HITS

LAS VEGAS — Content delivery network specialist Akamai kicked off the NAB Show with a new report detailing wide-ranging credential abuses against online video and music streaming services, with stolen credentials, stuffing attacks, and more resulting from data breaches.

A central finding in the report — “Internet-Security: Credential Stuffing: Attacks and Economies”— saw three of the largest credential stuffing attacks vs. streaming services in 2018 (ranging in size from 133 million to 200 million attempts) took place shortly after reported data breaches, an indication that hackers were testing stolen credentials before selling them.

“To avoid platform stuffing, you need to protect the platform itself,” said Thomas Stark – product marketing manager for Akamai.

Akamai’s director of security technology and strategy Patrick Sullivan, who unveiled the research during the NAB Cybersecurity & Content Protection Summit, presented by MESA and CDSA, said that the attack method commonly referred to as “credential stuffing” sees nefarious actors use automated tools to take advantage of stolen login information, in order to attempt to gain access to user accounts, with the assumption that same login and password are being used for multiple services.

“Hackers are very attracted to the high profile and value of online streaming services,” he said. “Educating subscribers on the importance of using unique username and password combinations is one of the most effective measures businesses can take to mitigate credential abuse. The good news is that organizations are taking the threat seriously and investigating security defenses, as evidenced by the discussions at NAB.

Akamai offers its research and best practices to help these organizations who are facing significant brand and financial harm.”

Stolen credentials are then used for enabling non-subscribers to view content via pirated streaming accounts, and compromised accounts are sold, traded or harvested for personal information.

Akamai’s report pegged the U.S. as the No. 1 country of origin for the attacks, followed by Russia and Canada, and the U.S. is also the top target, followed by India and Canada. Previous Akamai research noted that media, gaming and entertainment companies saw 11.6 billion attacks between May and December of 2018.

Also at NAB:

CTA Shares 8K Projection

The Consumer Technology Association, producers of the annual CES event, shared new projections for tech in 2019, including the potential for 8K consumer monitors to reach 200,000 units sold, generating half a billion in revenue. CTA expects that number to hit 500,000 in 2020, and 1.5 million by 2022.

The CTA also shared that as of 2019 there are 285 million TVs in 114 million American households, with 27% 4K household penetration, and 51% streaming media player penetration. CTA expects by 2020, half of U.S. households will have 4K hardware.

NAGRA Makes an ATSC 3.0 Push

NAGRA kicked off NAB by announcing a joint solution with BitRouter and Harmonic that enables seamless delivery of ATSC 3.0 video services. The end-to-end offering allows to broadcasters to enable ATSC 3.0 reception and monetization of content for connected and non-connected ATSC 3.0 receivers, delivering a flexible way to upsell consumers migrating to ATSC 3.0.

The product integrates NAGRA content protection technologies, and features a unique purchasing capability using existing mobile communication channels, along with ATSC OTA and broadband-IP transmission.

“NAGRA is committed to helping U.S. broadcasters prepare for the launch of ATSC 3.0 with best-of-breed solutions and partners,” said Tom Wirth, SVP of the Americas for NAGRA. “The solution we are demonstrating together makes great strides in enabling new services and monetization opportunities for the next gen market.

“We have a long history of success ensuring premium content is protected and secure, and ATSC 3.0 will be no exception. While security is the starting point, we are also looking to future opportunities, such as broadcasting to moving vehicles for both entertainment and telematics, IoT, analytics and hybrid business devices and services that broadcasters might want to deploy.”

AWS Elemental Accelerates Transcoding Tech

Amazon Web Services used NAB to debut Accelerated Transcoding, a new feature within AWS Elemental MediaConvert enabling broadcasters, OTT distributors, and premium content providers to complete their video transcoding projects up to 25 times faster.

Premium TV network EPIX is the first to used Accelerated Transcoding to convert 4K UHD content for streaming to 70 million pay TV homes.

“We were looking to transcode large volumes of film and original television content into 4K Ultra HD for on-demand streaming to our customers,” said Jon Dakss, chief digital officer for EPIX. “AWS Elemental MediaConvert is a flexible solution that doesn’t require any on-premises hardware, runs in the cloud, and with Accelerated Transcoding ensures faster delivery of the best 4K streaming experience across multiple devices.”

AWS Elemental MediaConvert includes Quality-Defined Variable Bitrate control (QVBR), which can reduce file size by up to 50%, automatically adjusting bitrate on a frame by frame basis. Both QVBR and Accelerated Transcoding are available in AWS Elemental MediaConvert as free features.

