Smarter Streaming with DVB-NIP
As streaming continues to grow in popularity, there is a growing need for tools and mechanisms that enable broadcasters and video providers to deliver high-quality content seamlessly, and more efficiently, at scale. Delivering the levels of service quality that viewers have come to expect no matter where they’re watching from, or whenever and whatever they are watching, including during live events and in peak hours, is incredibly complex because of variability in connectivity and bandwidth issues.
Service provision in areas with poor or unreliable connectivity also remains a major challenge for the industry. Additionally, many areas of the world remain unserved by terrestrial broadband for a variety of reasons, and so broadcasters and video providers are also challenged with how to reach these untapped markets where audiences are currently unserviceable. DVB Native-IP, or DVB-NIP as it’s also known, is a new standard developed by the Digital Video Broadcasting Project (DVB) to help the industry address these very challenges.
Increasing OTT’s Reach
Published in 2024 after three years of development by the DVB working group which included members from DVB, Eutelsat and ST Engineering iDirect, the DVB-NIP standard specifies a mechanism for delivering OTT content to IP-based devices using satellite. The implications of this are huge for the industry.
DVB-NIP allows video providers to reach audiences in underserved areas and rural communities where OTT services may otherwise be out of reach. It gives service providers the ability to deliver broadcast-grade OTT and file content to IP-enabled devices such as smart TVs, smartphones, tablets and laptops, in areas where internet connectivity is poor, unreliable, or even non-existent. It can also be used to feed hotspots in communities and public venues where there is poor connectivity.
For viewers, this means being able to receive services for the first time that audiences in other part of the world take for granted, and for video services, it opens whole new opportunities to increase viewership. It’s a win-win scenario.
Additionally, the standard also helps the industry to address another pain point, that being how to serve a high volume of users when bandwidth is limited. Broadband networks can struggle under heavy load, especially in peak viewing hours or crowded urban areas, with the result being poor quality streams with frequent buffering and reloading. Satellite on the other hand can serve millions of viewers without degradation in quality or delay, so is ideally suited to support when regular IP delivery is overloaded during peak hours or major events.
Alongside addressing the pain points discussed above, DVB-NIP also stands to open up additional new opportunities for service providers. Direct-to-Home (DTH) providers can modernize their services by incorporating OTT content alongside traditional linear feeds. With DVB-NIP-enabled set-top boxes and multicast ABR clients, homes can receive streaming content on the main TV screen while simultaneously serving mobile devices and laptops, all from the same satellite signal.
Overcoming Barriers to Deployment
Real-world use cases have already demonstrated DVB-NIP’s potential. A deployment in Peru, carried out by ST Engineering iDirect in collaboration with partners EKT and EasyBroadcast, showed how the standard can effectively deliver video services to remote communities. Whether used for public broadcasting, educational programming, or entertainment, DVB-NIP makes it possible to offer reliable and seamless IP-based video services far beyond the reach of terrestrial broadband.
While the technical groundwork for DVB-NIP is solid, there are still barriers to widespread deployment. One of these is content protection. Digital Rights Management (DRM) remains a thorny issue, especially in unidirectional delivery scenarios where there is no return path to authenticate users or refresh licenses. Although companies like ST Engineering iDirect have found commercial workarounds by partnering with DRM vendors, there is still a need for standardized approaches to reassure rights holders.
Another challenge lies in market adoption. DVB-NIP-compatible set-top boxes and network infrastructure are not yet widespread, so deployment requires engagement from operators and hardware manufacturers, and service providers across the value chain. But once that ecosystem is in place, the benefits are difficult to ignore. DVB-NIP provides the building blocks for a future where everyone, everywhere can access high-quality video content, on any IP-enabled device. Smarter streaming has arrived.
[Editor's note: This is a contributed article from ST Engineering iDirect. Streaming Media accepts vendor bylines based solely on their value to our readers.]
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