M+E Daily

By Jeff Berman and Chris Tribbey

This is the first of two stories previewing some of the workflow solutions being showcased at this year’s NAB Show in Las Vegas.

At the NAB Show, Cisco will again be touting its IP networking and security solutions, as well as its overall Media Blueprint set of infrastructure and software solutions that it first unveiled at the show in 2016.

The media industry has been “one of the fastest adopters” of new technology, Yoav Schreiber, Cisco product marketing manager, told the Media & Entertainment Services Alliance (MESA) in a recent briefing ahead of this year’s NAB. But he said: “It’s been a long process in terms of proving that IP can deliver the same quality and resiliency” that media companies are “used to” from traditional architectures and “without changing the workflow.”

The “good news,” however, is “there are plenty of customers that we’ve been working with and around the industry that are now adopting and already making the changes in their architectures to incorporate IP and different parts of cloud technology,” he said.

Some media organizations are already migrating live production to IP across broadcast centers, stadiums and trucks, as well as: evolving content distribution and collaboration with IP to engage audiences; accelerating media operations with content supply chains based on cloud and IP technology; and adopting security approaches across networks, data centers, devices and workflows, according to Cisco.

Schreiber told MESA: “What we’re really focusing on at NAB” this time is “how do we industrialize it? How do we make what has been a technology change and a technology adoption trajectory to be really industrialized in the sense that [it’s] plug-and-play and you know it’s going to work?”

Cisco has been “working behind the scenes with a lot of our partners that you’ll see at our booth – both demonstrating as well as integrating their technology or their components with our underlying infrastructure,” he said. “We’re going to have the involvement of a lot of these partners at our booth” during NAB and Cisco will have a presence with them at other booths also, he said, noting that Cisco and its partners will collectively communicate at the booths and in conference keynotes how the industry is moving towards more IP and cloud.

One of three Cisco Daily Keynote presentations is on “The IP Transition,” at 11 a.m. April 10.

“The IP transition has already unfolded in adjacent sectors — music and cable/broadband are two examples,” according to the keynote description at the NAB web site.

It went on: “Media and entertainment is the next logical step. It’s happening, and like everything else in the IP landscape, it’s happening fast. In a technological sense, it’s happening because IP is a more reliable, efficient and flexible way to process signals. In a business sense, it’s happening because ‘traditional broadcasters’ — which still generate 90 of the top 100 TV shows — want their content to behave more like Internet-styled video. In this session, key partners will join Cisco to review and discuss the latest updates to the IP Fabric for Media solution, industry standards and tent pole customer deployments.”

Speakers will include Bryan Bedford, global business development lead for Cisco’s Sports, Media & Retail, Digital Transformation & Industries Team, and Rahul Parameswaran, technical marketing engineer in Cisco’s Data Center Networking Unit. CMIP Debate Theater SU10804CM

Another Cisco keynote, “The Broadcaster Threat Landscape” at noon April 9, will feature speaker Edmund Brumaghin, threat researcher at Cisco’s Talos Business. According to the keynote description at the NAB web site: “The threat landscape is constantly evolving. As new methods and solutions for combating cyber threats are developed, threat actors will continue to evolve their tactics, techniques and procedures. This is one of the many reasons that solid threat intelligence is such an essential part of a sound cyber security strategy.

There are constantly new threats being faced by organizations globally across virtually every industry including broadcasting.

This presentation will provide an overview of the threat landscape, a description of the common types of attacks that are used to compromise organizations, as well as a discussion of the potential impact these attacks can have on business operations. Ransomware, worms, exploit kits, and malicious/phishing email campaigns will be discussed with specific examples provided in an attempt to provide an inside look at what is currently occurring within the threat landscape.”

CMIP Debate Theater SU10804CM

The third Cisco keynote, “The Fate of Bespoke Machinery” at 11 a.m. April 11, will feature speakers including Cisco’s Bedford, Cisco architect Dave Desroches and Rajesh Gadiyar, CTO at Cisco partner Intel’s Network Platforms Group. Cisco and its partners will “discuss the triad of virtualization (including object storage), orchestration and automation and learn how gear is being optimized and cost savings realized,” according to the NAB web site’s description. CMIP Debate Theater SU10804CM

Cisco, SU8502CM, [email protected]

Among other MESA members representing the workflow solutions space at the 2018 NAB Show:

5th Kind
At the NAB Show in Las Vegas, 5th Kind will be showcasing 5th Kind CORE v6, a “secure, robust, and scalable system for dailies and screeners to full fledged script to screen digital workflows,” according to Chris Henrotin, director of business development. CORE v6 “offers a simple, clean, and easy to use interface, with one-click access to the content from any device, anytime, and anywhere in the world,” he told MESA. CORE v6 is a “10-year culmination of customer feedback and requests, as well as our own experience across all facets of film and TV workflows,” he said. SL14601MR, [email protected]

AWS/AWS Elemental
The Amazon Web Services (AWS) booth at NAB will present a “fully integrated AWS effort,” according to the company, which noted AWS will feature cloud-based video solutions enriched by machine learning (ML) services “for ingest, production [and] processing.”

