IBC: Haivision, Sales Cube Team Up on VR

Complete Coverage: IBC 2016

More than 675,000 people watched the live YouTube stream of Deutsche Telekom’s Street Gigs Red Hot Chili Peppers’ concert in Berlin earlier this month, and more than one company at IBC helped produce the 4K, virtual reality stream.

Haivision’s KB 4K HEVC/H.264 encoder helped stream the Nokia OZO Professional Virtual Reality camera feed for the show (which is now available on demand on YouTube) while German broadcast distribution company Sales Cube helped with the encoding and decoding and the 360-degree production.

The 360-degree, 4K VR live stream is believed to have been the first of its kind.

“In a high-profile live event like the 360 live stream for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, you really need to know that you’re working with most reliable systems that will not fail when your stream goes live,” said Tobias Vees, CEO of Sales Cube, in a statement. “Haivision’s KB 4K encoder fueled the highest quality streams and supported a spectacular 4K viewing experience.”

Peter Maag, chief marketing officer for Haivision, added: “It’s rewarding to be involved in innovative projects like this. Our 4K encoder is our highest performance appliance in our KB series, providing broadcasters with flexible and reliable options for live event streaming, and helping deliver the highest quality live video to global Internet audiences, regardless of device.”

Also at IBC, Haivision announced it was partnering with Alibaba Cloud to deliver video streaming and media management solutions, specifically for the Chinese and Asian-Pacific market.

“As we continue to expand our presence in Asia, our partnership with Alibaba Cloud reinforces our commitment to the region and our continued innovation in delivering video solutions for any customer environment,” said Mirko Wicha, president and CEO of Haivision.