V-NOVA

Summary

V-NOVA is a multinational IP and Technology company headquartered in London, UK. It is best known for innovation in data compression technology for video and images.[1][2] V-Nova has partnered with large organizations including Sky, Xilinx, Nvidia, Eutelsat, and Amazon Web Services to provide its video compression technology.[1][3]

V-NOVA
Company typePrivate limited company
IndustryData compression, video codec
Founded2011
FoundersGuido Meardi, Pierdavide Marcolongo and Others
Headquarters,
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
David Benello (Chairman)
Guido Meardi (CEO)
Pierdavide Marcolongo (COO)

History edit

V-NOVA was founded in 2011 by Guido Meardi, Pierdavide Marcolongo and others.[4] In 2012, Mr Federico Faggin[5] was among V-NOVA’s investors and founding members.

In 2016, Sky acquired a minority stake in V-NOVA for £4.5 million [8], and Eutelsat subsequently acquired a minority stake for an undisclosed amount.[6] In the same year, Eutelsat deployed V-NOVA's technology for the 4K contribution feeds of the UEFA Euro Championship 2016 and, subsequently, acquired a minority stake for an undisclosed amount.[7] Also in 2016, V-NOVA became a member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.[8]

In 2017, V-NOVA acquired the entire Faroudja patent portfolio to improve its Perseus codec.[9]

In April 2019, V-NOVA technology was selected by MPEG for the working draft of the MPEG-5 codec enhancement standard.[10] In the same year V-Nova became a member of the Advanced Television Systems Committee.[11]

In 2020, V-NOVA and Amazon Web Services collaborated.[12]

In May 2021, V-NOVA announced its partnership with SOUTHWORKS for LCEVC Integration Services.[13][14]

In June 2021, V-NOVA partnerred with D-Orbit and Unibap to demonstrate VC-6 for on-orbit satellite imagery acceleration. The satellite was launched in Summer 2021.[15] In July, multiple professional investors, including Intesa's Venture Capital arm Neva SGR, invested €33m into V-NOVA.[16][17]

In November 2021, V-NOVA and PresenZ released a Six Degrees of Freedom (6DoF) movie on the Steam Store. The movie uses V-NOVA’s point-cloud compression technology combined with 6DoF volumetric movie format from PresenZ.[18]

In January 2022, SBTVD Forum approved a selection of technologies for SBTVD 3.0 which include MPEG-5 LCEVC, V-NOVA & Harmonic Inc.’s submission.[19][20]

Technology edit

In 2015, the company announced a new digital data-encoding technology based on multi-layer coding, parallel processing and deep learning called Perseus for efficient video streaming with a focus on enabling UHD/4K services at lower bandwidths. It was claimed that it could be streamed to TVs and other devices using only around 50% of the bandwidth required by existing streaming technologies.[21][22]

V-NOVA’s technology was later selected to provide the essential IP for the ISO/IEC 23094-2 standard MPEG-5 Part 2 Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding (LCEVC), a codec-agnostic enhancement codec that can be combined with other video codecs to improve their coding and processing efficiency. It also maintains compatibility with the device ecosystem of the enhanced codec.[23]

V-NOVA also developed another international standard codec, SMPTE VC-6 ST 2117, aimed at professional video and Artificial Intelligence applications.[24]

In April 2021, MPEG Video validated the Verification Test of LCEVC (Low Complexity Enhancement Video Coding) standard ((ISO/IEC 23094-2). Test results tended to indicate an overall benefit also when using LCEVC to enhance AVC, HEVC, EVC and VVC.[25][26]

Awards edit

The CSI Awards recognized V-NOVA as Best Digital Video Processing Technology in 2015 and 2017.[27][28] V-NOVA was named Best of Show by the TV Technology Awards for four consecutive years in 2015, 2016, 2017, & 2018.[29][30][31][32] It was also named Best of Show for its PERSEUS-powered Universal Media Player by TVB Europe in 2015, 2016, and 2017.[33][34]

