Spin Digital: IBC 2023 Highlights – 8K VVC Live and Much More

Berlin, September 29 2023 – Spin Digital successfully presented at the IBC 2023 trade show possibly the world’s first demonstration of live encoding, streaming, and playback of 8K 60-fps 10-bit HDR video using the VVC/H.266 codec.

Spin Digital also showcased at IBC its latest advances in video encoding with a special focus on live encoding for UHD-4K and 8K video formats, high dynamic range (HDR), high frame rates (HFR), and immersive VR.

In addition to demonstrations, these are the main highlights of Spin Digital’s IBC participation and collaboration with partners:

• Intel and Spin Digital jointly announced the new 8Kp60 VVC live encoder based on Spin Digital live encoder (Spin Enc Live) and  running on a server based on the 4th generation of Intel Xeon Scalable Processors.
• A technical paper jointly authored by Intel and Spin Digital that accompanied the 8K 60-fps live demonstration was accepted for online publication in the proceedings of IBC 2023.
• The IBC Daily show newspaper published an article announcing the new 8K VVC live encoder as well as the onsite demonstration at the Spin Digital booth (Hall 1, B32).
• Fraunhofer HHI, Bimovin, and Spin Digital presented a demonstration and a technical paper on a novel technique for improving the quality in adaptive bitrate streaming with VVC.
• nablet and Spin Digital announced a strategic partnership to deploy HEVC and VVC codecs.
• Spin Digital collaborated with Fraunhofer IIS and Salsa Sound on VVC video and MPEG-H audio encoding, streaming, and playback demonstrations.
• A customer story on 8K video coding workflows using Spin Digital’s products that incorporate AJA SDI cards was published by AJA Video Systems.
• The onsite demos have been supported by content and technology partners including Intel, Sony, Fraunhofer IIS, and IMAX, among others.

Live 8K 60-fps VVC Encoding: Product Launch

Spin Digital announced a new version of its real-time encoder (Spin Enc Live v2.1) that includes performance optimizations to make possible 8K 60-fps VVC and 8K 120-fps HEVC live encoding and streaming using the latest generation of CPU architectures. The new encoder also incorporates a set of quality enhancements that improve the quality of content with camera noise, screen content, adaptive bitrate applications, as well as perceptual optimizations.

More information about the product launch is found here: Spin Digital Succeeds in Reaching 8Kp60 VVC and 8Kp120 HEVC Live Encoding.

Intel Corporation and Spin Digital: Live 8K 60-fps VVC Demo, Press Release, and Paper

By teaming up with Intel, the new version of the live encoder was demonstrated at the IBC trade show at the Spin Digital booth (1. B32, Hall 1). The demonstration consisted of 8K 60-fps 10-bit HDR VVC live encoding, streaming, and playback.

More information about this demonstration can be found in official joint press release: Spin Digital and Intel Showcase 8K 60-FPS VVC Live Streaming at IBC 2023.

The demonstration was accompanied by a technical paper published in the IBC 2023 Technical Papers Programme titled “A Real-time 8K-60-FPS-HDR VVC/H.266 Software Encoder for Next-generation Live Applications”. The paper provides an analysis of the capabilities of VVC for live applications by describing the Spin Digital 8K VVC live encoder.

The paper is now available at this link: IBC2023 Tech Papers: A Real-time 8K-60 fps-HDR VVC/H.266 Software Encoder for Next-generation Live Applications.

Spin Digital on IBC Daily

IBC Daily, the official show newspaper of IBC, echoed the latest innovations presented by Spin Digital at IBC. This time, in its third edition on Sunday 16 (page 79), it published an article describing the 8K 60-fps VVC live encoding, streaming, and playback demo at the Spin Digital booth.

For more information about this article, click here: The IBC Daily 2023: Day 3.

Fraunhofer HHI, Bitmovin, and Spin Digital: ABR VVC Streaming Demo and Paper

Spin Digital partnered with Fraunhofer HHI and Bitmovin to demonstrate at IBC 2023 a novel technique for adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming applications with HLS/DASH using the so-called open-GOP encoding with VVC. This technique significantly improves playback user experience compared to the conventional closed-GOP coding used in actual ABR applications.

