Next month, Blackbird will be attending ABE Show 2018, the biggest industry trade show for Australia and New Zealand. This year’s theme is ‘Empowering Content Production & Delivery Technology’, where attendees will hear from industry experts on hot topics such as – IP production and delivery, cloud broadcasting, and more.

Members of the Blackbird team will be present on Digistor stand no. 1, to book a meeting email events@blackbird.video. Entry to the exhibition is free, and there are one and three-day conference passes starting at AUD$75. To register click here  or for more show information visit www.abeshow.com.

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Five years ago Deloitte predicted audio and video content demand would generate 89.3% of all consumer internet data traffic by 2018. A 60% increase from 29.3% in 2013. The news, media and entertainment (NME) industry has evolved over the last decade from traditionally involving couriers, physical tapes and reels of film, and bespoke technologies to complete the full production cycle through to delivery. Complex management overheads and a lack of visibility on the full process, made understanding the state of play very difficult to determine. In addition to this – the very specialised skills involved in each stage of the workflow.

Advancements in file-based workflows across content capture, production, processing, and delivery have continued to involve a high degree of technical and operational complexity. Managing systems and operations whilst providing ‘seamless’ integration of each workflow stage is typically controlled by tightly orchestrated media asset management (MAM) solutions.

As the industry continues to evolve, the same challenges remain. In many cases, there are still struggles in attempting to address the ever-growing and evolving consumer demands. However, cloud adoption is on the rise following increased awareness of key benefits including scalability across the complete media supply chain. Scalability is a major concern stemming from the speed of growth and fragmentation of consumers across multiple delivery platforms – each of the platforms with their own requirements that have the potential to stretch existing workflows beyond capacity.

If you can imagine a factory working at capacity with the same amount of raw materials going in, but expectations of the quantity of completed product at the end of the production line increasing continuously. An end-to-end process can involve many people, teams, equipment, and infrastructure, all of which are limiting factors to the scales of economy and would need to continually adapt to spiraling delivery requirements- this is the fundamental challenge facing any ‘content factory’.

Many cloud migration strategies are based around moving existing technologies from traditional on-premises deployments to run partially or wholly on cloud infrastructure. Cloud infrastructure (private and public) can offer great flexibility and scalability but to go back to our concept of a ‘content factory’ – for greater scale or flexibility would you really just move your factory to another location on a larger site, or partially move to a new factory and then have all the challenges of continually moving raw materials, thereby potentially introducing additional delays in the end-to-end process?

With Blackbird, we already have the factory, a proven cloud video platform – and the supply chain capabilities to remove many of the content interchange stages of semi-automated traditional workflows. Raw materials – video, audio, graphics, and stills, are delivered to the platform using our lightweight Blackbird codec – our customers don’t need to worry about transporting or transferring all the original content to us, just a low bitrate, bandwidth efficient and high-performance representation. We manage the infrastructure and enable workflows for taking this content, enriching it, manipulating it and allow you to deliver it using a highly scalable publishing feature set which includes broadcast, social media, online and OTT.

The real benefit Blackbird brings is to provide additive workflow capabilities that don’t rely upon heavy lifting of high bitrate files. We provide the production and delivery tools to allow our customers to truly scale and adopt a cloud infrastructure without additional expertise or adding complexity.

The recent announcement of the expansion of TownNews.com Blackbird usage for multiple news organisations in the US is a great example of a shared infrastructure being used effectively. Incredibly fast end-to-end media supply chain from live source to destination delivery through the TownNews.com content management system (CMS) to online consumers enable a differentiated offering to their customers without changing their existing workflows and without the worry of logistics or integration complexity.

Adding cloud capabilities provides an opportunity to exploit common platforms and remove the constraints of a fixed facility workflow. Blackbird is the perfect companion to revolutionise media supply chains today.

Find out more, email info@blackbird.video

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Edge computing allows any device, including mobiles, servers, PCs and Macs to act as gateways between the physical world and cloud storage – running processes such as video transcoding and speech recognition as ‘close to the content’ as possible. This form of cloud computing is a breakthrough technology with direct benefits to the sports industry, ensuring professional sports athletes can maintain their competitive edge.

For the Americas Cup, the British yachting team utilized Edge technology which transmitted performance data through the cloud, leading Sir Ben Ainslie and the Oracle team to win the race. Capturing and analysing performance data and performing ‘virtual chase boat’ projects allowed for immediate changes where 350 data points were captured for analysis.

