{"id":6818,"date":"2026-01-10T04:10:50","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T23:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/how-hbo-max-approaches-streaming-ops-as-a-product-not-a-service\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T04:10:50","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T23:10:50","slug":"how-hbo-max-approaches-streaming-ops-as-a-product-not-a-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/how-hbo-max-approaches-streaming-ops-as-a-product-not-a-service\/","title":{"rendered":"How HBO Max Approaches Streaming Ops as a Product Not a Service"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"qE3VedQJLNM\"><iframe title=\"How HBO Max Approaches Streaming Ops as a Product Not a Service\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qE3VedQJLNM?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this clip from his <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.streamingmedia.com\/Articles\/News\/Online-Video-News\/Instant-Replay-Streaming-Media-Connect-December-172794.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Streaming Media Connect 2025\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Streaming Media Connect 2025<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> keynote, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/neal-roberts-44403b25\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Warner Bros. Discovery distinguished video platform engineer Neal Roberts\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Warner Bros. Discovery distinguished video platform engineer Neal Roberts<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> discusses what he calls \u201c3 Up,\u201d the process of upgrading HBO Max live content from SDR to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.streamingmedia.com\/Articles\/Post\/Blog\/Why-HDR-Provides-the-Quality-OTT-Providers-Need-to-Excel-151633.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"hdr provides the quality ott providers need\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HDR<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, uprezzing from 1080i to 1080p, and upmixing Stereo or 5.1 audio to Dolby Atmos, as an example of how his team \u201cproductizes\u201d streaming ops and ensures that they can have confidence in all of the audio and video experiences they deliver on HBO Max, regardless of any deficiencies in the source content or any assumptions made by platforms viewers use to watch it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>The \u20183 Up\u2019 Theory<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/andrewbeach\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Andy Beach, founder and principal at Alchemy Creations,\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Andy Beach, founder and principal at Alchemy Creations,<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> begins the conversation by telling Roberts, \u201cI\u2019ve heard you talk about treating operations really as a product versus just a service. Can you unpack that a little bit for us and what you mean by that?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roberts describes how Warner Bros. Discovery leverages his \u201c3 Up\u201d theory for HBO Max and other live streams the company distributes. It entails \u201cupmapping the content from SDR to HDR, uprezzing, in our case, 1080i to 1080p. We do get native 1080p content in as well. Sometimes it\u2019s downrezzing from 4K for distribution and 1080p. We don\u2019t really distribute native 4K content live either. And then upmixing the audio either from Stereo to 5.1 or 5.1 to Dolby Atmos when we don\u2019t get it natively. But we\u2019re not trying to trick customers there, or subscribers. We\u2019re trying to leverage these technologies to give us the confidence that we\u2019re delivering the most consistent audio and video experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roberts notes that he works closely with content and production teams to preserve their creative intent. He sees his job as delivering the creative the right way. \u201cBy doing this, we take away the consumer device\u2019s ability to make assumptions. So if you deliver [SDR] to an HDR display, it stretches that. You\u2019re at the mercy of that TV manufacturer, so we can\u2019t be confident in what we\u2019re sending to the end user,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd the same with audio. We\u2019re removing the ability to upmix because we\u2019re delivering it in the larger container. This all requires pristine source, which we have. We just had to reimagine how to get that source out of production and into our direct-to-consumer flows, low compression, and the feedback we\u2019ve gotten from subscribers has been really, really good.\u201d Roberts isn\u2019t seeing a lot of complaints on X or Reddit, where he says people usually go to air their grievances. \u201cWe actually get a whole lot of praise, so it\u2019s working very well,\u201d he adds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>From On-Prem to Cloud Master Control\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s nice when you\u2019re getting the customer feedback to show the positive side of it,\u201d Beach agrees. \u201cYou were talking there a little bit about the low-quality assets, but I know at the same time, I\u2019ve heard you talk about the issues of not sending a 25-megabit stereo feed into a premium streaming product. How does the conversation look with the broadcast side when you\u2019re dealing with the quality bar end to end?\u201d he asks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roberts calls this \u201can interesting path\u201d for Warner Bros. Discovery. \u201cThe day we launched live on Max, we simultaneously moved from on- prem 2110-based master control to a cloud master control solution in broadcast.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWow. So that was a big day,\u201d Beach chimes in.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt was a gigantic day, right? Because it didn\u2019t just affect us. It affected all of our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.streamingmedia.com\/Articles\/Columns\/The-Industry\/The-Real-Streaming-Battle-SVOD-vs.-vMVPD-139289.