Product Overview of Spalk
Spalk is a pioneering platform in the field of remote sports commentary, designed to make the production and delivery of high-quality, customized commentary for live sports broadcasts efficient, cost-effective, and highly reliable.
What Spalk Does
Spalk’s Virtual Commentary Studio (VCS) enables broadcasters, sports organizations, leagues, and rights owners to add remote audio commentary to live broadcast content. This solution allows for the production of broadcast-grade commentary that can be customized for unique and local audiences, supporting multiple languages and various commentary styles.
Key Features and Functionality
Signal Workflow and Acquisition
- The process begins with the acquisition of a broadcast feed, which is sent to Spalk’s cloud servers. Commentators and production team members can view a low-latency, low-bitrate proxy of the feed, facilitating real-time communication via talk-back channels.
Commentary Audio Return and Synchronization
- The HD audio return from commentators is delivered to Spalk’s cloud media servers, ensuring reliable connections through various techniques. The system constantly measures and compensates for any delay variance to maintain lip-sync accuracy between the commentary and the video feed.
Remote Mixing and Monitoring
- The Primary Audio Engineer (A1) or producer can remotely mix the audio return with an International Sound (IS) bed or pass through isolated commentary tracks for further mixing downstream. This allows for flexible and high-quality audio mixing without compromising the original signal quality.
Transport Stream Multiplexing
- The mixed audio tracks are multiplexed into the original broadcast Transport Stream without transcoding the incoming video signal, preserving the highest possible video quality. This ensures that the final output maintains the original signal integrity.
Output Distribution
- The final signal, with commentary added, is delivered to downstream partners using various protocols such as SRT, RTMP, Zixi, and RIST. For enhanced reliability, Spalk integrates with AWS Elemental MediaConnect, providing end-to-end managed connectivity to Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Bonded Connectivity and Redundancy
- Spalk’s platform utilizes bonded connectivity, combining multiple independent internet connections (e.g., home WiFi and cellular links) to create a more reliable connection. This technology ensures continuous broadcast even if one connection fails, reducing the risk of interruptions and maintaining high-quality playback despite network issues.
Advanced Audio Configuration
- The platform supports up to five announcers on each audio track and can insert up to 32 audio tracks on a single input stream. It also supports SMPTE 2022-7 hitless switching and PCR preservation, ensuring seamless signal delivery even in case of network or equipment failure.
Flexibility and Compatibility
- Spalk’s VCS supports most common broadcast formats, including up to 4K video, interlaced and progressive frame rates up to 60fps, and bitrates up to 50Mbps. It also ingests MPEG-TS over various protocols, making it easy to integrate into existing workflows.
Talent Marketplace and Production Tools
- Spalk offers access to a large marketplace of professional sports commentators in over 50 languages, facilitating the recruitment of talent for broadcasts. The platform also includes tools for advanced scheduling, live chat, and producer talkback, enhancing the overall production experience.
Benefits
- Cost Savings: Reduces the costs associated with commentator travel by up to 70-80%, and minimizes expenditure on production equipment and studio space.
- Customization: Allows for customized commentary tailored to different audiences based on language, style, or bias.
- Scalability: Supports over 20,000 broadcasts in 32 languages, making it a scalable solution for large and small-scale productions.
- Reliability: Ensures high reliability through redundant infrastructure and bonded connectivity, minimizing the risk of broadcast interruptions.
Overall, Spalk’s Virtual Commentary Studio is a robust and flexible solution that revolutionizes the way remote sports commentary is produced and delivered, offering significant advantages in terms of cost, customization, and reliability.