Factors Driving the Ultimate Esports Experience.

Lossless, near zero latency video signals are key to the esports experience. No lag time — for players or the audience — means lightning-fast reaction times from the gamers and immediate responses from the spectators viewing in real-time on public displays.

Integrating various devices is also a priority, such as mouse and keyboard peripherals, headsets, and cameras on the gamers themselves.

Sources and peripherals can be either dispersed or centralized. Signals, including USB protocols, must be transmitted over long and short distances bidirectionally with optimal precision and no lag time. Any delays between the commands sent through an interface and the return response will impact the gaming experience negatively.

Video Processing and Performance

Clarity is critical for any esports venue. To act decisively, the gamer must be able to see clearly.

Every detail helps the gamer to make real-time decisions, helps moderators to monitor and control the in-room experience, and makes for a more dramatic experience for the audience. The quality of the video cannot be compromised.

Signals can only travel so far with high levels of integrity before loss occurs, so compatibility is vital. Video signals require format switching over various extenders to “push” the signals. Each point of signal conversion is a potential point of delay and failure. This extends to complimentary devices such as displays that are critical to the application’s success.

Intuitive User Experience

Intuitive control over the technology is a big piece of the puzzle. Technology is only as good as how it’s used, and layering in seamless control for gamers, moderators, and even the spectators is the element that truly brings the ultimate experience to life.

Audio Processing and Performance

Audio clarity is as important as the video image. Hearing everyone and everything in high fidelity makes for both a better gaming and spectator experience.

Speech audio must be clear as gamers communicate with each other and the moderator. Audio must capture all the high and low frequencies and background and ambient noise must be filtered.

Security

The key security components that need to be addressed in an esports environment are content encryption, device access and user access. While the games themselves are protected by the venue from piracy, the distribution platform must be able to support the most aggressive compliance and risk mitigation standards that are layered on top of the “stock” protection the game carries with it.

Any high-demand video application should leverage all the latest enterprise-grade security protocols, such as 802.1x and TPPS, and will remotely update security patches as they become available. Higher degrees of certifications — even military grade certifications —should be carefully identified for another layer of confidence. JITC, NIAP, or FIPS certifications protect network infrastructure, the protected gaming content, and all connected devices and the data they hold.

Management

As venues become larger, the need to be able to manage, monitor, and troubleshoot the system becomes greater. The right management tool can be an incredibly powerful asset— especially one that has the ability to fix issues remotely.

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