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www.csimagazine.com
The magazine for global video
TV Broadcast • Streaming • Satellite • Cable • Hybrid
The leading media for video delivery technology
September 2019
Smallsats and more
Blockchain,
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8K TV: why here, why now?
June 2016
• OTT, VoD, Cloud TV, Cable, Satellite, IPTV, DTT, IoT • The latest news, views and features
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Contents TV Broadcast • Streaming • Satellite • Cable • Hybrid
The leading media for video delivery technology
The magazine for global video
24 DTG column
www.csimagazine.com
Ensuring a better future TV experience
TV Broadcast • Streaming • Satellite • Cable • Hybrid
The leading media for video delivery technology
September 2019
Smallsats and more
Blockchain,
26 Blockchain in broadcast
Next-gen codecs
5G in broadcast
The latest progress and use cases
Low latency
streaming
Editor
8K TV: why here, why now?
June 2016
32 Smallsats Goran Nastic
Can the promise outweigh the challenges?
• OTT, VoD, Cloud TV, Cable, Satellite, IPTV, DTT, IoT • The latest news, views and features
1_Cover.indd 1 22/08/2019 12:20:26
Commercial
06 Analyst corner: Disney+ Camilla Capece
One of the biggest experiments in the 38 5G in media: part 1
history of the entertainment industry What will 5G mean for mobile video? Design and production
Matt Mills (Manager)
08 COVER STORY: 8K TV 42 5G in media: part 2 Jessica Harrington
Who needs 8K (apart from TV makers)? Examining the potential of 5G in outside
broadcast and (remote) production Regular contributors
Adrian Pennington, Philip Hunter,
14 Opinion: ATSC 3.0 David Adams, Stephen Cousins,
ATSC president Madeleine Noland provides
48 Q&A: Yahoo Sports Anna Tobin
How it works with the NFL to reach
insight into the new standard
younger viewers and football fans Circulation
Joel Whitefoot
15 Low latency streaming with
52 IBC 2019 preview
Synamedia Accounts
A look at what’s new at this year’s show
Overcoming the challenges of achieving low Marilou Tait, Mohamad Saidani
latency end-to-end
53 Next-gen compression with Editorial
21 Technology corner: CMAF LL V-Nova tel +44(0)20 7562 2401
Navigating the new codec landscape goran.nastic@csimagazine.com
Fraunhofer FOKUS details a concrete
implementation of DASH low latency Advertising
streaming with CMAF 59 Stats corner tel +44(0)20 7562 2438
Euro and US pay-TV data with informitv camilla.capece@csimagazine.com
Subscriptions
Editor’s report: tel +44 (0) 20 1635 588 861
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Circulation manager: joel.whitefoot@
Ericsson CTO Erik Ekudden recently played down talk about 6G, arguing the perspectivepublishing.com
focus should be on moving 5G forward, given that the technology is only just
out of the blocks. Ekudden’s argument comes to mind in the early discussions Subscription rates
around 8K TV. While 4K is not as new or immature as 5G, it still has a long way Per year: Europe £88; UK £68;
Rest of World £98. Cheques payable to
to go in terms of commercial implementations - with many channels globally yet
Perspective Publishing
to make the switch to HD, let alone 4K. Some view 8K as a distraction as 4K finally makes Limited and addressed to the
progress and gathers steam, while others view it as natural evolution and an inevitability. How Circulation Department
do you see it? Speaking of 5G, in this issue we examine the implications of 5G for the media
& entertainment sector, starting with the mobile video experience of consumers, including Printed by Buxton Press
mobile broadcast, before zooming in on the production environment. Goran Nastic Managing Director
John Woods
Perspective Publishing Publishing Director
3 London Wall Buildings
London Mark Evans
2019 EC2M 5PD
www.perspectivepublishing.com ISSN 1467-5935
www.csimagazine.com September 2019 03
News
news in brief Media giants gearing up for streaming
Telus Home Assistant
for TV voice control
supremacy - which one will win?
Canada’s Telus is the latest 2019 has been labelled a builds up the content In Canada, Disney+ will be
operator to launch a Home “hallmark year” for the catalogue, and then could priced at C$8.99 per month,
Assistant and voice streaming industry, the charge $9.99 per month. This or $89.99 per year. Dutch
control. In this case, it biggest shift in the US video would make it more expensive residents will pay EUR6.99
gives Optik TV customers market since Netflix’s push than Disney+ (at $6.99 in the per month, or €69.99 per
with hands-free control into streaming in 2007. This US) but more on a par with year. Australia is set at
using voice commands for is as heavyweight players like Netflix and Amazon Prime A$8.99 per month, or $89.99
their entertainment. As Disney, Apple, AT&T and (Netflix’s lowest tier is 8.99). per year, and New Zealand’s
voice assistant WarnerMedia among others According to Bloomberg, price is NZ$9.99 per month.
technologies become more enter an increasingly crowded Apple is weighing different There is much speculation
commonplace in Canada, field with new streaming release strategies for shows. about what Disney’s removals
the company saw it as a services and direct-to- Apple’s budget for original of titles in particular from
natural fit to integrate consumer (D2C) launches. content has also grown from Netflix will have on the
control over the largest Coinciding with further the original $1 billion to over SVOD trailblazer.
screen in the house for a international rollout and $6 billion as more shows have Allan McLennan of Padem
better user experience. price details of the Disney+ moved through production. Media has described Disney+
Optik TV customers with a launch on November 12, Disney’s new direct-to- as a “game changer”
Google Assistant-enabled Apple is now expected to consumer streaming service Guy Bisson, the lead
speaker or Smart Display debut its own streaming will launch on November analyst at Ampere Analysis,
can pair the new Telus service also by that date. 12 in the US, Canada and labels Disney+ as one of the
Home Assistant to allow Bloomberg reports that the Netherlands. “biggest experiments in the
voice commands to change Apple+ will go live by They will be followed by history of entertainment” and
the channel, launch Netflix November, initially offering Australia and New Zealand a you can read his in-depth
and other apps, search for a free trial to start, as it week later on November 19. thoughts on page 6.
