CASE STUDY
Bonding and Streaming
Richard Payne
Imagine you are trying to broadcast a once-in-a-lifetime event, only to have your live stream interrupted by a spotty internet connection.
It's a nightmare scenario for anyone trying to share their experiences with the world. That's where bonding comes in.
In today’s world of content capture there is an increasing demand from clients wanting to live stream their events. Sport is probably the first we think of when we talk about live events, however we are working to help customers deliver robust solutions for everything from Broadcast News to Weddings and Funerals. Increasingly families can be scattered across continents and watching a celebration live might be the only way for them to connect with loved ones. Places of worship are not well known for having high speed broadband especially outside city centres which makes streaming challenging.
ProAV have many solutions for getting a decent quality live video stream out from a location without a good internet connection. These solutions utilise something called ‘Bonding’ and based on many conversations with customers we thought it might be useful to explain the concept and implications of bonding in more detail.
Bonding, when referring to live video streaming is also known as link aggregation. Bonding joins together multiple paths to the internet and can use a mixture of cellular, Wi-Fi and ethernet connections. By using multiple connections to the internet, you get a higher data rate and better reliability.
When using mobile data, as we all know from using our phones, even if your network doesn’t have a decent signal someone else’s phone might have a great signal. By having multiple SIM cards from multiple providers, you greatly increase your chances of getting a high-quality stream out to an audience.
When your video stream’s data travels by several different routes, something must reorganise it at the other end. It’s like sending the pages of a book somewhere in a fleet of taxis. Because of the traffic the pages will arrive at different times and not in the proper order. Something must put them back in the right order before the book can be read. This is known as ‘De-Bonding’ and this is a service that tends to be hosted in the cloud which you pay for with a monthly subscription. An advantage of this cloud hosted service is that it can also act like an amplifier to send your video stream to multiple destinations. One stream can be sent to YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn and other CDN’s.
An organisation like the police will not want their video streams sent outside their own secure network if its sensitive. In this case it is possible to buy a de-bonding unit which is under your control. This tends to be a more expensive option, and it requires a detailed knowledge of networks to avoid potential problems with firewalls, but you do not need to pay any subscriptions if you do this.
Some of the Bonding systems we sell can have SIM cards inserted into them, but most need you to add cellular modems at extra cost
One of our most popular encoders is the LiveU Solo Pro. This uses external modems of which you can connect up to 4, either 4G or more expensive 5G modems to each unit and each comes with preinstalled SIM cards which can be activated online with a monthly subscription. You benefit from 5% off this every month if you use the code PROAV-SOLO at the checkout.
If you need more functionality from a LiveU unit ProAV as a Preferred Partner can supply the top end of LiveU equipment too. Rack Mount encoders powerful cloud-based stream switching options are available.
Teradek Prism Mobiles have 2 internal modems. Either 4G or 5G depending on the model you buy. Teradek make their own external modems which they call ‘Nodes’ and these come in 4G or 5G versions too.
Teradek also make a ‘backpack’ which houses a Prism Mobile, multiple cellular modems with a hub to power and connect them in a convenient ruck sack to aid portability.
In the early days of bonding I remember walking down Oxford Street, buying SIM cards with data on from Vodaphone, 3, and O2 so I could demonstrate a system for the BBC. It was hard to keep track of data left on multiple SIM cards and wonder which ones had expired before the next demo!
Years later and companies like LiveU and Teradek can now provide their own SIM cards and have data packages which make life much easier for mobile streamers. The SIMs provided by these companies are ‘Agnostic’ which means they can connect to different networks.
Teradek now have a Sim with something they call ‘Priority Data’, which they claim can work better in crowded areas giving you an advantage over standard mobile data users. You do pay a small premium for this data.
Things can move fast in the world of encoders and bonding so for up-to-date information please call our team for a chat about the latest kit and costs of data and subscriptions. There is nothing we enjoy more than ‘Bonding’ with our customers.