Synamedia launches streaming breakthroughs

At IBC 2024, Hall 1 B33, leading video software provider, Synamedia, will unveil a raft of new video network solutions as it solidifies its position as a key technology partner for sports streaming services.

With technology breakthroughs including AI content-aware video processing for live sport, ad insertion, pVMAF to optimise network usage, and new CDN technologies, Synamedia is making it easy for customers to go live with self-service applications and scale to millions of viewers, all while minimising latency, underpinned by an intense focus on ROI.

At IBC, Synamedia will launch new cloud services with the flexibility to support customer requirements including major sports events as well as onboarding to SaaS and managed services. These new services, which streamline operations and cut costs, are run out of Synamedia’s industry-leading 24/7 Cloud Operations Centre in Bangalore which specialises in DevOps and AI for streaming. With its end-to-end approach, Synamedia’s Cloud Operations Centre integrates selected SaaS partners for best-in-class Quortex solutions.

Synamedia continues to sign new customers for cloud and SaaS solutions each month and has now reached 40 customers. Many, such as NATO, are self-onboarding and benefit from Quortex Play’s unique multi-tenant SaaS environment for automation, scalability and cost-effectiveness. Plus, with the integration of virtual Digital Content Manager (vDCM) technologies with Quortex Play, D2C streamers have greater control over quality of experience and latency.  Play, D2C streamers have greater control over quality of experience and latency.

Part of the B2B distribution family, the Quortex Link pay-as-you-use SaaS platform now features support for low latency for 24/7 distribution as well as events.  At IBC, Synamedia will showcase Quortex Link’s operational dashboard, making it easy for customers to manage live distribution workflows. In addition, new Quortex PowerVu support for VVC encoding is lowering distribution costs. The MEG gateway and recently launched MEG.mini gateway also support VVC by transcoding at the edge. Synamedia will also showcase AI-powered automatic live captioning in partnership with AI-Media. Its live automatic captioning solution delivers high quality captioning at a fraction of the cost of human captioning to reduce operational overhead in delivering live sports events.

Synamedia will highlight its leadership in compression with the industry’s most efficient compression for the highest level of cost savings. Its new Quortex Play AI compression framework addresses the challenge of CDN traffic costs for sports D2C streaming. This breakthrough cuts bitrates by up to 30% while maintaining video quality. It incorporates Synamedia’s latest codec-agnostic AI and machine learning for content-aware encoding and pVMAF for real-time video scoring. The framework’s flexible design means customers can optimise video compression for the nuances of different sports.

“Our customers are clear that they are hyper focused on ROI and every decision they take is through that lens,”said Julien Signes, EVP of Video Network, Synamedia. “To meet customers’ evolving needs we are continually innovating to achieve major breakthroughs in streaming, such as the 95% cloud savings we achieved with Telia earlier this year. Another example is how we helped Televisa cut costs by switching to MEG gateways for its video distribution to 180 stations across Mexico.”

Two technologies that exemplify Synamedia’s commitment to reducing total cost of ownership and increasing monetisation are CDN content steering and ad insertion for low latency streaming. Synamedia’s multi-CDN steering system allows providers to switch between CDNs during the streaming session without interrupting the viewing experience. This solution also gives providers real-time insights to meet SLAs and control costs.

Synamedia will also showcase its end-to-end ad insertion solution that scales seamlessly for low latency streaming without adding extra load on the manifest manipulator. The demo will include groundbreaking ad insertion methods, such as shoppable ads, developed in collaboration with StreamLayer to provide a personalised and engaging ad experience for viewers.

In the innovation corner, Synamedia will shine a spotlight on predicted Video Multimethod Assessment Function (pVMAF) which features neural networks to learn about the quality requirements for different types of sports content and adjust automatically. Synamedia created the pVMAF metric to significantly reduce the complexity issue that VMAF users face when measuring perceived video quality for live TV at scale. Synamedia will also show its content hub marketplace for a new way to distribute B2B content globally and will demonstrate how it is contributing to the draft industry standard for Media over Quic, which aims to re-shape how live streams are delivered at scale.

Synamedia continues to work with new partners to ensure integration with best of breed solutions. For example, Synamedia will show the addition of overlays during distribution through the MEG and MEG.mini gateways. Synamedia has integrated Vizrt’s Viz Flowics technology at the edge to allow sports, weather, and news streamers to tailor live video for each affiliate or MVPD by easily adding dynamic HMTL5 graphics and information overlays. Another feature for sports streamers is framerate conversion, which manages different requirements for each region through a partnership with InSync. Synamedia’ s stand will also feature partnerships with Amazon Web Services, Bitmovin, CastLabs, EZDRM, Google Ad Manager, Intel, M2A Media and NativeWaves. Synamedia technology will features on other stands including Ultra HD Forum and 2Coders.

Complementing its technology partners, Synamedia’s Video Network business also has a growing community of sales partners, recently expanded to include SHM Broadcast in Germany, MoMe in Spain, and NDT in China.
BCS Bureau