TERADEK LINK BOX AIMS FOR BETTER VIDEO TRANSMISSION FROM THE FIELD USING CELLULAR TECHNOLOGY
By site editor Dan Chung:
If you’re one of the growing band of TV camera operators or video journalists required to use cellular technology to send video back to your news organisation, you’ll be familiar with this problem: you set up and test your cellular connection at the location you want to broadcast from, but while it works just fine in certain places, in other places it struggles. Invariably it’s the place where the action happens that has poor coverage.
Link is the latest cellular bonding solution from Teradek that adds a new twist to this rapidly developing technology. It is a cellular hotspot, taking up to 6 cellular USB modems and forming a bonded connection intended to be placed at a location with the best signal reception at your venue. This allows camera crews to connect the signal from their Teradek Cube or Brik encoder equipped HD cameras to Link’s 300ft of dual band a/b/g/n WiFi coverage – without having to worry about whether their cellular modems will lose coverage as they move around. Link also supports asymmetrical bonding to guarantee the best possible connection, i.e. you can mix cellular, with Ethernet, fibre or even the popular BGAN satellite terminals.
The Teradek Link cellular bonding solution
Once Link receives the wireless video feed from one or more Teradek encoders, it uses its aggregated connections to transmit the stream via the internet to a Teradek Sputnik server back at the station or newspaper, where the various feeds are recombined into a cohesive video stream. From Sputnik, the feed can be decoded to a SDI feed for further editing or live broadcast. Alternatively, the Sputnik can send the video stream straight onto a content delivery network like Livestream.
Link running off a regular broadcast battery
When it comes to power, Link offers you the choice of a V-mount or Anton Bauer Gold-mount battery plate so you can keep the device running for long periods of time on a regular broadcast battery.
Link has another unique trick up its sleeve – the device acts similarly to a regular wireless router, allowing any 802.11 enabled device to connect to it for internet access even while you are broadcasting. This means you can upload edited video content from the field over Link’s cellular connection. It also enables iOS devices to monitor the live feed in real time. Link also accepts feeds from multiple Teradek encoders simultaneously, which opens the doors for multi-cam live broadcasts over cellular bandwidth.
So, how would you use this technology? Link should work well for live event coverage during the upcoming US elections and provides an attractive alternative to other common backpack systems. The feature of bonding multiple BGAN terminals and cellular connections may allow for higher quality transmission from war zones and disasters too.
Link's ports allow the bonding of several connections
Teradek also has a partnership with ZiXi to feed HD quality broadcast video back to a TV station. This is achieved by installing a ZiXi license on Link and feeding the wireless video streams from Teradek encoders through one of Link’s ethernet jacks. Zixi is a proprietary streaming protocol designed specifically to guarantee HD quality video over the internet, surpassing the performance of common generic protocols such as RTMP. After being transmitted to the web, the stream is processed through ZiXi’s cloud service and optionally fed via fibre lines to major broadcast stations.
The Teradek Link ships September 2012 for $2990. Watch out for more details on the Teradek site
FaceTime via cellular: Will it work, and can you afford it?
Cellular FaceTime implies next iPhone will work over faster LTE, analyst says
By Matt Hamblen
June 11, 2012 05:15 PM ET
Computerworld -
Apple's next-generation iOS will allow FaceTime video chats over cellular connections, Apple said Monday. Until now, FaceTime has only worked over Wi-Fi networks.
When iOS 6 launches this Fall, having a cellular connection for FaceTime will be a welcome change for many users who don't have ready access to a Wi-Fi hotspot. But analysts question whether today's 3G networks could offer sufficient bandwidth to handle the live video coupling, or if 4G LTE being rolled out by the major carriers will be affordable when data plans are used to support FaceTime.
The 4G LTE being installed by AT&T and Verizon Wireless (and expected from Sprint this year) is about 10 times faster than their older 3G -- with average download speeds of more than 10Mbps. Meanwhile, the next iPhone is expected to support LTE when introduced later this year.
Apple's FaceTime over cellular announcement "implies that 4G is coming in the iPhone 5," said Ron Enderle, an analyst at Enderle Group.
Without LTE, a 3G connection with an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S could be frustrating for users, since even Wi-Fi connections over FaceTime aren't always clear and sometimes don't have synchronous voice and video streams.
Wi-Fi data rates over 802.11n max out at 450Mbps, according to Wi-Fi.org. Many more commonplace 802.11a or 802.11g Wi-Fi connections max out at 54Mbps, still many times faster than the LTE being introduced in the U.S. Wi-Fi over 802.11b is rated at up to 11Mbps.
Even if the connection is fast enough, a cellular connection for FaceTime could be prohibitively expensive, as some users have discovered when downloading video clips or movies.
"I'm sure FaceTime will work over cellular, but the question is how well?" said Phillip Redman, an analyst at Gartner. Costs are harder to predict, he noted, unless a user has an unlimited data plan, like the one that Sprint offers, he added.
Having FaceTime over cellular "also doesn't mean that people will never use Wi-Fi again," Redman said. "I'd say the majority of use will still be on Wi-Fi."
Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates, said FaceTime over cellular will "probably work...especially with LTE, although not very well with 2G or perhaps even 3G."
Gold was more concerned about the expense of cellular video chats. "With the carriers going to rationed data plans, what will heavy users have when they get their bills at the end of the month?" Gold asked. "Video takes bandwidth, even if it is highly compressed, and bandwidth is not free."
