Case Study: Tracking The Great Moose Migration
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How Ateliere Live and NVIDIA GPUs turned the ancient habits of moose into sustainable live TV
By Johan Bolin, Ateliere Creative Technologies
Since 2019, Sweden’s Sveriges Television (SVT) has captivated audiences with an unlikely hit: "The Great Moose Migration." This slow-TV phenomenon offers a serene counterpoint to popular fast-paced reality shows and blockbuster superhero flicks. Streaming non-stop for over 500 hours, the show follows a herd of moose on their ancient migration from winter habitats to lush summer pastures—a route their ancestors have trodden for thousands of years.
"The Great Moose Migration" draws significant interest, particularly from younger viewers—a demographic traditionally more inclined toward high-energy content. SVT has tapped into this unexpected enthusiasm by evolving the format to meet modern expectations. Interactive maps, live chats, and user-generated content have turned a simple nature documentary into a dynamic, community-driven experience. Multiple versions are distributed, including a multi camera and main camera, plus versions with unique graphics for Sweden, Finland, and Germany.
The Challenge: Sustainable Storytelling for Future Generations
Producing "The Great Moose Migration" is a logistical challenge. Historically, 40 robotic cameras were deployed in the woods, requiring a team of 5-6 staff to brave the elements for the entire production. This year SVT leveraged Ateliere Live to revolutionize their production process. By utilizing internet-based transport, they eliminated the need for on-site staff, thereby reducing costs and minimizing their environmental impact. No more roughing it in a cabin in the woods!
SVT’s innovative approach doesn't just enhance the viewer’s experience—it also ensures sustainability. By reducing the physical presence in the wilderness, the production became more eco-friendly. This shift is crucial for ensuring that "The Great Moose Migration" remains a beloved tradition for future generations, capturing the imagination of our grandchildren as vividly as it does ours today.
The goal is to minimize the environmental footprint to protect the very nature being showcased. Ateliere Live’s innovative GPU processing and remote proxy capabilities help reduce costs by at least 50% per hour of live TV produced. Video stays in the GPU (graphics processing unit) until just prior to distribution, instead of being repeatedly encoded and decoded. This unique production pipeline eliminates unnecessary processing, resulting in a substantially lower environmental footprint than traditional solutions. Initial estimates indicate that cloud-native Ateliere Live can provide carbon footprint savings of at least 70% compared to traditional broadcast technology production suites.
A Demanding Production
Creating "The Great Moose Migration" is no small feat, demanding a blend of network engineering, camera expertise, and the ability to record sound in extreme weather conditions. One unique challenge is filming in remote locations without power. In these cases, the production relies on solar-powered equipment, including cellular and StarLink contributions, PTZ cameras, and microphones, ensuring at least a month's uptime. The compression rate needed to deliver high-quality footage from such locations is substantial. All of this must be set up weeks in advance to avoid disturbing the natural environment until streaming starts.
The timeline begins when the ground and rivers freeze and concludes with spring’s arrival. The production uses 40 live video feeds over an extended period, essentially producing a single show that spans 500 hours, using robotic cameras, drones, and night vision IP-cameras situated 300 kilometers from the broadcast facilities.
The key challenges of such large-scale remote production include reducing costs, simplifying the architecture, and utilizing available staff connected over the internet. Previously, significant equipment was deployed to a small cabin serving as the production center. Five staff were always on-site, taking shifts at the control tables. While beautiful, the remote location is akin to being offshore but on land and with uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.
The Opportunity with New Technology
The potential for leveraging advanced technology is immense, allowing SVT to be far more responsive to content needs. The flexibility to control video compression dynamically lets SVT broadcast from anywhere, regardless of the type of connection. The existing production workplaces scattered across Sweden can be seamlessly integrated into this new system.
While broadcast TV has been around for about a century, evolving largely in isolation, new technologies driven by internet services and gaming offer a tremendous opportunity for transformation. Instead of a dedicated broadcast stack, productions can now use applications on a shared stack, benefiting from innovation gleaned from multiple industries.
- IP and Internet: The internet has fundamentally changed how TV is consumed and the value chain behind it. An interactive, high-bandwidth network eliminates distances and borders, allowing remote interactions that were previously impossible.
- Software and Cloud: The shift from dedicated hardware to cloud-based software solutions fundamentally alters cost structures and investment strategies, accelerating innovation. Separating applications from the underlying platform and using general-purpose or cloud infrastructure can reduce engineering, deployment, and innovation costs. The cloud's dynamic resource allocation model immediately benefits from platform-level innovations.
