Solutions for Broadcast

Envivio was the first company in the world to deliver a professional broadcast contribution network using MPEG-4 encoding. In early 2003 Indian national news channel NDTV switched its MPEG-2 based digital satellite news gathering (DSNG) network over to Envivio MPEG-4 encoding. Since that time Envivio Broadcast Series products has been helping broadcasters around the globe benefit from the bandwidth savings and IP networking capabilities that well implemented MPEG-4 compression systems can deliver.

SD and HD Support: Envivio supports high quality encoding with low end-to-end delay for both standard definition and high definition applications. The 4Caster B3 encoder and 4View D1 or 4View D10-SD decoders provide outstanding performance for SD applications. The newly introduced 4Caster HD30 encoder and 4View D10-HD decoder provide the same high quality, low latency performance for HD.

Delivery over IP Networks: Broadcasters have long seen the potential benefits of running their contribution feeds over IP based networks. Unfortunately the encoding schemes and transport mechanisms for MPEG-2 compression were designed to operate over pseudo-error-free, synchronous networks. Introducing errors, losing or reordering packets when running MPEG-2 over IP networks, almost always creates very noticeable visual artifacts. By contrast, MPEG-4 was designed in the knowledge that IP networks would be the transport mechanism of choice for future media delivery applications. By combining the benefits of MPEG-4 encoding with Envivio’s PureIP RTP transport protocols, our 4Caster range of encoders can now provide reliable broadcast quality video delivery over even the poorest of IP networks.

Low Bandwidth: Our MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) Main Profile encoding delivers the same video quality as MPEG-2 at less than half the bandwidth. This translates directly to a decrease in operating costs or an increase in operating efficiency. Halving bandwidth can halve the cost of occasional use satellite links. Customers with fixed bandwidth overheads such as leased transponders can double the number of simultaneous feeds they can support. Some of our customers are beginning to change the face of their entire news operation. Being able to run video over their internal IP network or over low cost E1 and T1 leased lines has meant they can affordably ingest video feeds from a much broader range of sources.

Store and Forward: As part of its initial delivery to NDTV, Envivio has developed an advanced Store and Forward system that allows content to be temporarily stored to a hard disc drive within an encoder and later uploaded to a remote site using the FTP protocol. Store and Forward can be used to deliver high quality, high bandwidth content over low bandwidth links, or to allow scheduling of shared satellite bandwidth between multiple locations.

Our implementation of low delay, broadcast quality MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) encoding with PureIP transport has enabled numerous customers to implement innovative solutions for efficient content contribution:

Satellite IP Networking: Envivio has provided encoding systems to several broadcast, government and military customers who have deployed mesh IP VSAT networks to provide high quality video contribution. The first such customer was Televisa in Mexico who deployed over 40 encoders on a mixed VSAT, DSNG and fly-away network to cover the 2006 Mexican presidential elections. High video quality, low delay, and IP networking were all critical elements in this deployment.

Terrestrial IP Networking: Envivio’s ability to deliver high quality video over standard IP network infrastructure means customers can now move video contributions feeds on to the same network used to carry their inter-office communications traffic. Several such systems have already been delivered and Envivio will shortly be announcing a deployment with a major European broadcaster.

E1 / T1 Networking: Envivio’s low bandwidth, low delay encoding means that broadcasters finally have a viable solution for running high quality feeds over standard E1 (2.048 Mbps) and T1 (1.544 Mbps) leased lines. One of our customers is using our encoders for final delivery of content from a single location to multiple cable operators throughout the US. Globecast in Spain is using our solution for point to point contribution feeds.

Whatever your broadcast application, Envivio can deliver a solution that enables high quality, low bandwidth video to be delivered reliable over any type of IP network with very low end to end delays.