With the end of the year rapidly approaching, it’s time for us to reflect on the last twelve months and bring you our final update from 2022.
Looking back to the start of 2022, many of us were still uncertain of the broadcasting industry’s ability to regain the pre-pandemic momentum. Despite whispers of recovery towards the end of 2021, it was mostly received with sceptical hope, rather than true belief. However, as the new year progressed, it became clear that the industry was, in fact, well on its road to regeneration. And luckily for organisations like Veset, it was the cloud service providers which were reaping the benefits.
Cloud infrastructure has been crucial in transforming and simplifying all aspects of the media workflow. It has provided the means to adapt quickly to remote working whilst also ensuring operations could flow with minimal disruption. The cloud for playout offers a simple, affordable way to manage broadcast workflows and provides a greater level of resilience and scalability, regardless of where teams are based.
Veset returned to exhibit at the infamous RAI in September, and our CPO took to the stage to discuss different approaches to using cloud applications in media and entertainment. The show highlighted vast innovation within the industry, and the growing need for flexible channel management solutions. It also emphasised the desire for simplified platforms which could integrate seamlessly with advanced features and functionalities and be accessed through an intuitive user interface (UI).
Many of our updates in 2022 focused on improving usability. Some key developments to our enterprise cloud playout platform, Veset Nimbus, included:
● Scheduling Blocks – to simplify scheduling by creating pre-defined groups of programmes and events
● Scheduling Weekly View – providing a planning overview of the whole broadcast week
● Monetisation Automation - to streamline automatic, regular insertion of ad breaks for FAST distribution
● Support for portrait aspect ratio playout for mobile phone users
● Automated Channel Branding options – enabling broadcasters to ensure their branding is always on air
● The integration of Adobe AfterEffects for ingest and just in time rendering of dynamic graphics projects
We also made Veset Nimbus available as a hosted and managed service, in addition to our traditional self-service SaaS offering. This development means customers can take a step back from operations, safe in the knowledge that their channel is being managed effectively.
Last month, we announced that our cloud playout solutions will provide support for AWS Cloud Digital Interface (AWS CDI). The move to support AWS CDI will enable users to distribute high quality uncompressed linear video content, drastically reducing latency, and improving image quality for viewers.
In addition to our support for AWS CDI, another key product roadmap focus for Veset in 2022 has been to lower latency, not only in terms of video inputs and outputs but also in our backend and Nimbus Web UI controls.
These improvements will improve both speed and reliability for controlling live event channel playout, and include:
● The re-development of the Nimbus WebRTC video proxy player for lower latency viewing of input and output feeds via the web UI, providing operators with the tools to react quicker when controlling live event broadcasts.
● The migration of the Nimbus Playout Control UI to React and a re-design of the channel configuration tab to make it faster and easier for operators and admins to set up and configure channel inputs and outputs.
● The upgrade of the entire Nimbus backend architecture to the latest Kubernetes Cluster version and migration of RabbitMQ services to Kubernetes for improved speed and stability. Improvements mean direct interfacing to networks and gateways, lowering latency and increasing redundancy.
Over the year, Veset has continued to build and extend relationships with partners, allowing us to offer the best of breed solutions for your broadcasting needs. We’ve also been busy with new customers from around the world, helping to launch new channels and offering our playout expertise to improve their offerings.
We teamed with Envoi, enabling customers to launch professional linear channels for OTT distribution, and with MainConcept, to ensure compliance with more traditional hardware systems and analysers. We also teamed with AdInsertion Platform (AIP) to give broadcasters, rights holders, and content owners a best-in-breed way to seamlessly deliver ad-supported video content to multiple platforms.
Additionally, Veset worked alongside some fantastic vendors within the industry on joint customer projects. We worked with our partner, CIS Group, to help Record TV deliver an OTT version of its linear channels, and with dotstudioPRO on a project with Anthem Sports and Entertainment.
Veset proudly worked with Augustus Media to power its smart TV application, Smashi TV, providing 24/7 channel support for the Augustus team and round the clock streaming for consumers. We also helped with the launch of Mexican sports channel, Hi! Sports. The channel origination and management is handled by our enterprise-grade cloud playout solution, Veset Nimbus.
Working in the cloud has helped operators to solve the crisis that covid created. As a result, cloud working is revolutionising how broadcasting will be done long term. Ongoing developments within the media and entertainment sector are likely to mean the migration to cloud-hosted services will continue throughout 2023.
Veset can support you by providing a quick, efficient, and economical way of managing linear and live TV channels. Switching playout to the cloud brings a number of benefits in terms of cost savings, flexibility, scalability and efficiency, and Veset is ready to make your playout dreams come true.
Want to learn more about our true cloud playout solutions? Visit https://www.veset.tv
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