their favourite shows,
pause or turn off their
digital box. It also allows Viacom makes inroads into in-vehicle
customers to manage
accounts with voice. entertainment
The Viacom International Access is acquiring
ViacomCBS sets sights Media Network is making its the rights to make
on DTC streaming TV content available to car linear feeds of these
A long running saga has passengers, one of the first channels available in
come to an end as CBS content providers to make German-language for
and Viacom have decided this move into the connected integration into in-car
that they will, after all, car space. infotainment systems
merge after 13 years apart. Viacom’s popular TV being developed by
CBS will acquire Viacom channel brands such as German car
to form ViacomCBS. MTV, Comedy Central and manufacturers. The
Current Viacom CEO Bob Nickelodeon will be channels available via
Bakish will lead the accessible to vehicle Twine4Car service will be a generation of mobile network
combined entity, with the passengers in German- simulcast of the linear TV technology ushering in a new
deal expected to close by language via the Twine4Car networks that VIMN makes era of connected vehicles and
the end of the year ago. solution from Access available free-to-air in immersive entertainment
The plan calls for an Europe. This will make Germany, featuring the same experiences on-the-go,” said
acceleration of a direct-to- Viacom’s content available content and advertising. Raffaele Annecchino, MD of
consumer strategy, via the car head unit and “Viacom believes in-car VIMN Southern and Western
supported by both both rear-seat entertainment units entertainment is an exciting Europe, Middle East and
subscription and to more deeply engage new frontier for the video Africa. “This deal is the first
ad-supported products. passengers of all ages. industries, with the next of its kind for Viacom.”
04 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com
News
SES looks to the clouds with ONAP news in brief
DT tops 100Gbps over
microwave link
ABI Research expects the
VR market to grow to
$22bn thanks to enterprise
adoption and new
headsets, as well as make a
deeper push into the M&E
sector. A new report from
ABI Research likens the
VR market to a roller
Satellite operator SES is powered by its fleet of MEO the globe, according to the coaster ride of ups and
taking its business to the and GEO satellites. SES will companies. By deploying downs. Unlike the ill-fated
cloud, together with Amdocs also be able to serve its open, cloud-based network 3D market, VR will
and Microsoft Azure. broadcast, telecom, corporate automation and succeed, but widespread
SES is creating an open, and government customers orchestration, the goal is to adoption will take longer
standards-based network with applications and make satellite networks a than expected to evolve,
automation and service technologies such as seamless extension of the the reports argues.
orchestration platform, built SD-WAN, WAN optimisation, global communications “Contrary to some
on Open Network high security, and Unified ecosystem. opinion, VR is not in the
Automation Platform Threat Management, creating “Our vision is to make same situation as 3D TV,
(ONAP). Using the Amdocs more value for its customers. satellite-based networks a which never really took
NFV solution, SES said it will The satellite company is seamless and wholly off,” said Michael Inouye,
modernise and automate its implementing ONAP with integrated part of a global, of ABI, which expects the
network platforms in the Amdocs on Microsoft Azure, cloud-scale network VR market to hit an
cloud. SES said this will making SES the first ecosystem. Central to this inflection point within the
make it the first satellite customer to use Amdocs vision is an open, automated next two years, but remain
network solutions provider to NFV for SD-WAN on operational environment outside the collective
adopt ONAP, an open Microsoft Azure. Through that allows our customers mainstream audience for
software platform designed this approach, SES will be to easily create and some time.
for orchestrating the creation able to extend network deliver new, innovative
and delivery of new services services and activate services anywhere,” said In-home WiFi devices
in an automated operational virtualised network functions SES networks CEO pass 5bn mark
environment. quickly and at scale, JP Hemingway. A new wave of WiFi smart
For example, this will accelerating time-to-market Will other satellite home devices is about to
enable SES to rapidly build and improving service agility operators follow suit in the drive adoption towards a
network solutions that are for customers anywhere on company’s lead? total of 17 billion home
devices in use worldwide
IBC hosts MovieLabs 2030 Vision by 2030, according to new
research from Strategy
Motion Pictures Laboratories, discusses the need for the The results of this Analytics, which estimates
together with member studios, industry to work together research on media tech that nearly 5bn home WiFi
published a new white paper now on innovative new disruption will for the first devices are now in use
presenting an industry vision software, hardware and time be publically discussed around the world. The
for the future of media production workflows to at IBC, when MovieLabs leading home WiFi
creation technology and next- support and enable new ways will be presenting a keynote standard today is WiFi 5
gen workflows by 2030. to create content over the panel, titled ‘Hollywood’s (802.11ac), accounting for
The paper, jointly authored next ten years. Cloud services Vision for the Future of three quarters of 2019
by MovieLabs and technology and software-defined Production in 2030’, on device sales. WiFi 6 (ax),
leadership teams from workflows are two key Sunday 15 September, will account for a third of
Hollywood studios, looks at overarching trends identified bringing tech leaders from 5 device sales by 2023,
future technology and into the next decade. big Hollywood studios. dominating thereafter.
www.csimagazine.com September 2019 05
Analyst corner
The great Disney offer with ESPN for sports and
Hulu for general entertainment.
The family strategy or streaming
experiment: Disney+ channel bouquet is something that
has not been tried in the streaming
market to date, but for Disney, it
and the studio means the $6.99 a month price
point for Disney+ (widely analysed
by market commentators for under-
direct revolution cutting Netflix), is actually just the
start of the customer value story
and the revenue potential of Disney’s
B
By Guy Bisson Disney has yet to embark on its
promised huge marketing and awareness
wider direct move.
Of course, with an already crowded
y the end of this campaign that will push the service pre- streaming market where the typical
year, one of the launch, but (with Fox) the group US SVoD home already takes three
biggest experiments already owns enough high profile SVoD services, the place of Disney+
in the history of the brands and content franchises to within the wider home entertainment
entertainment have made an impression with its bundle will be crucial. Ampere’s
industry will be streaming plans. regular consumer survey shows that
underway. Disney+, A survey carried out in the US by Netflix is usually the foundation
the family pillar of Disney’s grand Ampere in June 2019 shows that stone of in-home streaming bundles
ambition to go direct will have awareness of Disney+ is highest among and other services are layered on
launched, and consumers will be 18-24 year olds (45% of this age group top, but rarely taken alone. Asking
getting their first taste of the new say they have heard of Disney+) and specifically about how homes
service and the content it has to homes with children, illustrating an would engage with Disney+ showed
offer. That description may sound obvious but important point about that 65% of consumers interested
melodramatic, but after 100 years Disney+ and the wider group strategy. in the service intended to take it in
of history, the major studios will Disney+ is part of Disney’s direct plans, addition to other SVoD services.
for the first time take their own not the be all and end all. Disney+ will Eighteen per cent said they would
content direct to the end viewer. I’d be one of a family of streaming services replace one of their existing SVoD
call that a seismic industry shift. that Disney will manage, augmenting its services with Disney+ and 17%
said they would see
Disney+ as a replacement
for multiple SVoD services
in the home.
