U2, hype, and Dejero

So, how on earth do these things relate?

Well, let’s start with a little known fact. U2, the greatest rock band on the planet—I’m from the same wee island, so arguably may be a little biased—performed as The Hype before they became U2.

Very rarely does anything live up to its hype, often we are left disappointed or disillusioned. U2 clearly was the exception. Did I mention I’m a fan?

That brings us to NAB Show 2018. And that means media, entertainment, and technology companies from around the world are about to assemble in sunny Las Vegas to showcase innovation and learn about new solutions for creating, managing, delivering, and monetizing content. 

Will the hype disappoint us?

Around this time, there’s always a lot of excitement about new technologies and capabilities that will be unveiled. And there’s a lot of hype too. If you are familiar with Gartner’s hype cycle, we’re approaching or at the peak of inflated expectations on many fronts. To add to the hype, there are those that choose to propagate unrealistic expectations that will ultimately disappoint. Dare I say, fake claims?

 Yes, 5G is coming. The cloud will be embraced even further. Artificial intelligence and machine learning will bring more automation. And the transition to IP will only accelerate, since as one of our colleagues is apt to say, “you can’t stop the Internet.”

At Dejero, our founder and chief visionary, Bogdan Frusina, and the architects in our lab, certainly have their eyes on these new technologies and possibilities, and are dreaming up more. Our solutions already incorporate the likes of built-in intelligence and support advanced IP workflows. 

Picture quality is still important

Video is a visual medium. I’m guessing that didn’t quite blow your mind. But as obvious as that is, we mustn’t lose sight of that.

 While we accept poor video quality when what we’re seeing is novel—think of the first broadcast of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon, or the early live feeds from onboard cameras in Formula One cars—we naturally want, and now expect decent, if not great quality.

The same goes for breaking news. When CNN broadcast live during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, many of us hadn’t seen anything like it before, and it captivated us. And with the wide-spread adoption of cellular technology to transport live video from the field, we’re in an age when we can cost-effectively broadcast from virtually anywhere on a moment’s notice.

But picture quality is sometimes compromised if there’s insufficient cellular bandwidth, or the reporter and camera operator are in an area of poor cellular reception.

The real benefit of HEVC when broadcasting live from a portable transmitter

At Dejero, that’s where we’ve focused our efforts. How can we further enhance the picture quality if faced with limited bandwidth? And how can we improve the reliability of getting a live shot from more locations?

That’s why we’ve implemented HEVC compression technology in our EnGo mobile transmitter with the latest release of our Core software. When combined with novel techniques such as our auto-transport technology and our proprietary and extremely efficient adaptive bitrate encoding technology, we’re able to deliver enhanced picture quality when faced with a limited bandwidth scenario. That results in a more pleasing experience for the viewer. 

Giving you confidence to go live in challenging scenarios

We’ve also partnered with Intelsat, the global leader in satellite services, to offer a unique solution we call CellSat. We intelligently blend cellular and satellite connectivity to provide broadcasters higher reliability for getting a live shot.

If the available cellular bandwidth dips, we seamlessly blend in up to 7.5 Mbps of additional satellite bandwidth—more than enough to deliver exceptional picture quality even if cellular connectivity is lost entirely. This is particularly useful when cellular networks may become congested in areas of large crowds, or in poor cellular coverage areas. Deployed and in use across North America, we’re working on testing and deploying more broadly.

So that’s how we’ve enhanced live broadcasting from the field, and made it more reliable. But we haven’t stopped there.

Delivering reliable connectivity to streamline workflows

Recognizing that our customers are often faced with the challenge of securing reliable Internet connectivity when in the field—to transfer data between their remote location that’s always changing and the main broadcast facility—we’ve applied our network blending technology to deliver fast, reliable, and secure connectivity with our GateWay solution that can be deployed in vehicles or portable remote integration (REMI) carts.

This enables VoIP communications, MAM system access, faster file transfers, the use of cloud services, and many more possibilities when operating remotely in the field. We’re simplifying remote production workflows and enabling whole new workflows that innovative broadcasters and media organizations can deploy to save time and reduce costs.

Keeping it real

So to go back to my original question, how on earth do these things relate?

It’s simple. At NAB, we keep it real. And in today’s world, we could do with a lot more of that. We’re excited to show how we can deliver enhanced picture quality with the thoughtful implementation of HEVC; provide increased reliability with the combination of cellular and satellite transport paths; and provide reliable connectivity to mobile field crews that opens up many new possibilities for remote production.

Our team would love to learn about how we can help you.

No hype. Just solutions. And no, U2 will not be playing at our booth. But if The Hype wants to reassemble for old time’s sake, I’m sure we can make room.

Dejero’s vision is to deliver reliable connectivity anywhere. It will be exhibiting at NAB Show, booth C2025 in the central hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center, April 9–12, 2018.