5G plays leading role in live event streaming at Australian cinemas

Based in Australia, Silver Trak Digital specialises in providing content owners and media companies with innovative software and cloud-based distribution services. Having traditionally operated as a post-production business, Silver Trak Digital decided to move into the live-streaming market to stream live events, like the Australian Ballet, to cinemas across Australia. But doing so required highly reliable, high-speed wireless 5G connectivity to handle the transfer of bandwidth-intensive and latency-sensitive live content.

Silver Trak Digital partnered with Australia’s largest telecommunications company, Telstra Broadcast Services, to implement Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Service and 5G wideband indoor and outdoor adapters to provide connectivity to the Telstra 5G network. This allows cinemas to stream live events and project them to their audiences as part of Silver Trak Digital’s Cinema Direct content delivery service.

Rather than relying on wired services from local providers on a shared network, Silver Trak Digital can connect to Telstra’s 5G network using Cradlepoint’s adapters for high-speed connectivity — up to 1 Gbps. This allows it to effectively steam live productions to cinemas with high-bandwidth, low-latency requirements for 4K video streaming, giving viewers the ability to see events up close in a cinema near them.

“A 5G solution is extremely simple to install compared to running hundreds of metres of cable under the cinema floor. So not just the connectivity, but then the speed we can get out of that is something that certainly no one else can do in Australia,” said Tim Creswell, CEO of Silver Trak Digital.

In addition to live streaming, Silver Trak Digital can also digitally deliver pre-recorded, highly protected content to cinemas using 5G. This minimises the use of physical hard drives to share blockbuster film files.

Silver Trak Digital can effectively monitor data and performance across all sites in real time using NetCloud Manager, which provides clear visibility into the network from anywhere. NetCloud allows Silver Trak Digital to quickly address issues remotely, eliminating the need for onsite troubleshooting.

The reliability and performance of Cradlepoint’s 5G solutions mean Silver Trak Digital can provide 5G connectivity to nearly 150 locations — each using Cinema Direct to receive their movie files — with a goal of reaching 300 cinemas across both Australia and New Zealand by 2024 and eventually expanding globally.

Image credit: iStock.com/aerogondo