Most major international sport events the last couple of years has been transmitted over multi-service media networks equipped with Net Insight's Nimbra systems. The platform connect the IBC with TV companies in a global network to bring the live content to the TV company with highest quality and reliability.
Market
The proliferation of new broadcast technologies, such as HD and 3DTV and mobile phone and PC viewing, is opening the door to substantial new revenue streams for sports rights holders. Consumer demand for high-quality HD content from live events requires 100% QoS, 100% of the time. The need to upgrade broadcast networks to accommodate 1080p in order to future-proof the production of media-rich content has arrived. 3D viewing of live events is creating significant consumer buzz and demand.
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The 3D broadcast of the 2010 Oscars is credited for the 25% increase in viewers over the previous year, according to Neilson ratings.
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Cablevision Systems broadcasted a NHL hockey game between the New York Rangers and New York Islanders at Madison Square Garden in 3D, making it the first U.S. network sports telecast in 3D.
- ESPN announced it will broadcast football matches in 3D.
The shift towards 3D and HD also drives the BW needed putting stress of the efficiency in the transport because the high cost of long distance capacity. At the same time, there is a continues shift from expensive SDH/PDH capacity towards cheap IP leased capacity live sport events. The mission critical nature of these events combined with the desire of cheap IP capacity puts new requirement on the QoS offered by the transport system.
Challenges
The major challenges for contribution of Live Sport Contribution are:
- 100 % reliability. There are no second takes in live events.
- Management and monitoring of the large amount of connections
- Efficient utilization of network resources for international events. The feeds for your live event to run simultaneously with other events in the same infrastructure with your normal video and data traffic.
- Implement reliable services using IP capacity.
Net Insight offering
The Nimbra MSR (Media Switch Router) solution offers high-density Nimbra 600 media network equipment with 8-port HD-SDI/J2K/ASI modules and 8-port Gigabit Ethernet modules with network interfaces such as 10/100/1000 Base-X, 10 GE and STM-1/4/16/64 as well as compact Nimbra 360/340 network equipment with support for ASI, AES, Ethernet and E1/T1/E3/T3. The Nimbra products offer 10/100/1000 Base-X Ethernet as well as STM-1/4/16 and DS3/E3 for maximum flexibility to connect to fiber or leased connections.
You can manage the Nimbra 600 series with NimbraVision software. This offers a complete overview of the installation. It generates alarms on faults and on signal degeneration. It has built in monitoring capabilities avoiding expensive 3'rd party probes and monitoring system to be purchased. Set up and configuration is highly automated. You can make last minute changes easily without adding risk to the production.
Key benefits
The major benefits of the Nimbra platform for live events are:
- Small form factor one box solutions for ASI, GE, AES and E1/T1/E3/T3.
- High density equipment with for central locations handling ASI, SD/HD-SDI, AES/EBU and GbE.
- 10/100/1000 Base-X, 10 GE and STM-1/4/16/64, E3/DS3 network interfaces for maximum flexibility.
- Built in high-density JPEG2000 (J2K) encoding and decoding.
- Media specialized network management system for central and easy monitoring, configuration and provisioning.
- Distributed control system for auto configuration, fault handling, protection switching, provisioning and large scale installations.