BrightSign, LLC®, the global market leader in digital signage players, today announced at the NAB Show (April 11-16 at the Las Vegas Convention Center) its collaboration with broadcast industry leaders to deliver proof-of-concept for Over-the-Top (OTT) distribution of live events broadcast in 4K. Elemental Technologies (booth SU2724), RED Digital Cinema (booth SL1517) and Zixi (booth SU10802) partnered with BrightSign to enable end-to-end 4K distribution over IP to deliver 4K content from any live venue to virtually any destination. OTT is utilized by a growing number of low-cost service providers to deliver video content directly to viewers, creating the direct relationship with viewers that’s becoming commonplace as on-demand viewing continues to displace traditional broadcast distribution.

The solution demonstrated at the NAB Show highlights the power of OTT – including acquisition, transcode, distribution over IP, decode and display of a 4K live stream. Source input is captured in 4K using an EPIC RED DRAGON and the RED 4K Broadcast Module, which then feeds an Elemental 1RU encoder capable of real-time 4Kp60 HEVC video processing. The resulting content is wrapped in the Zixi Transport Protocol by the Zixi Feeder running on the same Elemental system. Zixi then transports the content over a standard Internet connection, protecting the stream and managing packet loss and jitter, delivering the file to the Zixi Broadcaster. The stream is then distributed to multiple destinations, each equipped with a BrightSign 4K media player built on top of Broadcom’s BCM7444 media gateway SoC. The BrightSign 4K players with embedded Zixi Receiver software accept the 4K content and then decode and send the content to 4K displays via HDMI 2.0 preserving native 4K resolution and 60 frames-per-second playback.

The workflow described above will be demonstrated in the RED Digital Cinema booth in the South Hall at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It constitutes an end-to-end 4K distribution solution over IP capable of delivering live 4K content captured at any type of live event – concerts, keynote speeches, sporting events, lectures, exhibitions – to multiple endpoints simultaneously. The security and reliability of such a solution offers a proven OTT distribution model to broadcasters and program providers, as well as commercial establishments such as bars, hotels, restaurants and other venues.
BrightSign’s 4K media players will be featured prominently and behind the scenes at many exhibitor booths at NAB Show. In particular, RED Digital Cinema will feature striking 4K footage from capture to endpoint, starting with the EPIC DRAGON camera and delivered via Zixi to BrightSign’s 4K players displaying the content on the booth’s 4K screens. Elemental will also feature BrightSign’s 4K players in its booth. Zixi will feature BrightSign’s 4K and HD players at the Zixi booth.

About BrightSign

BrightSign, LLC is the global market leader in digital signage players, as named by IHS in its most recent 2013 Global Market for Digital Signage study which reported market share of all media players, STBs and PC-based signage solutions combined. Based in Los Gatos, California, the company develops products, software and networking solutions for digital signage. BrightSign solid-state digital sign controllers set new standards for both stand-alone and networked digital signage applications with their superior video quality, reliability, affordability, ease-of-use and interactivity. For general company and product information, visit www.brightsign.biz.