COGO – High Quality 4K with H.264 encoding

The video compression vendor COGO, which has a heritage in the backhaul market but is now targeting the production and distribution segments, claims it can deliver high quality 4K content over the Internet and broadcast networks using H.264 (AVC) encoders and transcoders, avoiding the need for HEVC encoding.
Although the company is developing an H.265 (HEVC) solution, its focus at NAB 2015 will be on the four new H.264 solutions it will be demonstrating at the show.

“There is no doubt that it is absolutely the right time to be bringing to market an H.264-compliant 4K encoding solution that bridges the gap between content demand and current bandwidth limitations,” declares Todd Bryant, Chief Technology Officer at COGO.

The COGO H.264 encoding technology was successfully field trialed at the 2015 South by Southwest (SXSW) Music Conference and Festival in March when it was used to stream 4K content, primarily live performances including the opening concert. The content was distributed in three streams over four days: In UHD/4K at less than 10Mbps, in 720p HD at bit rates as low as 3Mbps and in a 360p SD stream. The content was streamed to an Akamai entry point via Streammonkey and was subsequently viewed by consumers on a range of multiscreen devices including Smart TVs.

During NAB, which starts next week, COGO will unveil COGO LIVE, which sees the COGO technology integrated within off-the-shelf hardware to deliver live streaming over the Internet. Mark Tullos, CIO of COGO, says the goal is to achieve
bit rates for 4K in the 6-7Mbps range very soon. COGO BROADCAST is also being launched at the Las Vegas show. This is designed to meet the need of broadcasters, the company says. This Linux-based encoding can distribute content to consumers through UDP to TCP, and CBR to ABR. It covers live and on-demand content.

There is an entry-level cloud-based transcoding solution called COGO CLOUD that will also debut at NAB. COGO CODER is the desktop variant of the cloud-based solutions, aimed at video production professionals looking to deliver large video files to intermediaries and end-clients using H.264.