An emerging generation of solutions is set to make the most of 5G networks for production and contribution. David Davies speaks to three leading vendors about their latest 5G innovations and how they expect this dynamic area of the market to develop.
Aviwest
Name of solution: Aviwest PRO460 5G transmitter
Target applications: Aviwest’s PRO460 5G is a bonded cellular transmitter for remote and at-home video production over 5G networks. It addresses the challenges broadcasters face in expanding remote production for live events, including sports, entertainment, concerts and interactive TV shows.
Innovative features: The PRO460 5G has an extensive feature set that enables broadcasters to produce content with “unparalleled efficiency” from a central facility using advanced features that include full control and monitoring of transmitters directly from the studio. It supports wireless frame-accurate synchronisation and video transmission of multiple cameras to ensure seamless switching in the studio while a high-definition video return (up to 1080p50/60) is available for confidence monitoring or teleprompting.
“The opportunities with 5G to elevate fan engagement through compelling content across platforms are limitless,” Per Lindgren, Net Insight
The PRO460 5G also offers support for full-duplex intercoms to optimise communication between field crews and studio operators, and innovative data bridging for remote camera control, tally light management or control of any IP-connected device during a live event.
Housing six globally compliant 5G modems and incorporating patented, high-efficiency custom antennas to ensure high-speed transmission, the PRO460 provides robust, error-free transmission over any network, ensuring low end-to-end latency, down to 0.5 seconds, thanks to Aviwest’s SST (Safe Stream Transport Technology). In addition, the PRO460 5G supports the latest generation of H.265/HEVC and H.264/AVC compression standards to accommodate new and existing infrastructures with up to 4Kp60 combined with eight audio channels for high-end productions.
5G market predictions: Ronan Poullaouec, CTO of Aviwest, comments: “5G brings higher bandwidth and lower connection latency to users. This serves applications and services that require higher reactivity and higher bandwidth, such as live video production.
Compared to 4G/LTE, which already provides higher bandwidth and lower latency under certain conditions, 5G brings a lot of new services like the use of non-public networks or network slicing. This is a way for broadcasters to book a dedicated slice of the network (with reserved bandwidth, for instance) for their production, wherever the place, even in crowed areas. This is a real game-changer for broadcasters.
We saw this strong advantage of 5G in a very recent Tier 1 sports production held in Beijing during the winter. This is probably the start of a new story with the deployment of 5G standalone networks that began a few months ago. I think we can safely say that live sports coverage will in time rely more and more on 5G wireless cameras for production.”
LiveU
Name of solution: LU800 multi-camera production-level field unit
Target applications: The LU800 delivers mission-critical transmission for global newsgathering and live productions in native 5G. It also works with 4G.
Innovative features: “The LU800 combines multi-camera production and mission-critical transmission with superior video and audio capabilities in a native 5G unit,” explains Ronen Artman, VP of Marketing, LiveU. “As reliable as satellite and fibre, the LU800 offers a highly cost-effective solution for complex remote productions, to which the market has responded with great enthusiasm.
“With 5G networks increasingly prevalent, and with LiveU pioneering the way [including] working at an EU level to help define the role of 5G across the media vertical, it was essential that we designed our flagship unit as 5G native. This enables best-in-class video quality and reliability with the lowest latency, alongside improved antenna performance and global compatibility for all cellular wireless frequencies, including sub 6GHz 5G and LTE.”
The LU800 bonds up to 14 connections with up to eight 5G/4G internal dual SIM modems, supporting up to 70Mbps and based on LiveU’s patented HEVC technology. It delivers high performance, with up to 4Kp60 10-bit HDR transmission for optimal colour depth and richness, as well as up to 16 audio channels.
5G market predictions: 5G will exert an increasing influence on remote production, indicates Artman: “The LU800 has been designed from the ground up with remote production in mind. [Remote production is] now becoming the dominant way of producing sports in particular, with 5G set to increase this still further. With remote production customers can cover more events at a fraction of the cost by producing multi-camera live events from a centralised studio control room instead of on-site production and satellite trucks.
“The LU800 is both the present and the future with the possibilities afforded by IP bonding and 5G taken to the next level [as a result of the] unit’s powerful capabilities and rock-solid reliability.”
“5G brings higher bandwidth and lower connection latency to users,” Ronan Poullaouec, Aviwest
Net Insight
Name of solution: 5G contribution has been verified with the full Net Insight Nimbra media transport portfolio, including the use of the cloud-based Nimbra Edge platform as an aggregation point for 5G contribution links.
Target applications: Tier 2, 3 live sports
Innovative features: The feature-set includes a ‘carrier-grade’ contribution and primary distribution service; a secure, elastic and open platform; a broad range of reliability and redundancy feature such as 1+1 hitless and ARQ support; integration into IP Media Gateway and Nimbra MSR portfolio; and advanced and responsive monitoring.
5G market predictions: According to Net Insight CTO Per Lindgren: “5G is gearing up to provide new enhanced viewing experiences – from 5G-enabled smartphones used to capture live sports action to ‘smart stadiums’ setting up dedicated private 5G networks to enable the delivery of multiple camera feeds covering new angles.
“5G promises to provide a more flexible, high bandwidth service to connect more content and more live events, but we are still in an early phase with mainly tests and PoCs. Bandwidth provided is still in 100s of Megabits per second, while we are moving to 100G IP contribution links for tier 1 sports events. There are still some years [to go until we see] 5G being used in larger live sports events, but it is already a [complementary technology] inside stadiums and for cloud production of smaller events.
“We see the importance of a hybrid approach that combines the versatility and agility of 5G, and the reliability and security of cloud and IP media networks. The cloud will be increasingly important to aggregate and condition the 5G streams and distribute the live feeds to the right destinations. The opportunities with 5G to elevate fan engagement through compelling content across platforms are limitless, but we see cloud and IP platforms continuing to be critical for producing and delivering live content for many years forward.”
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