HITS

IBC 2022: NAGRA OTT Tapped by GTPL; Xperi Expands Vewd OpX

The first full day of the IBC Show in Amsterdam saw a flurry of tech deals, product announcements, and new partnerships. Here’s what MESA members NAGRA, Verimatrix, Sony, Xperi, Irdeto, EditShare and others brought to the show.

NAGRA

Content protection and multiscreen TV solutions provider NAGRA announced that its OTT security solutions have been selected by GTPL Hathway, the largest multiple-system operator in India with more than 11 million connected homes, to ensure content protection for its OTT app.

With a presence in 19 states across India and delivering content to more than 1,200 towns, GTPL’s launch of its new OTT app will provide an optimised user experience in delivering content to current and new subscribers. As part of the offering, GTPL needed to offer this content securely and quickly on different devices and platforms, such as iOS, Android and web browsers. As a core component of its business strategy, GTPL selected solutions from the NAGRA Active Streaming Protection framework that included the NAGRA Security Services Platform (SSP), multi-DRM and secure player solutions, to deliver a comprehensive line-up of protection for the new platform.

“We are dedicated to continuing to be a trusted, long-term partner for operators to provide the right security solution to take on the evolving piracy landscape and are honoured to partner with operators like GTPL to rapidly evolve and secure their services in order to remain competitive,” said Stéphane Le Dréau, SVP and regional GM, APAC for NAGRA. “With its flexibility and comprehensive approach, the NAGRA SSP, a key part of the Active Streaming Protection framework manages all of GTPL’s content security requirements — turning security into a business enabler, not a business inhibitor.”

Xperi

TiVo parent company Xperi announced the launch of Vewd OpX for the Android TV Operator Tier, making the cloud-managed, operator-grade set-top box (STB) experience, which integrates pay TV services with OTT content, available as a custom launcher and TV app for Android TV STBs.

The solution has successfully been deployed by U.S. operator Evoca for the delivery of its NEXTGEN TV service, making it the first Android TV Operator Tier launcher on an ATSC 3.0 platform. Vewd OpX continues to be available for global operators and hybrid TV applications leveraging European broadcast standards such as HbbTV as well, and this latest expansion shows the continued growth of the product.

“Android TV is increasingly popular as an OS for Pay-TV set-top boxes, and with this new implementation, we’re excited to simplify operators’ path into the Android TV world,” said Sascha Prüter, SVP of product management for Vewd. “Evoca has been a valued customer since 2021, when Vewd OpX was rolled out on Evoca’s Scout receiver. This latest deployment on Android TV demonstrates the flexibility of Vewd OpX in enabling operators to deliver a consistent user experience across OS platforms and to manage all variants via a unified cloud management system.”

With the integrated solution, Evoca can offer a fully managed NEXTGEN TV experience, including ATSC 3.0 broadcast and broadband channels, OTT services and apps, VOD content, and cloud recording services.

“For our service built on the ATSC 3.0 standard, we needed a robust, flexible solution for customising the user experience on Android TV set-top boxes,” said Mitch Weinraub, VP of product management at Evoca. “Vewd OpX fulfils Google’s requirements for the Android TV Operator Tier, enabling easy content discovery and consumption across broadcast and OTT channels, apps, games, and more using our new receiver, called Pilot.”

Technicolor/VANTIVA

VANTIVA, the brand that will replace the Technicolor corporate name by the end of September, made its debut at IBC 2022. VANTIVA experts and executives were on hand during the conference and exposition to showcase connected home technologies and applications that are embedded in broadband customer premises equipment (CPE). Innovations on display at the VANTIVA booth include solutions that support augmented fitness, smart home, gaming, home hub, voice controls, eco innovation, in-home wireless connectivity, home network control and tv analytics.

“The connected home industry is, once again, at a critical point of transformation. IBC 2022 offers an opportunity for VANTIVA to demonstrate how operators can leverage the latest developments in technology and applications to deploy the next generation of revenue-generating services while reducing their cost structure,” said Mercedes Pastor, SVP of global CPE unit at VANTIVA.

VANTIVA is showcasing offerings that focus on delivering innovative and immersive experiences to consumers as well as dedicated analytical software solutions. The VANTIVA brand will replace the Technicolor corporate name and will encompass Connected Home and Home Entertainment Services activities.

Sony

Sony announced new updates and developments for its Venice 2 camera, including the release of the Venice Extension System 2 and version 2.00 firmware update.

“The Venice 2 was born from the voice and feedback of the cinema community,” said Neal Manowitz, president and COO of Sony Electronics. “Thanks to the continued feedback of our customers, we have been able to fuel the ongoing development of this powerful full-frame cinema camera with the mission to enable more creative freedom.”

The Venice Extension System 2 is an updated version of the original extension system and was showcased for the first time at IBC 2022. The Extension System 2 is a tethered extension system that allows the camera body to detach from the actual image sensor block with no degradation in image quality.

New functionality has also been added for virtual production. The version 2.00 firmware update adds sync functions, including phase shifting of Genlock, which enables you to shift on-camera artefacts until they minimised. Additionally, Genlock is now available when shooting at high frame rates. The firmware update will be released in early 2023.

