IP: inevitable, integral & invaluable
Elemental Statmux
architecture.
MULTI-CODEC, MULTI-
RESOLUTION STATISTICAL
MULTIPLEXING
A statistical multiplexer is used
to analyse the frame-by-frame
complexity of incoming video
across multiple sub-channels,
while a bitrate controller sets
the target bitrate levels of each
encoder so that their total
matches the full bandwidth
available.
Elemental Statmux is a
statistical multiplexer designed
to accommodate current linear
TV workflows with a close eye on
the future.
With Elemental Statmux and
encoding from Elemental Live,
new choices and opportunities
arise for determining an ideal
mux pool. Support for mux pools
that contain mixed codecs such
as MPEG-2 and HEVC/H.265 or
H.264 and HEVC/H.265 allow
QAM optimisation for both
existing services as well as new
services. The addition of multi-
resolution support advances the
idea of statistical multiplexing by
enabling new services, including
the creation of mux pools
containing 4K/UHD channels
along with HD and SD channels,
allowing network operators to
thoroughly optimise bandwidth
usage.
In contrast to most hardware-
based equipment, Elemental
Statmux can potentially operate
as part of a linear TV solution
embedded within the encoder
or as a standalone system.
The advantage of having an
embedded statmux is that it not
only requires minimal rack space,
but can also be easily duplicated
to a standby system for full
redundancy.
FULL-SYSTEM REDUNDANCY
FOR MAXIMUM UP-TIME
In traditional linear TV
deployments, failures were
historically limited to a single
channel because a single
hardware encoder was used for
each individual channel. More
recent and powerful encoders
support multiple channels in a
single system. Channels from a
multi-channel encoder system
with an input or power failure
must be switched over to
redundant systems, manually or
automatically, with minimal or
no signal loss depending on the
system design.
Due to the timing and
complexity of failover situations,
it is extremely important to
eliminate dependence on the
content characteristics of the
channels. However, redundancy
usually comes at the cost
of configuration complexity,
rack space requirements, and
operating expenses.
With software-defined video
processing, linear TV processing,
network and storage resources
can be dynamically provisioned
for video encoding, muxing, and
other linear TV delivery functions.
Service upgrades, channel line-up
changes and system maintenance
tasks can be performed without
any downtime by switching live
functions over to redundant
hardware or virtual machines.
Elemental software runs on
Linux and has been deployed
by more than 600 Elemental
customers. The Linux operating
system eliminates the need for
the occasional restarts required
by Windows solutions while
simultaneously reducing the
deployment time for spinning up
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THE GROWING DEMAND FOR
SOFTWARE-DEFINED VIDEO
INFRASTRUCTURES
There are many reasons linear TV
providers may need to upgrade
their infrastructure, including
natural cyclical equipment
updates or the introduction of
new services such as 4K/UHD
TV broadcasts or advanced
live-to-VoD. Relying on dedicated
hardware is becoming an
increasingly complicated and
unattractive strategy for most
providers, compared with using
software platforms that are
more flexible and scale with
increased demand for expanded
ADVANCED CONFIGURATION
services. Software solutions from
AND NODE MANAGEMENT
Elemental support MPEG-2,
Elemental Conductor
H.264 and HEVC/H.265 and
management software offers
include statistical multiplexing
the features and functionality
required by pay-TV operators for with the ability to mix resolutions
and codecs on the same mux
live workflows. New capabilities
channel. This opens many
such as bulk actions that allow
different possibilities for pay-TV
multiple channels to be stopped,
started and edited simultaneously operators and enables a smooth
migration path from legacy
simplifies management of
standards.
hundreds of channels while
Leading cable and satellite
ensuring configurations are
operators are using software-
synchronised. The combined
defined video processing to
capabilities of template-based
enable multi-screen TV as well
channel configuration and
secure authentication capabilities and traditional linear delivery.
Unifying these workflows to take
provide confidence that all
advantage of the synergies in
channels are configured with the
operations and processing is a
desired settings by authorised
logical next step.
users.
As the price-to-performance
Likewise, audit logs provide
ratios of off-the-shelf hardware
insight into the changes made
continue to improve and private
by authorised users. Manual or
automatic failover switching with cloud IT capabilities mature,
customer-defined conditions add the business case for shifting
traditional video encoding
a layer of redundancy control
and multiplexing to software-
required for maximum reliability
defined video infrastructure has
and is one of the layers of
redundancy control implemented continued to expand and the
number of operators doing so
within the Elemental solution
has grown.
ecosystem.
additional software-based nodes.
The flexibility and scalability
of Elemental software provides
many other types of redundancy
configurations including 1+1, N+1,
and M+N, which are required
for more advanced services and
complex use cases. Redundancy
solutions are designed to cover
all services from traditional
managed network delivery to
multi-screen delivery and for all
resolutions from SD to 4K/UHD.
The result is maximum reliability
and minimised costs for ongoing
maintenance.
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