Can you imagine that a broadcast recorder used to be as big as an old kitchen freezer? Original machines were manufactured by a limited number of manufacturers and sold at very high costs. This is why even the most typical broadcasting facility used to cost millions. This became the main reason why only large corporations were able to start broadcasting services on any scale.
In the modern era, the broadcast industry reached a point where you could have a pocket-sized hard drive to store about 4 terabytes. And the cost reduced from millions to a hundred dollars. But, the industry kept on evolving and advancing, which made even the hard drives completely obsolete.
The broadcast medium utilizes new-age storage mediums to store content. Multicore processors have taken the place of high-cost hardware. So, companies don’t need dedicated hardware to start a new channel.
Channel-in-a-box
Around the beginning of the year 2000, channel-in-a-box became the popular broadcasting method. This broadcasting approach used mass-produced computing devices. Such computers were able to conduct a variety of tasks without the requirement of any high-cost equipment. Tasks associated with squeeze backs, sidebars, and graphic overlays became simpler and cost-effective. This is when the high-definition took its initial steps in the industry.
The features involved the storage and scheduling in a single system, playlist development, traffic management, graphic rearrangement as well. This flexibility is valued in today’s market as well.
Playout based on cloud solutions
In today’s broadcast frontier, cloud based playoutsolutions are the most advanced options to bring automation, cost-efficiency, and productivity into media broadcast. The market has multiple software solutions that remove the requirement of expensive hardware. The streaming is made possible using the public internet. Starting a new channel doesn’t present the requirement of creating a million-dollar environment of broadcast. Moreover, you will need a team of a few people, or maybe just a single person to take care of the very basic tasks. That too, without worrying about being present at the same location!
Cloud playout software runs on servers located in a vast data center of a service provider. Cloud services are utilized on a contract basis, which allows the access to the cloud network of a service provider. This enables the content to go to the servers first; then,those servers modify the content according to multiple platforms and distribute them automatically. This makes your content available for a mobile phone view, computer view, tablet view and/or OTT streaming as well.
Nowadays, companies are able to implement hybrid playout, which is as good as web streaming and server-based technologies. With the increased sales of smartphones, it makes complete sense for the consumers to shift to mobile screens for video consumption. In fact, modern televisions also contain unique ports to establish an internet connection to enjoy VOD services.
Conclusion
A lot of broadcast activities don’t require expensive hardware or a huge team anymore. You just need to choose a reliable playout solution to make broadcasting automated and well-managed.
