Ericsson's MediaFirst platform now ready to deliver end-to-end UHD experiences

It is the industry's first comprehensive media processing, encoding, storage and experience solution delivering content from the camera to the consumer in UHD and HDR.

Ericsson has launched in NAB 2018 your solution MediaFirst end-to-end ready for Ultra High Definition (UHD). It is the first platform encoding and processing software-based multi-media application aimed at delivering UHD content from the camera to the consumer.

Ericsson ConsumerLab TV and Media research highlights how televisions with higher picture quality are becoming more common. HD TV ownership has increased from around 75 percent in 2012 to almost 85 percent in 2017, while 4K/UHD TVs are now present in more than a fifth of all homes. MediaFirst's end-to-end UHD solution addresses this growing need, allowing consumers to enjoy a better, more immersive viewing experience, even on larger TVs.

The new solution is designed from the ground up to enable contribution workflows using advanced Ericsson Media Solutions technology, leveraging high performance algorithms to encode UHD content to be delivered over contribution networks, delivered to consumers for an immersive experience on rich client interfaces. With the freedom to use technology High Dynamic Range (HDR) For a more natural and immersive consumer experience, as well as a cloud-agnostic option of private, public or hybrid clouds, the solution offers maximum flexibility for formats and deployment.

Boris Felts, head of products and solutions at Ericsson Media Solutions, said: "As ownership of 4K/UHD and HDR-ready TVs increases, each generation of portable devices pushes the limits of display resolutions. There is a huge opportunity for operators to differentiate themselves by delivering more immersive, high-quality viewing experiences. Our innovative, complete end-to-end UHD processing solution is the first on the market to realize this potential. It allows operators to use elements of the platform “Ericsson MediaFirst Video Processing to provide greater flexibility, superior low latency and the ability to reuse processing functions to efficiently deliver new, increasingly immersive UHD video experiences.”

Modular architecture

MediaFirst's end-to-end UHD solution includes AVP System Encoder, to provide a modular architecture Future-proof allowing updates to the site without hassle or interruption. Powered by Ericsson Media Solutions' first in-house programmable video chip, AVP encoders offer efficient MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC and HEVC compression, with a seamless upgrade path to 4K UHDTV.

For its part, MediaFirst Content Processing offers a ‘no compromise’ UHD TV decoder with high bitrate, low-latency 4K HEK decoding and future-proofing flexibility for current and evolving HDR standards.

Packaging and coding MediaFirst Video Processing for on-demand and live, enables the distribution, customization and monetization of high-quality, multi-screen UHD HDR video services, and supports the tone mapping conversion required for SDR displays.

By enabling TV service providers the ability to further differentiate themselves with this End to End Ultra High Definition solution, Ericsson Media Solutions can combine Ericsson Video Storage and Processing Platform (VSPP) and MediaFirst TV Platform powering a unified solution for cloud DVR, on-demand and time/place displaced TV services, supporting all media and displays, up to Ultra HD resolution.