Use cases

Suggests an overview of the most popular use cases for Video Transport.

Video Transport is used by broadcast video production companies and TV stations in several ways. We currently group these use cases in 4 distinct categories; it is common, however, for customers to deploy our product in 2 or 3 different ways.

Live multi-camera remote production (REMI)

At-home video production, also known as REMI (Remote Integration Model), is an approach to producing live events where content is captured on-site, at a remote location, while production is carried out in a fully equipped studio located in a place other than where the event takes place.

Provided that there's a solid Internet connection between the venue and the production hub, this broadcast workflow has proven to be efficient for the following reasons:

• fewer people need to travel to the production venue: lower accommodation costs and fewer organizational issues (jet lag, fewer people at the venue, etc.);

• no need to move as much equipment – easier to travel, simpler and quicker to set up;

• staff and equipment remain at the hub and are available for other jobs.

The key features of Video Transport for this case are low latency and the ability to deliver multiple feeds in sync from the production venue to the control room. Applications needed: VT Publisher and VT Receiver.

Remote contribution (IP contribution)

This production technique is commonly used in both live and pre-recorded productions – such as interviews or corporate keynotes. Instead of bringing a guest or show host into the studio, they can be provided with shippable or permanently installed equipment to contribute from the comfort of their homes.

The most common method of connecting with remote participants for remote contribution is using the VT Guest Link – a browser-based application that allows participants to contribute from virtually any device. If more quality is needed, a dedicated app can be used for outside contribution in a controlled environment – VT Guest.

A typical example is a remote commentary in sports. As with other examples, the commentator receives a low-latency program feed from the venue and reacts to it by contributing his feedback to the studio.

Remote post-production

Editing a movie is a collaborative process, involving the interaction of at least two key roles, such as the director and the editor – closely discussing/interacting when fine-cutting the material. Putting them miles away from each other trying to work on a single media asset created a challenge for post-production companies, that was successfully solved with Video Transport.

In this use case, the function of Video Transport is to securely deliver a low-latency high-quality preview of the video from an edit suite to remote editors and directors.

That, in itself, is not a problem since there are remote tools editors use to operate their workstations remotely – even for such sensitive things as color grading. Once they’ve made an adjustment in the editing suite, they need to see a high-quality low-latency images of the effect.

Depending on the particular task – such as cutting or color grading, the web-based transport or the more advanced SRT-based delivery to an SDI output can be used (high-def, low-latency live streaming).

Virtual conference production

This case is similar to remote video contribution with the addition of one crucial requirement: all remote participants need to have two-way interactions with each other while at the same time providing the production team with high-quality feeds that can be routed into a native SDI or NDI workflow.

The integrated mix-minus feature in Video Transport automatically mutes the speaker in his return feed, which eliminates the need for complex audio routing and still allows the team to have full control over the creative process.

Monitoring and returning feeds

For various reasons, it is often needed to have a low-latency view of either the program feed or just any particular feed. This is a common case with TV stations, which need to provide reporters with the program feed before it was aired (which renders a considerable delay) and video production companies providing return feeds to speakers or providing real-time feeds for technical staff, commentators, judges or to the client.

Any feed published via VT Publisher can be streamed via a web link on any platform or device. A low-latency return feed is also an integral part of the remote contribution use case – both available with VT Guest Link and the VT Guest app.

Team streaming

Gamers like to use Video Transport to run group streams of their gameplay.

Featured Video Transport case studies

There are dozens of customer stories published in our blog. Here are the few that we like the most:

• VBN Sports cuts costs by using VT for multi-camera remote production
• The First uses VT to run a TV channel with remote anchors
• ITN Productions streams low-latency feeds for remote editorial review
• SMT delivers low-latency feeds to remote judges via VT
• Twitch used VT to remotely contribute from another venue