FEATURE | NEXT- GEN CARR I ERS
IMAGES In the future, 5G will allow almost pop-up live streaming events
his findings: “5G is currently an empty highway that has lots of bands, but no devices. We’re working with the OEMs on how to use this new technology. Cell phone technology is like a sprinkler system: it sprinkles data, packets of data, and other phones receive it.” He continues: “The download speeds for 5G are going to be huge. But in the M&E space, we are the broadcasters, we need fast upload speeds, so we have to change some of the architecture so the future of filmmakers and media companies can move on and flourish with the new high- speed data highways. “We’re talking about the control of hundreds of cameras around the world all at the same time, using synchronisation that had previously been very complicated to achieve. But we need the infrastructure and we need to persuade the OEMs to create devices that break their current business model.” Mansouri’s insistence on an infrastructure that includes uploads as fast as downloads could lead to an abundance of business opportunities. The obvious change some of the architecture for the future of filmmakers We need fast upload speeds, so we have to
starting point is live streaming, “Here’s why we need 5G rather than anything else,” he explains. “It’s going to be a great enabler and allows us to do these broadcast ‘pop- ups’. We did something recently for a band concert – they wanted us to livestream into a dome full of their fan base in three or four different cities. If we went through the traditional method of broadcasting this with satellite trucks and the normal set- ups, we would be limited to a maximum of 4K. 4K inside a dome is nowhere near the experience of having 8K.
“We’ve done lots of live streams and the restriction is always the internet at the venue. It’s usually not fast enough and pretty dated. We were hired by the White House to do President Obama’s farewell speech, and just to get internet up, the venue wanted to charge us and the White House $40,000. The venues are choke- holding the creative process, so with 5G and the like, we are bypassing them and using mobile hops to high-bandwidth internet connections close by for maybe $200 a day,” Mansouri says.
54 DEF I N I T ION | DECEMBER 20 1 9
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