Edge also took the spotlight earlier this year at the Winter Olympics, with the US ski team utilising STRIVR’s 360-degree video to practice the Pyeongchang course over and over again. The ability to gain ‘mental access’, where physical presence was not possible, allowed the team to maximise their preparation. By uploading video content to the cloud, players and coaches were able to identify athletes’ weak spots and gauge the competition’s strategy.

Edge technology has other benefits as well for both video professionals and sports fans, since it works on the principle of combining outputs from new video technologies and overlaying data in the most appropriate and efficient location – delivering the game rapidly without time delays. Edge technology is cost-effective for multimedia and production teams on smaller budgets since it removes the expense required to move video content and data to the same physical location. Fans also benefit, gaining the ultimate viewing experience without concerns of technical glitches causing time delays and receive sports scores fast.

The advances in cloud and edge technology have blurred the lines between traditional broadcast and digital content delivery, allowing the games of minor sports teams to be accessible to fans at a much lower cost. Cloud Video and On-Demand, Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms have also made it possible for smaller leagues and individual teams to have their own channels. Tata Communications connected the Formula 1 Grand Prix circuit to its global network and today works with more than 20 broadcasters to bring motor racing to fans worldwide. Vice President of Global Marketing, Mehul Kapadia, said “The cloud is levelling the playing field between sports giants like F1 and smaller local series like the F4 British Championship. You only need a few cameras to capture the action; the rest of the production can be done easily and inexpensively in the cloud”. Major sports teams such as Real Madrid, have found that by embrace cloud technology, they can engage with their 450 million fans where only 3% are based in Spain. José Ángel Sánchez, CEO, Real Madrid, said, “Using Microsoft Cloud, we are building a way of understanding who our fans are, where they are, and what they want from us.”

In conclusion, the introduction of Edge computing into sports has lowered the barriers for smaller sports teams to experiment with innovative technologies. Edge computing has helped simplify video production and distribution, at a lower cost. Teams and sports professionals have the advantage of extending their online presence, reaching a global audience with a lower cost digital strategy.

Our Blackbird Edge is a cloud-native solution which can run on multiple platforms including servers, public cloud services (AWS and Azure), in virtual machines and Mac OS X operating systems. It is fundamentally a software conduit to cloud workflows for our applications and Blackbird cloud video platform. Edge manages the referencing of content and creation of lightweight Blackbird proxy video. It provides Ascent and Forte users with conforming and render capabilities required to publish video content across multiple platforms based on user edit instructions.

Find out more about Blackbird Edge, email us at edge@blackbird.video

References

Davis.M. (2018, February) Winter Olympics: US skiers use VR goggles & brain zapping headphones. [ONLINE] Available at : https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/42572433 [Accessed 24 May 2018].

Orton-Jones, C. (2017, March) Cloud giving sports teams the competitive edge – Competitors in a wide range of sports are benefiting from the advantage cloud computing can bring. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.raconteur.net/technology/cloud-giving-sports-teams-the-competitive-edge. [Accessed 24 May 2018].

Miah, A., 2017. #Sports 20.0 #TransformingSportsforaDigitalWorld. 1st ed. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Pickup, O. (2018, January) Three major ways cloud is transforming sport – Sports organisations are using the cloud, on and off the field of play, to achieve record goals and reach a growing worldwide audience.[ONLINE] Available at : https://www.raconteur.net/technology/three-major-ways-cloud-transforming-sport [Accessed 24 May 2018].

Unknown (2016, March) Real Madrid brings the stadium closer to 450 million fans around the globe, with the Microsoft Cloud.https://customers.microsoft.com/de-de/story/real-madrid-brings-the-stadium-closer-to-450-million-f. [Accessed 24 May 2018].

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Blackbird will be exhibiting at The SVG College Summit, Booth 218 to showcase the Blackbird cloud video platform. Video content can be created, edited, produced and delivered rapidly, for the ultimate fan experience. Blackbird improves workflow efficiencies, leaving you to work on telling the story ! Visit our booth for a Blackbird demonstration, and see why National Leagues use Blackbird – the power is in the performance.

Our Blackbird consultant, Richie Murray will be speaking on the panel discussion at 10:50 on Thursday, May 31st – “Mid-Major Magic:  How “Smaller” Video Teams Pav a Road to Video Success.

Visit Blackbird on Booth 218, or email svg@blackbird.video to set up your meeting, today.

