Paul Mongey, a DoP based between Dubai and the UK, arrived at IBC with a shopping list. With an emphasis on enhancing collaboration for international clients, he explored cutting-edge technologies poised to elevate live production in broadcasting.
Attending IBC in Amsterdam is an annual pilgrimage for some of us, who look at it as the perfect place to shop for new tech. As a DoP at Global Creative Video, which offers live multicam pop-up studios connecting VVIPs in the region to most international broadcasters around the world, I was looking for a number of different solutions. For one, I was looking for a solution that would allow my foreign clients to have live remote access into our Dubai-based editing. I was also shopping for options for an edit review collaboration platform, and live streaming, live encoding and streaming hardware.
We have used traditional SNG satellite dishes, multiple LIVEU units and full HD 1080 versions of ZOOM. But my goal at IBC this year was also to gain knowledge, enjoy some demos and make new contacts in the live streaming side of our business. Here are some technologies that caught my attention.
Blackmagic Design’s 17K camera featuring 8K live broadcasting capabilities was launched for the first time at the show. At just $29,999, that seemed a good find.
I was on the lookout specifically for collaboration platforms that could help stream live edit sessions directly to clients around the world. There were several systems on display at IBC, but the ones that grabbed my attention were Pixelview and ClearView Flex from UK company Sohonet.
Pixelview is a live collaboration tool built for remote editing. This realtime platform can work on projects from anywhere, always ensuring everyone’s in sync. It can stream the NLE editor’s output using SRT or NDI from Avid or Adobe’s Premiere, or encode through Blackmagic Design’s 4K Mini & Recoder 3G via OBS. But I feel these options could put some additional strain on my edit system, and I would prefer the Pixelview hardware option using the dedicated plug-and-play H.265 Magewell encoder, requiring only an SDI signal and a hardwired internet connection.
You can invite your clients to Pixelview Player to review, comment and interact remotely with the editor. It is supported in both web browsers and iOS apps. To ensure high-quality and low-latency streaming near your location, there is a global network of servers which spans Los Angeles, New York, London, Amsterdam and Sydney.
Pixelview offers three monthly subscription plans: five viewers for $175, ten viewers for $210 and twenty viewers for $285. The last two options also include watermarking and LUT support. The firm also offers a three-month subscription for ten viewers including their encoder for $899, or $1,199 for six months.
The second platform is Sohonet’s Emmy-winning remote collaboration ClearView Flex, which run on purpose-built rackmount, desktop unit or virtually on AWS, Azure or VMware. It streams encrypted live video and audio with sub-100ms latency from any source – camera feed, video village, edit system, VFX workstations – via HDMI, SDI or NDI, and can securely stream editing review sessions for up to 40 viewers on laptops, tablets, phones or Apple TV. The collaboration stream supports 2K 8-bit 4:4:4 or 10-bit 4:2:2, and SDR or HDR (via the Glow pricing package) on iPhone, iPad and Apple TV.
Like Pixelview, ClearView Flex also offers chat, with the ability to pause playback and add onscreen annotation, keeping everyone in the picture. Sohonet says it recreates that ‘over-the-shoulder’ collaborative experience.
Sohonet offers three tiers of monthly service: $638 for a Starter account, $1,413 for a Pro account and $1,614 for a Glow account. Starter includes up to 2K SDR with 8-bit 4:4:4 with 20x individual viewers, and Glow includes HDR / Rec 2020, P3-D65 10-bit 4:2:2 streaming with up to 40x viewers globally.
Live streaming
There were many powerful live-streaming software services at the show that enable users to easily produce professional broadcasts. But I was searching for an ultra-low-latency (ULL) solution with ‘glass-to-glass’ latency of sub-one second. Telestream and vMIX showcased their latest streaming software, while Blackmagic Design and Atomos displayed their hardware solutions, including C2C (camera-to-cloud) with live feed capability. I also met up with Dolby. io, BirdDog and Nanocosmos to demo their live-streaming solutions.
Dolby.io’s Millicast platform offers real-time ULL live streaming. It uses WebRTC (web real-time communication) technology for direct peer-to-peer communication, which reduces buffering, making it ideal for streaming events that require real-time interaction such as live sports and gaming, and offers 4K streaming across a global CDN network. It raises the standard for live streaming, offering sub-one-second latency and combining robust technology with an easy-to-use dashboard. It stands out as a cutting-edge solution.
