Recent Content

Even Google will learn that content is what matters to customers--not Internet speed.

Contents Remains King, Even in the Race for OTT August 31st 2015 - 09:10 AM

Regardless of the business model, supported devices or distribution channels, the success of Internet-delivered television is driven by an age-old truth: content is king, says a new report from Conviva.

Read more

Thomson

Hybrid Distribution, Multiple Application August 27th 2015 - 01:50 PM

Spectrum scarcity is giving TV channels and broadcast operators a real challenge to introduce 4K services for terrestrial television. Combining scalable coding with HEVC and hybrid broadcast/broadband distribution is an answer. In this solution, HDTV transmissions on DTT remains unchanged and an enhancement layer is sent over the internet to allow the TV set or the set top box to decode and display the 4K picture.

Read more

Image courtesy pm-partners group

Decoding IP terminology: Part 1 August 18th 2015 - 10:00 AM

You don’t need a “secret decoder ring” to understand IP terminology. However, if you think that a DAM involves water, that SOAP is for the shower, that PAM is your cousin’s name and ESB is short for Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band, read on. You have some catching up to do.

Read more

GE has given credibility to HEVC Advance

New HEVC Patents Group Publishes Royalty Prices August 14th 2015 - 12:40 PM

A recent pricing announcement by HEVC Advance, one of two groups pooling patents for HEVC compression technology among rights holders, has done little to clarify the situation for device makers. The launch in April 2015 of HEVC Advance surprised many in the industry who are not close followers of the compression field since it had appeared until then that all patents would be administered by another group called MPEG LA.

Read more

Checking the quality of digital media streams

Standards Don’t Answer all the T&M Questions August 13th 2015 - 12:09 PM

Without standards, the world would be a very difficult place to live in. There are many kinds of standards that affect almost every aspect of live – technology is just one of those areas. We can consider language as a kind of standard that allows people in one part of the world to communicate with each other. International finance uses standardised methods of accounting to try to provide a consistent framework for doing business. Currency itself is a symbolic representation of value that we use as a standard for exchange of goods and services.

So we need standards to get on with our daily lives. In our industry and many others, technological development is not regulated or centrally organised; it takes place in a free-for-all where commercial realities hold sway. But in order to build workable infrastructure for a national or international cellular phone system or a broadcasting network, these commercial interests have to be tempered by some kind of framework that allows competing energies to be channeled in roughly the same direction.

Read more

Applied Technology: IP-based Networks for Outside Broadcasting August 12th 2015 - 01:55 PM

The outside broadcast (OB) truck is a microcosm of a studio control room. Placed in any number of settings, from theater productions and sporting events, to one-off concerts and festivals, OB trucks play a crucial role in delivering up to the minute, high quality content.

Read more

Netflix is one of the few networks offering 4K content.

4K Status: Production Yes—Delivery No August 11th 2015 - 12:05 PM

For all of last year’s talk about distributing 4K television to home viewers, there has been little real progress on making it a reality. The only place 4K technology is being used regularly is in some sports production and in the making of premium television programming.

Read more

Myth and Reality of Auto-Correction in File-Based Workflows August 6th 2015 - 03:39 PM

File-based workflows are ubiquitous in the broadcast world today. The file-based flow has brought enormous efficiencies and made adoption of emerging technologies like Adaptive Bit-Rate (ABR), 4K, UHD, and beyond possible. Multiple delivery formats are now possible because of file-based workflows and its integration with traditional IT infrastructure. However, the adoption of file-based flows comes with its own set of challenges. The first one, of course, is - does my file have the right media, in the right format and without artifacts?

Read more

Sponsors