LiveU

In the first of this year’s NAB Hot Topics series leading up to the NAB Show in April, TVNewsCheck’s Technology Editor Phil Kurz examines the rapidly changing world of field contribution. Broadcasters will be presented with a panoply of technology and applications at the NAB Show. While no two are exactly alike, most seek to leverage existing technologies in new ways to enhance workflows or reduce costs. For a resource page of the companies mentioned in this story, click here. See all 2016 NAB Hot Topics stories here.

This year, TVNewsCheck is augmenting its coverage of NAB Show Hot Topics tech trends stories with information that can make your visit to NAB easier. This week’s focus is field […]

LiveU | Booth SU4405 | Website: www.liveu.tv LiveU, a provider of IP-based live video services and broadcast solutions for acquisition, management and distribution, will feature its ultra-small transmission device, LU200. […]

As broadcasters feature more reporting from the field, they have begun deploying new types of smaller news vehicles that rely on cellular bonding, KA-Band satellite and IP microwave. The hybrids save on costs, and allow crews to be more nimble.

Congestion on a cellular network can pose a challenge to media organizations, as live video transmission from overcrowded areas may experience interruptions. On top of traffic issues, the physical terrain of the streaming location may also affect cellular connectivity, including distance to cell towers, and physical barriers between the cellular devices and the towers such as walls, buildings and natural terrain. However, there are several tools that can be used to help guarantee a stable signal.

With bonded cellular now a widely accepted ENG tool, vendors will show new gear at NAB that is smaller and lighter and enables broadcasters to use other communications links like Ka-Band satellite to enhance the reliability and performance and reduce latency.

Raycom Media has deployed LiveU bonded cellular products across its entire group, including LU70 backpacks and the LU-Smart app for smartphones.

Members of a new sales group at LiveU all have one thing in common: They used to sell for major broadcast graphics companies at one point in their careers.

Now that bonded cellular technology has proved itself as an effective and reliable way to send back live video from the field, the top vendors have begun supplying software for managing and sharing all the incoming feeds.“Broadcasters have gotten over that bonded cellular hump,” says Ronen Artman, VP marketing at LiveU. “Now they want to take control of their devices.”

LiveU, a maker of ENG tools for broadcasters, is preparing a lighter backpack solution heading into this year’s IBC Show that weighs about three pounds, half the weight of its existing model. Additionally, the company will announce LiveU Central, an IP-based routing, switching and distribution solution, that’s geared toward station groups.

The newsgathering cooperative is using LiveU’s bonded cellular technology to provide live, multi-camera feeds for a fuller picture of breaking news as it unfolds. It’s also partnering with Swedish startup Bambuser to give citizens with the ability to be video eyewitnesses on behalf of the Associated Press and stream video via smartphones.

Both companies are working to create an integrated solution that will let broadcasters send out video highlights on Twitter and Facebook through a LiveU bonded cellular device. For now, both companies are promoting each other’s services as referral partners.

The makers of the newsgathering technology are beefing up reliability as well as adding satellite capability, improving the interface between the cellular packs and cameras and enhancing control of the packs from the field or the station. It will all be on display at next month’s NAB Show.

Hitachi and LiveU entered into a partnership that integrates the bonded cellular company’s LU40 video uplink pack with all of Hitachi’s professional video cameras, allowing users to view and manage […]

A new software upgrade for Panasonic’s P2 cam AG-HPX600 integrates LiveU’s live video uplink technology, delivering the first available integrated live camera solution. As a result, videographers can now start […]

When the hurricane devastated the coastal areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in October, broadcasters turned to the cellphone-based technology to get live feeds back to the stations when microwave or satellite delivery systems wouldn’t work. “It continues to improve,” says CBS’s David Friend. “The delays are less, the signals are better, there’s less dropout. When we took the risk of using this technology very early on, it was hit and miss. Now we are more confident in its stability and its performance. We view it as an essential tool in our newsgathering efforts.”

LiveU, which pioneered live video streaming over cellular connections, is on a huge roll, now serving more than 500 broadcasters in 70 countries worldwide, according to COO and co-founder Avi Cohen.

LiveU, a provider of portable video-over-cellular solutions, has signed a long-term agreement with Alaska’s Coastal Television to provide its live, video-over-cellular transmission technology to help power its electronic newsgathering operation. […]

IBC 2012 Show Preview LiveU Stand 14.365 Website: www.liveu.tv LiveU is a provider of portable HD video-over-cellular solutions and will feature its expanded range of live video uplink solutions for […]

Most of the group’s 23 stations have deployed the LiveU LU60 backpack technology.

Six companies — LiveU, Dejero, TVU Networks, Streambox, Teradek and DSI RF Systems — have emerged as pioneers on the cellular video frontier. A seventh, Vislink, is about to enter the market. Each manufactures a portable device that uses AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile air cards to produce a signal capable of transmitting high-quality pictures.

For getting the news from field to studio, satellite and microwave have served broadcaster well for many years. But cellular uplink systems may be better and less costly alternative. Challenges of making the technology work reliably in tough news environment are being overcome and lease arrangements and data plans make it affordable.

LiveU, a provider of portable video-over-cellular solutions, has been chosen by the Meredith Local Media Group to provide its mobile uplink technology for electronic newsgathering operations within the TV station […]

LiveU today announced that NBC is expanding its use of its LU60 live video transmission system, deploying more of the bonded-cellular units to cover the 2012 U.S. presidential race. The […]

2011 IBC Show Preview LiveU Stand 3.B43 LiveU provides broadcast-quality, video-over-cellular solutions that allow live video transmission (HD and SD) from any location around the world. Its new LU40i handheld […]

LiveU, a provider of portable video-over-cellular backpack solutions, has been selected by Cox Media Group (CMG) to provide its mobile uplink technology to power electronic newsgathering operations. LiveU’s newly enhanced […]

An alternative to microwave, bonded cellular technology loaded in a backpack is allowing the CBS O&Os to broadcast HD images in near real time from virtually anywhere. “This technology has made us truly mobile, on foot as well as in the vehicles,” says news chief David Friend.

2011 NAB Show Preview LiveU Booth SU8808 LiveU offers portable video-over-cellular backpack solutions that use multiple cellular or other links simultaneously to provide a seamless broadband channel for live video […]