Disney+ and other studio
services are likely to give a
second wind to the US
Source: ilikeyellow / Shutterstock.com
streaming market which has
otherwise slowed in terms
of the number of services
homes are stacking.
Content will be key to that
boost and — with the
addition of
Fox franchises — is one of
Disney+’s key strengths,
even as it gradually
unwinds its existing
licensing relationships.
Ampere’s Disney+
attitude survey shows that
06 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com
Analyst corner
63% of respondents are aware of at least
one of Disney’s core content franchises
with Pixar being the strongest in terms
of awareness (44% of respondents know
the brand). Star Wars (27%) and
Marvel (25%) rank second and third.
Interestingly, respondents mistakenly
associate a number of key brands that
have no relation to Disney or Fox with
Disney+. Chief among these are rival
Warner’s Harry Potter and DC Comic
franchises and Universal’s Jurassic
Park. The halo of the Disney brand it
seems is engulfing its Hollywood
neighbours, presenting both a benefit
and a challenge. Disney will need to be
clear in its content messaging as it DISNEY+ AWARENESS
begins the service roll-out.
Among legitimate Disney content
franchises, interest is spread across age
groups. The Marvel franchise has a twin
peak for interest among 18-24 year olds
and 35-44 year olds picking it as the
content most valuable to them while
Pixar content is most appealing to
25-34 year olds, the group also most
interested in Disney animated films and
Disney TV shows, doubtless driven by
the likelihood of this age group to have
younger children. The Star Wars
franchise is an interesting one for
Disney. Peak interest for Star Wars is
among 35 to 44 year olds, a group just
shy of being old enough to have seen STACKING DISNEY+
the original 1977 cinema release (now
dubbed Episode 4). Star Wars will be
key for Disney in extending the age
appeal of Disney+, although its other
streaming channel brands will also help
broaden overall appeal of the wider
direct play.
Disney has set an ambitious target of
60m-90 million subscribers by 2024,
with 20m-30m in the US. On current
interest levels, that would be a fairly
ambitious target, requiring all of the
respondents to Ampere’s interest survey
that said they were highly likely or likely
to sign up for the service to actually
follow through. But with Disney’s own
marketing push yet to come, awareness
and interest in the new service can MOST VALUABLE CONTENT
only rise.
www.csimagazine.com September 2019 07
8K TV
8K: Why here, why now? resolution of 7680×4320
pixels, which is four times
more than 4K and 16 times
With the tools for 8K production and display that of full HD.
For William Cooper, founder of
in place, the hurdles of distribution and consultancy Informitv, 8K
standardisation now lie between the world represents a natural evolution of
video resolution. “HD is now
and 8K media. Is it a distraction or just natural mainstream, 4K is already a reality
and 8K is now a possibility,” he
progression? Adrian Pennington reports
B
says. “Although there may be
diminishing returns with each
ack in 2012 when the to emerge and move forward while an increase in resolution, if the objective is
ITU-R enshrined earlier one is still being rolled out,” a representation of the highest fidelity,
UHD in two phases, asserts Peter Siebert, DVB Head of then 8K or beyond may be
4K UHD was already Technology. “In this case, it’s relevant technologically inevitable.”
seen as a stepping to note that 8K TV sets are not He points out that there are many
stone to 8K. UHD-2 necessarily threats to 4K production dimensions to improving the fidelity of
was considered so and delivery, as they could bring video reproduction. “Spatial resolution
far away that little other than improvements in image quality for lower is one, the precision of each pixel is
resolution was considered in resolution content through upscaling.” another, and temporal sampling is a
the specification. “There will always be technology further dimension,” he says.
While the industry is some way from Luddites,” says Ben Schwarz, speaking “Traditional television technology is
deploying even 4K, heads are turning as an independent expert, founder of compromised in all these dimensions,
towards what’s next. For some this is an CTOi Consulting and communications with plenty of room for improvement.”
unwelcome distraction from the chair of the Ultra HD Forum. “A devil’s The entire industry is now working to
practicalities of 4K transition, with advocate would say that 4K is a deploy 4K with HDR and NGA (Next
possible risk of consumer confusion, distraction from HD deployment.” Gen Audio), as a result of efforts that
others view it as the natural progression have cumulated over the last five years.
of an industry which has technological Increasing resolution vs The Ultra HD Forum, at pains to put
advance written in its DNA. HDR and HFR 8K on the back burner, recommends
“It’s not unusual for a new technology 8K ultra-high-definition video has a that the industry focuses on these added
value services such as HDR
with dynamic mapping,
NGA and HFR for sports,
noting that there are barely
over a dozen active services
across the world that
implement HDR.
“The industry has yet to
explore the right combination
of resolutions, taking into
account HDR, HFR and
NGA,” notes Thierry Fautier,
VP of Video Strategy at
Harmonic and president of
the Ultra HD Forum.
Rian Bester, who runs 4K
channel Insight TV, agrees, “If
you show a consumer 4K
verses HD the difference is
not that apparent but if you
show them HDR versus non
08 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com
8K TV
Goldman, SVP Technology, MediaKind.
He believes 8K will only be available for
occasional special events like the
Olympics or World Cup over the next
five years. “We all need to find a
compromise between one part of our
industry pushing 8K to sell more
‘better’ consumer TVs to increase profit
versus another part of our industry
pushing back to prevent undermining
the wider marketplace for 4K content
creation and consumption.”