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Broadband TV News, 6 April 2018  – Forbidden technologies repositions under Blackbird brand

Digital TV.com –  6 April 2018  – Forbidden Technologies  becomes  Blackbird 

IABM, April 2018  –  Ben Dales of The International Association for broadcast and media technology interviews Ian McDonough on Forbidden Technologies repositioning under Blackbird

Sports Video Group, 6 April 2018  – SVG Sit-Down: As Forbidden Technologies repositions under Blackbird brand, CEO Ian McDonough discusses Strategy

TVB Europe, May 2018  – Blackbird Sings Throughout NAB

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IP’s impact on the production of sports events is growing fast. New IP standards are providing a new level of flexibility to IP workflows, and IP standards such as SMPTE 2110, NDI, ASPEN, and NMI continue to impact the video production market. The SVG IP Production Summit will be a day of panel discussions, presentations, and networking. Meet our CEO, Ian McDonough and find out how Blackbird can enhance your existing, new or emerging video infrastructure. Join the summit and gain a better understanding of the latest technologies and how they will change the way you produce, distribute, and manage sports content. Request a meeting today, contact commercial@blackbird.video.

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From the very start, (pre-show set up) where an owner of a traditional storage provider, asked “Has the rest of the world caught up with you yet?” – the scene was set. Like our fellow exhibitor, we understand business models are evolving and this was reflected in the interests of those attending Blackbird meetings and demos.

Every year NAB becomes a hub of discussion for trending topics in the industry, and this year Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) emerged as solutions to a problem that many haven’t recognised. Cloud is no longer a ‘maybe’ but a ‘given’ and conversations are shifting towards discussions of seamless migration. Companies are seeking new ways of minimising the spend and complexity inherent in delivering additional content to more platforms than ever before.

Cognitive services emerged as a key topic, but the joined principles of ML and AI were recognised for their huge potential benefit to the industry. Cognitive services have the ability to assist automating the remaining manual workflow stages where a subjective opinion or a decision based on new, incomplete information is required. In media and entertainment, these principles are applied to gain the results of quality analysis and content analysis. In one particular meeting, the discussion highlighted huge fragmentation in the AI/ML market with over 7,000 technology providers and 10,000+ engines, up from 1,000 engines in the last 12 months. There is no doubt, many services are embedded offerings from a smaller number of core AI technologies, but the numbers are certainly not conducive to anyone wanting to carefully select a partner right now. There were also many, many demonstrations of intelligent and automated content indexing and metadata creation, yet few managed to clearly articulate the value of the service. Do we really need to know if a newsreader is wearing a purple shirt or a blue one?

At Blackbird, we see great value in data and its ability to enhance or augment existing workflows. We understand that today’s workflows require progress in order to reach absolute efficiency and that the immediate challenge of AI/ML is awareness of the commercial benefits. A key driver could be captioning workflows which involve large amounts of manual and time-consuming data entry. This workflow covers traditional broadcast workflow and is crucial for online engagement. Captioning is widely used across social media platforms where a large number of consumers access feed content on mobile devices without any audio. Speech-to-text isn’t new, but when combined with AI and ML abilities to learn and continuously train – its high accuracy meets the point of realistic automation. Ensuring continual efficiency in production and delivery of meaningful content to consumers, maximises monetisation. We believe the value proposition for cognitive technologies will only increase over time and that the use of data to optimise workflows will be a key driver for the next generation of content creation and distribution.

NAB is a large show with over 100,000 attendees, but everywhere you turned you would mentally note an exhibitor claiming to provide a cloud-based solution to some degree. The cloud solutions ranged from linear Playout, media management, storage, transcoding, and delivery. Cloud is confidently reaching maturity and the methods of architecting systems are finally shifting from ‘why’ to ‘how’ and ‘where’. The business model of taking a traditional technology, running it in a virtual machine and on someone else’s platform and calling it a ‘cloud’ solution has left customers with numerous logistical challenges – there were many questions on ‘how’ and ‘where’ content is stored, moved to the cloud and processed, making each solution different.

Our customers are looking to build relationships with technology providers to partner with them and provide a non-disruptive path for a flexible and scalable future. One of the solutions we provide is Blackbird Edge, which assists in a smooth migration through Edge technology. Blackbird Edge is a software-defined conduit to the power of the cloud whereby content can be tracked while remaining in its existing location. This layer is topped with a selection of lightweight, web-based user applications such as Blackbird Ascent or the more comprehensive toolsets of Blackbird Forte to enable virtual use of the same (original) content without the need to scale up infrastructure. The solution allows editors and teams to enact on user or automated instructions, to utilise original content referenced and create final, high-quality content for distribution.

