The Devil’s in the Detail

Monitoring of multicast ABR – MSYNCv3 as fronted by Broadpeak

Innovation comes in many forms. While radical innovation often captures the collective consciousness, the reality is that innovation requires a balance of both revolutionary ideas and incremental improvements. A groundbreaking concept redefines what’s possible, but it’s the continuous refinement that brings it to fruition and pushes it further.

This is precisely the approach Bridge Technologies has taken with their flagship VB330 probe. Starting with a vision to leverage a deep understanding of IP packet data transmission, they’ve aimed to provide broadcasters with unparalleled insight into the health of their broadcast networks. Over time, they’ve expanded the range of tools and insights the probe delivers, while supporting an ever-growing list of standards, formats, and protocols to meet the needs of increasingly complex broadcast infrastructures.

The latest enhancement to the VB330—the integration of Multicast Synchronization (MSYNC) monitoring—represents a powerful step forward in the probe’s capacity to manage complex, high-volume video streaming environments. MSYNC, Broadpeak’s technology invention, is a protocol designed to transfer video media objects over IP multicast, supporting HTTP adaptive streaming (HAS) protocols like Apple HLS and MPEG-DASH.

MSYNC monitoring not only allows the VB330 to monitor traditional multicast video streams but also advanced HAS objects such as manifests and CMAF segments. This ensures operators can track the performance of both multicast and adaptive bitrate (ABR) streams in real-time, using a single monitoring solution. This is particularly vital in an era where OTT services dominate the video delivery landscape.

As OTT streaming grows, the challenge of scaling live events—especially live sports—becomes more prominent. Multicast ABR (mABR) technology, also known as nanoCDN, offers a solution by converting OTT content into IP multicast, allowing efficient delivery to many end-users simultaneously without increasing bandwidth. The VB330 now supports MSYNCv3, enabling the monitoring of up to 2000 mABR multicasts, ensuring broadcasters can maintain optimal service quality while leveraging both OTT and underlying broadcast infrastructures.

By monitoring these advanced media objects, the VB330 helps broadcasters and OTT providers maintain optimal service delivery while keeping up with the evolving standards and protocols in the video streaming ecosystem. The inclusion of MSYNC represents not just an incremental upgrade, but a response to the shifting needs of modern media networks—a thoughtful innovation that demonstrates how even the most robust tools can continue to evolve.