Meeting market demand for a versatile high efficiency, low latency streaming/IP live workflow

AJA Video Systems, Inc.

As streaming continues to surge as one of the primary forms of content delivery for broadcasters and production professionals worldwide, the industry looks to powerful solutions that support high-end, low-latency workflows. And to keep pace with the ever-increasing content boom and audience demand for pristine, high-resolution video and audio, broadcasters also require secure and modern workflow technologies to power streaming and OTT delivery.

Critical to streaming workflows is the ability to move uncompressed baseband SDI both to and from a wide range of contribution, delivery and streaming codecs, though developing a pipeline to support this has traditionally proven expensive and inefficient.

In response to this unmet market demand, AJA Video Systems recently introduced BRIDGE LIVE, an enterprise-level streaming solution for UltraHD or multi-channel HD encoding, transcoding and decoding.

Developed in partnership with Comprimato, an innovative Czech technology company, BRIDGE LIVE streamlines conversion of baseband video to and from industry-standard compression streams, using H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, H.262/MPEG-2 TS or optional JPEG 2000 codecs. Built-in 10GigE network ports provide ample bandwidth to move multiple streams of HD or UltraHD via secure and reliable transport with secure SRT encryption and low latency over public internet, while comprehensive metadata coverage includes support for closed captioning and ad insertion markers, as well as the ability to embed subtitles.

To further empower and simplify contribution and streaming workflows, AJA recently upgraded BRIDGE LIVE with a v1.11 update that introduces a host of robust new features, including HLS input functionality for receiving HLS streams and bringing them into SDI baseband productions.

HLS is one of the most widely used streaming protocols in the industry, and new HLS input supports both AVC TS segments for H.264 and the newly emerging fragmented MP4 standard for H.265/H.264.

New VBR implementation allows for lower latency presets with algorithmic intelligence, and a new E-AC3 input supports Dolby Digital workflows. Additionally, pipeline upgrades include co-existence of different time bases, more efficient tools for managing presets, and REST API enhancements allowing calls for individually starting and stopping pipelines.

Since its launch, BRIDGE LIVE has become one of the most cost-effective and feature-rich enterprise-level offerings in the live video encoding, decoding, transport and streaming market. Versatile by design, BRIDGE LIVE meets the rigorous live video production and delivery demands of telco, IPTV, and cable operations, broadcast facilities and OB trucks and beyond. Its intuitive local or web-based interface helps professionals seamlessly mesh UltraHD/HD SDI and streaming/IP for live workflows.

BRIDGE LIVE can be used as a “set and forget” resource, working in the background to convert baseband video to and from live compressed streams, including multiple stream outputs and destinations from SDI inputs, or decoding incoming streams back to SDI. BRIDGE LIVE also supports a wide variety of audio stream and codec choices from AAC to uncompressed PCM, with the ability to apply gain and sample rate conversion and remap channels.

In current circumstances, with a global pandemic that has impacted workflows worldwide, BRIDGE LIVE also greatly expands the ability to handle remote pipelines, including support for both reception and dissemination of signals simultaneously. This greatly reduces the need for personnel at live locations, especially with the ability to control, configure and route signals from anywhere on a network.
For more information, visit: https://www.aja.com/products/bridge-live.