Dolby offers a free Test account with 50Gb bandwidth, a Standard plan for $495 a month with 500Gb bandwidth streaming, and a Personalised plan with custom bandwidth and of course a custom price.
BirdDog Cloud Connect
My second live streaming option is BirdDog Cloud Connect, launched five years ago. The most recent version has a user-friendly interface that allows management and real-time monitoring of NDI devices, making it simple to switch between different sources and set up configurations. It is designed to streamline the process of connecting and managing NDI (network device interface) workflows in live video production.
BirdDog Cloud Connect uses NDI 5 to offer a two-frame delay for remote production and remote monitoring, with multiview workflows. It provides a fast connection to your live production and can connect directly to BirdDog PLAY, laptop, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Before streaming to Cloud Connect, you use a BirdDog 4K Family converter to encode your HD or UHD (up to 60fps) source into NDI 5, which can be streamed to individual viewers around the world. Convertors cost $949-2,099.
BirdDog offers monthly and annual packages with Standard and Premium tiers. The cheapest (3x concurrent connections) is $149 a month, and the most expensive (10x concurrent connections) is $3,229 a year.
Nanocosmos
Nanocosmos offers a suite of tools designed to simplify the streaming process. Its flagship product, nanoStream, is an ultra-low-latency streaming solution to deliver high quality video in real time, making it a great choice for esports, gaming and live events. The content delivery network has a global footprint, allowing you to stream around the world, whether to a few or a few thousand viewers.
There are three nanoStream Cloud packages. Starter (up to 5x ingests 24/7, with 500 viewers and 200Gb data) is $239 a month; Medium (10x ingests 24/7, 2,500 viewers and 1,000Gb data) is $599 a month; Custom (flexible ingests, viewers and data) is a custom price.
Hardware
Following meetings with Haivision, Matrox and AJA Video Systems. I decided to look at Teradek and Sony, who were showing their latest encoder/streamer solutions with planned firmware upgrade to allow remote switching of (for example) the Blackmagic Design ATEM-Pro and ATEM-Extreme range of mini switchers.
As part of its 5G Networked Live ecosystem, Sony showed its new PDTFP1 solution, allowing live streaming and file transfers in the field. This portable data transmitter, which costs $1,099 and looks like a slightly bulky mobile phone, uses a SIM card and an e-SIM to switch between networks for better connectivity. You can use the PDT-FP1 to live stream in RTMP via the Sony C3P portal, but this is not an ultra-low-latency option. For that, you pair with the CBK-RPU7 (c. $16,000), a V-mount dockable encoder which can stream to Sony NXL-ME80 receivers for REMI production with ultra-low latency from the field. We are waiting for a launch date of the Sony PDT-FP1 in our region.
Teradek Prism Flex / Prism Mobile
Two features on the Teradek Prism range are very interesting for my company. The Prism Flex mark 2 (856) is a desktop model costing AED 13,000. The Prism Mobile Mk2 (857) is a portable 5G bonded cellular device with a v-lok or gold mount adapter to mount to broadcast cameras; it can stream up to 4K 4:2:2 @ 10-bit HDR and costs AED 20,200.
The unit allows a single HD or UHD video to be streamed to Teradek’s Core platform, where you can control and assign the onward path to stream this ultra-low-latency source to another Teradek receiver via Teradek Reliable Transport. I was interested in the Core Teradek TV option, which would allow me to share direct encrypted live feeds from any or all of my on-set cameras to a select number of viewers, such as clients in the UK or US, to view in real time and comment throughout the production.
Conclusion
My goal for the IBC2024 visit was to discover the best mobile live encoder, collaborative remote viewing and ultra-low-latency, high-quality live streaming options for my clients. Each year in our industry, I find new streaming options, and with the growth of the lucrative online gaming and esports industries, companies are getting closer to the goal of high-bitrate, high-resolution, ultra-low-latency delivery at sub-100ms (encode, stream, decode) ‘glass-to-glass’ speed to anywhere in the world.
I find synergy between the live remote editing collaboration systems and the live streaming systems. As the new production season kicks off in the region, I will now decide which system to invest in.
Paul Mongey has been based in Dubai for the past 17 years and is the founder and CEO of Global Creative Video, a video production agency dedicated to developing videos.
