SportTechBuzz at IBC 2017, Day 2: Saturday’s Latest News From the Show Floor

By SVG Staff
Saturday, September 16, 2017 - 7:39 am
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The 2017 IBC Show is in full swing in Amsterdam, and the SVG Europe and SVG Americas editorial teams are out in full force, covering all the latest news from the show floor. In an effort to make the tidal wave of news and announcements more digestible to our readers, SVG is providing a daily “SportTechBuzz at IBC 2017” roundup. This daily rundown provides snippets of big announcements and what is on display at hundreds of stands at the RAI this year. Here is the Day 2 (16 September) SportTechBuzz roundup, featuring news from Gearhouse Broadcast, SAM, Imagine Communications, Sixty AS, Grabyo, Haivision, SimplyLive, Brainstorm, Panasonic, Dalet, and Solid State Logic.

Global footprint gives Gearhouse unique SI approach

Gearhouse Broadcast (Stand 10.B39) is introducing its end-to-end service for broadcasters, content creators, and rights owners. The new service includes the supply of high-end production and technical facilities and is available as the result of Gravity Media Group’s acquiring Input Media. Gearhouse’s in-house systems-integration team will also be onsite in Amsterdam to highlight the benefits it can bring to a wide range of SI projects. Although Input Media retains its branding and staff, the deal enables GMG’s companies, including Gearhouse and HyperActive Broadcast, to broaden their global service offerings.

New Alchemist XS targeted at live sports

Snell Advanced Media (SAM) has launched Alchemist XS, delivering motion-compensated frame-rate conversion for live IP and SDI media streams. Alchemist XS is on show at Stand 9A01. Alchemist XS is aimed at any live broadcast application that demands the very best in motion-compensated conversion; this is particularly the case with live sports coverage, where the content is fast and dynamic. Built on SAM’s Alchemist Ph.C. technology, it provides motion-compensated frame-rate conversion for real-time IP and SDI media streams, with native support for SD-to-4K UHD video. The system is delivered on a COTS server platform and supports real-time 4K UHD frame-rate conversion or multiple channels of HD conversion.

Imagine accelerates playout with Versio Platform

Imagine Communications (Stand 4.A01) has introduced Versio Platform, a workflow platform designed to enable media companies to optimise playout and related operations to meet finely tuned operational and business objectives. Versio Platform provides content producers and distributors with a menu of tightly integrated functional building blocks for constructing a fully modernised playout facility that can be customised to precise operational requirements. Versio Platform marks a major milestone in Imagine Communications’ ongoing modernisation of playout operations and represents the industry’s first cloud-native, microservices-based, modular playout solution.

Sixty exhibiting Interactive TV graphics system

Sixty AS (Stand 14.C20) is showing its slick Interactive TV graphics system. It layers on top of existing high-end graphics displays (from such companies as ChyronHego, Vizrt, and Ross) and creates a simplified workflow for producers while offering a highly interactive graphical display for users on a touchscreen tablet or phone. Users can access loads of advanced analytics, and Sixty fully integrates with data services from Opta, STATS LLC, and more. The software also places monetisation at the forefront, allowing producers to automate ads tied to such events as goals and even prompting sales of such products as jerseys or other items tied to real-time moments in the stream.

Grabyo showcases data-integration and automation offerings

The digital production, editing, and distribution service provider Grabyo (Stand 14.K17) is putting its data-integration and automation offerings centre stage, following the announcement that the company has partnered with soccer-data powerhouse Opta Sports. The tool now allows users to ingest live data and churn out automated highlights for real-time publishing to digital and social platforms.
“We’ve architected it in a way that it allows you to adjust [the edit of] the play,” says Mike Kelley, president, Americas, Grabyo. “So, if you want to capture the build-up of a play in soccer, you can do that. We want to speed up the workflow but still allow for the editorial control.”

