Vantage’s workflows from ingest to playout now include AI-based metadata, native file QC, new MAM integration. PRISM, SPG9000 and ARGUS meet new SMPTE, UHD and HDR requirements.
ARGUS centralised video monitoring
New developments from Telestream that will be shown at NAB 2025 in April include Vantage’s workflows from ingest to playout that now feature AI-generated metadata, native file QC, new MAM integrations, more scalable Lightspeed Live servers and efficient GRID transcoding. The Telestream monitoring tools PRISM, SPG9000 and ARGUS have also been updated to meet new SMPTE, UHD and HDR standards.
Vantage is Telestream's platform for orchestration, transcoding and media processing tasks used in file-based, streaming and live workflows. The platform’s most recent updates focus on faster, more flexible compliance, quality control, MAM and archive workflows. It features new developments in ingest, media processing and playout servers – in particular, AI and cloud-native innovations.
"As new business opportunities emerge and economic pressures intensify, operators and distributors are pushed to expand their content operations, adopt new standards and formats like IP and UHD, and find efficiency in the cloud. While these transitions move them forward, they add new challenges in terms of complexity, cost management and the ability to scale operations," said Benjamin Desbois, Chief Growth and Strategy Officer, Telestream. "The purpose of Vantage is to help navigate these challenges with a flexible platform that optimises infrastructure and workflows strategically – on-premise, hybrid and in the cloud."
Content Transfer and Monetisation
Vantage uses automation and direct integrations to simplify media workflows for broadcast, post, sports and corporate projects. Qualify Action QC is new functionality that makes quality control workflows for on-premise, hybrid and cloud deployments much simpler. By integrating the capabilities of Aurora and Vidchecker software, it covers the full range of quality, compliance and integrity capabilities as a single Vantage action.
Qualify Action QC
With new AI capabilities, users can automate speech-to-text for rapid captioning and subtitling. Vantage can also be used to automate time-based metadata and summary extracts that add value to content search and retrieve operations.
DIVA asset storage, retrieval and management tools have been integrated more tightly with Vantage to speed up archive and discovery processes. For instance, users can create and act on DIVA archive objects through Vantage workflows. Upcoming features will be able to support scaling of content and media orchestration.
Direct integration between Vantage and modern cloud-centric MAM systems as well means that users can apply new MAM functionality to their content repository with advantages for accessibility, collaboration and monetization. One of these integrations is a connector between Vantage and Backlight iconik, which manages media across cloud and on-premise storage and is accessible from anywhere.
Scalable Speed, Quality and Playout
For scalable speed and performance that also preserves content quality from ingest to playout, Vantage makes it possible to split complex transcodes (distributed GRID processing) across the system’s nodes, processing outputs at a fraction of the normal time depending on the number of nodes – in other words, faster completion while increasing potential capacity.
The new Lightspeed Live Servers for Capture are built to double the recording capacity of previous models within the same 1RU configuration. Local RAID storage can now be expanded up to 30TB, an improvement on the previous 7TB limit. Configuration options include SDI (3G/12G) and ST2110 (10/25G SR/LR). Comes standard with 2x800GB NVMe SSDs in RAID1 for OS.UHD formats and higher frame rates are now supported, which were not possible earlier on.
Recent Vantage Lightspeed Servers deliver up to 30% performance increases in media processing over the previous generation in a 1RU form factor. Standard features include dual 800GB NVMe SSDs in RAID1 for the OS, and dual 1.92TB SSDs for media storage.
Lightspeed Live Servers for Play are a new development that will be released in June 2025, purpose-built for live production. They will support SDI (3G/12G) and ST2110 (10/25G, SR/LR) with configurations of up to 8 channels in HD and 4 channels in UHD in a 1RU form factor. Their features will include playout of any format back-to-back, AMP (asynchronuous messaging protocol) support for standard control, customizable APIs for integration and SSD storage from 15 to 30TB.
Test & Measurement Tools in ST 2110 and UHD Deployments
Telestream's PRISM waveform monitors, SPG9000 sync pulse and test signal generators and ARGUS centralized video monitoring systems now support SMPTE ST 2110 deployments, and include features that help video producers transition to mainstream HDR production.
Matthew Driscoll, VP Product Management, Telestream said, "As Telestream users move the industry’s new developments into mainstream deployments, we are adapting the tools they need to keep their processes up to date."
New integrated 3D LUT in PRISM
PRISM Software-Defined Waveform Monitors are user-configurable software that can be accessed remotely. Designed to work in both SDI and IP content creation installations, PRISM now features complete support for ST 2110-22 using JPEG XS compression. For up to four simultaneous ST 2110-22 streams, JPEG XS allows an approximate bit rate reduction of 10X, and reduces the cost of network infrastructure by avoiding the need for manual configurations. PRISM now supports a test-signal out in the same format to use in comparisons to a known good signal.
With a new integrated 3D LUT, also user-configurable, camera operators can shade HDR cameras by monitoring down-mapped SDR signals and comparing HDR/SDR signals side-by-side. By making conversion boxes unnecessary, workflows become simpler, less costly and more reliable for live productions.
For HDR production, the Telestream CIE chart now includes the ability to narrow the range of the Luma to focus on specific regions of interest. As well as false colour mode for showing BT.709 and P3, regions are now banded to indicate how far out of the gamut they are, which helps colourists map into these colour spaces and work with more flexibility.
The software-defined SPG9000 Sync Pulse and Test Signal Generator is used as a combined synch reference and signal source for ST 2110 installations that require a PTP source, and in hybrid environments where analogue reference is derived from PTP. For greater resilience, users can now add a precision secondary reference clock such as Rubidium to guard against loss of Satellite for PTP grandmaster applications, and also add a further failover option for flexibility.
SPG9000 Sync Pulse and Test Signal Generator
To help debug PTP configuration issues, users can now capture Rx and Tx network traffic on the media interfaces to download and open in Wireshark on a PC. This process saves the time used to capture the network traffic on another device, filter out PTP messages and then open in Wireshark.
ARGUS, centralised video monitoring for video distribution networks, visualises health, performance and uptime of video delivery across the network, via its software dashboard. Integrating probe data captured throughout distribution, ARGUS converts quantities of data into actionable information.
Using its new Monitoring Groups feature, users can immediately identify the location of faults. The software makes diagnoses quickly and suggests solutions. Furthermore, it is now possible to move directly from an alarm or complaint to viewing content at the monitoring point of interest. As an alternative to looking at hundreds of live pictures on a video wall, ARGUS points directly to the problem by focusing attention on signals that are experiencing issues. www.telestream.com
