In Broadcast - February 2021 - 39

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www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 11 - Issue 2 | February 2021

InStudio

2020 - The Year Remote Became Reality cont'd...
up/down/cross converter, audio
processor, etc. For this function the
Cobalt 9904-UDX-4K is an ideal choice,
as it includes all of these functions
and more, using a flexible licensing
scheme. If you do not need 4K support
but are looking for high-density HD
processing, the Cobalt 9905-MPx is
a 4-path device offering some of the
same functions.
5.	 Test and measurement: this can
be done in a similar way as adding
functions to the video path. Test
and measurement devices either
generate a test signal to be fed to a
path that needs to be verified, and/
or receive and analyze an incoming
signal. The results of such an analysis
are available through a network
connection (e.g., via a web interface),
and/or as an output video signal.
By connecting test generators and
analyzers respectively to inputs and
outputs of the video router, these
devices can also be brought online as
needed. Devices that output results
as a video signal could have this signal
be available through the router, or
directly on to some monitoring path.
For signal generation, Cobalt offers

the 9960-TG2-REF1, which is capable
of providing two simultaneous video
test signals, as well as audio test
tones. For signal monitoring, Cobalt
offers the 9978-ANC-MON ancillary
data monitor. The 9978-ANC-MON has
multiple inputs and can provide one
single video output with the real-time
monitoring results.

Transmitting Video
Over The Internet
A headend is in the business of
producing video. Therefore, a remote
headend operator needs to see the
video. As described before, there are
two cases here:
*	 Low-latency, high quality video:
if the operator is making changes to
the video in real-time, they need very
low latency, and very good quality
to assess what is happening. This
requires:
	 *	 Professional-grade equipment
		 to receive the video from
		 the Internet.
	 *	 Good-quality, high-speed
		 Internet connection.
	 *	 Suitable protocol support for
		 low latency.

*	 Monitoring-grade video: this is
more for confidence monitoring, and
it does not need to be low-latency
or even at full resolution.
The
requirements are:
	 *	 Should work over a range
		 of Internet connections,
		 including cell connections.
	 *	 Should work on consumer-grade
		 devices such as phones, tablets,
		 smart TVs, and computers.
For low-latency, high-quality video,
there is now an industry-standard
protocol, the Reliable Internet Stream
Transport (RIST), which includes:
*	 Tunable reliability / latency
tradeoff to extract the best possible
performance out of any Internet link.
*	 Ability to use multiple links in
parallel.
*	 Interoperable: supported by a
number of major vendors, including
encoders, decoders, and gateways.
*	 Secure: built on top of DTLS,
which is the UDP version of the TLS
protocol used to secure Internet
transactions.
Both AES 128 and AES 256 modes are
supported.

*	 Flexible authentication, to ensure
that the endpoints are really who they
claim to be.
RIST is an integral part of a remote
head-end, and is available in all Cobalt
encoders and decoders.
For monitoring-grade video, the
most common protocol available in
consumer-grade devices is HLS. One
advantage of HLS is that it can be
served off a standard unmodified web
server. Additionally, many encoders
with HLS support have a built-in web
server, which simplifies deployment
(as long as the number of clients is
not too large). HLS represents a good
compromise between ease-of-use and
latency.
If a remote operator needs to have
local equipment to monitor the signals,
Cobalt now offers the BBG-1300-FR
enclosure, which can take many of
the existing Cobalt openGear cards
into a portable chassis. This may be
especially important when receiving
a contribution-grade signal over the
Internet using RIST.
http://www.inbroadcast.com https://www.cobaltdigital.com/product-category/422 https://www.cobaltdigital.com/products/4692/9904-udx-4k
In Broadcast - February 2021

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