At the Frauhofer booth (8.B80, Hall 8), Fraunhofer HHI showcased the live VVC adaptive streaming use case using Spin Digital’s live encoder.

The demo was accompanied by a technical paper titled “Best of Both Worlds – VVC Enables Open-GOP Coding in Adaptive Streaming Workflows”. The paper was presented in the IBC conference in the “Advances in video coding and processing” session on September 16.

More information about this demo can be found on the Fraunhofer HHI website. The paper is now online available at this link: IBC2023 Tech Papers: Best of both worlds – VVC enables open-GOP coding in adaptive streaming workflows.

Click here to watch the video of the whole session: Technical Papers: Advances in video coding and processing.

nablet and Spin Digital: Strategic Partnership for HEVC and VVC Codecs

nablet and Spin Digital seal their strategic alliance to integrate Spin Digital’s HEVC and VVC codecs into the nablet mediaEnging processing platform.

Spin Digital’s HEVC and VVC codecs enable significant compression efficiency at the highest possible performance scalability. nablet mediaEngine is a versatile video processing engine that offers full support for live and file encoding using a series of standard broadcast, production and streaming formats. The inclusion of industry-leading HEVC and VVC codecs will add significant value to nablet’s video transcoders, and clients will be able to easily use these codecs without altering their underlying media processing engine.

For more information about this partnership is found here: nablet and Spin Digital Announce Strategic Partnership for HEVC and VVC Codecs.

Fraunhofer IIS, Salsa Sound, and Spin Digital: VVC Video and MPEG-H Audio Streaming Showcase

Already at SET Expo 2023 in Sao Paulo (Brazil) from August 8 to 10, Fraunhofer IIS demonstrated VVC video and MPEG-H Audio technologies using solutions from Spin Digital. More information is found here: Experience TV 3.0 with Fraunhofer IIS at SET Expo Brazil 2023.

At IBC 2023, Fraunhofer IIS, in collaboration with Spin Digital, kept promoting the VVC and MPEG-H Audio technologies as the key standards for next-generation broadcasting and streaming systems to enable more immersive experiences. Moreover, Salsa Sound presented at IBC 2023 (Booth 8.B77d, Hall 8) live VVC encoding and streaming with MPEG-H Audio using Spin Digital’s live encoder.

AJA and Spin Digital: Customer Story Driving 8K Production into the Future

Mauricio Alvarez-Mesa, CEO at Spin Digital, was recently interviewed by AJA Video Systems. The interview focused on high-end 8K media workflows including: the 8K HEVC and VVC live encoder, Media Codec SDK, and 8K media players. Mauricio highlighted the advantages of using AJA SDI cards (AJA Corvid 44 12G and KONA 5) in these products to reliably capture 8K video signals and their associated audio.

More information about this interview can be found on the Customer Story blog: Spin Digital: Driving 8K Production into the Future – Customer Stories – News – AJA Video Systems.

Acknowledgments to our Content and Technology Partners

All of these achievements at IBC would not have been possible without the immense  support of our technology and content partners:

• IMAX: 8K 10-bit HDR content
• Intel: CPU provider for VVC live encoding and playback, and 8K 10-bit HDR content provider
• Sony: 8K TV for demo Sony Bravia XR – HDR – 75” 8K TV (XR-75Z9J)
• TV Globo: 8K 10-bit HDR content with MPEG-H Audio
• AJA: 12G-SDI capture cards
• Supermicro: server platform
• Fraunhofer IIS: MPEG-H Audio codec
• Fraunhofer HHI: video coding technology
• 8K Association: promotion and education on the 8K ecosystem
• Salsa Sound: live MPEG-H Audio production system

About IBC

International Broadcasting Convention (IBC) is one the most important trade shows in the world for professionals in the global media, content and technology industry. This year, the exhibition welcomed 43,065 attendees from 170 countries including 1,250 exhibitors.