There is a certain inevitability in cost
reduction from TV sets to distribution
bandwidth. “We know 8K TV sets will
be affordable at some point in time, and
that’s when consumers will adopt them
HDR or HFR vs non HFR - especially Will the tail wag the dog? This is at mass scale,” says Fautier. “Therefore,
in fast moving content like sport - the perhaps the most voluble charge against the industry needs to make sure it can
difference is very apparent and there is 8K promotion, especially since TV offer attractive services for broadcast,
no doubt as to the benefit. Those two makers don’t always get it right (see live and on-demand streaming, as well
aspects are far more valuable than going stereoscopic 3D for details). as immersive experiences.”
from 4K to 8K for current screen sizes.” It is no coincidence that brands
While no-one is suggesting 8K holds including Hisense, Panasonic, Samsung An embryonic workflow
any benefit over mobile (and even and TCL are primary backers of the 8K Bester says Insight TV’s 8K experiments
telcos like BT Sport argue for HD Association nor that Samsung, LG and are not necessarily in order to build up
HDR as optimum for handsets) the Philips are partnering Japanese-owned
claim that you need to sit closer to the Spanish streamer Rakuten TV’s plans
home screen to perceive the benefit to stream 8K content later this year, nor “8K TV sets are not
needs re-examining. that Samsung and Sony are sponsoring
8K productions by Insight TV for necessarily threats
The screen conundrum marketing purposes.
Screen sizes are getting bigger – by “Although models are already to 4K production and
about an inch a year according to some
reports. What’s more, what we think of
available as low as $5,000 they need to
be five times cheaper, and up-scalers delivery, as they
as a TV set, could be on verge of a
radical format overhaul with MicroLED
don’t yet make all 4K or HD content
shine at 8K,” notes Schwarz.
could bring
and rollable screens on the horizon.
“In the not too distant future we will
HDMI 2.1 is provisioned to support
8Kp120 and we are still in the
improvements in
have screens that are significantly bigger
than currently and they will be multi-
interoperability phase.
The potential for consumer confusion
image quality for
application devices like our phones,” could be high if misleading messages lower resolution
Bester suggests. “For that reason, I about near-term 8K content availability
don’t think people should get too hung are made, which could result in 4K content through
up on the science of traditional viewing market destabilisation.
distance and screen size. This is “While it’s folly to think that the upscaling.” DVB
completely changing.” industry can stymie the natural
Cooper supports this. “The whole technological progression of display
point of increasing resolution is that the technology, the industry does owe a a library, “but because we want to
pixel structure of the image should be responsibility to correctly inform understand where we need to adapt the
imperceptible. It is a psychovisual effect consumers of the availability of native workflow chain from production
that results in an image that appears to 8K content and when it will reach a through to delivery.”
be more realistic.” reasonable critical mass,” says Matthew While there is equipment from
www.csimagazine.com September 2019 09
8K TV
cameras to finishing systems and video biggest bottleneck is distribution. meaningfully more effective than HEVC
switchers capable of a full production “Even if you look at a high resolution with the goal of decreasing bitrate by
chain the workflow is embryonic. Data VR application, the problem is not half. But we will have to wait until 2020
volumes alone present a challenge displaying the picture it is getting the when the MPEG specification is
and a cost. content to the consumer via download finalised and then 2022 to see it
Nonetheless, the industry is steadily or streaming,” says Bester. implemented in the first devices.
moving toward capturing video at The only broadcast network capable Harmonic’s take is that 8K will start
higher resolutions to enable pan, scan of supporting 8K today is ARIB DTH with DTH, “but very quickly we will see
and zooming. Production costs for HD (heavily subsidised by the Japanese IP delivery to connected TVs and
and 4K can be reduced by capturing in government via state-run NHK). mobile devices,” though probably
8K using one camera and extracting the Neither ATSC nor DVB have made any limited to 4K.
region of interest via AI. provision to support 8K as yet. The codec is an important element,
For immersive experiences such as “In 2019, DTH is probably the only but high-speed broadband networks
VR, it’s necessary to capture at 8K viable way to deliver 8K at scale [but] (fibre, DOCSIS 3.1, and 5G) “are the
resolution and deliver the field satellite distribution hasn’t yet managed best fit to carry 8K content,” says
of view to either an HD or 4K to ride the 4K wave successfully despite Fautier. For live applications at scale,
display. The benefit of 8K here, active promotion by the likes of SES or multicast will likely be needed, with 5G
according to Fautier, is that it provides Eutelsat,” says Schwarz. FeMBMS an attractive solution.
“an exceptional QoE in contrast to “As far as compression is concerned, Globecast, which reports more than
conventional VR approaches where the the numbers circulating throughout the 60% of its customers in Europe still to
full frame is sent and the player industry for bandwidth requirements make the transition to HD, identifies
up-samples the field of view, leading to vary. NHK’s commercial service uses OTT as the preferred method for
a poor experience.” 100Mbps, but recent trials with HEVC content delivery in new formats.
In the same manner, for personalised have shown live sports content at “That was true for 4K and will likely
broadcast, content can be captured in 85Mbps and VOD at 65Mbps.” stay true for 8K,” says Globecast’s Juliet
8K for end-users to navigate the content VVC promises to half those Walker. “That’s because you don’t need
(at lower resolution) on mobile devices. requirements in a few years. The to wait for an industry-approved new
“8K offers a more personalised proposed standard winding its way interoperable tech standard for the
experience with a high QoE compared through MPEG “is the silver bullet” signal transmission chain. Innovation
to other approaches where the zoom identified by Bester required to drive comes fast on the internet and device/
leads to fuzzy picture,” says Fautier. things forward “because whether the display vendors are quick to adopt new
This was demonstrated at the French content is 4K or 8K, it really addresses technologies to sell ‘boxes’.”
Open with Harmonic encoding and the bottlenecks like CDN costs
Tiledmedia packaging. and bandwidth.” Standards and business models
Proofs of concept, by BBC R&D As with 4K, Walker thinks sports will
among others, show VVC being lead the way in 8K, even while 4K
“We want to
understand where
we need to adapt
the workflow chain
from production
through to delivery.”