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"streaming battle vmpvd vs svod\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MVPD<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> partners as well,\u201d Roberts continues. \u201cThey were taking these newly created feeds at the same time. And initially when broadcast teams on our side were making these decisions to move to cloud master, there was an assumption that we would just take the same feed that we were delivering to an MVPD partner. I came back and said, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s not adopt the one-size-fits-all approach here. I think we can learn a lot, not just for our outputs, but all the outputs.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Improving Quality Across the Board<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roberts reiterates that based on his \u201c3 Up\u201d theory, \u201cI knew we needed this better source because we knew we wanted to deliver this content using Dolby\u2019s technology through Vision and Atmos. So I actually was able to leverage the shift from on-prem master control to cloud master as an opportunity to really say, \u2018Look, this is supposed to be flexible.\u2019\u201d He sees this flexibility as an obvious benefit of going to the cloud and credits the demos he\u2019s performed, \u201cwhere we brought a rack in and we processed all this content and the way we wanted to deliver it through cloud master. We gained confidence in the broadcast and the content teams on what that process looked like. And it was just a downhill chase from there to make sure that we were getting all these pieces for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.streamingmedia.com\/Articles\/Editorial\/Featured-Articles\/The-HBO-Max-Formula-136026.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"HBO Max formula\">HBO Max<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roberts adds, \u201cAnd ultimately, a lot of what we learned improving the video quality coming out for HBO Max, we\u2019ve now also applied on the broadcast side for our linear distribution partners as well. So we\u2019ve upped the quality in a number of places, not just to ourselves.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s almost like you had to act as a middle-ground customer advocate for the places downstream to make sure you were getting the right thing so you could build the correct packaging and payloads for all of those places and not just go with what\u2019s always been done,\u201d Beach says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roberts agrees, noting, \u201cMost MVPDs, or especially all the vMVPDs now, are having to deliver progressive signal. So if we control that deinterlace, it\u2019s one less opportunity for that content to be stepped on downstream after we distribute it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.streamingmedia.com\/Conferences\/Connect2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Join us February 24\u201326, 2026 for more thought leadership, actionable insights, and lively debate at Streaming Media Connect 2026! Registration is open!\"><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Join us February 24\u201326, 2026 for more thought leadership, actionable insights, and lively debate at Streaming Media Connect 2026! Registration is open!<\/span><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"cta_magazine_subscription_wrap\">\n<div class=\"cta_magazine_subscription\">\n<div class=\"cta_magazine_subscription_img\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dzceab466r34n.cloudfront.net\/Images\/SiteImages\/168775-2025-Cover-Images---April-2025-ORG.png\" alt=\"Streaming Covers\"\/><br \/>\n<!--            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dzceab466r34n.cloudfront.net\/Images\/SiteImages\/167595-2025-Cover-Images-ORG.png\" alt=\"Streaming Covers\">-->\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><noscript>Please enable JavaScript to view the <a href=\"https:\/\/disqus.com\/?ref_noscript\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">comments powered by Disqus.<\/a><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n            Related Articles&#13;<br \/>\n            &#13;\n        <\/p>\n<section class=\"article_grid\">&#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<\/p>\n<div class=\"article_grid_single\">\n<div>\n                <a id=\"MainContentPlaceHolder_ctl01_ctl00_rptArticles_lnkImageLink_0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.streamingmedia.com\/Articles\/Editorial\/Short-Cuts\/Why-Streaming-Demands-a-Different-End-to-End-Workflow-From-Broadcast-173029.aspx?utm_source=related_articles&amp;utm_medium=gutenberg&amp;utm_campaign=editors_selection\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/dzceab466r34n.cloudfront.net\/Images\/ArticleImages\/354531-why-streaming-demands-ORG.png\"\/><\/a>\n            <\/div>\n<h3>&#13;<br \/>\n                <a id=\"MainContentPlaceHolder_ctl01_ctl00_rptArticles_lnkArticleTitle_0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.streamingmedia.com\/Articles\/Editorial\/Short-Cuts\/Why-Streaming-Demands-a-Different-End-to-End-Workflow-From-Broadcast-173029.aspx?utm_source=related_articles&amp;utm_medium=gutenberg&amp;utm_campaign=editors_selection\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Why Streaming Demands a Different End-to-End Workflow From Broadcast<\/a><\/h3>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                When pre-existing live broadcast operations add streaming for the same events or content, there&#8217;s a temptation to &#8220;bolt on&#8221; streaming to the existing workflow and treat it as just another output or destination, but Warner Bros. 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Successful OTT services need to embrace HDR now.&#13;\n            <\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;<br \/>\n                <span class=\"article_date\">&#13;<br \/>\n                    28 Feb 2022<\/span>&#13;\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n        &#13;<br \/>\n        <\/section>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.streamingmedia.com\/Articles\/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=173030\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this clip from his Streaming Media Connect 2025 keynote, Warner Bros. Discovery distinguished video platform engineer Neal Roberts discusses what he calls \u201c3 Up,\u201d the process of upgrading HBO Max live content from SDR to HDR, uprezzing from 1080i to 1080p, and upmixing Stereo or 5.1 audio to Dolby Atmos, as an example of [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-live-session"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paknews.centers.pk\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}