Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB) October 2016 • Volume 33, Issue 9 | Page 29

❝ Wireless networks are continuing to get better , resulting in the transmission over bonded cellular becoming the standard way of gathering content .❞

October 2016 DISTRIBUTION 29 ansmission & e productions

❝ Wireless networks are continuing to get better , resulting in the transmission over bonded cellular becoming the standard way of gathering content .❞
— Bogdan Frusina , Founder & CTO , Dejero
data SIM cards from multiple local mobile operators for immediate live broadcasting . This allows 3G and 4G / LTE networks to be bonded with Ethernet or Wi-Fi for optimisation with a local wireless infrastructure .
Since its launch at the start of the year , sports broadcasters such as Fox Sports , 11 Network Sports and Encompass Digital Media have been using Ideal-Live to cover
many live events , including the F1 racing and English football matches , reveals Mc Kiernan .
Ideal-Live offers a number of services — from a simple transmitter rental for live news and sports events to more managed services with engineering support for events in the field . The service requirements from different operators , naturally , are varied ,
says Mc Kiernan . “ Some want the 3G / 4G data bundled with the rental , while some ask for a mix of purchase and rental of equipment ,” he elaborates . “ We have also engaged in a number of live corporate events such as seminars and product launches with multi-camera productions being switched and pushed live to YouTube and Facebook .”
In the long term , both Ideal Systems
and Dejero see continued growth in the live event and live production markets .
“ At the same time , we are seeing the migration of live coverage to bonded IP technology over Internet and 4G in a move away from more expensive satellite-based services . Due to this , we ’ ll continue to invest in the expansion of our services to our customers ,” Mc Kiernan concludes .

Go small or go home

BY JP DELPORT
The appetite for content is prompting manufacturers to explore every avenue to reduce the size of physical devices — to make them smaller , faster and more energy efficient without sacrificing performance . This drive extends from working out how to compress the business end of an outside broadcast ( OB ) truck into a single flight case to HD transmitters that a child can easily handle . None of this would have been thought possible just a few years ago , but a lot has changed . Today , miniaturisation is a competitive necessity .
For electronic newsgathering ( ENG ) in particular , the move to produce lightweight , compact systems that enable a reporter to double as a cameraman , arriving at a scene , setting up and reporting — in minutes with no need for a separate engineer to establish connectivity — is crucial . Speed to air is allimportant today .
Although the quality requirements of news , sports and live events continue to diverge , the need for rapid access to provide new story-telling perspectives with reliable technology remain similar . Fortunately , the miniaturisation of technology is almost keeping pace with the need for it , but you have to know where to look .
Miniaturisation offers discretion , easier integration and much more freedom of movement . Static cameras still have their place , but audiences want to see news and events not just from places they have never been before , but from compelling points of view that make them feel engaged and “ there ”.
To achieve this , cameras and their transmitters are trending towards lighter , smaller and increasingly robust wireless transmission systems . This gives broadcasters the ability to cover news , events and sports in ways that establish new benchmarks for creative work .
Domo ’ s new SOLO7 OBTX transmitter is a good example of a transmitter specifically designed for creative ENG applications . It docks neatly onto all types of ENG cameras to enable them to follow the most extreme flavours of news or sports without falling at the first hurdle .
But let ’ s not forget IP . Everyone is aware that IP is dramatically altering the broadcast landscape , including wireless transmission systems . Wireless transmitters that include IP-connectivity are the way forward for those transitioning to IP-based infrastructures . Our SOLO8 SDR takes this into account by including IP connectivity as part of its exceptionally high density of connectors . With its software-defined ability to perform multiple functions , the SOLO8 SDR reduces the need to find , or source , pesky bits of technology that were forgotten and left back at base .
An example of this is how the SOLO8 SDR supports dual HD-SDI inputs plus USB and Ethernet I / O interfaces , and the Ethernet interface supports IP video streaming . This combination makes the SOLO8 SDR an all-in-one IP encoder , front-end recorder and COFDM TX .
The transmitter also includes an ISM radio band telemetry receiver that enables return command and control that can not only be used to control in-built recording and power the unit on and off , but also has a return data link with sufficient capacity to support camera commands for colour and other parameters . Wired or wireless , cameras can be controlled remotely by an industry standard remote control panel ( RCP ). This is a key enabler in allowing mini-camera systems to be integrated into broadcast environments .
And it ’ s that integration that has , in the past , been the problem . Stringing cables for many OB applications is nonsensical , and while many wireless approaches used to be unreliable and produced poor picture quality , this is no longer the case . Besides the SOLO7 OBTX modular camera back transmitter , we are now developing a new module that interfaces directly within the SOLO7 OBTX , transforming this already feature-rich radio into a class-leading ENG transmitter based on our SOLO8 SDR platform .
The functionality that this radio offers for ENG is , to me , staggering . It provides full bidirectional communication and control from camera to studio , which means that
Wireless and IP : At IBC 2016 , Domo Broadcast highlighted a range of wireless transmitters that include IP-connectivity .
production teams can move many of the command , control and creative functions right back to a studio or OB truck , therefore substantially reducing the costs of live news production .
We have already trialled this new module in live applications and are delighted with the results . What all of this means is that a complete evolution of wireless technologies is under way . New technologies and applications for RF and IP will introduce surprising new production options . We have led the way in those developments and look forward to sharing them with the wider world .
The bottom line is that the ability to get information from a camera back to base “ as quickly as possible ” is no longer good enough . There ’ s no “ as possible ” about it . “ Now ” is the name of the game , and if you want to stay competitive , I would suggest that now is the time to get small to go large .
JP Delport is Sales Director at Domo Broadcast Products .

NEC helps TV Globo trial 8K terrestial broadcast system

For its coverage of the recent Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro , Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo trialled a live 8K terrestrial broadcasting system .
Tooru Watanabe , general manager , broadcast and media division , NEC Corporation , described to APB the two 8K signals that were produced by TV Globo . One 8K signal was transmitted over optical fibre from the datacentre of Globo . com , a Globo group Internet company , to the Museu do Amanhã auditorium in Rio de Janeiro . There , an audience of 250 were treated to an 8K experience of the Games through a 300- inch TV screen and a 22.2 channel audio channel .
The other 8K signal was transmitted through a prototype of the 8K digital terrestrial transmission system using a transmitter station in Rio de Janeiro to an exposition booth at the Museu do Amanhã named Experiencing tomorrow — The evolution of television in Brazil . In an 8K room at the booth , visitors enjoyed immersive 8K video transmitted over-the-air via a 98-inch TV screen .
Declaring the trial to be a success , Watanabe detailed : “ One of the key technological challenges for this 8K transmission trial was to realise live transmission of a large amount of 8K signal data — which has 16 times higher resolution than the HD digital format — over an existing digital TV transmitter system .
“ The key takeaways were that we were able to prove that 8K live transmission over-the-air is feasible , and we were able to showcase a possible future for 8K digital terrestrial TV services .”
The opportunity to participate in the trial , Watanabe concluded , will also enable NEC to reinforce its efforts towards the expansion of next-generation broadcasting services “ beyond full HD and well into the future ”.