Redbox Looks to TiVo For Customized Content Experiences

Movie kiosk and streaming operator Redbox announced during NAB that it’s partner with TiVo to deliver personalized content experiences to customers via TiVo’s Personalized Content Discovery platform.

Redbox is deploying TiVo’s search, recommendations and insights services in order to engage new customers, and increase retention and enhance loyalty across its Redbox.com, Redbox On Demand streaming apps and physical kiosks. Redbox will also enable TiVo’s video and video game metadata.

“We are excited that Redbox has selected our technology to give their customers a highly personalized, feature-rich entertainment experience they can enjoy across all of their devices,” said Walt Horstman, SVP and GM of advanced media and advertising for TiVo. “Redbox is fully utilizing our Personalized Content Discovery platform and showcasing how it can be used in many non-linear environments, including redbox.com, their mobile apps, and physical boxes throughout the country.”

Ash Eldifrawi, chief marketing and customer experience officer at Redbox, added: “With TiVo’s Personalized Content Discovery platform, we are able to offer our consumers a more engaging and relevant entertainment experience across multiple devices. We’re gaining a more holistic view of all of our audience metrics, helping us align our data and insights across all devices and platforms, ultimately allowing us to grow our business.”

Verizon Digital Media Services

Verizon Digital Media Services (VDMS) is working with Microsoft to deliver a simpler way for broadcasters, content owners or streaming services to deliver high-quality, ultra-personalized viewing experiences on Microsoft Azure.

Soon customers will be able to use the full implementation of the VDMS’ enterprise-grade streaming product, on Azure, in combination with the full range of Azure services to offer simplification and support to any broadcaster or content provider. The new offering will support the accelerated consumption of online media and over the top (OTT) services.

Microsoft will also drive awareness and adoption of this new solution through its enterprise salesforce. In addition, Verizon will work with Microsoft to integrate Azure Media Services, Microsoft AI and Microsoft machine learning technology. These integrations will enable the personalization of experiences for every viewer, increasing their satisfaction and engagement.

Earlier this month, VDMS announced that it will launch new platform capabilities, including 4k encoding, multi-CDN, QOS (quality of service), and tighter integration with key partners. Enhancements to the VDMS platform will enable content owners and service providers to connect with and entertain millions of concurrent users on one of the world’s top performing streaming networks, said Verizon.

Avid Unveils Latest Innovations for Media and Entertainment at Connect 2019 and the NAB Show

Avid today unveiled a range of bold new product offerings to propel creativity and collaboration for media enterprises, teams and individuals. Breakthrough innovations like the new reimagined Avid Media Composer® 2019 video editing software and Avid NEXIS® | Cloudspaces SaaS cloud storage solution, are being featured in Avid’s NAB Show booth (South Upper Hall – 801), April 8-11.

Avid also revealed the anticipated line-up for its Avid Main Stage presentations, the perennial favorite series for NAB Show attendees looking to learn from the masters of media creation, this year featuring video and audio experts behind Captain Marvel, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Orville, Venom, and Westworld. Throughout the NAB Show, Avid’s thought leaders will deliver conference sessions on topics including cloud newsrooms, post production collaboration and asset management.

“The needs of the media and entertainment industry are constantly evolving, which is why Avid continuously rethinks and reinvents our products and solutions so that our customers can continue to create compelling content as well as disrupt the industry with their innovations,” said Jeff Rosica, CEO and President at Avid. “Our latest innovations deliver the creativity, agility and operational efficiency required in today’s increasingly competitive media landscape, helping enterprises, teams and individuals to maximize the value of their content and expand into new markets.”

Media Composer® 2019

Media Composer 2019 is everything that aspiring and professional editors, freelancers and journalists know and love about the Emmy®, Oscar® and Eddie winning tool that defined the nonlinear editing category—reimagined for more. With Media Composer 2019, media makers have:

-The ability to work at the speed of creativity with a new user experience,
-More power at their fingertips with the next generation Avid Media Engine and distributed processing,
-The ability to finish and deliver without ever leaving Media Composer, and
-A customizable, role-based user interface for large teams.

Media Composer 2019 will be available in late spring. Read the full press release in the Avid newsroom.

Pro Tools® 2019

From delivering 50 percent more voices in Pro Tools | Ultimate software and double the MIDI track maximum, to more fluid track interactions during playback, Pro Tools 2019 extends power and performance to enable users to work more creatively and faster on the most complex projects. With the ability to freely experiment with effects, presets, and more during playback, Pro Tools 2019 enables users to act on their creative impulses in the moment and build on their momentum. Pro Tools 2019 will be available in the second quarter of 2019.

