Broadcast
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NVIDIA Broadcast will maintain eye contact even if you're looking away from the camera
NVIDIA's Broadcast software now 'fixes' your gaze during livestreams and video recording.
NVIDIA Broadcast is kinda underrated
NVIDIA's Broadcast app has some pretty special tools for streamers, but you might have overlooked it. Here's a rundown of what it can do for your live recordings.
NVIDIA's Broadcast app now supports professional cameras
NVIDIA has rolled out a major update for its Broadcast app that finally makes it compatible with professional cameras.
NVIDIA's Broadcast app gains echo and video noise removal in new update
NVIDIA has made it easier to remove room echo, sounds of pets and video noise with the latest version of its Broadcast app.
NVIDIA Broadcast app is a simple toolset for streamers
Stay tuned for the app in September.
Amazon Prime now includes 'free' live TV in Germany
Amazon Prime customers in Germany now have access to live TV at no additional cost.
UEFA Champions League soccer moves to CBS All Access next month
Fans of European football will soon be able to stream matches in the US through CBS All Access and CBS Sports.
NBA and Microsoft plan personalized, AI-powered game streaming
Microsoft and the NBA are teaming up to deliver personalized game broadcasts that use machine learning and AI to learn fans’ preferences. To start, they’ll broadcast live and on-demand games via Microsoft Azure and add personalized real-time stats overlays.
HQ Trivia makes a surprise return
HQ Trivia -- the once-popular mobile game that turned your random knowledge into a few bucks -- abruptly shut down earlier this year after an investment deal fell through. As such, players that still had the app on their phones were probably surprised to receive a push notification last night alerting them to the start of a new broadcast. HQ Trivia, it seems, is back. For now, at least, as the hows and whys are unclear -- although the game's founder did say last month he was searching for new investment. All we know, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, is that an anonymous investor has stumped up the cash to get the game, dubbed "Chapter Two" back on its feet. Games will be held every day at 9pm ET, apparently, and each game this week will include a donation towards coronavirus-related efforts -- a nice gesture that suggests there might be big money behind the new push. Who knows how long it'll be around for, but it's certainly something to do while you're stuck indoors.
After Math: All the shows (and games) fit to stream this season
It was a big week for broadcasters and their associated streaming services, with studios announcing which shows would be returning and which would be relegated to the dustbin of television history. Steve Martin and Martin Short will be starring in a new Hulu series while Watchmen Season 2 is effectively DOA after its creator bailed. But that wasn't the only news, here are some highlights from the week's entertainment highlights.
Fox Sports will broadcast Thursday Night Football in 4K
Fox is expanding its 4K offerings. After it streamed every Women's World Cup game in 4K, it's now doing the same for the NFL's Thursday Night Football -- the new season of which kicks off on September 26th. The game is being captured in 1080p and HDR, then upconverted, so streaming viewers will get the benefit of resolution beyond Fox's usual 720p broadcast plus the improved colors and contrast, if not all of the pixels you'd expect in a true 4K feed.
Twitter and Adidas are bringing back their high school football series
Friday Night Stripes, the livestreaming series of high school football games on Twitter, is coming back for a second season later this month. The show, which was created by Adidas, Intersport and Twitter, debuted in 2018 and focused on broadcasting eight football games from high schools across the US. And it turned out to be quite a success. According to Twitter, Friday Night Stripes generated more than 32.6 million total views and had over 15.6 million live viewers tuning into the series, which are great figures for what was essentially a social media experiment.
CBS and Viacom agree to sign $30 billion merger deal
CBS and Viacom have reached a long-rumored merger agreement. The two companies announced today that they will reunite as ViacomCBS. According to The Wall Street Journal, CBS and Viacom hope that, together, they'll be better positioned to fight against cable TV competition and streaming services.
Watch CBS livestream the original 1969 Apollo 11 launch broadcast
If you weren't alive to witness the historic Apollo 11 mission, CBS has the next best thing. The US broadcaster is livestreaming the original broadcast from July 16th, 1969, letting you relive it as many of us saw it originally -- corny commercials included.
Twitter now lets guests join your live video broadcasts
Twitter will start letting broadcasters on its app open up their livestreams to guests, similar to what it brought to Periscope in February. The new feature, which is now rolling out to Twitter's iOS and Android app, is going to allow up to three people to call into your live videos during a stream, making it easy for them to ask you questions or just have a conversation with you about anything that may be on your mind.
iHeartMedia will make it easy to create ‘pop-up’ radio stations
Radio giant iHeartMedia, which runs more than 850 stations throughout the US, is expanding into the world of "pop-up" broadcasting following its acquisition of audio tech company Radiojar. The online radio management and streaming solutions platform helps its users create, distribute and monetize podcasts and other broadcasts in real-time, from anywhere. According to iHeartMedia, the deal means that in the "near future" it will be possible to launch a brand new radio service across broadcast and digital "within minutes of the original idea."
Panasonic unveils the first 8K camera with an 'organic' sensor
Earlier this year, Panasonic unveiled a so-called organic sensor that would give cameras better dynamic range and low-light sensitivity. Now, it has unveiled a camera to go with it, the AK-SHB810, which will be the world's first to pack an 8K organic sensor. Panasonic claims it will have a "wide dynamic range" compared to regular CMOS cameras, and packs a global shutter that records the entire image at once, eliminating so-called "jello" or rolling shutter.
Fox Sports’ new virtual studio runs on Unreal Engine
It's no secret that Epic Games has enabled a number of gaming studios to create more-realistic visuals with its Unreal game engine. Since its debut in 1998, powering the first-person shooter Unreal, the technology has evolved to power hundreds of games, from Fortnite to Street Fighter V, and with that process, the virtual has become increasingly more realistic. Now in its fourth iteration, Unreal Engine is no longer exclusively being used for gaming, as other industries have taken notice of the possibilities. Unreal Engine 4 has become a key element for film and television in recent years, and Fox Sports is using it to power its new, completely virtual studio set. "Virtual sets have been around for quite some time, and we've done our fair share of using them," Zac Fields said. "But it's always been a struggle to give that sense of photo realism." Fields oversees Fox Sports' Graphic Technology and Integration department, which includes the addition of new gear during a studio build. He said the team started thinking about the idea of a virtual set about two years ago. Around 15 months ago, the network started getting staff familiar with the software and began tests. Then last winter, the broadcaster did a virtual show. Fields described this as a "full run-through" of a show on the virtual set that was built in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Twitter puts live streams at the top of your feed
Twitter is making it easier to catch live broadcasts from the accounts you follow. Now, anytime an account you follow starts a stream and shares a tweet about it, the broadcast will be pushed to the top of your timeline. The company announced the new feature in a tweet.
PlayStation Vue adds 200 more local broadcasters in time for fall TV
The price for PlayStation Vue may be a bit higher than it used to be, but in quite a few markets it just added more local broadcast channels, which is particularly worthwhile since subscribers can no longer opt out of them to save a few bucks. Sony announced that including 200 recent additions, more than 450 local ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC affiliates are now streaming. The expansion comes just in time for viewers hoping to cut the cord on cable or satellite and still watch football or network TV shows without adding on rabbit ears. It does get tricky when it comes to using features like the DVR due to rights issues, but Sony's FAQ should explain what is allowed where. For a list of newly-added stations, just take a look here. Sony claims that 97 percent of the US population has access to at least one broadcast station now -- hopefully they're all the right ones to keep you caught up on fall TV.