Insight TV
The applications for ultra-high quality
source material are not limited because
of the production technology. The
10 September 2019 www.csimagazine.com8K TV
rollout remains sluggish. Expect to see Limited early activity
the first wave of 8K content produced
NHK NHK began broadcasting an 8K service in Japan in
at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, as well as December 2018, in preparation for the 2020 Olympic
VoD in 8K streamed to connected TVs Games in Tokyo. The Japanese broadcaster began
in the same time frame. research on an ultra high-definition video system
That’s why, argues the 8K Association back in 1995. Video shot using a 8K Super Hi-Vision
and the UHD Forum, that it’s camera with a frame frequency of 120Hz was shown
important to agree on a standard for 8K for the first time in the world at IBC2014.
that includes support for IP delivery
(VoD and live) across all type of RAI Italian broadcaster RAI will begin broadcasts in
networks, on all devices (TVs to both 4K and 8K, coinciding with the Tokyo Olympics
smartphones). Immersive applications in 2020.
being different from broadcast ones, France Télévisions France Télévisions trialled 8K over 5G at Roland
will also require guidelines. garros. It demonstrated over 100 hours of live 8K
The DVB for its part has completed a coverage of the tennis in Paris. In partnership with
report into media formats beyond Orange.
UHD-1 4K. “These formats have the
SES SES demonstrated an 8K ultra-high-definition
potential to be commercially viable
signal broadcast directly to a Samsung TV with an
in the coming years,” says Siebert.
integrated satellite receiver in Luxembourg. The 8K
The report was submitted to DVB’s
material, at 50 frames per second, was encoded in
Steering Board in July as an input
HEVC at a data rate of 70Mbps and carried on a sin-
document for potential future
gle 33 MHz transponder as a DVB-S2 transmission.
specification work.
The prevailing view, voiced by Rakuten TV Rakuten TV, a global VOD service provider, plans
Antonio Corrado, MainStreaming CEO, to trial and launch 8K content in the second half of
is that “broadcasters won’t be able to 2019, under a partnership with TV manufacturers.
justify the cost for a small niche
audience that will be able to experience
streaming in 8K until its wider adoption through much of the 2020s.”
by device makers and consumers.” “We need an In summary, there is a vast amount
Thomas Wrede, VP, New Technology of work required to make 8K a
& Standards, SES Video says the equation that reality. This is a multi-year effort,
key ingredient is an effective business at least five to ten years depending
model. “We need an equation that encourages on the application. Is too much
encourages subscribers to pay for the focus placed on classical broadcast,
quality of the content itself, and not just subscribers to pay while IP is a low hanging fruit?
the screen they unboxed.” Could certain territories lagging now
To lay the groundwork for 8K the for the quality of the but unencumbered by legacy
industry needs an aligned end-to-end
ecosystem. Even with two organisations content itself, and infrastructure in future, see 8K
leapfrog 4K in the same way that
(the UHD Alliance and Forum)
guiding 4K deployments, “it was not
not just the screen cellular did over DSL?
“The next generation of video
an easy process,” Fautier admits.
“However, member companies have
they unboxed.” SES entertainment is based on several
pillars of which a higher resolution is
learned to work together, even if they but one aspect,” says Schwarz.
compete in the marketplace. The same broadcasters in particular, need not be “This is why we shouldn’t get too
collaboration needs to exist for 8K, and panicked into near-term technology hung up on the science,” Bester agrees.
the 8K Association is at the forefront to upgrades to support 8K production “Let’s imagine you have an entire wall
drive those efforts.” and delivery, and few will be able in your living room at 16K, if you go
“For most TV viewers 8K will remain to afford this in any case. 4K, HDR beyond that it will not make a
off the radar for many years to come,” and HFR will remain the primary difference. I think 16K is the top limit
says David Mercer of Strategy technology drivers of video where the drive for higher resolutions
Analytics. “Content providers, and enhancement for most viewers will end.”
www.csimagazine.com September 2019 118K TV
A
lthough
broadcasters and
media companies
8K becomes a reality
are preoccupied
with the challenges — for some
of making 4K and
HDR work, the 8K By Thomas Bause Mason, SMPTE
format will hit a major milestone in
2020 when NHK presents coverage For now, however, there is little 8K
of the 2020 Summer Games in content available outside of Japan.
Tokyo in high-frame-rate 8K. While NHK has Tokyo 2020 in its
The Japanese broadcaster has been sights, few broadcasters or studios in
preparing for this event for decades, other regions have commercial
working on development and pressures or opportunities driving 8K
implementation of an 8K production adoption forward. There are, for
and satellite delivery system to support example, no expectations that there will
8K public broadcasts. In addition to be increased revenue in an ad-supported
building out professional infrastructure, distribution system just because 8K is
including camera systems to support being distributed. A new business HD or 4K content to 8K, redefining the
8K, NHK has helped drive development model may be in order. sharpness possible from existing sources
of the 8K consumer TV sets that Terrestrial and satellite broadcasters in order to give viewers vastly improved
audiences will need to view Tokyo 2020 in the US tend to favor an improved on-screen images and an extended field
broadcasts in all their 8K glory. HD broadcast with higher bit rate and of view on larger TV sets.
LG, Samsung, Sony, and TCL frame rate over 4K for broadcast. At the Considering all of these factors, it
announced at CES 2019 that they’d be same time, most studios are creating appears that large-scale 8K content
shipping 8K big-screen models to North content in 2K with little content being delivery is at least a decade away. When
American retailers this year. Still, for produced in native 4K, let alone 8K, to that time comes, and 8K is more of a
several reasons, the market will take keep production costs down. Although reality for content producers and
some time to grow. For one, the some satellite broadcasters have broken audiences worldwide, SMPTE
adoption of 4K (also known as into 4K broadcasting (eg, Korea’s Standards will be ready.
