Q&A With Broadcast International's Steve Jones
New VP Talks Up Software-Driven Approach to HD
by George Winslow -- Multichannel News, 7/22/2009 4:07:24 PM
In June, Broadcast International hired a new vice president and general manager to run its CodecSys division, Steve Jones. In this interview, Jones talks with HD Update's George Winslow about some of his plans for the division and their software-based approach to helping multichannel operators and broadcasters manage the bandwidth requirements of HD content more efficiently. An edited transcript follows.
MCN: Since taking over the management of the
CodecSys division, what have been some of your key strategies for expanding its
presence?
Steve Jones: The distribution of high-definition content is now becoming such a mainstay of any network, whether you are talking about triple-play providers or content over Internet.
I can't think of a better market space to be in at this point, and to capitalize on that we created a CodecSys division, which is really built on two or three product initiatives.
The core product is our video operating system, which is truly a platform for managing video or multimedia content or assets from their inception. We are going to reach back into the output whether its from live HD cameras or files that are stored and then pushed through a system, and start to treat the pre-processing of that content in a different way. So what we are doing goes beyond encoding. It creates a framework that allows all of those services to run.
We think our software-driven approach to these issues gives us flexibility and really future-proofs our customers. Our whole goal is to show that a software-only platform can really bring some exciting value to HD world.
You will see us targeting the triple-play guys as customers. I think IPTV holds promise internationally [particularly] in Europe and South America. Probably it won't be as big in [the United States], with the cable dominance here, but we do see things moving in that direction and want to be a player in that regard.
MCN: Your CE-1000 video encoder product is targeted to the IP world?
SJ: CE-1000 is really our flagship platform and the initial markets for us with that are the IPTV delivery partners. We will have some strategic alliances that we will announce in the next 90 days around the IPTV platform guys. We also have some proof-of-concepts going on with flagship telecom providers who are looking to round out their triple play. As we get further along with those trials, we will announce who they are, but I can say they are in tier-one and tier-two marketplaces.
MCN: Some of those telcos are very bandwidth constrained but you've announced that your CE-1000 video encoder can create high-quality HD content with bitrates as low as 3 Mbps. How do you get those bit rates down?
SJ: Everyone has their secret sauce. The CE 1000 has our video operating system that can manage and process HD content extremely efficiently.
One of the modules that sits inside our operating system is our multi-codec functionality. The multi-codec functionality is really where we optimize and are able to bring down those bit rates. As opposed to compressing a file based on the overall or the average flow of a file, we break it down almost on a scene-by-scene basis and based on the action sequence of the scene, we move those bits through a different codec. That means a particular segment can be optimized for white noise, or slow motion or fast motion or light or darkness. Because all of those characteristics can be handled better by certain codecs, we break it down so we can employ the best codec for the needs of a particular clip. That is what really gives us a competitive edge.
MCN: You noted this handles live content very well but I assume you are not achieving bit rates of 3 Megabits per second for live sports?
SJ: Live sports is the holy grail for everyone. We can handle HD very efficiently but we are not at 3 Mbps for live athletic events.
We just ran a couple of tests for an Asian customer who I can't name but who owns the rights for a live broadcasts of a certain soccer professional team in the Northeast region of Asia around Korea. There we've been able to get bit rates of about 6 Mpbs for a live HD soccer match. That is over broadband and the last mile is also a question mark, but I would say the quality is 90% of what your full experience would be. So we feel pretty good about what we can do.
MCN: How do you see the cable market for your products?
SJ: We are ready to play there and we've had some preliminary conversations. As you know, there are some incumbents that are very entrenched. But those hardware-based encoders have a three-year shelf life and as they start to roll off, I think we will be right in the thick of the conversation.
One reason is our open software platform. The modularity of that platform lets them go beyond their traditional publishing role and leverage that same investment for a number of other things -- for VOD, for personalization, for mobile, etc. Even with some of networking innovations in the cable world that have been rumored --leveraging WiMAX in the last mile, for example -- we will be able to repurpose content and manage it throughout the entire equation. I don't think you will see the hardware encoding guys be able to do that. As that becomes more formally defined, I think we will be right in the thick of it.
MCN: You have cut an alliance with IBM. Are you looking for other alliances to help you break into some of these markets?
SJ: Absolutely. We snuck out an announcement a while ago with HP and you will probably see something with Intel and a couple of other fairly large software companies.
Whether you are talking about delivering content with Internet-protocol TV or VOD, there are some big players in those spaces. We know where the boundaries are and we would much rather be in their ecosystems than to build our own.A Platform for Better Online Video
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