[opendtv] EE Times: Transcoding offers migration path to IP
- From: "Manfredi, Albert E" <albert.e.manfredi@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:25:49 +0000
This article talks about a cableco (or DBS?) STB co-processor, that converts
the standard cable QAM/MPEG-2 "broadcast" channels into IP streams, so that
tablets, smart phones, etc., can watch.
My first reaction being, how hard is it for the cablecos to reassign their 6
MHz PON channels to all-IP usage, instead of keeping the vast majority as
one-way broadcast pipes? I don't know how many houses are fed off a single PON
these days, but it seems to me that distributing ~150 6-MHz to households
evenly, in an all-IP network, would be the best way to go. Then you don't need
to cobble up any STB add-ons.
Even the predictable excuse that this demolishes their tiered service structure
isn't necessarily valid, because that could be re-created over IP anyway.
Seems to me, firmware upgrades to DOCSIS STBs may be able to achieve this
change. But that's just a guess.
Maybe the biggest problem is, as usual, that when the topic goes to TV content
over IP, everyone becomes brain-dead.
Bert
http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4409752/Is--Transcoding--cable-guys--migration-path-to-IP-
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Transcoding offers migration path to IP
Junko Yoshida
3/12/2013 1:20 PM EDT
Cable operators, stuck with MPEG head ends and set-tops, need to find ways to
stay relevant in the world where cable TV is no longer the only video viewing
destination.
MADISON, Wis.-We all know that cable TV is no longer the only destination for
consumers to find video they want to watch. In fact, the proliferation of
Internet Protocol-enabled devices-tablets, smartphones, notebook computers and
game consoles-is already making a pricey subscription to cable TVs almost
unacceptable, if not irrelevant, especially to younger audiences.
A big question is how soon cable operators-currently stuck with
MPEG-2/QAM-based head-ends and set-tops-will migrate to an IP-based
infrastructure.
The bad news is that it will be "at least 10-15 years before the MPEG-2 digital
video switch-off," estimates Stephen Froehlich, principal analyst at IHS
Electronics & Media. If so, cable guys need to find new ways to stay relevant
and competitive in the meantime--until they can deliver IP packetized video
(instead of MPEG) to any device.
The good news is that several [technology] options-although each with some pros
and cons-are available for cable operators to implement IP TV delivery over a
hybrid fiber-coaxial plant. More than a few technology companies stand to gain
from the transition.
Among them is Zenverge, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based fabless chip company
founded by ex-Conexant engineers. The company is raising its profile on the
market by offering cable/telco operators a chip capable of quad-stream HD
transcoding with what the company claims as the world's smallest memory
footprint. Its quad stream HD transcoder not only "transcode" different audio
and video compression formats, but also "transrate" to different bitrates,
"transcale" to lower resolution, "transcript" different digital rights
management.
Actually, there are a few North American cable companies already offering live
broadcast channels and on-demand content via IP connection to devices connected
to the DOCSIS network. In what is typically known as an "overlay network,"
operators simulcast linear programming over IP and manage video processing
separately from content delivered for traditional viewing. The problem with
this approach is that none of the cable guys has unlimited amount of unicast
bandwidth.
Zenverge comes in under two other scenarios: The first is where content is
delivered over the traditional MPEG-2 transport infrastructure and is then
encapsulated in IP packets for distribution-wired or wireless-to all devices
within the home. The second is a hybrid distribution network, through which
most content is delivered over MPEG-2 and encapsulated in IP at the home
gateway, while some content, possibly VOD and new high-tier services, is
delivered as managed service over DOCSIS.
In either case, Zenverge's chip offers the ability to "transcode in real time
and stream video in a resolution and bitrate each IP-enabled device can
support," explained Amir Mobini, CEO, president and co-founder of Zenverge in
an interview with EE Times.
Headed vs. headless
When such a chip as Zenverge's ZN200-dedicated to transcoding-is paired with an
SoC used in a "headed" cable set-top box (directly connected to a TV via HDMI
or another connector), it enables multi-screen viewing (on smartphones,
tablets, and others) of video originally compressed in MPEG-2, modulated in
QAM, and delivered to set-tops. Ideally, such a set-up will enable the gradual
transition of a cable operator's service away from digital-broadcast video to
IPTV over DOCSIS-potentially at minimum cost and with no interruption for
customers.
