At Intinor, we are constantly evaluating our hardware to ensure we deliver the most robust, reliable, and cost-effective solutions for live video contribution. Moving forward, our Heimdall and Compact 5G units will transition to the 5G RedCap (Reduced Capability) standard.
Why are we doing this? Standard 5G modems are built for massive consumer download speeds while live contribution is all about the upload. The transition to RedCap allows us to deploy hardware specifically aligned with the actual uplink requirements of live broadcast contribution, resulting in lower power consumption and improved component cost-efficiency without compromising real-world broadcasting performance. This gives greater hardware stability, lower power consumption and drastically reduced costs, while keeping your broadcast just as reliable.
What is 5G RedCap?
5G RedCap (introduced in 3GPP Release 17) is essentially a “right-sized” 5G standard for industrial needs. Standard, high-tier 5G modems are built primarily for consumer devices, prioritizing massive, multi-gigabit download speeds. RedCap trims away that unnecessary overhead, resulting in a balanced performance, lower power consumption, and efficient network connectivity.
For broadcast workflows relying on Bifrost™ Reliable Transport, this provides a highly efficient network interface that maintains stable latency and reduces thermal load, delivering exactly what industrial broadcast equipment requires in the field.
The Real-World Uplink Advantage
You might wonder if moving to a “reduced capability” standard impacts your stream. The short answer is no. For live video contributions over Bifrost™ stable uplink capacity is the critical metric. The practical reality of public 5G deployments today is that they are highly asymmetric, configured to heavily prioritize download speeds. As a result, standard 5G modems routinely fall back to robust 4G LTE as their primary upload method during live broadcasts.
Our new 5G RedCap modems operate exactly the same way on public networks, utilizing 4G LTE for heavy uplink traffic to ensure maximum stream stability. Furthermore, if you are operating in 5G Standalone or Private 5G scenarios (such as sports arenas or dedicated broadcast networks), both our previous modems and the new RedCap modems perform exceptionally well, giving you the dedicated slice of bandwidth you require.
Technical Summary
By stripping away consumer-centric overhead and introducing native 2-antenna support per modem, 5G RedCap drastically reduces our overall component costs, and we are passing those savings directly to our customers. With this transition, the new Heimdall RedCap units will feature a significantly lower list price compared to the previous 5G generation.
What the shift means:
- Maintained uplink performance. Seamless 4G LTE fallback for public networks and native Private 5G support.
- Optimized architecture. Native 2-antenna support per modem.
- Increased efficiency. Maintained transmission stability and reduced power consumption.
- Cost savings. Lower list price for Heimdall 5G units.
We expect the first batches of our newly optimized Heimdall units to begin shipping during the fall. If you want to learn more about how 5G RedCap and Bifrost™ can power your next broadcast, reach out to our team today.