Broadcasting live events such as the Olympics or the World Cup to international audiences requires miles of expensive cables, heavy trucks and large teams on-site for days or even weeks.
That’s because when a camera receives the image, it must first be converted to meet the frame-rate standards of each region it’s headed to.
That live frame rate conversion could only be done with dedicated hardware connected to specialized transmission infrastructure.
Albuquerque-based Cinnafilm has facilitated this file-based process for broadcasters operating out of hundreds of facilities in 120 countries for over a decade.
But earlier this month, Cinnafilm announced a breakthrough to eliminate the need for this traditional “hard” infrastructure.
The Tachyon Live! product is a highly scalable, cloud streaming workflow that eliminates infrastructure costs and the environmental impact of running a major sporting event, said Lance Maurer, Cinnafilm’s CEO and founder.
“This is a big deal in our space,” Maurer said. “… It represents a whole new way of doing business.”
Maurer said the technological advancement didn’t only happen because of its own breakthroughs but also in other cloud services and technology by large providers such as Oracle Corp., Microsoft Corp., Google and Amazon.
Technological advances in video cards made by Nvidia Corp. have also made Tachyon Live! possible.
Cinnafilm is working with New York City-based SwXtch.io to bring the content it's converting to the cloud.
This week, Cinnafilm is demoing the technology at the National Association of Broadcasters expo in Las Vegas, Nevada. It then expects to release the product in the third quarter of this year.