Latest developments for the SRT Alliance

Since announcing the birth of SRT Alliance with Wowza Media Systems at NAB 2017, Haivision (14.L16) has seen tremendous acceptance of the protocol with more than 40 other companies endorsing it. The Alliance offers SRT as an open-source alternative to proprietary technologies in the battle for low-latency streaming. “Our latest release of SRT evolves the protocol beyond just live streaming to new use cases with support for fast file transfer, applicable within broadcast and many other markets,” says Peter Maag, chief marketing officer, Haivision. “We’re looking forward to the continued development of the technology to support the evolving challenges across industries.”
In other big Haivision news, network adaptive encoding has been added to the company’s Makito family of encoders, and the 4K version of the KB Series has debuted.

SimplyLive debuts ViBox 4K

SimplyLive (Stand 7.G11), developer of all-in-one production solutions, has some buzz going at its stand with the debut of ViBox 4K. The first six-channel 4K slow-motion server and all-in-one production system is slated to be an eight-channel box by its public release in January. “As far as we know, there’s no one else doing six channels of 4K slo-mo. We’re able to do four in and two out of slow motion,” says VP, sales and operations, Americas, SimplyLive. “We’re excited to be showing the continued growth of our products.”
In addition, ViBox16 expands support for up to 12 cameras with SSM and up to three operators offering 16 records and 12 channels of slo-mo.

Brainstorm brings new InfinitySet 3

Following a successful launch at NAB 2017, Brainstorm (Stand 7.C12) has brought its new InfinitySet 3 to Amsterdam for its European debut. The virtual-studio solution now showcases a new set of tools and features that further improve its graphics capabilities and bolster its augmented-reality offerings. “The new augmented-reality features … allow our customers to reach new levels of creativity in the design and build of their program content,” says David Alexander, commercial director, Brainstorm.

Panasonic boosts HDR power of cameras

Panasonic (Stand 11.C45) unveiled a variety of new and updated cameras and switchers at its IBC 2017 press conference on Friday morning. Among the camera highlights, the company is teaming with Vislink/Videosys to develop wireless modules for remote control of its studio cameras; is upgrading the existing HDR capabilities of its AK-UC3000 (4K) and AK-HC5000 (Full HD) studio and AK-UB300 (4K) box cameras; has teamed with MOVICOM to develop a custom 4K-ready pan-tilt head (a companion to the UB300 box camera); and has signed a European distribution contract for Antelope’s next-generation PICO and ULTRA miniature cameras. On the switcher side, Panasonic introduced the all-in-one AV-HLC100 live-production centre (which natively supports NDI) and the new high-end AV-HS7300 switchers (available spring/summer 2018) designed for 4K production. And the new Panasonic 360-degree camera system (set for release in the autumn after its NAB 2017 debut) — comprising a camera head and base unit and using four cameras to produce 360-degree video in uncompressed 4K — is also on show in a live application.

Dalet showcasing new AI, social, and Adobe Premier integrations in Galaxy MAM platform

Dalet Digital Media Systems (Stand 8.B77) is exhibiting three major new features in its Dalet Galaxy MAM/orchestration platform: integration of Veritone’s AI technology for automated metadata extraction and analysis (including speech-to-text transcription, facial recognition, translation, object and logo recognition, and content moderation), the Xtend integration panel for Adobe Premiere Pro CC that debuted at NAB 2017 (connecting Galaxy and Adobe Premiere Pro via a direct gateway), and the Social Media Panel in its Unified News Operations workflow (a framework that enables journalists to analyse, produce, and deliver fast-paced news on social-media platforms).

Solid State Logic targets budget-conscious productions with T-S300 console

Solid State Logic (Stand 8.D83) is debuting a compact broadcast audio console. The System T-S300 is aimed at budget-conscious operations, including smaller live sports productions, and features a fixed-layout compact control surface that can be combined with SSL’s System T network objects (consoles, remote tiles, touchscreen interfaces, Tempest Processing Engines, remote PC software, and network I/O). The T-S300 (available in 16+1 fader and 32+1 fader versions) can be specified as part of a larger System T installation or in standalone configurations for smaller broadcast facilities or OB vehicles.