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Jünger Audio reached its 25th year in business this year but, unlike other broadcast equipment manufacturers hitting similar milestones, did not make a big fuss about it during IBC 2015. Instead it concentrated on two major technology announcements that tie in with major trends in the TV industry today: immersive audio and automation. These developments mark collaborations with research institute Fraunhofer IIS and graphics/studio systems developer Vizrt. They also show how Jünger Audio has moved with the technological times from its early days of designing analogue and then digital compressor-limiter units.
IBM subsidiary Aspera significantly expanded its presence at IBC this year to highlight its growth in video transport and cloud storage.
The Great Courses has partnered with ViewLift, a technology platform for delivering content to web, mobile and OTT, to introduce a new video learning service later this year.
As online video comes of age, it must match legacy broadcast services for traditional features such as consistent access to subtitles. This will be a focus of separate demonstrations at IBC 2015 from the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) and Institut für Rundfunktechnik GmbH (IRT), the research arm of German broadcasters ARD, ZDF and DLR, along with Austria’s ORF and Swiss public broadcaster SRG / SSR.
Matrox Video has announced Monarch HDX Dev Tools, a set of tools for streaming and recording linked to the Monarch HDX H.264 encoder.
Screen Subtitling Systems has released their subtitle transmission system Polistream as Virtual Machine, Bring-Your-Own-Device and OPEX Rental options.
PlayBox Technology, known for its channel-in-a-box products, has developed CloudAir a software as a service that streamlines workflows to deliver TV from the cloud. It is claimed to dramatically lower the capex cost of running established and start-up television channels. Tata Communications’ has ordered the solution for its cloud-based playout service. PlayBox has a technology demonstration featuring it at IBC.
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.
Video over IP for live production is set to be the most pressing issue at IBC and beyond. At stake, a new methodology for transporting data from site to plant, around a studio and live to air. It promises cost savings in a move to COTS, a scalable path to 4K, HFR, HDR, object-oriented audio, 8K and practically anything else. In response, Net Insight argue that it is a misconception that live over IP is not proven, while admitting that IP based solutions have reached different levels of maturity for different aspects of production. Here’s the rest of what Alexander Sandstrom, Strategic Product Manager at Net Insight has to say:
