Imagine the flexibility of taking a video camera, connecting it to your local Wi-Fi network, and then instantly live stream high-quality, low latency video to desktops, laptops, and mobile devices worldwide with no additional gear needed. For many producers and video operators doing live events at their office, campus, sports facility, or house of worship, this is a dream come true.
Since its introduction in 2017, SRT has proven to be a secure and reliable protocol for transporting video across the public internet. No misleading abbreviation here; SRT stands for Secure Reliable Transport. SRT is an open-source protocol that optimizes streaming performance for unpredictable networks, which is a good thing because, as most of us know, the public internet can often be less than reliable for consistent connectivity.
While broadcasters and production facilities have taken advantage of SRT as an alternative or backup to satellite transmission, there has been a growing reliance on using SRT as an integral part of professional live productions. For example, this year’s virtual NFL draft used live camera feeds from hundreds of remote locations using SRT. With its end-to-end security and ability to dynamically adjust stream performance, there’s no question that SRT is becoming the standard for live video transport.
The exciting news is that SRT is now being adopted for a wide variety of production gear, including newly announced cameras from Panasonic and JVC. This means that cameras in the field can connect to a Wi-Fi network and stream directly to desktops, laptops, and mobile devices anywhere in the world. For production purposes, the camera streams can also be used directly with compatible switchers and routers to produce and direct events.
What makes SRT even more appealing is that it has HTML5 web browser support that allows for plug-in free, peer-to-peer streaming between clients. In other words, the new SRT compatible cameras can stream directly to a web browser without any additional encoder or decoder needed. This is where SRT’s flexibility to stream secure, high-quality, low latency video shines for almost any live production application.
Whatever your application, SRT can benefit any organization looking to make live video connections and share their events. Contact us at info@alphavideo.com to learn more.