Starfish Boosts Production Capabilities With Live Switching

Starfish Technologies, the leader in transport stream processing, is bringing new ideas for switching and insertion in real-time delivery streams. Developed in response to broadcast user requirements, the latest application includes a seamless switch between a live stream and a web page.

The functionality was initially developed to provide high-quality coverage of minority and niche sports which cannot justify the cost of a full production crew. It means that a producer/director, working remotely, can receive feeds from two or three cameras at the event, and add graphics and insights from the event website, simply by switching it to the live output. Starfish processing seamlessly switches between live feeds and the website, which will include any video window and the audio within the page.

"This is something that we see widely used," said Peter Blatchford, CMO at Starfish. "Broadcasters looking to cover more minority sports, or FAST channels looking to add live content, want the output to be as engaging as possible, on very tight budgets. If statistics services and graphics operators cannot be justified, it makes sense to use existing presentations from the web. The real winners are the viewers, who get better coverage, of more events, with accurate statistics and engaging insights."

Switching between live streams and web pages could also be used for real-time updates from breaking news stories where a lot of video clips and additional information can be found online. Producers could use it to add social media interaction into reality television and it could potentially be used as a broad solution to what are currently EAS warnings in North America.

Starfish transport stream processing is a large suite of software applications, running on-premises on Windows OS servers or implemented in Kubernetes, either on-premises or in the cloud. A comprehensive REST API is available for integration, monitoring and configuration.

It can operate entirely in the encoded stream environment, or for some applications, the processing will decode and recode. SCTE-35 message insertion, replication and PID manipulation are available, and all currently used video encoding formats, including H.264 and H.265, are supported at resolutions from SD to 8k.

"We have developed a software framework which means we can be responsive whenever a broadcaster asks us for specific functionality, like the website switching," Blatchford said. "Transport stream processing may seem an arcane part of the media world, but it can provide cost effective, fully automated and elegant solutions to real-world problems, and we are uniquely positioned to help.

"In recent months we have seen a dramatic rise in the level of enquiries, particularly for new OTT services and redistribution platforms," he added. "We are really looking forward to NAB and the opportunity to talk more about how we can help shape broadcast services, from production to delivery."

See Starfish Technologies at NAB 2025 on the GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland Pavilion in the West Hall, W2523. More information at www.starfish.tv.