Vecima has teamed with Digital Harmonic to help operators and streamers cut bit rates by up to 80% while improving video quality. Among the use cases, cable ops can shut down QAMs and re-farm spectrum for broadband.
Vecima Networks is shoring up its video platform with prefiltering technology from a startup called Digital Harmonic that's designed to reduce bit rates by up to 80% and improve the overall quality of the image.
Vecima, now Digital Harmonic's exclusive global partner for the entertainment sector, says the startup's dh/Keyframe technology has a wide range of use cases, including helping cable operators reduce their legacy QAM video infrastructure and transition to IP-based video platforms, and improving the efficiency of direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service providers.
Digital Harmonic uses AI and machine learning techniques to pre-filter and clean up the high-quality "mezzanine" source video for both live and on-demand content, and improves video quality by "de-blurring" and erasing artifacts. It claims to be agnostic in the sense that its dh/Keyframe processing software can integrate with AVC, HEVC, VP9, AV1 or VVC encoders or encoder systems.
Vecima COO Clay McCreery said the bit rate reduction generated by dh/Keyframe varies – for example, that reduction could be in the neighborhood of 50% for HEVC-encoded content or go much higher for AV1-encoded video.
"Even a 20% to 30% reduction is meaningful," McCreery said.
Vecima has integrated Digital Harmonic's dh/Keyframe technology into a broader video portfolio that spans video processing and packaging, storage, and a content delivery network (CDN).
McCreery said Vecima came across Digital Harmonic by way of a tier 1 operator partner that was impressed with dh/Keyframe and believed Vecima could give the startup the scale it needed to expand more broadly into the operator and streaming markets.
Vecima showed off Digital Harmonic's technology at last month's SCTE TechExpo in Atlanta.
Multiple use cases
McCreery said Vecima has about half a dozen dh/Keyframe trials underway with cable/broadband service providers. Vecima is also exploring opportunities in the DTC streaming sector, including with regional sports networks that are now streaming their offerings.
"We're really focused in on all the regional sports broadcasters," McCreery said. "The ability to get a better product at a higher quality at a lower bit rate is a big deal for them. You'll see us focus in on the sports [streaming market] intently over the next several months."
For cable operators, dh/Keyframe's ability to reduce bit rates can improve efficiency by running six to eight HD channels per QAM, enabling operators to retire some of their QAM infrastructure, McCreery explained. In turn, they can apply that freed-up spectrum toward broadband services. The software can also be used to reduce the bit rates of their IP-based video lineups and content stored and distributed from cloud DVRs, he said.
dh/Keyframe can also be used for DTC streaming services. Fubo, a virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD), is one of Digital Harmonic's marquee customers in the consumer sector. Among other examples, Honeywell is using Digital Harmonic's software in routers to improve the efficiency of live video feeds.
More broadly, the attributes of dh/Keyframe can help operators and streamers make strategic decisions about how they distribute content and how much capacity they need. Some might look to the technology to improve video quality while keeping the bit rates of their feeds unchanged, or reduce their bit rates and associated costs without impacting video quality.
Digital Harmonic's technical roots stem from founder Paul Reed Smith, a musician and legendary guitar maker who serves as general managing partner of Paul Reed Smith Guitars. Reed Smith originally developed the algorithm for audio, but found that it could be applied to other applications and industries, including the government and medical fields.
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