wTVision dives deep into cloud, IP, and other live production trends

Between the rise of virtual sets and increasing IP workflow adoption, live production and broadcast pipelines are rapidly evolving. Daniel Gonçalves, the Innovation and Pre-Sales Director at wTVision, a global broadcast solutions and services provider, spoke with us about some of these shifts and how they’re influencing wTVision’s innovation efforts. Continue reading to learn more about the technology solutions they’re building to help professionals keep pace with emerging cloud and virtualization developments, IP advancements, and more, plus the AJA solutions under the hood that help those technologies support evolving demands. 

Tell us about wTVision 

wTVision was founded in 2001 and is part of the leading audiovisual company GRUP MEDIAPRO. Our headquarters (HQ) is in Lisbon, Portugal, and we also have offices in Porto (Portugal); Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia (Spain); Brussels (Belgium); Miami (USA); Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolívia); Dubai (UAE); and New Delhi (India). We employ more than 350 people globally and specialize in integrated broadcast solutions that fuse software development with graphics design and branding, live operations, and human resources capabilities. Our solutions are used on more than 15,000 broadcasting operations each year in over 120 countries, and our operations span sports, election coverage, PCR and live production, MCR and playout automation, broadcast design, and post-production. wTVision also owns 21 outside broadcast graphics vans equipped to deliver services globally. LaLiga, UEFA, Jupiler Pro League, DAZN, TV GLOBO, beIN Sports, ESPN, FIBA, NBA, IJF, Endemol, FOX, NOS, and RTL represent just a few clients we work with.

What is your role at wTVision, and what does an average day on the job entail? 

I lead wTVision's innovation initiatives and oversee the pre-sales process to ensure our solutions align with our customers’ needs and current market trends, which involves extensive research. Fostering collaborations with universities to create synergies between academia and the broadcast industry is also part of my job. As wTVision cultivates innovation through a structured pipeline that spans different horizons, I also work with our development teams to prototype new solutions. I aim to help wTVision stay at the forefront of technological advancements and deliver solutions that meet our clients’ current and future needs. On an average day, I might be talking to clients to understand their unique challenges and objectives or crafting tailored proposals to showcase how our solutions can meet their needs. I could also be connecting with universities to explore collaborative research or internship opportunities. 

How did you get into this line of work? 

My broadcast journey began 18 years ago. I started out as a CG operator for a summer job while in university. It ignited my passion for broadcast technology and led me to pursue a role in wTVision's software development team after concluding my studies. I began developing the very software I’d previously operated, and in 2012, I ventured to Paris to work with a prominent visual effects company. In 2014, an opportunity in Florida brought me back to wTVision. I then specialized in designing automation solutions for MCR and PCR workflows and made my way to Lisbon, where I served as Head of Development for wTVision's MCR products for five years. Most recently, I took up the challenge of leading wTVision's innovation department, where I get to witness the solutions that I conceptualize and design (and that often leverage third-party technologies like those AJA offers) come to life and seamlessly meet or exceed customer expectations.

Describe your offerings.

wTVision specializes in developing cutting-edge broadcast graphics, automation and playout, data and sports, augmented reality (AR), virtual studio, and media asset management (MAM) solutions for national and international broadcasters, sports networks, entertainment channels, and production houses. We also provide services that enhance the efficiency, creativity, and overall quality of broadcasting operations. Our advanced broadcast graphics and virtual set solutions enable clients to create immersive experiences, enhance viewer engagement, and maintain brand consistency while our automation systems streamline master control room (MCR) and production control room (PCR) workflows, ensuring seamless scheduling, playout, and monitoring of content across various platforms. We also develop real-time data integration and sports broadcasting tools to enrich live sports coverage. Our AR and virtual studio technologies also help broadcasters deliver more dynamic, immersive stories. For clients looking to facilitate highly efficient storage, retrieval, and distribution of media assets across broadcast operations, we also develop comprehensive MAM tools. 

What role does AJA technology play in your solutions and services?

