As the Official Worldwide AI Platform Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024, Intel introduces AI-optimised broadcast servers to encode and compress OBS-produced 8K live signals that OBS will deliver to selected media rights holders across the open internet.
The servers are powered by the latest 5th Gen Intel® Xeon® processors (Emerald Rapids) and 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® processors (Sapphire Rapids) with Intel® AI accelerator (AMX), and Deep Learning Boost technology.
Compressing that data and decoding it on the other side of the world is by no means a simple feat: Intel is compressing live raw feeds measuring 48 gigabits per second (Gbps) into a VVC-enabled livestream measuring 40 to 60 megabits per second (Mbps) – a compression ratio of 1,000 times – in under 400 milliseconds.
That 8K over-the-top (OTT) broadcast will then be delivered by OBS around the world to 8K TVs connected to the latest Intel-enabled PCs.
Olympic Games Paris 2024 are the world’s first live demonstration of an end-to-end 8K VVC livestreaming experience utilizing Intel’s 5th Gen Xeon CPUs to encode and Intel-based client CPUs and Arc GPUs to decode.
It provides a pathway for the future of low-latency, broadcast-grade 8K livestreaming over the internet.
That process of getting 8K live content from the Olympic Games stadium in Paris to an 8K-enabled TV on the other side of the planet is highly complex. It’s enabled by a constellation of Intel hardware and software technologies. The steps to accomplish the 8K broadcasts include:
- Broadcast-grade cameras in select Olympic Games venues capture live content in 8K at 60 frames per second in high definition (HDR) at 48 Gbps bitrate mixed with 32 audio channels.
- A purpose-built “broadcast in a box” encoder powered by the latest 5th Gen Intel Xeon CPUs processes that raw content in less than 400 milliseconds and distributes it across the internet within seconds.
- Around the world, Intel® Core™ i9 processor-based PCs with Intel® Arc™ graphics processing units and Intel® Core™ Ultra 9 processor-based laptops decode the OBS content in real time before displaying the video feed on an 8K TV protected by Intel’s high-bandwidth digital content protection technology.
Innovations like Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors with Intel® Advanced Matrix Extensions (Intel® AMX), a built-in AI accelerator and Intel® Deep Learning Boost (Intel® DL Boost) that encode live 8K/60FPS/HDR raw feed in milliseconds have been helping the industry take a revolutionary step toward 8K displays and its democratisation.
ASBIS is the official distributor for Intel products.
Image Credit: Intel