At IBC, Synamedia, the world’s largest independent video software provider, will unveil a torrent of new additions to its video network (formerly video processing) portfolio designed to ratchet up the quality and cost effectiveness of live streaming. New solutions will also help customers make more intelligent use of virtualization and cloud, as well as smooth service providers’ infrastructure transformation journey to IP.
As the industry moves closer to achieving synchonized latency between live broadcast and OTT streams at scale, Synamedia will show a real-world use case with a latency from content ingest to display on the OTT device of just 6 seconds, which is equivalent to broadcast latency. This is made possible by incorporating Common Media Application Format (CMAF) to reduce workflow complexity and enable bandwidth-efficient, highly scalable delivery across the whole technology infrastructure to ABR-aware client devices including a low-latency DASH device. Synamedia will also unveil plans to support Apple’s Low Latency HLS protocol.
Also on display will be a demo of Synamedia’s virtualized Digital Content Manager (DCM) with Smart Rate Control showing how automation using machine learning can optimize quality levels across the entire footprint to deliver a premium live OTT viewing experience cost effectively.
Flexing its R&D credentials, Synamedia will use IBC to preview content-aware encoding, fuelled by AI and machine learning techniques. The demo will show a new content-aware encoding algorithm that incorporates information such as program recurrence, program similarity and genre taken from sources such as program guides and the IMDb database. Using pattern matching techniques, operators will be able to predict the required quality/bitrate per program (or event) to optimize the encoding. Applying machine learning techniques will hone the encoding algorithms to further minimize the number of bits used, while maintaining premium video quality.
Operational workflow efficiencies will also be in the spotlight at IBC, with the launch of the PowerVu Insights module for video operations teams in the distribution segment. It incorporates a set of monitoring, analytics and remote troubleshooting tools for IP-connected receivers to help customers monitor the video distribution chain and drive greater efficiencies.
Synamedia is helping customers boost operations with enhancements to its cloud workflow optimization tools. With a new automation feature for Synamedia Converged Headend, customers can find the right balance between on-premise, public/private cloud and hybrid deployments to optimize OPEX and CAPEX. New for IBC is a partner-enabled range of monitoring dashboards that let customers monitor every part of the processing and delivery chain, helping to control costs and optimizing the end-user experience. Synamedia integrates its solutions with best-in-class third-party products from companies such as Agama and Telestream to offer customers proven ecosystem solutions and services.
Synamedia will also highlight how it can increase uptime by isolating channels using its cloud-native containerized microservices approach. This allows customers to specify how resilience is handled based on each channel/program’s characteristics. For example, for premium content this might require building two synchronized channel container pipelines so that if the original source fails there is no impact on viewers.
Providing more detail on the news outlined in its IBC preview press release from July 2019, Synamedia is also introducing:
- Five compute node variants that come pre-installed with a range of updated applications for its virtualized DCM including Packager and Origin Server. Over 1,000 customers running more than 25,000 DCM appliances now have a smooth migration path to a software-only environment - and a flexible, cost-effective, on-demand consumption model.
- DCM support for Distributed Access Architecture (DAA) with Remote PHY, a building block for cable operators looking to futureproof their networks. Part of Synamedia Converged Headend, DCM offers cable operators a single, converged, virtualized component that lets them seamlessly move video flows from QAM to IP at their own pace. Offering a smooth migration path to virtualized DAA, Synamedia’s Converged Video Core will help customers unlock more bandwidth per subscriber while reducing OPEX.
Julien Signes, senior vice president at Synamedia said, “We understand the challenges pay-TV and D2C providers face as they look to grow their business in a rapidly changing, competitive market, and are continually innovating and fine-tuning our end-to-end video network technologies to give customers that extra competitive edge. Helping customers to boost workflow efficiencies, cut costs and transform their services on prem, in the cloud or in a hybrid model is in our DNA. At IBC we will be showcasing a whole raft of innovations that will help them do just that.”