The ZN200 can also pair with a core chip used in a so-called "headless" media
home gateway (not directly connected to a TV), allowing the residential gateway
to simultaneously support both thin clients (connected to TV) and "unmanaged"
IP-based clients (such as tablets and smartphones). Such a headless media home
gateway becomes "a single gateway for data, voice and video," delivers content
via MOCA or WiFi to any IP-connected devices, and brings "huge cost savings" to
service operators, said Tony Masterson, chief technology officer at Zenverge.
Zenverge, however, isn't alone in the growing transcoding chip market. IHS
analyst Froehlich noted that ViXS (Toronto, Canda) is the other major "new"
entrant to the set-top box space. Separately, Magnum Semi has the old LSI Logic
transcoding business, and their DXT line should be applicable to this market,"
he added.
Meanwhile, Cavium and a few others appear to also have an angle on the
transcoding market. Froehlich, however, believes that Cavium is concentrating
on the related, low-latency Miracast market, instead of set-top boxes.
Miracasat is a peer-to-peer wireless screencast technology based on Wi-Fi,
allowing consumers with tablets, for example, to "mirror" live programs from a
home cable box.
Zenverge appears to have a head start. The company's ZN200 is already on the
market in the TiVo Stream box--now available at Best Buy, while the chip is
also in the Arris XG5 headless gateway for Comcast, which was announced at the
Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year. "We are winning every single
opportunity we know about" in the emerging category of transcoder chips inside
set-top boxes and media home gateways, claimed Mobini.
How did Zenverge sneak in?
At a time when chip vendors like Broadcom and STMicroelectronics have long held
a stronghold on the cable/satellite set-top box market, how did Zenverge sneak
in?
First, Zenverge's chip isn't a set-top SoC. It's a co-processor that works with
any set-top SoC. However, as Zenverge discovered, putting transcoding and
set-top functions into a single chip presents a significant challenge.
"Transcoding is an extraordinarily memory-intensive operation, not unlike PC
graphics. Multiple uncompressed video frames must be written and read to RAM
constantly," explained Froehlich. "However, [traditional] set-top pricing
precludes the use of non-DDR memory architectures, therefore, a dedicated
transcoding chip with dedicated memory and a dedicated memory bus (Zenverge's
architecture) paired with a separate core chip may well be a cheaper and
easier-to-implement."
Second, Zenverge predicts big changes coming to set-top SoCs.
"The market is moving to headless gateways with integrated transcoding," said
Zenverge CEO Mobini, CEO. As the market for set-top boxes shifts to headless
gateways, the need for decoder SoCs with graphics and HDMI video-out features
are replaced by the need for gateway SoCs with network processors, DOCSIS or
DSL modems, MoCA 2.0, dual band wireless and conditional access, he explained.
When asked about future SoCs integrated with transcoding, Mobini noted that for
the next 3-5 years, bandwidth issues will continue to make it hard for SoCs to
integrate multiple channels of transcoding. He believes this problem will get
significantly worse, as the market moves toward 4K video and new video CODECs
such as HEVC.
Then, how big is the addressable market of multimedia home gateways that could
feature a transcoder--which Zenverge's target? While IHS doesn't have an
official trancoder forecast yet, Froehlich estimates "just over 9.5 million
units in 2015."
The industry has often debated whether transcoding should take place at home or
"in the cloud." Zenverge thinks the option for transcoding in the cloud will
take much longer. "Take Netflix," said Masterson. Netflix needs to store
something like 300 versions of the same movie [in different resolutions] in
their server before it can start streaming a movie to a different device. "It's
almost like needing to have a dedicated voice port for every call. It's very
inefficient."
Another thing to keep in mind is the rights' issue. While in-home transcoding
falls under "fair use" copyright law, service providers may need to
re-negotiate their agreements with content providers if they are to offer
content via the Internet. "Each operator has different pros and cons related to
the amount of unicast bandwidth they have, their chosen home-vs.-cloud
architecture for content storage, and negotiating power they have with their
content providers, and the age and structure of those content contracts,"
observed Froehlich.
Zenverge, founded in 2006 by a team of experts experienced in developing video
compression algorithms and building advanced media and network processors, has
100 employees today. 30 percent of its workforce is based in Bangalore.
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