TAG Video Systems takes advantage of over 70,000 globally deployed probing points to give users the ability to dive deep into streaming content monitoring. The company anticipates more than 100,000 probing point deployments by the end of 2021.
In the last article in this series, we looked at why integrated monitoring is a necessity in modern broadcast IP workflows. In this article, we dig deeper to understand what is new in IP monitoring and how this integrates with traditional workflows.
A few years ago, a prominent manufacturer of studio support equipment did something unusual: it went to NAB with an experienced broadcast camera operator to discuss a part of live production that’s invisible when done well. Following a driven golf ball is one of the trickiest tasks in any branch of film and TV, demanding not only skill but equipment which allows people to exhibit that skill.
Television ratings service Nielsen recently released a report that showed streaming platforms pulled in a bigger share of viewers’ time then broadcast networks did. In fact, Netflix and YouTube alone now make up about 12 percent of the time Americans spend in front of their TVs.
Optimization gained from transitioning to the cloud isn’t just about saving money, it also embraces improving reliability, enhancing agility and responsiveness, and providing better visibility into overall operations.
Video, audio and metadata monitoring in the IP domain requires different parameter checking than is typically available from the mainstream monitoring tools found in IT. The contents of the data payload is less predictable and packet distribution more tightly defined leading to the need to use specialist media stream centric monitoring tools.
Doug Deems had 25 years of experience under his belt as a monitor engineer, touring the world with some of the biggest music artists in the U.S., when he became a live broadcast sports A1. “I’m surprised there aren’t more monitor engineers, specifically, that come over to broadcast sports,” he says. “Because there is a lot in common.”
More than 52% of survey participants report at least three-second latency delays or more in their live streaming broadcasts.