UHDTV1) consumer displays is still KBS), the main medium for distribution SMPTE was the first organisation to
ongoing. It may be time soon for CE of 4K is online. There are no signs that standardise UHDTV1 and UHDTV2
manufacturers to bring new premium online distributors will adopt 8K in the image formats, as well as immersive
TV sets to the market. near future. audio formats. While SMPTE ST 2110
The higher resolution of 8K While 8K cameras are available, was mainly developed for current live
(UHDTV2) images aims at increasing much 8K production equipment is still HD TV productions, the standards suite
the field of view by raising the in a relatively early stage of also can support higher frame rates and
resolution, and it therefore allows development. Production itself can be higher resolutions up to 16K.
manufacturers to build larger TV sets expensive, and most content producers The buzz over 8K at CES 2019 was
while preserving image quality. The face serious bandwidth constraints that considerable — and Kudos to NHK,
intention is to provide a more would limit high-quality 8K distribution which realised an incredible
immersive viewing experience without due to the use of increased technological milestone in TV history
degrading resolution. The 8K format’s compression. New compression by enabling 8K end-to-end workflows.
recommended minimum display size is technology under development could So, while 8K may not become
65 inches. At this size the boost in help to remedy some of these issues. mainstream any time soon, it is starting
resolution doesn’t deliver a significant Although all major NLEs are already to gain real traction, and undoubtedly
difference for the viewer, but as the capable of supporting editing of 8K has a bright future.
display gets bigger, the higher resolution content, adoption of 8K TV sets may
of 8K over 4K does have an impact. In come more quickly than the creation of
the case of VR and other immersive 8K content for them. This is true simply Thomas Bause Mason is
experiences, including gaming, 8K has a because of the high-quality, AI-powered Director of Standards
lot to offer and can support the high- upconversion mechanisms in 8K TV Development, SMPTE
quality implementation of such. sets, which will be able to upconvert
12 September 2019 www.csimagazine.comSAVE THE DATE
7 MAY 2020
www.nationaltechnologyawards.co.uk
Celebrating the pioneers of technology and encouraging excellence
London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, LondonOpinion
ATSC 3.0 – “Best of the Best” cases have been envisioned
and implemented already.
for broadcasting’s future
Of course, content
security is paramount for
any IP network. ATSC
ATSC’s Madeleine Noland explains some of the thinking members again turned to
existing Internet
behind the key components of the new ATSC 3.0 standard technologies for a solution.
achieve true excellence the ATSC 3.0 In this case Common Encryption
system would have to be non-backward- (CENC) was chosen. CENC is used by
compatible with the current ATSC many OTT streaming apps, and so
1.0 system, giving the freedom to many receive devices already
design a system with all the newest understand CENC. The challenge was
technical developments. to devise a CENC system that works on
At the physical layer level, the flexible unconnected devices as well as
nature of the “bootstrap” functionality connected devices. ATSC members and
T
offers unparalleled extensibility for the implementers (including new ATSC
standard, a unique advantage of ATSC member Google) have solved this use
elevision viewing is 3.0. As we have learned over and over case and are now implementing it in the
now much more than again, technology just doesn’t stand Phoenix Model Market and elsewhere.
something that needs still. The myriad combinations of ATSC members also selected Internet
just a TV antenna or modulation, coding and features of the technologies for the interactivity system,
cable line. Over the ATSC 3.0 physical layer offer which is based on technologies that are
past two decades, significant improvement over standards supported by the major web browsers
viewers have enjoyed a decade old (or even older) and running on laptops, desktops, tablets,
a plethora of new viewing options, features such as Layered Division smartphones and smart TVs. This
from satellites to streaming and Multiplexing bring unheard of convergence can simplify receiver
new services that take advantages opportunities for mobility and hybrid development and also allow
of better connections that can services with tangible spectrum broadcasters to tap into the rich
deliver more choice and control. efficiency advantages. ecosystem of web developers, including
The original ATSC Standard was set ATSC 3.0 is well aligned with other the skilled men and women they already
in 1995, before the availability of DVD communications technologies that are employ in the digital departments of
players (not to mention Blu-Ray). already in use today, and this reduces local TV stations.
The iPod wouldn’t even be a reality the complexity of implementation. Today, we see the successful
for another six years. And the DVB-T Certainly, better audio and video, deployment of ATSC 3.0 in South
standard dates from about the more accessibility features, advanced Korea with millions of receivers sold.
same time period. DVB-T2 was a emergency messaging, and a high At this year’s NAB Show, broadcasters
huge improvement, but that 10-year-old capacity, robust, flexible physical layer announced plans to deploy ATSC 3.0 in
technology dates from the era are all key elements. In addition to 61 US TV markets over the next year - a
of iPhone3. those advancements, one of the key move that will reach more than 70
Meanwhile, Moore’s Law has been decisions for ATSC 3.0 was that ATSC percent of the US population. Those
chugging away each year reducing chip members wanted the new system to introductions coincide with the
cost by half (or doubling capacity), align with Internet-based technologies. expected introductions at retail of the
mobile broadband penetration has We envisioned a future of digital first US ATSC 3.0 TV receivers.
exploded and Internet Protocol (IP) has terrestrial TV broadcasting as an It’s an exciting time for Next Gen TV
taken over as the de facto language of integral part of a global ecosystem that as broadcasters enter the global 21st
the communications world. has embraced IP transport, web browser century data-driven world.
The broadcast industry’s response to technologies, and app-based services.
this rapid pace of technological change ATSC 3.0 IP transport offers several
is the new ATSC 3.0 standard, now advantages, but perhaps most
Madeleine Noland is President
literally the best in the world. interesting is that it integrates well with of the Advanced Television
Early in its conception, ATSC other IP networks, such as the Internet Systems Committee
members determined that in order to and cellular networks. A number of use
14 September 2019 www.csimagazine.comwww.csimagazine.com
Sponsored by:
Special focus
Low latency streamingLow latency
The quest for low coming for some time, with NAB 2017
standing out as a moment when
vendors first came out in numbers with
latency gathers pace their low latency streaming options. The
big technology driver to cut down
latency at the time was using CMAF
packaging (Content Media Application
Goran Nastic reports on the latest Format) and HTTP chunked transfer
encoding. CMAF creates content that
development efforts to get to broadcast- can be viewed in both HLS and
level latency with streaming video MPEG-DASH, allowing a single
F
packager output.
Things have moved forward since
lorian Diederichsen, but I’d rather have the latency to play then. Despite having a single media
the CTO of DAZN, is around with.” container for both HLS and DASH, one
one of many This proclamation is particularly of the main features introduced with
technology executives welcome coming from the CTO of a CMAF is support for low latency
working in the major online sports video provider streaming. This is because CMAF in
streaming space who because the rise of OTT sports is by far itself does not actually reduce latency,
is excited about the the main reason why so many but was created to bring together the
onset of low latency streaming. companies are pouring R&D efforts in HLS and MPEG-DASH formats in
Speaking about low latency CMAF this space. For live sports, latency is a order to simplify online video delivery.