In 2016, the Diplomatic Council Awards named V-NOVA as Global Media Innovator.[35][36] V-NOVA was recognized for its point cloud compression scheme by the Advanced Image Society at the 12th annual Entertainment Technology Lumiere Awards in 2022.[37]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Big leap in 4K video streaming tech". BBC News.
  2. ^ "Video compression inspired by nature". Financial Times.
  3. ^ "APN Partner Profile". Amazon Web Services, Inc.
  4. ^ "V-Nova". 100 Stories.
  5. ^ "V-Nova". 100 Stories.
  6. ^ "Sky buys stake in V-Nova". Broadcast.
  7. ^ "Eutelsat Takes a Stake, Partners with V-Nova for Compression Technologies". Via Satellite. 2016-09-14. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  8. ^ "V-Nova Joins SMPTE". Advanced Television. 2016-12-19. Retrieved 2020-01-21.
  9. ^ "Il ritorno di Faroudja per migliorare la qualità di Rai e Sky". DDay.it (in Italian).
  10. ^ "V-Nova recruited by MPEG-5 for codec enhancement". Rethink.
  11. ^ "Members". ATSC. Retrieved 2019-09-13.
  12. ^ "V-Nova, AWS collaborate on more efficient on-demand online services | Infrastructure | News | Rapid TV News". Rapidtvnews.com.
  13. ^ "V-Nova introduces LCEVC SDK licensing terms". Digital TV Europe. 20 May 2021.
  14. ^ "V-Nova LCEVC Royalty Structure Announced". Streaming Media Magazine. 20 May 2021.
  15. ^ "V-Nova teams with D-Orbit and Unibap to demonstrate VC-6 for on-orbit satellite imagery acceleration". Geospatial World. 10 June 2021.
  16. ^ "V-Nova closes €33m series C funding". advanced-television.com.
  17. ^ "V-Nova Receives Investment from Neva First". FinSMEs. 26 July 2021.
  18. ^ "V-Nova delights with real-life VR demo, marketing skepticism sticks". Rethink.
  19. ^ "Brazilian goldrush for V-Nova as LCEVC etched into SBTVD 3.0". Rethink.
  20. ^ "Fórum SBTVD | TV 3.0 Project". Forumsbtvd.org.br (in Brazilian Portuguese).
  21. ^ Grant, August E.; Meadows, Jennifer H. (2016). Communication Technology Update and Fundamentals: 15th Edition. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-134-98765-8.
  22. ^ "Perseus, lo streaming 4K diventa leggero e possibile". Wired (in Italian). 10 April 2015.
  23. ^ "Inside MPEG's Ambitious Plan to Launch 3 Video Codecs in 2020". Streaming Media Magazine. 15 October 2019.
  24. ^ Jachetta, Jim (15 February 2020). "New Codec - SMPTE VC-6 ST 2117 P.Pro - a More Efficient Alternative to Uncompressed, JPEG XS and JPEG 2000 from V-Nova". VidOvation Corporation.
  25. ^ "MPEG 134 – MPEG". MPEG Standards.
  26. ^ "MPEG validates LCEVC performance as royalties about to be made public". CSI.
  27. ^ "CSI Awards". csimagazine.com.
  28. ^ "CSI Awards". csimagazine.com.
  29. ^ April 2018, Tom Butts 16. "TV Technology Announces Recipients of Best of Show Awards for the 2018 NAB Show". TVTechnology.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  30. ^ April 2017, Claudia Kienzle 10. "V-Nova Next-Gen Video Compression On Tap for 2017 NAB Show". TVTechnology.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  31. ^ April 2016, TV Technology Staff 25. "TV Technology Announces 2016 NAB Best of Show Award Winners". TVTechnology.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  32. ^ April 2015, Staff 17. "TV Technology Announces 2015 NAB Best of Show Award Winners". TVTechnology.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  33. ^ "Best of Show 2017 winners announced". TVBEurope. 19 September 2017.
  34. ^ "Best of Show winners announced". TVBEurope. 14 September 2016.
  35. ^ "Global Media Innovator | Diplomatic Council". diplomatic-council.org.
  36. ^ "Dieter Brockmeyer – 'DC Global Media Innovator' is going to the second round". Broadband TV News. 3 November 2016.
  37. ^ Carolyn Giardina (April 23, 2022). "Weta FX, Cinionic, AMD Among Advanced Imaging Society Award Honorees". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved April 24, 2022.