Producers deployed ultra-low latency streaming servers to allow real-time 2-way audio communications, while keeping in sync with the video via a LiveU LU600 HEVC field transmitter.
Bill Young Productions (BYP) has been operating for 35 years focussing on live music and entertainment. However, the company has experienced rapid growth on the corporate side of its live business over the years, helping technological and oil and gas companies to live stream internal and external communications, training sessions, conferences and other live events.
For one of these projects, BYP’s crew was on board the decommissioning platform of a client's oil rig to document the layover for a long form video project when one of the rig's crew members was diagnosed with COVID-19 en route to the platform. The vessel carrying the crew member was forced to return to shore so that everyone on board could complete a 14 day quarantine.
Among those in quarantine was the explosive specialist who would be detaching the rig from the ocean's floor. Rather than postpone the project, which would significantly impact the customer’s bottom line, BYP was tasked with designing a system that would allow the quarantined team to connect with the BYP staff already aboard the rig, in real-time, to supervise the process of allocating explosives.
BYP deployed ultra-low latency streaming servers so that real-time 2-way audio communications could take place while staying in sync with the video. The system incorporated a LiveU LU600 HEVC portable transmission unit connected to a satellite modem on a docked ship to transfer live video content from the oil rig under repair back to the BYP Production facility.
From there, the RTMP stream was sent to the client’s preferred CDN for browser-based viewing at various locations. Clear-Com provided the IFB capabilities. This allowed the client and its various team members spread out across the US to view the live content and communicate with the onsite team in real-time.
The LU600 delivers 1080/4K video quality and bonds up to twelve IP connections – cellular, WiFi and LAN – in order to achieve fast file transfer of 60Mbps and ultra-low delay down to 0.4 sec. Using HEVC means broadcasters can either supply the same video quality as H.264 while using about half the bandwidth, or improve substantially on the video quality by maintaining the original H.264 bitrate.
Sid Farbstein, Senior Vice President at BYP said, “There was a significant cost not to operate. We needed immediate high-quality video in real time with two-way audio so people all over the country could participate whether from their corporate office, hotel room or even in a car driving to the airport. LiveU represented the best delivery option to get the content out with the highest rate of return.” www.liveu.tv
