5G Video Live Capture for Flexible, Reliable Broadcasting

Introduction

 

Global broadcasters have begun reaping the benefits of 5G and network slicing for video live capturing during broadcasting of events. For example, UK’s British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) deployed a temporary 5G standalone non-public network, and Independent Television News (ITN) collaborated with Vodafone to broadcast the coronation of King Charles III over a public 5G SA network, while Italy’s Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI) uses 5G to create synergies across its entire media chain. In the US, National Broadcasting Company (NBC) Sports leverages 5G to capture and produce live National Football League (NFL) events.

Adopting 5G live video capturing during the early days of 5G Standalone (SA) implementation can be carried out in stages, starting with a Proof of Concept (PoC) case study. This PoC is done to demonstrate how seamless video capture quality is achieved, using bonded 5G in the uplink. As 5G resource reservation or SA slicing features become more available, the implementation could be extended within the available 5G coverage, with fallback to the existing 4G layer with bonded 4G/5G.

 

Challenges with conventional remote broadcasting

 

Traditionally, remote broadcast with satellite on-demand links, microwave and wired from Outside Broadcasting (OB) vans has been widely used by broadcasters for major events with mass audience content, especially in large arenas. To capture smaller live, news, or sports events, broadcasters have also used WiFi or 4G cellular solutions.

However, these solutions pose some notable challenges in terms of functional flexibility, performance reliability, setup time and deployment cost:

 

• Camera capturing coverage have limitations such as indoor confines, blind spots and mobility issues, due to these conventional technologies requiring cabling from OB vans or fibre distribution points, transmission line of sight etc.
• Video capture quality can be poor due to restricted bandwidth, with noticeable latency based on unlicensed spectrum, mobile 4G and satellite.
• Longer set-up time and larger onsite teams is required for remote production with OB vans, which leads to slower response to news.
• Cost can be prohibitive in some cases of live events or news coverage, with satellite and fibre transmission and remote production with OB vans.

By using 5G portable encoders and cameras for video uplink capturing, broadcasters are able to capture video with more flexible mobility for broader capturing angles, better performance, and simpler setup procedures. Furthermore, with greater bandwidth, 5G allows the streams to be directly sent for centralised or cloud production, allowing broadcasters to extend their reach to non-traditional channels of viewing platforms, such as YouTube and web-based TV and integrate with potential cloud ecosystems.

 

Evaluating the feasibility of live remote broadcast using 5G

 

The primary objective of the Proof of Concept (PoC) is to evaluate the feasibility of live remote production using a 5G connectivity and to discover the requisite bandwidth for real-time video transmission.

The following diagrams provide the tested end-to-end network setup and 5G network environment.

During the day of the My5G Portal experience centre launching, two scenarios were tested, one encoding four Full High Definition (FHD) channels and the other, a 4K channel, both by utilising the H.265 codec. Details of the parameters configuration is shown in the table below.

 

Devices	Number of Channels	Output Resolution	Speed Capped per Channel via Setting on Encoders (Uplink)	Channel Bonding features Activation
5G Encoders	4 x FHD	1920 * 1080 P50	5 Mbps	Yes - 2 5G SIMs
5G Encoders	1 x 4K	3840 * 2160 P50	20 Mbps	No

 

Test Observation

 

Based on a comprehensive evaluation, the corresponding results are obtained as below:

 

• A minimum uplink speed of 5 Mbps per FHD channel and 20Mbps per 4K channel is deemed necessary to ensure the delivery of a high-quality, seamless video stream on large screens, such as TV.
• The video content becomes viewable within 3 seconds timeframe from the initiation of video capture, maintaining an undistorted viewing experience.

With this setup, 5G for video live capturing has been successfully demonstrated.

 

Conclusion

 

Based on this test, done with broadcast industry partners, a minimum uplink speed of 5 Mbps per FHD channel (H.265 codec) or 20Mbps per 4K channel (H.265 codec) is deemed necessary to ensure the delivery of a high-quality video capturing and seamless video stream on large screens, such as TV. For smaller screens like tablets and, smartphones, a lesser video speed requirement can be considered. In addition to the uplink requirement, a stable and fast downlink transmission is also important in live broadcast, such as for communication between the cueing producer and the live stream host, as well as intercoms between camera operators. Also, sometimes the final produced video needs to be downloadable in real time at the event site as reference for the host.

However, this PoC use case was demonstrated only with 5G SA network without any resource reservation or slicing features and focused only on video live capturing. Moving forward, the PoC for live video capturing and production with resource reservation or slice-based 5G SA solution can be further explored. Theoretically, resource reservation or slice-based solution will prioritise video live capturing for broadcasting, regardless of network load, and meet broadcasters’ needs within the 5G service coverage.