BENEFITS OF SOFTWARE-BASED LIVE PRODUCTION
Software platforms for live media production allow broadcasters and production companies to produce multiple shows on the same centralised pool of processing power. A direct result of this is lower overall running cost, better space utilisation, and a much more efficient crew operation.
Find out how to unlock these significant economic and ecological efficiencies by working on a private cloud for high-end live media production.
Imagine a broadcaster with a packed programming schedule. In the morning, they run a four-camera live talk show from Studio 1. At noon, they do live commentary in Voice Booth 2. In the afternoon, they run the news in Studio 3 and in the evening, a four-camera remote sports event coming in from the MCR.
The hardware approach
Traditionally the broadcaster would need a lot of dedicated devices to support these four productions (e.g. video switchers, playout servers, graphics engines, audio mixers, etc.). Due to SDI distance limitations, potential overlap during the day and the specific requirements of each show, it’s very likely that a dedicated infrastructure is needed for each studio/control room.
This infrastructure takes time to build and requires a lot of rack space, power and cooling. It is inflexible by nature, which drives up maintenance and reengineering costs.
The dedicated devices are often over-provisioned and have dedicated control panels on which dedicated operators are working. This results in a large and specialised crew to produce the shows, regardless of the show's complexity.
The equipment stays the same throughout its lifecycle, typically 7 to 10 years. That is fun and exciting on day 1, but in year 7, the operators and creative people are working on old traditional equipment.
Now imagine there’s a big event to cover. The broadcaster would likely have enough dedicated devices in all the data centres combined, but because they’re installed in a certain way, it would be very hard to repurpose them efficiently. Often, they would end up renting an OB van to produce this big event.
How to produce leaner and more cost-effective?
With a flexible, shareable, easy-to-use, and always up-to-date software solution!
The software approach
On a software media production platform, functionality is represented by widgets (e.g. video switcher modules, playlists, recorders, real-time graphics, slomo/replay, automation, and much more). The widgets will run on commodity IT computers.
If you compare the number of dedicated devices to the amount of IT equipment for the software platform, you immediately understand which operational, economic and ecologic gains will be made.
The dedicated devices for the Morning Talkshow in Studio 1 compared to the Software Based alternative will result in a 28U vs 5U rack space difference.
This difference increases exponentially when you build infrastructure to support all four shows simultaneously (90U vs 9U).
With energy prices going up, and location square meter costs in cities getting more and more expensive, being able to utilise better the currently available locations is often more economical than relocating to new areas.
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Shareability, flexibility, scalability
In a web-based user interface, operators create a personalized workspace by putting widgets on the screen. Operators can also use programmable hardware panels, e.g. for vision mixing or slomo/replay. The production can now reorganise and combine tasks and roles to utilise its operational crew more efficiently, this lowers the complexity and cost of the production.
The web-based user interface is accessible over the internet. Crew members can start working in different physical locations (e.g. from home), reducing on-site crew and travel costs.
A happy crew means fewer staff rotations and no loss of knowledgeable staff, so always working with the latest technology is a valuable benefit.
The software platform runs on a private cloud of Common of the Shelf (COTS) IT servers in the data centre. All four production locations are connected to the data centre using video over IP (SMPTE 2110). Depending on how much processing power you provide, the four shows can run one after the other, or they can run simultaneously. You can now also repurpose all of the available processing power with a mouse click, to run that big event.
Economic & Sustainable Live Production Infrastructure
This is exactly what state-of-the-art software platforms for high-end live media production bring to the table.?
Going from dedicated hardware to modular software will result in
Cost efficiencies
Workflow innovation
Future Proof infrastructure
While this may sound futuristic, all of the above is already available and in use today. LiveOS by NetOn.Live is a robust, mature, mission-critical software platform for live media production, used on-air at several public and private broadcasting companies.
With SDI-style ultra-low latency (below three frames end to end in 1080p and 1080i), a broad pallet of on-board functionality, 3rd party integrations and workflow integrations (MAM, Intercom, Newsroom, MOS Gateway, etc.), LiveOS is the go-to software platform for professional high-end live media production.
For more info, go to www.neton.live or [email protected]
NetOn.Live is showcasing LiveOS at the IBC in Amsterdam (10D15), from Sept 9th till 12th 2022.