NexGuard forensic watermarking| NAGRA

Content may be pirated at any point in its lifecycle, including during production, post-production, promotion, during contribution/distribution and at the point of consumption. In order to fight commercial piracy, it is important to be able to mark content and determine the source of a content leak quickly and efficiently, so that effective anti-piracy action can be taken.

What is watermarking?

Forensic watermarking is the imperceptible embedding of information directly within video or audio content that identifies the source or intended recipient of the content. Forensic watermarks make each genuine copy of the content unique and can be extracted from pirated content to trace leaks back to the source and take anti-piracy action. NexGuard forensic watermarking can protect content owners’ and pay-TV operators’ investment in content, helping to deter and combat piracy.

NexGuard watermarks are imperceptible, robust and support blind detection

Imperceptible

NexGuard watermarks are imperceptible to the consumer, causing no degradation of the viewing experience, and have been validated by major studios, content owners and pay-TV operators.

Robust

NexGuard watermarks are proven to be robust and impossible for pirates to invalidate. They can persist through digital/analogue conversion, copying, transcoding, compression and geometric manipulation.

Blind Detection

NexGuard watermarks support blind detection, whereby identifiers are detected and extracted without reference to the original content by the NexGuard Detection Service. This enables fast, convenient and automated detection.

The different stages of forensic watermarking

NexGuard Forensic Watermarking solutions can be used to deter and combat piracy during content production, post-production, distribution/contribution, including for direct-to-consumer services. The stages of watermarking include:

Preparation

Content is prepared to receive the embedded NexGuard watermark. In some use cases, preparation and embedding are combined.

Embedding

Identifiers, including the contents source or intended recipient, are embedded into the video as an imperceptible and robust NexGuard watermark.

Distribution

Watermarked content is distributed to its intended recipients. During this process the content may be pirated and then manipulated, in an attempt to evade detection.

Capture

Pirated content is monitored and captured, and material evidence is collected. This may be done directly by the content owner or pay-TV operator or through an anti-piracy service.

Extraction

The content identifiers are extracted from the NexGuard watermark within the pirated content. These identifiers are then used to locate the source of the piracy.

Action

Once the source of the piracy has been located, action can be taken to combat it. This can include counter measures and legal action.

Choose the watermarking solution that's right for you

Watermarking for pre-release content and content contribution

NexGuard forensic watermarks can be embedded at any point in the content production lifecycle and contribution/distribution chain, protecting highly valuable pre-release content from piracy and ensuring traceability of any content leak.

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Watermarking for pay-TV operators and direct-to-consumer services

NexGuard forensic watermarks can be applied at a consumer session and device level to pinpoint the source of a piracy leak including those used to feed illicit streaming servers, enabling appropriate anti-piracy action.

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Watermarking for Digital Cinema

NexGuard forensic watermarks can be applied by projectors within a movie theatre. More than 200,000 theatre screens worldwide are already equipped with NexGuard technology, enabling content owners and distributors to pinpoint the time and location of in-theatre camcorder-based piracy.

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