SEATTLE—In a move that will simplify live video workflows in the cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced that AWS Elemental Link UHD now supports AWS Elemental MediaConnect.
AWS Elemental Link UHD is a compact cloud-managed encoder that is designed to simplify the process of connecting live HDMI or SDI video sources, such as cameras or other production equipment, to the cloud for processing and distribution. AWS Elemental MediaConnect is a reliable, secure, and flexible transport service for securely sharing or processing live video.
The move to combine Link UHD with MediaConnect provides users with a simple and cost-effective way to create live video workflows in the cloud, saving time and resources compared to traditional on-premises, satellite, or fiber infrastructure, the company reported.
It will also give customers more flexibility in how they process live video and can add broadcast-grade monitoring or integrate ISV or AWS Partner applications into their live video applications.
“With this release, we have combined the simplicity of Link UHD with the flexibility of MediaConnect,” said Brian Stein, general manager of AWS Elemental. “Using MediaConnect, our customers can choose how they process their video, transmit it to partners, and replicate it to destinations around the globe. This opens up new possibilities for video broadcast, archival, monitoring, and live cloud production workflows.”
Previously, Link could only connect to AWS Elemental MediaLive as a channel input.
The move to provide MediaConnect support for Link UHD opens up Link UHD to more use cases such as low-latency contribution, monitoring, and distribution where additional transcoding may not be required, AWS said.
AWS also noted that Link UHD device setup is simple and does not require technical expertise: users simply plug in video, ethernet, and power.
To pair Link UHD with MediaConnect, users create a flow using the AWS Management Console or API and MediaConnect returns an ingest endpoint for use to send video. MediaConnect is then ready to replicate and distribute the video stream to destinations users specify, both inside and outside of AWS.
With Link UHD and MediaConnect, customers can also access their video feeds before they are encoded with AWS Elemental MediaLive, gaining control over processing and reducing latency. Once video is in MediaConnect, it can be transported to other AWS Regions, securely replicated and shared with partners, and even sent back on premises
“We use Link UHD to transmit 4K video from fixed camera angles in our arenas for officiating, hockey operations, and player health and safety,” said Grant Nodine, senior vice president of technology at NHL. “With MediaConnect, we seamlessly deliver video feeds to partners anywhere in the world using entitlements and perform transformations on feeds to produce outputs for streaming and archival. The overall ease of use and enhanced automation capabilities make Link UHD invaluable in supporting our game night operations.”
MediaConnect support in Link UHD is also important to streaming video platform providers and companies that transport video for their customers to multiple destinations for monitoring or for use in live streaming and broadcast applications, AWS reported.
“We love it when our customers use AWS Elemental Link devices, because they are simple to set up and manage from AWS, and they are a cost-effective way to distribute video streams,” said Dave Evans, product vice president, M2A CONNECT at M2A Media. “Some of our customers also need to monitor their video feeds and deliver them to their partners for redistribution. With Link UHD and MediaConnect, we can send low-latency live video confidence monitoring streams to a multiviewer while simultaneously sending the same feeds for video processing. Delivering live video from an event using MediaConnect to affiliates across the world is possible in just a few clicks.”
AWS also explained that customers building live cloud production solutions require more control over how their video is processed. Using MediaConnect, video can be sent directly to Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances, and customers can deploy applications using software from ISVs and AWS Partners. Video is delivered with low latency in its original contribution video quality, and the Link UHD device is easy for even non-technical people to deploy in just about any location on premises, AWS said.
More information is available at https://aws.amazon.com/elemental-link.
