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IBC2023 ACCELERATORS: CONNECT & PRODUCE ANYWHERE
AND SYNTHETIC HUMANS
Two of the eight projects from this year’s IBC Accelerator Programme will be presented on the Innovation Stage today – Connect & Produce Anywhere and Synthetic Humans for Entertainment & Accessibility. Starting at 10:45, Connect & Produce Anywhere is championed by DAZN, Sky Sports, BT Media & Broadcast, Vodafone Group, BB and TV2. The participants are LAMA, Vizrt, Open Broadcast Systems, Zixi, InSync, Limitless,
Singular.live, Google, Techex, Microsoft, AMD, Grass Valley and Verizon Business. The aim of the project is to detach software
from hardware and deploy a distributed computing architecture between ground and cloud, exploring the benefi ts and challenges of such an approach.
The challenge is to dynamically move live
production media processing stages between cloud and edge computing at an event, allowing the deployment of software to the best location, making the most effi cient use of resources in a bandwidth-constrained location. Scott Davis, Broadcast Media Architect, IPS,
Microsoft, one of the Participants in the project, explains: “The project is unique as it entertains the question, ‘Where is the cloud, and is the edge our new space to work on the process of production and acquisition for content?’ Can we make edge processing more useful and meaningful for the broadcaster, making the production ‘edge’ look and feel like their cloud? While we do this, how can we address concerns about the environmental impact of production? How can we enable the best people to be part of a production without making all of them drive across the planet for each event?” Ian Wagdin, Senior Technology Transfer Manager, BBC, one of the Champions, describes the focus of the project: “The main problems we aimed to solve were to build a sustainable scalable architecture that could be deployed for small- and large-scale events and enable production teams to make choices on where and how it was operated from. This won’t be solved in year one, so fi rst we needed to understand what current solutions look like and what our aspirations are for future working methods.” Wagdin describes what show attendees can expect to see during today’s session: “The demonstrator will be a quite simple example of how the workfl ows will come together,” he says. “We did not want to be constrained by showing a single event or building a bespoke solution. We will have a ‘venue’ at Techex in Bracknell,
Microsoft’s Scott Davis is part of the Connect & Produce Anywhere team
UK, where our cameras, video and audio will be located connected to the edge compute. We will then send a multiviewer and programme out feed to Amsterdam. The connectivity here is extremely constrained, but this is where we intend to operate from. We want to be able to make a decision on what tools we want for what part of the workfl ows, so it feels like the operator is not having to learn a new interface.”
“We need to understand what current solutions look like and what our aspirations are for future working methods” Ian Wagdin, BBC
The second Accelerator session of the day is Synthetic Humans for Entertainment & Accessibility, which will present two different use cases demonstrating how synthetic humans can be used to captivate audiences in visually stunning, emotionally moving and inclusive ways. The two distinct use cases are a collaboration between Participants Signly, Pluxbox, D&B Solutions and V-Nova. The project’s Champions include RAI, EBU, ITV, VRT, YLE, BBC and BT. To demonstrate the challenge, the fi rst case is a theatre fi lled with the melodic tones of Maria Callas, and the second is a photorealistic sign language interpreter, to address important aspects of accessibility in broadcasting.
The fi nal POC results will aim to showcase how synthetic humans can allow endless storytelling possibilities within emerging platforms, and also be used to enhance traditional media, such as television programmes, live on-air presenting and broadcasting. The project’s objectives demonstrate both
proof of concept workstreams which will explore a variation of production techniques, such as Metahumans workfl ows and multiple motion capture technology toolkits, so that synthetic humans can accurately and realistically replicate human movements, facial expressions and voice, to create and publish more believable, lifelike characters. Muki Kulhan, Innovation Co-Lead for IBC Accelerators, says: “So many of the challenges this year are exploring and utilising really groundbreaking emerging tech for creative storytelling and new audiences in real-time XR and broadcasting. The turnout of both returning and new Champions and Participants also goes to show that the demand for these R&D explorations and learnings is higher than ever before.”
Connect & Produce Anywhere takes place today from 10:45-11:45 on the Innovation Stage in Hall 3. It is followed by Synthetic Humans for Entertainment & Accessibility at 13:30-14:30.
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