theibcdaily Planes, trains and cellular transmission
However you look at it, cellular transmission has now changed the way that live broadcast quality video can be acquired from the field forever says Ronen Artman, vice president of marketing, LiveU
Until just a few years ago, broadcasters almost exclusively used SNG/ENG trucks to report breaking news and live events from the field. While this could provide stunning images, there were often considerable hurdles: Line of sight issues; lack of mobility; lack of speed of deployment; and, of course, cost. While SNG technology still has its place, the way that we consume news is also driving the use of cellular transmission capabilities: our desire for immediacy and to be close to the action cannot be underestimated. LiveU is a pioneer in portable
video-over-cellular technology, the technology that has allowed media organisations across the board to take advantage of 3G/4G LTE/Wi-Fi/WIMAX networks (predominantly the former two) for live content acquisition. For news and traffic reporting in congested cities units can be
mounted on motorbikes, providing greater flexibility and faster coverage through the traffic jams. One leading station in Latin America has over 15 motorbikes with mobile uplink units for easier outdoors transmission. Motorbikes can
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also be used to cover cycling competitions and marathons. Not only motorbikes but in helicopters too for weather, traffic reporting, accidents, car chases and coverage of large demonstrations. There are a few news
agencies that are using helicopters with a special zoom camera that’s mounted on the outside and plugged into the cellular uplink device for high altitude live video streaming. This applies to airplanes, blimps
and even hot-air balloons. Then there’s boats used by weather teams in flooding situations, coastguards for national disasters, sporting journalists to cover rowing events and underwater expeditions. Tier-1 networks, news
agencies and online media all use mobile backpacks for newsgathering and coverage of high-profile events, for both primary and secondary content, for example, post-game interviews, red carpet events, political roadshows and breaking news. With the introduction of sub-second latency, reporters are now able to conduct broadcast-quality interviews with decision-makers and opinion-formers during prime-time news programmes. Bonded uplink technology
has also proven its reliability in the most extreme conditions, such as Hurricane Irene and the Japanese earthquake in 2011 (as it happened and in the
Ronen Artman: ‘Pioneering video-over- cellular
technology’
quake’s aftermath). IBC2011 saw the next
breakthrough with LiveU making the core of the technology available in handheld form with the LU40i. This offers a high- quality video uplink solution for coverage of events such as sports, music, advertising, religious, community and corporate sponsorship. It has a substantially smaller form factor and is specially designed to meet the needs of both broadcasters and streaming media organisations.
In a further development,
April saw Panasonic and LiveU announce a new collaboration to deliver an integrated camcorder and live video uplink solution. The LU40i is linked via the camera interface, giving camera operators a realtime indication of LiveU’s transmission status and video transmission quality. With the LU40i and HPX600, a camera operator will be able to manage the video uplink while shooting: a must for a one-person remote crew. 14.365