Apple hasn't defined how much bandwidth a typical video call will take, so "there is no good way to know what it will cost users," Gold added.
FaceTime over cellular "certainly [won't work out] if it raises people's bills" with carriers, Gold said.
Stories of exorbitant data usage bills for downloading video over a cellular connection are growing commonplace and AT&T and Verizon now offer tips and smartphone monitoring tools to guard against exceeding monthly data limits. They also send warnings to users when limits are exceeded.
Still, customers' surprises could increase when FaceTime goes cellular.
One Computerworld reader who asked not to be named said she was surprised recently to get an $80 unexpected addition to her Verizon bill primarily for downloading a video attachment from a relative sent via email on her new iPhone operating over 3G. The video was less than 10 minutes long, she said, although she confessed she wasn't familiar with the terms of her new data plan or how she should monitor it.
Computerworld illustrated the data usage problem with video over Verizon LTE in December by downloading an HD 128-minute feature-length film to a Galaxy Nexus smartphone, which took up 3.7 GB of data. At the time, Verizon was charging $30 for 4GB per month at the time, up from the normal $30 for 2GB.
In addition to tools to monitor data usage, AT&T and Verizon also have some sage, if ironic, advice to avoid high data use over cellular: use Wi-Fi when possible. "You may want to use Wi-Fi when streaming video," Verizon said in a recent list of tips to its customers to help manage a data usage allowance.
It's advice that could matter for FaceTime-over-cellular as well.
Sony Bloggie Live Lets You Live-Stream Video Over Wi-Fi
By Tim Moynihan, PCWorldJan 9, 2012 5:00 PM
Sony Bloggie Live
Today has been a big day for connected-camera announcements at CES 2012 in Las Vegas. Sony is the latest big-name company to announce a video-capture device with built-in Wi-Fi, following wireless camera announcements earlier in the day from Kodak andSamsung.Even within the realm of those new connected camera offerings, the Sony Bloggie Live pocket camcorder has a unique twist: It allows shooters to live-stream video to the Web while filming, and the camcorder is able to receive short messages through an online service as you're shooting.
The live Web-streaming and one-way chat functions are provided via a partnership with Qik, a live video-sharing service owned by Skype. Using a pre-loaded Qik app, the Bloggie Live camcorder can also share links to live video streams via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and e-mail directly from the camcorder. Sony will also launch a new cloud-storage and -sharing service, PlayMemories Online, that can be accessed on smartphones, tablets, and other connected devices.
While the camcorder records at full high-definition, live streams are limited to 480-by-270 VGA resolution in order to keep lag time and choppy footage at a minimum. Live-broadcasting from the device is limited to 30 minutes per clip, and a full 1080p version of the video footage is saved on the Bloggie Live's 8GB internal hard drive.
The connectivity options are limited to Wi-Fi at this point, but Sony and Verizon have teamed up to offer a $50 credit for anyone who buys both a Bloggie Live camcorder and a Verizon 4G LTE Jetpack Mobile hotspot, which can be used together to stream video from the Bloggie via a 4G cellular connection.
Sony Bloggie Live
Outside of the wireless connectivity options, the new Bloggie Live is also well-equipped: When it's not streaming video, it shoots 12.8-megapixel still images while it's recording 1080p video at 30fps (as well as 720p at 60fps), has a front-mounted LED lamp/flash, a macro autofocus mode, and offers digital image stabilization. The camcorder is operated via a 3-inch touchscreen, and an integrated USB connector pops out of the bottom of the unit.
Sony says that the new Bloggie line's performance has been improved using popular smartphones such as the Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy SII as a barometer of sorts. The company claims that the CMOS sensor in the new Bloggie lineup offers better contrast, detail, white balance, and low-light shooting than the leading smartphone cameras on the market, and that the new pocket camcorders were developed to offer a a significant video-quality advantage over the best phones.
Sony Bloggie Sport
Priced at $250, the Sony Bloggie Live pocket camcorder will be available in January, right after CES.
In addition to the Bloggie Live, Sony also introduced a new ruggedized pocket camcorder that offers many of the same core specs, minus the Wi-Fi capabilities.
The waterproof and shockproof Bloggie Sport has a dedicated mode for shooting underwater, and it records 1080p video and 12.8-megapixel stills. It's controlled via a 2.7-inch touchscreen and offers a pop-out USB connector, digital stabilization, an LED lamp, and 4GB of internal storage. Due in February, it's priced at $180.
Sony says that the new Bloggie line's performance has been improved using popular smartphones such as the Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy SII as a barometer of sorts. The company claims that the CMOS sensor in the new Bloggie lineup offers better contrast, detail, white balance, and low-light shooting than the leading smartphone cameras on the market, and that the new pocket camcorders were developed to offer a a significant video-quality advantage over the best phones.
Sony Bloggie Sport
Priced at $250, the Sony Bloggie Live pocket camcorder will be available in January, right after CES.In addition to the Bloggie Live, Sony also introduced a new ruggedized pocket camcorder that offers many of the same core specs, minus the Wi-Fi capabilities.
The waterproof and shockproof Bloggie Sport has a dedicated mode for shooting underwater, and it records 1080p video and 12.8-megapixel stills. It's controlled via a 2.7-inch touchscreen and offers a pop-out USB connector, digital stabilization, an LED lamp, and 4GB of internal storage. Due in February, it's priced at $180.
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