(CMAF LL), Diederichsen said at big problem, with the often cited cases So chunked CMAF can be seen as a
Streaming Media’s London summit of people hearing neighbours cheering a low latency extension to the standard
earlier this year, “It is something I really goal next door before it has happened and CMAF-LL is a Flash-free, non-
can’t wait for”. on their own screen. proprietary, standardised technology.
He explained that DAZN has got lag With many high-value live TV events Also on the standards side, Apple
down to 25 seconds on some devices, now being watched online, the during its recent WWDC19 (Worldwide
but that CMAF LL will help get it additional delays introduced by an IP Developers Conference) event
down to cable TV levels, which is where delivery system can have a significant announced low latency HLS, and it’s
he wants to be. “It’s possible to stream impact on the viewing experience, clear that different initiatives are
fast, but hard to stream fast at good particularly for live sports. underway to go for a standardised
quality. We will probably be able to get Thanks to the continued migration approach, or to have standardised
safely down to seconds, but for product towards online video delivery and technology that can help to get the
reasons we won’t necessarily do that… consumption, innovation here has been latency down to something which is
equivalent to broadcast.
“It takes years to establish a winner.
We are moving into a phase where
multiple approaches will coexist. Just
look back at what has happened in
streaming, it took a while for HLS and
DASH to gain dominance. The same
will happen here,” says Julien Signes
of Synamedia
The goal everyone is working towards
is for a real-time streaming workflow to
match the latency of live broadcast,
which is about 5-7 seconds from
(stadium) camera to TV. Typically today
viewers on standard OTT DASH or
HLS will see the video some 45 seconds
to a minute behind the broadcast feed.
Once streaming latency is cut down
16 September 2019 www.csimagazine.comLow latency
to size, it is expected to open new
opportunities for not just live sports
streaming, but also e-gaming, online
gambling, VR and other interactive
applications. It can then also be used by
OTT players, and really all others
broadcasters and service providers that
offer video streaming, helping them
attract and retain customers.
Moving only as fast as the slowest
part of the chain
At NAB 2019, low latency demos were
everywhere and one technology supplier
told us it had a number of trials “I have a low delay encoder”. OK, that’s Forward Error Correction (FEC);
ongoing of a real commercial one piece of the equipment, but you player settings; and protocol used.
deployment of ultra-low latency CMAF. also have the CDN and the player. The And then, the higher the format, the
However, things are never that simple entire e2e chain has to support minimal longer the latency simply because of the
in real life. As Fraunhofer explains in its delay otherwise you won’t reap the amount of data involved with buffering,
technical article that follows this benefits,” Signes points out. meaning that the gradual emergence of
section, some open issues in the context There are signs that more concerted 4K/HDR UHD services will have to be
of low latency OTT streaming with developments are starting to take shape. factored in.
CMAF still remain. For example, ad This is why Apple’s support for low Synamedia claims it is uniquely
insertion becomes very challenging as latency streaming with HLS (ALHLS) positioned in that has all the solutions
the ad splice points are usually signalled is significant. Instead of using HTTP needed - from the encoding, to the
4-6 seconds in advance. 1.1 chunked transfer encoding which is CDN right through to the player - but
And that’s just one small part of widely supported on existing CDNs, also that it is at the same time capable
the whole piece. ‘A buffalo herd can Apples implementation requires of optimising all the key elements in the
only move as fast as the slowest HTTP/2 Server Push and additional workflow. This, ultimately, allows the
buffalo’ comes to mind here and logic on the CDN and media origins. company to minimise the delay, down
acts as a good analogy for solving It’s not only about having one low to a range of 5-7 seconds (see next page
the problem of latency from a latency encoder, a low latency packager for more details).
holistic perspective. and a low latency origin and a low “People have to understand this is not
To get to the levels talked about by latency CDN, but also the way in that an easy solution and they might have to
vendors, and aspired to by service all the different components are change various components, it’s a
providers, requires an end-to-end (e2e) integrated together. massive e2e upgrade and investment,
delivery system that can enable that - Moreover, optimising each of these it’s not simply changing the profile
and that’s the real challenge. for latency requires trade-offs in cost, bitrates or adding a logo somewhere,”
As Synamedia argues in the next quality and reach, so operators face a notes Signes.
article, ‘zero’ latency is not so easy to balancing act, as DAZN’s Diederichsen “Because it is so complex and
do in practice, precisely for this reason. alluded to. involves the whole chain, to my
“The pitfall people fall into is they say OTT delivery results in more inherent knowledge there is not yet an e2e
latency. The video stream traverses commercial deployment. But it will
hundreds of nodes and an extensive happen,” Signes promised, with 2020
number of systems from the production expected to be the year for these first
down to end user devices, and each of early deployments to be rolled out.
those systems introduces a small delay. Once this happens, internet viewers
Because e2e latency is a composite of will be able to finally cheer that
many elements in and outside of match winning goal at the same time
network congestion, multiple factors as their neighbour on good old
and combinations can increase/decrease broadcast TV.
latency, such as encoding/decoding; Synamedia can be found on stand
edge server ping, load and CPU; 14.C41 at IBC 2019
www.csimagazine.com September 2019 17Low latency
Achieving low latency
who have latency of a minute that they
can have 15 seconds they would be
happy with that 4x improvement.
streaming end-to-end
I would say ideally you would like to
synchronise both - and that’s exactly
what we are showing at IBC. It is the
same as when we launched HD: no
CSI spoke with Synamedia’s Elke one was asking for 4K, but then people
saw it looked better and then HDR
Hungenaert and Julien Signes about what it came along.
takes to reach low latency across the chain It’s a question of delta to me. The first
goal is to reduce it; the ultimate goal is
and how Synamedia can help to match it.
