In Broadcast - June 2015 - 68


68

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 5 - Issue 6 | June 2015

InUSA

The Industry Needs
Everything-Over-IP
Contributing Editor, Michael Grotticelli
discusses the broadcast industry's rapid
move into the IP realm...

A

t the recent NAB Show many
traditional vendors were touting
the newly m=emerging benefits of
moving from an HD-SDI plant to signals
encapsulated in data packets and sent
over an Internet Protocol (IP) backbone.
Many feel IP workflows are the future
and that the venerable SDI interface
in broadcasting - first standardised by
SMPTE in 1989 - is on the back end of
an illustrious run (from analogue to
digital). It's also common knowledge
that consumers want flexibility, and
that means "Everything-over-IP (EoP).
SMPTE has put forth a new standard,
called "SMPTE 2022:6", that describes
how to send uncompressed video
or files lightly compressed with
technologies like VC-2 and JPEG2000.
Google's VC-9 and SMPTE's HEVC
are also being hotly discussed as
delivery mechanisms, but real-world
deployments are still a few years away.
Yet, when you ask broadcasters
about IP in their facility, you get
conflicting strategies about how best
to deploy it in the least disruptive
way. Everyone agrees that it will be
a phased approach, with "IP Islands"
existing for the early days of the
transition, but not everyone needs an
"all-IP, all the time" infrastructure.
Major signal routing suppliers like
Evertz, Grass Valley, Snell and others
all touted this approach in their new
product offerings, providing the ability
to populate and remotely
monitor and control a
router with

CAT 5e Cable RJ45

both SDI and IP signals.
And while the benefit of flexibility to
send signals anywhere you need them
to go quickly is certainly an attraction,
broadcasters have a lot of legacy SDI
equipment and are very familiar with
how HD-SDI works. There is also a lack
of standards in the IP realm, causing
considerable concern, and a variety
of file formats with different audio
and video encoding schemes that
most servers cannot guarantee 100%
playout reliability. This apprehension
has resulted in a dual layer approach:
the buildings are wired and designed
to work using IP and a second layer
of coax wiring with routing has been
added to handle HD over a 3G SDI
infrastructure. All major functional
points in the IP design can be switched
over to SDI making the engineering
department less anxious.
At the end of the day, the reality is
that the industry has to move into
the IP realm just to stay competitive
with the emergence of OTT platforms
popping up literally everywhere
around the world. And in many
aspects, the industry has made the
move where it makes the most sense.
Indeed, there are a number of parts
in the content creation and delivery
chain that are IP now.
Business systems, like programme
scheduling, ad sales, traffic and
billing have been part of the IT world
for decades. Now they are connected
using IP with either proprietary
interfaces or standardised protocols,
such as BXF, Broadcast
Exchange
Format.

Sony has launched a new initiative around its Networked Media Interface
that is designed to help the industry make the move to live production over
IP faster and with more familiarity

Editing and Graphic systems were the
first to actually get IP into workflows.
Now these suites are rapidly coming
into the realm of being 100% file
based operations. Files are transferred
around using IP from editing systems
to archive and playout servers using
MXF and other file formats.
News operations also quickly got
into the mix using IP interconnected
systems to run teleprompters, keep
track of stories, operate remote
control of cameras and studio lighting
as well as managing both video and
graphics. MOS has been the interface
of choice here.
Plant ingest and playout are
interesting
hybrid
animals.
In
looking at what is really going on,
it is no wonder that there is a huge
conundrum about IP. File based video
comes into the plant via IP or satellite,
often into a catch server. This server
transfers clips, often via baseband SDI,
into archive and playout systems. More
advanced operations stick with files
and move these directly into the server
for playout activities.
Now the industry is talking
seriously about IP connections for
live production, thereby, facilitating
remote operation of cameras and
production switchers from far
away over an Internet connection.
Several trials have been successfully
accomplished, with more to come.
ESPN ran much of its HD master
control operations from its Bristol,
Connecticut headquarters to provide

live coverage of the World Cup from
Brazil. In addition, the BBC produced
what it called "a world first" live UHD
production, produced and transmitted
entirely in the IP domain. The trial
took place last July during the
Commonwealth Games; a quadrennial
international multi-sport event hosted
in Glasgow for two weeks and used
Sony F55 cameras.
Using forward-error and other
techniques, IP packets are now able
to reliably carry a wide variety of
information (metadata) about the file,
including resolution, high dynamic
range and frame rate.
This "format agnostic" capability
related to IP packet delivery, has
allowed
non-traditional
content
providers like Netflix to send UltraHigh-Definition (UHD, aka, "4K") files,
when traditional broadcasters can
only dream about how to get it to
consumers' homes via an over the air
transmission.
Increasing completion within the
video delivery space is perhaps the
best reason for migrating to an IP
infrastructure sooner rather than later.
The sooner your facility can handle
audio and video file-based IP packets,
the more operational efficient and
relevant your company will continue
to be. We're hearing and reading
a lot about IP-based production
collaboration and delivery because
that's the way the world is moving.
Broadcasters can't ignore it and they'd
be smart not to.
http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.pro.sony.eu/pro/lang/en/is/products/solutions-ip-live-production
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - June 2015