Irdeto

Irdeto announced at IBC its new approach to support the growth of super aggregators, offering a solution to deploy OTT and hybrid video platforms by leveraging on a reusable Irdeto reference broadcast stack and integrating with Android TV or RDK-V OTT stacks.

Irdeto’s solution reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO), speeding up time to market (TTM), removing fragmentation, and enabling business growth, the company said.

With Irdeto’s re-usable approach, pay TV operators are now able to re-direct their focus towards exploring new business opportunities and growth strategies. By pre-integrating with a broad set of chip manufacturers, including Realtek, Broadcom, Amlogic, and OEM partners, including Skyworth, Kaon, Innopia, CommScope, Irdeto has developed a unique certifiable process to enable pay TV operators to leverage reusable solutions, reducing costs and time to market considerably.

Irdeto is the only company in the market that has the capability to offer real choice for pay-TV operators allowing them to expand on different platforms (Android TV, RDK-V, and beyond), support legacy boxes and secure Quality of Service and business continuity.

Irdeto is already enabling operators worldwide to roll out reusable hybrid video solutions. Irdeto Broadcast Stack is pre-integrated and pre-certified for the latest versions of Android TV and with Irdeto Certified Security Experience (ICSE), operators can now enjoy the choice of deploying RDK-V-based OTT and Hybrid video platforms quickly, efficiently, and securely.

“Irdeto is at the forefront of the super aggregator market because of our 50-plus years of experience securing premium content in video entertainment, as well as our strong relationship with ecosystem leading partners”, said Shane McCarthy, COO of video entertainment at Irdeto. “We are the market leaders for satellite distribution with more than 3.5 million Android TV Hybrid STB.”

Right before IBC, Irdeto announced the extension of collaboration with Beximco Communications, part of Beximco Group, the largest private sector group in Bangladesh. Beximco selected Irdeto to provide middleware to all new set-top boxes of Akash Digital TV, the nation’s premier Direct-to-Home (DTH) service that provides subscription-based pay TV services offering supreme quality pictures and audio of popular Bangladeshi and foreign TV content.

EditShare

Video postproduction and file delivery ingest firm Cinedeck announced that its live multi-cam video ingest solutions have been integrated with EditShare’s storage and media asset management solutions, EFS and FLOW. The partnership allows media captured with Cinedeck hardware appliances or Capture2Cloud to be written directly to on premise EFS hardware or Cloud based EditShare EFS Flex cloud systems, respectively. When assets are recorded by Cinedeck, a real-time Flow compatible proxy file is created and immediately checked into FLOW for preview, searching, tagging, markers, and other metadata.

EditShare builds network shared storage and media management solutions. The integration of Cinedeck’s cloud based ingest solutions with EditShare’s EFS and FLOW solutions will enable media organisations to operate efficient, end to end, centralised workflows that can be accessed from anywhere, bringing MAM capabilities to the Cinedeck portfolio.

This technology partnership will allow users to ingest, and write directly to EditShare EFS.

Users can also preview and log Cinedeck captured content with EditShare FLOW, and organise and process media with FLOW tools including the AirFlow web client, Flow Automation, and Flow Story editor.

Sunil Mudholker, VP of product management for EditShare, said: “The technology partnership will benefit EditShare customers because they will now have access to an integrated live video ingest and playback solution with key features such as UHD support, IP ingest including NDI, SRT, and SMPTE 2110, and full AWS virtualisation integrated with our EditShare Flex Cloud offerings. The integrated solution allows customers to work directly with live high-res feeds in a variety of broadcast codecs or use proxy-based workflows for immediate access to their media, which is a real advantage for users.”

Verimatrix

Security firm Verimatrix announced that Madrid-based NexPlayer has integrated its NexPlayer multi-screen player SDK with the Verimatrix StreamkeeperSM Multi-DRM platform as well as its accompanying Verimatrix Watermarking tools to help further protect its customers’ valuable entertainment content.

Acclaimed for efficiently addressing issues of complexity, security, and video quality, NexPlayer works with any device, including Android, iOS, Smart TVs such as Samsung, Hisense and LG, game consoles such as Xbox and PlayStation, Unity games and HTLM5 browsers.

It offers unique code control that ensures viewers enjoy the highest quality, most secure and reliable playback experience.

In June 2021, Verimatrix announced an initial integration with the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System and the Verimatrix Multi-DRM Core solution, the predecessor to today’s Verimatrix Streamkeeper.

“Verimatrix is pleased to announce the evolution of this integration partnership with NexPlayer, as it further validates the demand for content protection solutions that instil’s unmatched confidence while also enabling a speedier time to market with super secure streaming content such as live sports, premiere movies and even content inside video games,” said Sebastian Braun, senior director of product management at Verimatrix.

“This use of Streamkeeper and Watermarking brings video service providers a uniquely powerful ability to detect pirated streams as well as their origin across OTT networks and even securely employ multi-camera angles for events.”