Elke Hungenaert: I think there is
also a shift occurring. Historically, if
not want to have access to sports all you look at traditional broadcast, low
President and General Manager,
the time but they may want to access latency was a requirement for live sport
a particular event and OTT can events. Also, in regions where there
Video Processing Business
Julien Signes, Senior Vice
provide a good solution in those cases. was a lot of competition, for example
Taking video content into an online in Latin America between DTH and
environment brings a lot of pluses in other operators, even shaving off a few
terms of metadata and interactivity, but hundred milliseconds was good enough
the negative side is you may well have because they wanted to deliver live
a delay of up to a minute compared to sports earlier than their competition
cable or satellite distribution. did. In North American cable, on
Ideally, you want to synchronise the other hand, there was very little
your OTT delivery pipeline with live competition and so it was never a big
to traditional delivery. For live sports focus for them.
especially, this has become a must- I think with the OTT players coming
have requirement. in and the competitive landscape
But it is not so easy to do in practice. changing, then the ability to deliver
Elke Hungenaert, VP Product
One of the reasons is because it’s an your live sports earlier than an OTT
end-to-end (e2e) chain. The pitfall provider becomes a major plus. So
people fall into is they say “I have a low even if it wasn’t that much of an issue
delay encoder”. OK, that’s one piece of before in some regions, it has become
the equipment, but you also have the (more) important now. Today it’s a
Management
CDN and the player. The entire e2e competitive differentiator.
chain has to support minimal delay
otherwise you won’t reap the benefits.
Who do you think technically has
I think that’s where we as Synamedia
the upper hand in implementing
are uniquely positioned because we
this e2e chain? Are OTT providers
C
have an end-to-end solution, from the
worse off due to their lack of
encoding, to the CDN right through to
control in terms of QoS/QoE?
the player, that enables us to minimise
SI: What’s driving EH: I would say those who control the
the delay.
this industry push to pipe end-to-end can master it best.
get streaming Because there is processing involved in
latency as low as How low do we need to go? I have every piece of the chain. For example,
possible? heard from several service there may be an extra delay introduced
Julien Signes: It’s a providers that zero is a nice goal, when getting it onto the CDN node.
hot topic for several but not necessarily the target. If you are not in control of the CDN,
reasons. It’s a true market requirement. JS: I think you can take it in steps. Right then you are not in control of the e2e
Why? Because for live sports OTT it now, it’s a minute versus 5-10 seconds, network and are dependent on these
is becoming important. People may which is a big gap. If you tell operators third parties.
18 September 2019 www.csimagazine.comLow latency
I don’t think the latency control is JS: We are one of the only companies how we get to 5-7 second delays, down
specifically related to the software that to have it all - the encoder piece, from 30-60 seconds, depending on the
processing of the ABR chain because the CDN distribution piece, as well as segments you are reaching.
our product portfolio in broadcast is access to the player through our Infinite
now following the same technologies platform. If you look at others in the Given the variables involved,
there. It’s really about what you do to get market, none of them has has all the what’s the challenge, or the trade
every processing step as optimised as 3 pieces together, which puts us in a off, in trying to achieve such low
possible: looking at how clients actually strong position with operators. We have latency across the chain when
process whatever they fetch as input, showed this in our demonstrations by making these optimisations?
and; whether it is DASH or HLS – this touching every part of this ecosystem EH: The big thing is the in-house
has a major impact on the overall e2e with those 3 major components. network conditions. The big contributor
latency that customers experience. This is very important because until in traditional broadcast is the encoder.
there is an e2e standardised solution We can encode with a delay of just a
Where is the industry as a whole and a way to do this in an interoperable second, but then the quality will not be
currently in its quest for low fashion, the best way to do this initially what the service provider expects and
latency and the e2e goal? is to have one e2e solution integration the viewing experience will be poor.
EH: I would say we are very close to and that’s exactly what we have done. There’s definitely a trade off to be made.
getting initial deployments. It’s a given EH: We optimise every piece in that JS: In the encoding space, people
that customers select vendors that chain. For example, because this is usually talk about bandwidth and
can deliver on the promise. End-to- HTTP IP delivery where we talk ABR quality but delay is a third pillar. If you
end testing is ongoing, but because we support HTTP 1.1 so we support can increase delay you can increase
it affects the whole e2e ecosystem it chunk transfer encoding. Let’s say we quality at a given bit rate, there are 3
typically takes time because in the end have a packager or origin (server) in interdependent variables. If you want
if you offer your content on a plethora the chain, then as soon as a chunk is to push the encoding to deliver a lower
of devices you need to do this testing available, as opposed to waiting for the delay, lower than say the 2-3 seconds of
across the board. There’s quite an whole segment to become available, it traditional broadcast-quality encoders,
extensive test requirement. will start downloading so it will already then you will start to chip away quality
You could say everything that goes start processing, for example if the of the video at the same bitrate. That’s
up to the house is pretty much under DRM needs to happen. We support one element.
control, but then the big unknown is this type of technology on each and Even though each step of the way
in the home, with the WiFi conditions, every piece of our CDN, origin and everything can be optimised, we are still
how do you tackle scenarios on a packager products. in a best-effort type of network; we are
bad network day? How do you tackle We have implemented low latency talking OTT, and we are dependent on
too many devices needing to share CMAF in our own product line and we the quality of that underlying network.
streaming bandwidth at the same also support chunk encoding on our
time? How do clients react if instead of virtual DCM products in combination What can we expect from
fetching 3 segments which the Apple with CMAF DASH delivery. And Synamedia and the market
spec recommends today, they just fetch we also work with optimised clients, next year when it comes to low
chunks and the network conditions depending on other metrics, for latency streaming?
change? How does that example network conditions and so on. JS: You need to encourage people to
affect the behaviour of the client and If you look at that optimised chain do trials because technologies are
how do clients need to adjust to that and you are offering a traditional ABR starting to mature. People have to
user experience? delivery, then latency can actually go understand this is not an easy solution
Getting robustness into the ecosystem down to 5-7 seconds across the whole and they might have to change various
is what is preventing those full or large e2e chain. We optimise the encoding components, it’s a massive e2e upgrade
scale deployments today. That’s why we delay, we make sure the packager, and investment, it’s not simply changing
are still in a proof-of-concept stage. encryption, origin, CDN and even the the profile bitrates or adding a logo
multicast ABR just take one chunk in, somewhere. But user demand is getting
Can you give us more details into then the player will either download strong enough that for providers to
Synamedia’s solutions, support a chunk, or perhaps even 2-5 chunks embrace it.
services etc in this area and how depending on the network conditions, In summary, we certainly hope to
you are helping operators reduce but ensuring all the time that there is no be undertaking some deployments
streaming latency? buffering or stalling on the video. That’s e2e in 2020. That is our goal.
www.csimagazine.com September 2019 19You can also read