Sibelius® 2019

Sibelius 2019 delivers more creative ways to compose, elevate score playback quality, boost music writing efficiency and accuracy, and enhance the review and approval process. Along with the ability to share scores in the cloud and host them online, as well as industry-leading capabilities for creating print-perfect, professional scores, Sibelius 2019 enables users to boost their creativity and do more—and do it better—in less time.

Avid NEXIS® | Cloudspaces

Avid’s new NEXIS | Cloudspaces provides a simple way for post production, broadcast and sports teams to safely and securely park projects and sync onsite Avid NEXIS workspaces to the cloud for easy offsite backup by bringing the power of the cloud to Avid NEXIS. Making backup easy by auto-provisioning cloud resources, NEXIS | Cloudspaces scales as your needs change. All existing and new Avid NEXIS systems will come with a limited time offer of 2 terabytes of cloud storage, enabling users to try out the service for free. Read the full press release in the Avid newsroom.

MediaCentral® | Editorial Management 2019

Editorial Management 2019 is an Asset Management platform for post production that can be accessed by any role, from anywhere. Users can quickly find, edit and share media from any location, making it easier to manage media, prepare projects and keep everyone in sync. Available in May 2019, the new features in Editorial Management 2019 will enable users to prepare and edit simple sequences, assemble and create group clips to prep multicam shots for Media Composer editors, and use Avid | AI with a new integrated Phonetic Option. Additionally, it is integrated with Avid | FastServe® video servers to edit while capturing 23.98fps and multi-camera footage, enabling live studio productions to work faster in real-time.

MediaCentral 2019 and Maestro™ Graphics Integration

Avid MediaCentral is now integrated with Maestro Graphics, providing a complete end-to-end graphics creation and delivery workflow for news, sports, post, and studio production teams. With full Maestro graphics capabilities integrated seamlessly into the MediaCentral ecosystem, anyone can add 2D or 3D graphics to any edit or rundown with the ability to search for and find graphics templates, add custom text, and then overlay on any content from any device. Avid has now integrated the full Maestro graphics line of products with MediaCentral allowing users to leverage video assets in graphics creation and graphics templates from anywhere on the network.

Pro Tools | MTRX DigiLink Option Card

The new Pro Tools │ MTRX DigiLink Option Card adds 64 channels of DigiLink I/O per card, enabling multi-HDX and multi-workstation systems to connect to a single Pro Tools | MTRX interface. The MTRX DigiLink option card will be available in the second quarter of 2019.

Avid Mainstage Brings Award-Winning Editors and Mixers to the NAB Show

(South Upper Hall – Booth 801)

Pro video presentations

-Bohemian Rhapsody – with Oscar-winning editor John Ottman, Monday, April 8 at 12 pm and 4 pm and Tuesday, April 9 at 10 am and 2 pm
-Captain Marvel – with Saturn Award-nominated editor Debbie Berman, Tuesday, April 9 at 12 pm and 4 pm and Wednesday, April 10 at 11 am and 2 pm
-The Orville – with Tom Costantino, ACE, editor and associate producer and Hillary Wells, assistant editor, Wednesday, April 10 at 10 am and 3 pm

Pro audio presentations

-Bohemian Rhapsody – with Oscar-winning dialogue/ADR editor Nina Hartstone, Oscar-winning re-recording mixer Paul Massey, and Oscar-winning music editor John Warhurst, Monday, April 8 at 1 pm and 5 pm and Tuesday, April 9 at 11 am and 3 pm
-Venom – with MPSE Gold Reel-winning re-recording mixer and sound editor Will Files, Monday, April 8 at 11 am and 3 pm
-Mixing for TV – with Emmy-winning re-recording mixer Scott Weber (Westworld, Person of Interest, Lost), Wednesday, April 10 at 12 pm and 4 pm

Watch all of the post-session interviews on-demand with Avid’s customer talent on Avid Link, the free mobile and desktop app for creatives to interact, promote their work, and manage their tools and subscriptions. Sign up at avid.com/products/avid-link.

Avid educates at NAB 2019

Avid executives will share their insights on key industry trends and developments at a series of conferences, including:

Tim Claman, CTO and Vice President of Software Engineering will join So Vang, NAB’s Vice President, Advanced Technology for a session on A Simplified Approach to Asset Management to Power Fast, Efficient and Collaborative Post-Production Workflows on Thursday, April 11 at 10:40-11 am in room N260.

Ray Thompson, Avid Director of Broadcast and Media Solutions, will be participating in the future of the media data center panel hosted by CISCO at the Connected Media I IP Theatre on Wednesday, April 10 at 11 am-12 pm in the CISCO booth