“At the 2018 NAB Show, we will showcase intelligent video solutions — on-premises and cloud video solutions that help media companies around the world work smarter, faster, and more efficiently,” according to Aslam Khader, chief product officer for AWS Elemental.

The company’s booth will feature “new solutions for the next generation of content delivery,” he said, adding highlights will include: video processing and “delivery workflows that bend the cost curve for streaming video quality, cut end-to-end latency to faster-than-broadcast, and support massive VOD libraries; advanced media formats, including conversion and playout of HDR and HLG video, Dolby Vision processing for VOD distribution, live and VOD packaging and delivery in fMP4 / CMAF formats, and IMF content processing; and, machine learning demonstrations that unlock the value of content libraries through metadata extraction, automated clipping, captioning, and translation.”

The company will also highlight the new AWS Media Services, which he said are “a family of fully managed services that make it easy to build reliable, broadcast-quality video workflows in the cloud.”

They include five cloud services based on AWS Elemental video solutions he said were “designed to let customers build end-to-end workflows for both live and on-demand video with the professional features, image quality, and reliability needed to deliver premium video experiences to viewers across a multitude of devices.”

The services integrate with complementary AWS services including Amazon CloudFront, AWS CloudFormation, Amazon CloudWatch and third-party applications for security, management and production “to provide a complete set of tools for processing and delivering live and on-demand video content,” he said.

AWS Elemental, meanwhile, is again producing the official run for NAB, the 4K 4Charity Fun Run, now in its fifth year. It’s being held at 7:30 a.m. April 10 at Sunset Park in Las Vegas.

Along with new functionalities for increasing the value and usability of content, AWS will use NAB to “highlight advances in appliance-based and hybrid video workflows and technologies,” it said. Demonstrations will also include solutions for HDR and other industry innovations, the company pointed out.

The AWS-produced April 11 keynote “will explore the latest cloud-based media workflows combined with advanced machine learning to deliver next-level, immersive viewing experiences,” the company said, adding the keynote will be divided into three parts, concluding with a panel discussion between high-profile media brand and scientific technology leaders who are leveraging cloud media workflows and looking to AI and ML to enrich those processes. The keynote starts 11 a.m. on the NAB Show Main Stage in the North Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC).

The event will be encoded and delivered by AWS and AWS Elemental will deliver a live stream of the event via an AWS media workflow that includes Amazon EC2, Amazon Elastic Load Balancing, Amazon Route 53 and Amazon CloudFront for public access at https://live.awsevents.com. A video-on- demand (VOD) asset will be available after the event, at https://live.awsevents.com.

The A.I. Experiential Zone, hosted by NAB and produced by AWS, will enable 2018 NAB Show attendees to see firsthand how ML is “transforming” the media and entertainment industry, AWS said. Located in the Central Lobby, adjacent to the M.E.T. 360 Studio featuring “NAB Show LIVE,” the educational showcase will feature real-world applications and content workflows for automatic speech recognition, natural language processing (NLP), text-to- speech applications, deep learning-based image and video analysis, and more, powered by AWS ML services, it said. SU2202, [email protected]

Aspera
At the NAB Show, Aspera will be announcing innovations related to cloud and live streaming, it said. On April 11, from 3:20-3:40 PM, Jay Migliaccio, director, cloud platforms and services, will present a session on “Best Practices for Cloud Media Workflows.” On  April 12, from 9-9:20 AM, Mike Flathers, chief technologist, Aspera Developer Platform, will present a session on “Live Streaming Broadcast-quality Video over Commodity Internet Networks.” The sessions will be held during the Broadcast Engineering and Information Technology Conference at NAB, in room N256. SL5910, [email protected]

Avid
Avid will “showcase innovations for everyone from large media enterprises to creative teams, independent professionals and aspiring pros, the company said in a prepared statement. They include MediaCentral solutions for sports, news, post production and live sound, it noted. Avid’s MediaCentral next-generation media production suite “powers the simplest to the most complex workflows, connecting every user in a completely integrated workflow environment with a unified view into all media. It gives sports, news, and post-production teams the power to create and deliver more content quickly and efficiently,” according to Avid. SU801, [email protected]

Deluxe
Deluxe will be turning the spotlight on its new, cloud-based Deluxe One open platform at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, according to Janine Kamwene, director of content marketing and communications at Deluxe Entertainment Services Group.

The company will be providing sneak peek demonstrations of Deluxe One to reporters April 8 at the Encore Tower Suites., one day before the platform’s official launch at NAB, Deluxe said. It called Deluxe One an “industry-first” platform that will change “how entertainment is made and delivered.”