- GPU: Over the last 30 years, the GPU’s evolution has been remarkable, with artificial intelligence (AI) the latest innovation driver. Originally designed for early computers’ graphics operations, GPUs are now critical for many industries. Parallel processing capabilities make GPUs a natural fit for video processing. As TV becomes more interactive and "gamified," GPUs will play an even more significant role.
Introducing Project Neo
In the fall of 2020, SVT launched Project Neo (Next-gen online production), a digital transformation initiative aimed at evolving a traditional public broadcaster into a modern digital media company. Project Neo was tasked with reviewing every aspect of the TV stack, from cameras to user experience, meeting three core objectives:
- Determine who needs to see what, when, and in what quality.
- Produce using standard IT hardware.
- Reduce environmental footprint and costs by 50% or more to free funds for content creation.
Ateliere Live and NVIDIA GPUs are both essential components of Project Neo. This cloud-based solution with capabilities for IP and internet-based camera feed transport includes tools for production setup, feed management, and production mixing and editing. The API-based solution provides automation and customization to meet specific production needs, all running on NVIDIA GPUs, specifically the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation GPU. This design optimizes performance, achieving more than 70 HD cameras delivering compressed streams per GPU - the basis for significant cost and environmental savings. The cloud-native design means that large productions no longer require substantial capital investments. Plus, the benefits of building on GPU are not limited to scaling the camera contributions in - it is now also significantly easier to add multiple program versions to be created at minimal additional cost.
Another advantage of using Ateliere Live for Project Neo is Ateliere Live's media synchronization across the internet. This enables a proxy editing workflow, separating low-delay editing versions from higher-quality distribution versions. This allows production staff to work from anywhere with a reasonable internet connection, enabling distributed production from virtually any location.
A Remote Revolution
Planning for The Great Moose Migration involves meticulous logistical arrangements. This time, SVT aimed for something different—a fully remote production using standard IT infrastructure that leveraged the internet and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) servers. The equipment was designed to withstand the challenging late-March weather in northern Sweden, which can rapidly shift from sunny to stormy.
Cameras were connected across kilometers of cable to a central collection point, where the video streams were compressed and encoded to h.264. These signals then traveled 250 kilometers to SVT's broadcasting facilities in Umeå and another 650 kilometers to Stockholm. Here, all 40 video streams were decoded using one of SVT’s standard configuration COTS servers equipped with an NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation GPU.
With 650 kilometers separating the GPU from the production staff, minimizing latency was crucial. Production was conducted on low-latency streams with four multiviews, preview, and program links, while viewers received high-quality streams. Familiar workspaces in Umeå were created for the production team, and technical staff monitored network and GPU load from both Umeå and Stockholm. The final signals were distributed from SVT's main broadcast center in Stockholm, streaming on SVT Play and to partners in Sweden, Finland, and Germany.
Lessons Learned
The Great Moose Migration was SVT's largest and longest software-based production to date, presenting several challenges and learning opportunities.
- Interlaced Video: Ateliere Live, which operates in progressive video, required deinterlacing of the broadcast's interlaced signals. This complex process was refined just weeks before going live.
- Interoperability: Video protocols are comprehensive but variably implemented by different vendors. Connecting Ateliere Live with other systems required tuning to ensure compliance.
- Legacy Integration: Plugging IP domains into legacy SDI domains introduced delays. To fully benefit from an IP setup, significant equipment upgrades are necessary.
Looking Forward to the Next Migration
The benefits of the 2024 live production—efficiency, flexibility, cost savings, and eco-friendliness—are substantial. Future steps include developing optimized user interfaces, integrating multiple software solutions, and introducing AI for real-time transcription and computer vision. These advancements promise to further enhance live productions like The Great Moose Migration by enabling automated animal detection and tracking. By adopting these new technologies, SVT is not just keeping pace—they’re setting the standard for the future of remote TV production.
With around five million unique viewers in a country of ten million, the success of "The Great Moose Migration" is a testament to the power of thoughtful, innovative programming that respects both its subject and its audience. SVT’s commitment to evolving the production process while maintaining the show's core essence offers valuable lessons for content creators worldwide.
Content anchored in authenticity and enriched by technology can captivate and sustain a large audience. For media professionals looking to innovate while preserving their brand's integrity, SVT's approach provides a compelling blueprint. To investigate how similar strategies might elevate your own content offerings, learn more about Ateliere Live and NVIDIA GPUs.
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Case Study: Tracking The Great Moose Migration