Ultimately the idea that in our world of large files you move the ‘computing to the content’ rather than the ‘content to the computing’ is a key principle of Blackbird Edge. Customers looking to increase monetisation of video content for online and social media can have these capabilities without the complex rollouts, making Blackbird Edge highly attractive.

The whole Blackbird team has left NAB with an even greater enthusiasm for the innovative Blackbird platform and the benefits it can bring to more efficiently create and monetise content and would be pleased to talk in more depth on any of these topics.

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://www.blackbird.video/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Huw-Dymond.png[/author_image] [author_info] written by Huw Dymond, Product Manager[/author_info] [/author]

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With all the challenges of MAM requirements, including vertical integration with non-MAM processes which range from traffic, scheduling and airtime, to horizontal alliances with content production and distribution functionalities – the discussion surrounding the efficiency of content visibility through proxy browse technology gets ‘lost in translation’.

For the feature/function of proxy browse, the media industry generally utilizes the H.264 codec. As commonplace as the H.264 codec is, there are some issues which need to be considered:

• H.264 known profiles – careful considerations need to be made and adhered to upfront, in order to “lock into” the correct profile(s) for your entire supply chain requirements, since H.264 has a minimum of 22 known profiles.
• General purpose CPUs – software implementations that run on general-purpose CPUs are typically less power efficient and below the horsepower required to process smoothly.
• Bandwidth dependant – A good, non-buffering, client-side playback of a pre-created proxy is bandwidth dependent. Working “off-premise” can lead to unpredictability for the client side user experience and this can range from ‘great’ to ‘terrible’.

For a proxy feature/function, H.264 is a solution for the wrong problem, being forced on to a MAM when no other alternative solution was known or available…until now.

Blackbird is the most responsive cloud video platform available. It is surrounded by media services and can be accessed at any time and from any location. Blackbird has the potential to fit into various levels of your media supply chain layers and works alongside your current proxy browse workflow.

What is the Blackbird codec?

Blackbird is designed to perform video manipulation tasks that are impossible to achieve with the H.264 codec.

• A software frame accurate codec designed to exceed in navigation and manipulation, with graceful operation on slower connections.
• It uses Intraframe and multiple Interframe temporal resolutions to allow efficient access at multiple frame rates and playback speeds (reverse and forward).
• It uses blocks and motion compensation but avoids DCT which is slow and introduces unnatural visual artefacts.
• It updates its codewords 10,000 times per second to adjust to changing content.
• It allows media manipulation and fast random access for navigation.
• As a software solution, it can be easily upgraded, increasing quality while decreasing bandwidth requirements.

Creating a Blackbird layer is simply a matter of monitoring and scanning mounted volumes in a variety of methods that are part of your asset management integration. The creation process works independently but integrates neatly into your workflow. Blackbird can also sit neatly as a “slip-in” or “bolt-on” without disruption to current integrations.

See how Blackbird can improve your proxy view requirements, take a test drive below:

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Live streams can provide more authentic, unscripted video content, with productions ranging from amateur smartphone recordings to sophisticated professional event setups. Instant video content reduces the fear of missing out (FOMO) on the latest score in a sports game. Providing a ‘sneak peek’ at the latest fashion trend, music video or film provides instant gratification. As a result, lines between mainstream and digital broadcasting are becoming more blurred. Today, broadcasters, brands and mega platforms are all tapping into the live streaming market. In a hectic world, Live video content simply fills the gap.

Brands such as Red Bull changed marketing strategy and monetised videos instead of placing more spend on advertising for energy drinks. In one year over 639 videos were created with more than 1 million views per video. The result, a total of 1.7 billion views, 32.9 million engagements and a sum of $ 6.6 billion in sold energy drinks. Gregory Jacobs, Head of monetization at Red Bull Media House, North America termed these times as a ‘media renaissance’, where content can be distributed across many platforms with ‘no need be a part of the big [TV networks] or cable companies’.

Live streaming methods are also more inventive –  from the use of drones and smartphones to camera-to-platforms such as Freecast (which provide new wireless broadcasting) and Virtual Reality (VR).  Broadcasters such as NBC will provide 50+ hours of live VR streaming from the  Pyeong Chang Winter Olympics 2018 – including skiing, curling, snowboarding, and figure skating – to provide an exciting, immersive experience. Viewers will be able to gain new perspectives and thrills through Intel® True VR Technology. Using multiple camera pods at each Olympic event, they can create a 360-degree virtual reality experience with both audio and visual personalisation. Additionally, VR viewers will receive real-time stats, leaderboards and other event information.

