Hybrid Distribution, Multiple Application
Thomson's ViBE encoder is one key to H2B2VS applications
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.
This is the idea behind a R&D project which began in January 2013 and finalises this October. Members include Alcatel-Lucent Spain; Civolution; Turkish mobile operator Basari, NAGRA and Finland Telecom co-ordinated by Thomson Video Networks as part of the inter-governmental EUREAK network.
It is on show in the Future Zone at IBC2015.
Some 20 business and technical applications have been identified for the hybrid broadcast/broadband distribution in the snappily named H2B2VS project.
There's a sign language application, for example. According to Thomson Video Networks' project coordinator Raoul Monnier, the penetration of sign language video services is slowed down because everyone, hearing-impaired or not, is forced to watch them. This drawback comes from the way the sign language video translation is inserted in the main programme. It is done in the control room. With H2B2VS, the broadcast programme remains unchanged but the broadband network is used to carry the sign language translation. Only hearing-impaired people will watch it and the insertion is done by the TV set at the end-user’s request.
The hybridity enabled by H2B2VS allows access to several TV services on different devices simultaneously. In this case, the end-user has a mobile application which is capable of receiving different kinds of highlights of live programmes. The highlights can be for instance a goal in a football game from a chosen view angle. When the highlighted event occurs, the end-user gets a notification in their second screen device and can select to watch the clips or share the stream on social media.
The goal of watching media in the home on different devices requires that that media be paused and re-watched on the screen the user desires. The technology developed by the H2B2VS team allows this with no external hard disk drive: everything is in the network.
See Thomson Video Networks at IBC stand 8.F16
You might also like...
Microphones: Part 10 - Mid-Side (M-S) Recording And Processing
M-S techniques provide useful sound-field positioning and a convenient way to check mono compatibility. We explain the hard science behind this often misunderstood technique.
Microphones: Part 9 - The Science Of Stereo Capture & Reproduction
Here we look at the science of using a matched pair of microphones positioned as a coincident pair to capture stereo sound images.
Microphones: Part 8 - Audio Vectorscopes
The audio vectorscope is an excellent tool for assuring quality in stereo sound production, because it makes the virtual sound image visible in the same way that a television vectorscope allows the color signals to be seen.
Microphones: Part 7 - Microphones For Stereophony
Once the basic requirements for reproducing sound were in place, the most significant next step was to reproduce to some extent the spatial attributes of sound. Stereophony, using two channels, was the first successful system.
IP Security For Broadcasters: Part 12 - Zero Trust
As users working from home are no longer limited to their working environment by the concept of a physical location, and infrastructures are moving more and more to the cloud-hybrid approach, the outdated concept of perimeter security is moving aside…