The EBU's annual BroadThinking seminar attracted around 100 participants this week for two days presentations, discussions, technology updates and demonstrations. As broadband delivery continues to grow in importance for broadcasters, it was clear that they are already embracing the multitude of possibilities to meet the expectations of a connected audience.
Bye-bye red button?
The first day of the event focused on the frontend of broadband delivery, describing developments in user interfaces and personalisation in a connected ecosystem. There was much discussion, in particular among the broadcasters and CE manufacturers that were present. For example, as the "red button" is no longer a fixture on new remote controls, how should viewers access interactive services? And how can broadcasters create personalized experiences in the context of a shared screen like the main TV display?
The second day turned to delivery trends and standards. BBC's Henry Webster and Marina Kalkanis explained how the broadcaster is now using the public cloud to offload encoding for their iPlayer during peak demand periods. Staying with the subject of clouds, SixSq's Marc-Elian Bégin presented some ideas around the use of software-defined networks (SDN) and OpenFlow.
Hello CDNS!
Very few broadcasters are going down the route of building their own CDN, with NPO in the Netherlands being a notable exception among EBU Members. Therefore, the role of CDN providers is key to ensure that their content reaches the audience at acceptable quality levels. Akamai's Will Law identified eight technology developments that can help create the bandwidth required in future. Among these are encoding optimization using HEVC, improving existing TCP - or combining it with UDP - and perhaps even the reemergence of peer-to-peer technology.
The event was rounded off with a set of updates on key standards and specifications for broadband delivery. TP Vision's Jon PIesing provided the first public presentation of HbbTV 2.0, unveiling the many advances that have been made. These included further support of MPEG-DASH, on which Qualcomm's Thomas Stockhammer gave a more detailed update in the same session. The adaptive streaming format is now being deployed by such big players as Google, Netflix, Hulu, etc.
The presentations from BroadThinking 2014 - including videos - are available online for EBU Members and other event attendees.