The Corvid 88, Corvid 44 12G, and KONA family of desktop video and audio I/O cards are standard in our OEM solutions because they provide a robust video and audio I/O toolset for reliable, high quality live video capture and playout. The AJA Developer SDK (software development kit) also makes it easy for us to build them into our solutions. When integrated with our graphics servers, they output synchronized key and fill signals up to UltraHD (2SI or SQD), and their unparalleled stability ensures that wTVision and our clients can deliver consistent, high-quality video with an exceptional price/quality ratio. Our operators also heavily use AJA mobile Io solutions to support live productions and output video and graphics over key and fill signals. Their rugged design, reliable performance, and portability make them a natural choice for on-the-go production and recommended hardware list. We also develop live production kits that contain tons of AJA Mini-Converters for myriad conversion, sync generation, and distribution amplification needs. They’re a go-to for us because of their reliability, even in the most adverse production scenarios.

AJA gear is also widely integrated into our HQ, where we have a data center that hosts multiple client TV channels, an MCR operations center, and a studio with a chroma set for clients to produce and record live shows. The infrastructure behind it includes several AJA products, including openGear solutions and Ki Pro recorders. Here, we also run an R&D Lab, which houses an AJA HDR Image Analyzer 12G HDR waveform, histogram, and vectorscope monitoring solution for HDR related developments and certifications. Its broad feature set allows our R&D team to precisely analyze and monitor HDR content, ensuring compliance with industry standards. Another incredible AJA product that we've started using is BRIDGE NDI 3G. It’s our go-to tool for HD and UltraHD remote productions; it’s revolutionized our operational efficiency while allowing us to advance our sustainability efforts. BRIDGE NDI 3G allows our 3D graphics engine (R3 Space Engine) to output NDI or NDIHX from cloud environments and deliver synchronized key and fill feeds directly from a venue. With it, we can minimize the volume of equipment and personnel traveling between venues to achieve more operational efficiency and flexibility while also reducing our carbon footprint and logistical costs. 

Across the board, AJA’s exceptional engineering quality ensures our solutions and production kits remain durable and reliable, even in the most demanding environments, which is critical for maintaining consistent performance and minimizing downtime. They can withstand the physical stresses of frequent setup, teardown, and transit. Whether we're working in the scorching heat or the freezing cold, AJA gear performs seamlessly, and it’s also highly compliant with industry standards for intuitive integration with other equipment in our systems and workflow. It helps us maintain a high level of quality and consistency and reduces technical issues, allowing our team to focus on developing standout systems and top-notch.

Is wTVision following any industry trends, and why?  

wTVision is monitoring several trends as the industry rapidly evolves, from virtualization and the cloud to IP and AR. Partnering with innovative companies like AJA helps us better navigate the challenges these developments present and build more efficient infrastructure solutions. We’re exploring virtualization and cloud innovations that could make our tech more scalable so clients can better integrate with modern cloud infrastructures and avoid costly hardware upgrades and maintenance. Compressed and uncompressed IP video delivery tools for our on-premises and cloud solutions are also a growing priority as more clients have begun to ask for IP output capabilities. Because these standards are variably adopted with no clear frontrunner, it’s crucial that we understand the pros and cons of each and ensure our tools are compatible with them all.

Tell us more about your focus on virtualization. 

Virtualization is beneficial for large production environments, TV channel networks, and cable providers. Traditional dedicated infrastructure requires extensive management and maintenance, whereas virtualized environments simplify these processes, offering more scalability and efficient resource allocation. This translates to reduced operational costs and increased agility. Many of wTVision’s solutions (i.e., MCR products, playout system, video server technology, and graphics engine) are already capable of running in virtual environments. Using our MCR product in a virtualized environment, one client in Brazil can now launch new TV channels in minutes, with all of their outputs managed via SMPTE 2110 standards. As virtualization technology matures, our product offerings will continue to improve and deliver greater value. 

How is the cloud influencing your business? 

The cloud is pivotal to remote production, which reduces equipment and personnel travel, helps us provide clients with better support, and is more environmentally friendly. Presenting a shift from CAPEX to OPEX, the cloud also allows clients to test their ideas before committing to new infrastructure, providing more flexibility and disaster recovery solutions. We’re using it to explore new remote workflow methodologies, technologies, and architectures. For instance, our solutions supported remote graphics services for a major European sports competition; all graphics were live-generated in the cloud and delivered on-site with sub-second delay in key and fill feeds, which were converted to SDI by AJA products to be mixed live by the director.