In Broadcast - December 2015 - 51


51

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 5 - Issue 12 | December 2015

InFile

Live Production Over IP
protocol for encapsulating
uncompressed video for transport over
an MPEG-2 transport stream which,
Evertz believes is better suited to
IP-based production than the 2022-6
standard. Ross Video and Evertz are
developing 10GE IP interfaces with
ASPEN for the Ross' Acuity production
switchers, allowing connection to
Evertz's SDN high capacity switching
cores, the 3080IPX and EXE-VSR.

3G-SDI). Grass Valley is introducing
one-wire
IP
production
using
lightweight TICO compression. This
scheme is low latency and can be
virtually lossless at 4:1 and is backed
by EVS, Imagine, Ross and Matrox.
It will be an option for both its LDX
camera series and K-Frame production
switchers. These workhorse products
are now able to take 4K signals over
10Gig-E links.
"We and many others
are embracing TICO for
its many advantages over
other compression
technologies, but
Grass Valley is the
first to implement
TICO for 4K oneFig 1: Ongoing RDD work at SMPTE for a smooth
wire over IP," says Grass
UHDTV 4K transition from a single 3G-SDI to
a 10GbE IP network using TICO.
Valley's Mike Cronk.
TICO Alliance
Keen to demonstrate its agnosticism
Similarly, the TICO Alliance is on a to the various IP proposals in play,
march to rack up as many supporters EVS formulated an IP4Live approach
of its approach to IP live production which highlighted the open nature
as it can. It has recruited over 15 of its systems. For example, its new
members
including
Tektronix, XiP gateway, which enables I/O IP
Deltacast and EVS to its intoPIX links to EVS video servers, works with
lightweight compression technology using Cisco's standard IP switches
for moving HD and UHD over existing to facilitate multi-feed live remote
3G-SDI and 10 GbE IP infrastructures. production.
The alliance is working with SMPTE,
Another
multi-vendor
remote
the Video Services Forum (VSF) and production
initiative
involved
the Joint Task Force on Network Gearhouse Broadcast's use of the EVS
Media to advance adoption, and it is DVYI IP switcher to live mix Hitachi
in the process of making its approach 4K streams. "There's already the
a registered disclosure document functionality to produce a sports or
through SMPTE.
entertainment programme from the
Jean-Baptiste Lorent, Product and other side of the world," says Kevin
Marketing Manager IntoPIX said: Fitzgerald, Head of Systems and
"TICO and TICO Alliance participating Product Sales, Gearhouse. "Once the
organisations are relying on the connectivity infrastructure is in place
standardisation work that is done and as reliable as it needs to be, there
at SMPTE and VSF (Video Services are huge financial and operational
Forum) - see Fig 1.
benefits to be had by content
"TICO fits perfectly with today's producers and broadcasters."
existing video over IP standards such
Imagine Communications wants to
as SMPTE2022-6 and SMPTE 2059 as a part of the live IP action too. It has
well as with the recently published teamed with EVS to advance SMPTE
VSF
Technical
Recommendation 2022 and compression standard
TR03 Transport of Uncompressed JPEG2000 to make live production
Elementary Stream Media over IP."
more agile and cost efficient. "We are
aggressively going after the live news
IP Wires
and sports market,"
One problem with UHD production declared
Imagine
has been the need for four wires (4x CEO
Charlie
Vogt.
Ross Acuity production switchers to get IP connectivity

cont'd...

Grass Valley
is looking to
one-wire IP
production

"Partnerships that bring vendors into
closer alignment are going to become
much more relevant than I think this
industry has ever seen."
3D Audio
Reproducing SDI workflows over IP
with SMPTE 2022-6 is widely seen as a
first step to full IP, but one that does
not offer seamless switching between
AV and metadata streams. SMPTE,
the EBU and others are working on a
new standard (2022-7) to achieve this
which may be published in 2016.
"SMPTE 2022-6 is not the final
protocol," says Michel De Wolf,
Director of Technology at
consultancy
firm
Dwesam
Engineering which initiated the
EBU LiveIP project. "There are
limitations; one is that the audio
is embedded, which is fantastic
for contribution and distribution,
but not so good for a live
production environment."
The unlocking of audio from the
broadcast picture is likely to be the
first creative iteration of object-based
broadcasting. This conceives of a
programme "like a multi-dimensional
jigsaw puzzle," according to BBC
R&D, that is sent in pieces and can be
reconstructed on-the-fly in a variety
of ways just before the programme is
presented to the viewer.
In the US, two proposals to update
the audio delivery of next-generation
(Ultra HD, High Dynamic Range)
broadcast are being considered by
the Advanced Television Systems
Committee in its forthcoming
standard ATSC 3.0.
The competitors are Dolby,
with its AC-4 technology, and
an alliance of Fraunhofer

IIS, Technicolor and Qualcomm which
has developed MPEG-H.
Both technologies promise greater
interactivity and greater immersion, by
letting viewers adjust the presence of
various audio objects in the broadcast
signal. This could include allowing
the user to choose a language,
bring an announcer's voice out of
the background for greater clarity,
listen to a specific race car driver
communicating with his pit crew, or
the option of listening to either the
home team or the visitor's native
broadcast mix depending on fan
preference.

BBC R&D's Venue Explorer

BBC
R&D's
web
application
Venue Explorer, trialled at the
Commonwealth Games last year, is an
example of how a broadcaster might
provide viewers with separate audio
mixes corresponding to the part of the
scene that they wish to look at.
"When viewing a wide shot, the
audio will convey the ambience of
the stadium, similar to what would be
heard by someone in the audience,"
explains a BBC R&D blog. "As the
viewer zooms in to an area, the
audio is remixed to a broadcast feed
corresponding to what is being seen."
Of all the items which BBC CO,
Matthew Postgate has to juggle,
it is the potential of object-based
broadcasting, predicated on the
move to IP, which is most exciting. He
says, "It is about moving the whole
industry away from thinking of video
and audio as hermetically sealed, and
toward an idea where we are no longer
broadcasters but data casters."
http://www.inbroadcast.com https://www.youtube.com/user/grassvalleylive/featured http://www.tico-alliance.org/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/projects/venue-explorer https://youtu.be/0-74GGimfew
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