Games to Air Saturdays on WRAL at 10:30am in May, Championship on June 1
Taping for the final episodes of the 2024 season of WRAL-TV's Br...
03/05/2024
Estrella MediaCo said it is expanding its connected TV portfolio by launching three new channels with Curiosity that will first appear on Samsung TV Plus....
Ian Hamilton, CTO, Signiant, looks at the increasing importance of live streaming events at remote locations