Deluxe One “will unify every stage of the content ecosystem – from pre-production to playout – in a single, user-friendly interface,” Deluxe said in its invite to reporters.

“To date, no platform exists that unifies this process and manages how content goes from the camera lens to a consumer’s many screens,” Deluxe said, adding: “The platform will support a higher level of customer and vendor collaboration at all stages in the content ecosystem, reducing the amount of time, steps, and vendors it takes to bring content to audiences around the world.” The two April 8 demos will be presented by Andy Shenkler, chief product officer at Deluxe Entertainment Services Group. Deluxe Hospitality Suite in the Encore Tower at the Wynn,” [email protected]

Dolby

“Dolby will be demonstrating how it can take all of your entertainment experiences to the next level,” the company said in a prepared statement. On Saturday, April 7, as part of the Future of Cinema track of sessions, more than one Dolby rep will take part in the panel The Future in High Dynamic Range – Are You Ready?, from 10:50 a.m. to noon (S222-S223). Jaclyn Pytlarz, applied vision science engineer with Dolby and Dolby senior researcher Alexandre Chapiro will join representatives from Pixar and Sony Pictures Entertainment to look at how HDR has changed filmmaking. SU1702

FilmTrack

This year at the NAB Show, FilmTrack “will be unveiling the largest revision to our platform in its 20-year history,” according to Michael McGuire, its chief revenue officer. “From rights and availabilities to royalties and participations, we’re excited to showcase new features and functionality that define the next generation in rights management,” he said.

MyFilmTrack and InstAvails are new features of FilmTrack’s platform that will be shown for the first time at NAB, according to the company. MyFilmTrack allows users to “create highly configurable widget-based dashboards that are personalized for each user,” McGuire said. As a result, there’ll be “no more searching through multiple screens or reports for the information you need,” he explained.

InstAvails, meanwhile, enables an organization’s teams to “quickly and easily access data for better decision-making while streamlining the contract initiation process,” he said, adding: “With InstAvails, you know what content you have available to sell at any given point in time so that you never miss out on new revenue opportunities.”

There will also be a preview of FilmTrack’s new user interface, McGuire said, noting: “Our sleek new look and feel will take FilmTrack from being not only the most robust” Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based “offering in the industry, but the easiest-to-use tool for rights management.” SU8812, [email protected]

Gracenote
Gracenote, a Nielsen company, will show off its solutions for music, video and sports content and technologies, for both entertainment products and brands. Gracenote’s music and video recognition tech will be front and center, which is supported by one of the largest sources of entertainment data, featuring descriptions for more than 200 million tracks, TV listings for 85-plus countries and statistics from 4,500 sports leagues and competitions. Wynn/Encore Hospitality Suites, Wynn Salon, D, [email protected]

GrayMeta
GrayMeta will be showing how its platform can reduce the time needed to ensure compliance by using AI and ML to automate the review of audio, on-screen text and video, it said. By quickly finding details including nudity, graphic violence and gore, weapons and sexually explicit content, an organization’s teams can “streamline workflows and monetize assets more efficiently,” the company said.

The GrayMeta Platform will be demonstrated at the company’s partner booths, including AWS (SU2202) and Microsoft (SL6716), according to Faye Espiritu, GrayMeta senior director of marketing & partnerships. GrayMeta will also show its Iris studio-grade media player and quality control solution at the Aria Hotel, she said.

Iris “enables media professionals to quickly and accurately collaborate and deliver ALL forms of professional file content through the production lifecycle from asset acquisition, post-production on through to approval and distribution,” the company says at its web site. Executive Hospitality Suite at the Aria Hotel, 
[email protected]

IBM Watson Media
IBM will share how it’s combining AI and streaming technology to deliver video experiences that enable both content owners and distributors to improve both viewer engagement and loyalty. IBM executives and industry experts will be on hand to showcase the company’s offerings, covering enhanced metadata via AI, automated closed captioning and transcription processes, OTT, VOD and TV Everywhere services, live and on-demand streaming, and secure video sharing. SL5305, [email protected]

IYUNO Media Group
At the NAB Show, IYUNO Media Group will introduce MSX, a new, licensable, cloud-based software platform for subtitling, captioning, and dubbing that streamlines demands and offerings among vendors, freelancers, clients, platforms, channels, and influencers.

MSX will be available for per-seat-licensing at various pricing tiers and with optional usages costs for vendors and clients, and for free to freelancers. SU11017, 
[email protected]

Mediamorph
Cloud-based enterprise software firm Mediamorph will be at on hand at the NAB Show sharing how its clients are using its services to track the performance of content assets across global digital platforms.

Every major Hollywood studio and the biggest broadcast TV networks, cable and satellite operators and OTT providers rely on Mediamorph to be sure every asset (and the data associated with assets) is accurate, across every platform, language and region. N4515, [email protected]