content distribution feature
management and global distribution services with BT’s global media network.
Early adopters of advanced technologies
RRsat continues to adopt and apply cutting edge technologies. This ensures that content is delivered with the expected image quality in a seamless manner that goes unnoticed. Meeting the technological expectations of its customers takes both a state-of-the art infrastructure, and the ability to implement new technologies at every stage of the content broadcasting and playout processes.
RRsat's engineers were early adopters of broadcasting HD content using DVB-S2 over satellite in MPEG-4 compression. By using MPEG-4, HD content is broadcast at a reduced megahertz and with a shorter latency period than with traditional MPEG-2 encoding. This results in a faster, less expensive broadcast that retains the HD picture quality end users expect. By using DVB-S2, we also obtain increased capacity, error protection, and modulation for service components, channel protection and dynamic link adaptation.
In addition to HD delivery, RRsat is applying advanced technologies at its playout centre. RRsat uses a state-of- the-art media asset management (MAM) system to convert, archive, edit, and meta-tag HD sports content, including live downlinks, on the fly, as captured. RRsat delivers significant value to TV channels by automating video asset management and enabling real-time playout and editing, which is especially useful for sports content. This technology reduces costs, ensures content is accurately and consistently archived and meta- tagged, and facilitates insertion of
graphics, audio commentary, tables, logos and other regional content during real-time transmission to cable operators, OTT applications, mobile phone providers and DBS subscribers. RRsat provides these services to a sports broadcaster in Israel, routing its content through two playout centres - over 60 kilometers apart - where SD and HD playout services are edited, before the content is distributed in real time via fibre and satellite. In 2010, SD and HD have taken a place alongside 3D. Potentially years before its wide regional adoption, RRsat, together with BT, demonstrated its capabilities to broadcast 3D over fibre in an interactive live 3D event taking place simultaneously in London and Tel Aviv, and later showed live 3D broadcasts entirely via satellite, establishing its credentials for this emerging format. Once a format such as 3D becomes a household standard, the transition for content providers into these formats will be easier because global broadcasting networks like RRsat will already have the required capabilities in place.
It is not all about TV
Each day more people worldwide are accessing their video content through the computer screen rather than the television. RRsat's own efforts with Internet broadcasting, RRInternetTV, attract an average of a quarter of a million unique viewers a month, who view about three quarters of a million hours and consume close to 150TeraBytes of content. The demand is growing. By offering content providers the ability to stream content directly to their website, or to RRsat's, RRsat allows its customers to offer their end users access to Internet video, even if their own websites can’t handle the bandwidth.
Technologies across the board in global video broadcasting will continue to grow. From SD to HD to 3D, from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4, from television to Internet, and so on, change is the nature of the industry. End users don’t care about the underlying technological complexities of these changes or how playout solutions are addressed. They do care about continued uninterrupted delivery of content on myriad devices and the quality of the content received.
Likewise, RRsat offers TV channels the ability to stream TV channels to RRsat for global distribution using the secure MPEG over Internet Protocol (MPEGoIP). RRstream ensures low-to- zero latency over standard IP connections, and maintains high content resolution. Channels use RRstream either as backup for automatic redundancy for their direct fibre connection, or as a primary contribution solution for RRsat's further distribution.
Crossing the bridge
Technologies across the board in global video broadcasting will continue to grow. From SD to HD to 3D, from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4, from television to Internet, and so on, change is the nature of the industry. End users don’t care about the underlying technological complexities of these changes or how playout solutions are addressed. They do care about continued uninterrupted delivery of content on myriad devices and the quality of the content received. These two aspects are often at odds with each other: implementing a new technology could require a blip in the end users experience.
RRsat has demonstrated that through the continued building and expansion of its hybrid network combining production, editing, playout and distribution services, the focus on establishing meaningful industry relationships, the application of cutting edge technology to its broadcasting and playout services, and attention to the growing demand for Internet content, it is possible to not only meet the growing technological demands of the industry, but do so in a way that maintains end user expectations in service and quality, without compromise.
www.ibeweb.com l march/april 2011 l ibe l 15
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68