As usual the annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show has caused much excitement with the some vendors announcing their new releases. It’s the perfect opportunity to bring the latest in video to a huge audience of potential investors.

Since today is the last day of the event, we’ll try to summarize the most impressive products and upgrades related to live streaming and broadcasting. Times are changing at NAB, with a good deal of the emphasis moving away from new products and into improved modularity and durability. This can only be a good thing for those investing as now money can be spent on upgrading current technology and not constantly having to purchase the “new and improved” version.

The launch of PESA Live

Video streaming designer and manufacturer, PESA, announced that they had launched PESA Live during the 2015 CIS National Men’s Final 8 Tournament. The response to the product had been positive. This creative app allows for the multi-camera streaming of live footage to a targeted audience. The provision includes built-in branding, messaging and analytics. It’s sure to be a winner in the ever expanding world of event marketing where participant immersion is a key component.

At the launch attendees were able to download the app and become part of an immersive interactive experience, with content creators able to reach their audience through video and social media, whilst at the same time, the event managers could access up-to-date user analytics.

For live streaming of an event the PESA Xstream C58 anchors the streaming which can be streamed over the Web or across a private network. For Web streaming the multi-cam signal is connected to a content distribution network, whereas for private network streaming the PESA Xstream Hub turnkey server is used.

Creators of the event and the content are able to create a customized experience for attendees, as soon as they log in using the event id. Viewers have access to a quad screen display where they can choose which content to watch. They can also interact with other attendees via a live Twitter feed within the app.

The ability to customise means that event organisers can include branding and revenue producing content within the live streaming.

4SeTV launch at NAB

In a separate technological development 4SeTV is catering to the requirement of many viewers to watch content in a more time efficient manner. The device is ready to use out of the box and hooks up to an HDTV antenna while being connected to a router via an Ethernet cable. The viewer has access to free over-the-air content and clear QAM cable content, with the ability to stream four separate content choices simultaneously, on a single split screen, making the choice of which content to display on full screen.

The content can be viewed on multiple devices, TVs, tablets and mobile devices, to enable complete viewing freedom. The device also enables up to four separate viewers to watch live content of their choice on four separate screens as the same time.

PESA Live and 4SeTV are very different technological advances, but they both bring something new to the viewer experience. PESA Live also enables event organisers and event marketers to improve their immersive interaction with event attendees. Both of these developments have certainly been welcomed as advancements in video streaming technology, at NAB 2015. Although, even more welcome has been the growing emphasis on modularity in technology, and the move away from “throw away” mode with products such as Blackmagic’s original URSA.

Honorable mentions: Blackmagic’s URSA and Perseus

There was much discussion concerning the launch of Blackmagic’s original URSA, at last year’s NAB. The launch was accompanied by a promise that the sensor on the product would be swappable. Many people commented that this was unlikely to happen, and that Blackmagic were sure to be involved with the next camera before any upgrades were available.

As it turned out, a new sensor was already under development when last year’s announcement was made, and it is now possible to buy the camera with the upgraded sensor fitted. The good news is that it’s also possible for those who already own the kit to upgrade to the new sensor. It’s refreshing that there is more emphasis on producing technology that can be upgraded as opposed to replaced.

V-Nova unveiled Perseus, a new video compression technology which promises to allow more efficient use of spectrum to deliver SD, HD and even 4K ultra HD. Its compression technique achieves greater than 50% compression improvement over existing compression techniques.

This year’s event certainly garnered a lot attention and definitely met our expectations, besides the decreased quantity of new releases. Quality is what matters and we are looking forward to new exciting innovations associated with video and live streaming.