Cinnafilm, a global leader in innovative video optimization solutions for television, film, and multimedia delivery and Support Partners, one of the leading integrators for professional media services, together announce a new collaboration to bring SMPTE 2110 compliant live video standards conversion to Microsoft Azure.

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Cinnafilm proudly announces Tachyon Live, an evolution of their award-winning file-based standards conversion and playback optimization software solution. “The combination of image quality, speed, and scalability that Tachyon Live brings to live streaming is unlike anything else in the industry,” says Cinnafilm CEO and founder Lance Maurer. “Collaborating with Support Partners and Microsoft to bring this amazing concept exclusively to Microsoft Azure will be a game-changer for how customers will deliver the highest possible quality video at scale. We are embarking on the concept of true ‘Transformation in Transit.'” Tachyon Live will be deployed exclusively on Azure in late 2022.

Tachyon Live will include standards conversion such as PAL/NTSC frame rate and format conversions, high-quality deinterlacing, and up/down rescaling from SD through UHD. This revolutionary product will provide a true, faster than real time and fully motion-compensated processing option for live streams running through Azure. Tachyon’s frame rate conversion engine can process the highest-quality conversions for UHD 59.97p to UHD 50p 45% faster than real time in existing Azure NVIDIA GPU-accelerated infrastructure, providing adequate headroom to avoid dropping frames.

Working closely with Cinnafilm, Support Partners will bring a full end-to-end solution for customers needing high-quality standards conversion in the cloud. “Customers need the image quality power that Tachyon Live can bring to bear for them,” says Harry Grinling, CEO of Support Partners. “But they also need help getting their live video into the cloud safely to take advantage of what Cinnafilm offers. It is exciting that the technology evolution has reached a point that this is now possible.” Leveraging their experience in the media industry, Microsoft Gold Partner, Support Partners, will package and deliver an accelerator that makes real-time, end-to-end live conversion in the cloud a reality on Azure.

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Simon Crownshaw, Worldwide Strategy Director, Media and Entertainment, Microsoft, said, “Microsoft is pleased to be working with Cinnafilm and Support Partners to bring this to market on our platform. UHD live content pushes the boundaries of what network and hardware can deliver at scale in the cloud; it is critical for partners like these to help us focus the power of Microsoft Azure into solutions that are ready to meet and exceed the media industry’s needs.”

Demonstrations of Tachyon Live will be available later this year. For general information about this endeavor, Cinnafilm will be exhibiting at NAB in their own booth (#W3912) and meeting customers with Support Partners in the Microsoft booth (#W3017) from 24 – 27 April.