Regardless of the live streaming method, each brand, broadcaster and cloud hosting platform will look to deliver high-quality content with low latency to fans and audiences. Mega platforms such as IBM Cloud Live, Amazon AWS (owner of Twitch), MS Azure and Google Cloud Platform are all getting involved and where monetisation is key, innovative technology like Blackbird will make this difference.

Blackbird technology underpins multiple applications which are used by rights holders, broadcasters, sports and news video specialists, post-production houses, other mass market digital video channels and corporations. The Blackbird technology allows full visibility of multi-location digital content, with clipping and editing in near real time. This dramatically improves time to market for live content, such as video clips and highlights for social media distribution, and results in much more effective monetisation.

Nowadays, many potential viewers are ‘time poor’ and unable to watch the live stream, so the ability to repackage highlights and archive provides viewers with the ability to watch that game or tournament in free time. If your audience is global, potentially one-third of your audience is asleep and missing out on all the action!

References

Anderson-Moore, O. (2017, May) Freecast New Affordable  Wireless Streaming Option. [ONLINE] Available at: https://nofilmschool.com[Accessed 22 January 2018].

Beall, G. (2018, May). Live streaming changing future social content. [ONLINE] Available at: https://thenextweb.com [Accessed 22 January 2018].

Bearne, S. (2017, October) Millennials making a living from live streaming. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com[Accessed 22 January 2018].

Bouw, B. (2015, February) Branded Content Lessons from Red Bull Media House  [ONLINE] Available at: http://marketingmag.ca[Accessed 22 January 2018].

Karr, D. (2018, August) Live streaming trends statistics. [ONLINE] Available at: https://martech.zone/[Accessed 22 January 2018].

Koeppel, P. (2017, July) Rise of Livestreaming Marketing Trends Tips/. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.koeppeldirect.com/[Accessed 22 January 2018].

Lonstein, W.  (2017, December) Predicting the future of live streaming is as easy as abc, apple, betamax and choice. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.forbes.com. [Accessed 22 January 2018].

Moreau, E. (2017, July). Tools for broadcasting live video [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.lifewire.com/ [Accessed 22 January 2018].

Spangler, T. (2018, January) NBC 2018 Winter Olympics Virtual Reality Live Streaming. [ONLINE] Available at: http://variety.com/. [Accessed 22 January 2018].

Wilhelm, A. (2014, June) The platform wars. [ONLINE] Available at: https://techcrunch.com/. [Accessed 22 January 2018].

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Video Over IP (VOIP) addresses the issue of remote access and speed to market without affecting the quality of the content or compromising the reliability of the brand. Video over IP allows video signals to be sent over standard network connections rather than dedicated Serial Digital infrastructure (SDI), making the solution more viable and cost-effective.

In Sports production, for example, where a single control room can have access to content from multiple venues, Video over IP provides a huge advantage in terms of flexibility, and reduces costs, as content can be streamed live from the source to a remote location for post-production. VOIP allows it to be widely adopted for media connectivity, for both uncompressed and lightly compressed video.
There is still progress to be made in establishing standards and making sure different systems can talk to each other effectively. Changing from a dedicated SDI infrastructure to Video over IP is a highly complex process, requiring the purchase of new hardware and installation of high bandwidth connectivity, often over fibre optic connections. In summary, it’s not at a ‘plug-and-play’ stage, and not a quick solution.

So, what can broadcasters and digital publishers do, without building new Video over IP capacities and skills from scratch? They can approach the challenge with Blackbird, which works over standard internet architecture and does not require a huge investment in new infrastructure.

Blackbird converts the full resolution media into a lightweight proxy at the venue/location, streaming content to remote users over a connection as low as 2Mb/s. Content can be logged, clipped, edited, captioned and published, all from one platform using a user-friendly web-based interface.

Full resolution (hi-res) content remains on servers at the venue, while a lightweight proxy resolution can be published to social media directly from the Blackbird video platform. Metadata is automatically created in the Blackbird platform and can be sent to legacy post-production systems for compliance and finishing.

Gain the competitive advantage of working remotely and collaboratively, whilst planning for the move to VOIP in the not too distant future.

Author – Neil Roberts, Solutions specialist

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