X-PLATFORM
June 2018
dle we’ve seen is hiring skilled
engineers experienced in both
broadcast and networking. We’ve
seen network engineers learn
about the broadcast side and vice
versa. But as the transition to IP
accelerates, we will see more good
hybrid engineers emerge, and this
being less of a concern.”
For Omnitek, the test and
measurement equipment provider
believes that the IP revolution “will
not overthrow the reign of SDI”
but will co-exist with it for many
years to come.
Alan Wheable, communica-
tions manager at Omnitek, elabo-
rates: “The development of IP in
Asia-Pacific will only occur where
there is commercial gain, money,
desire and the need to do it. SDI,
after all, is a well-established and
well-understood approach that
nearly everyone in the industry
understands.
“By their very nature, engi-
neers solve problems. Sometimes
these are real problems, and some-
times these are new solutions to
problems that have already been
solved in a different way. One engi-
neer’s new technological approach
can be another’s technological
challenge.”
The motivation for broad-
casters to move to IP, Wheable
continues, appears to come from
the desire to be more flexible,
remove their current dependency
on broadcast equipment manufac-
turers, and move to the bigger IP
equipment manufacturers as the
suppliers of studio infrastructure.
He explains: “And the reasons
for using equipment produced by
IP manufacturers include the scal-
ability of networks, and the desire
to harness the processing power of
the cloud where processing power
can be purchased by the hour,
Omnitek’s Ultra TQ broadcast
waveform rasteriser is
equipped with both IP
and SDI connectivity,
and is further enhanced with the
ability to analyse and decode Dolby
E, Dolby D and Dolby D+ for audio
monitoring and quality checking.
instead of investing in dedicated
broadcast hardware to do this.”
From a cost perspective,
Wheable believes IP is not cheaper
and not as easy as SDI, even though
its potential might be “enormous”
if broadcasters have the desire to
work through the challenges and
adopt new working practices. “The
transition from SDI to IP will take
many years. As with 4K/Ultra HD
(UHD), the cost of implementa-
tion is very high, unless the broad-
caster is building a new facility,” he
says. “To future-proof themselves,
broadcasters are looking for equip-
ment that supports SDI, IP and hy-
brid workflows. Likewise, existing
broadcast equipment manufactur-
ers are also providing solutions for
SDI, IP and hybrid environments.”
Omnitek, for instance, has
developed the Ultra TQ broadcast
waveform rasteriser and the Ultra
XR 4K/UHD waveform rasteriser,
which are both equipped with the
SMPTE ST 2110 and ST 2022-6 IP
connectivity standards, in addition
to the standard SDI connectiv-
ity. Particularly for Ultra TQ,
the product was enhanced with
the ability to analyse and decode
Dolby E, Dolby D and Dolby D+
for audio monitoring and quality
checking.
“Omnitek’s approach is to
provide the monitoring solution
for fixed installations, regardless of
whether these are SDI, IP, or a hy-
brid of both,” Wheable concludes.
“The user interface allows users
to select the feeds accordingly for
monitoring, giving them access to
the comprehensive toolset of the
Ultra TQ, without needing to be
exposed to the complexities of how
the feed actually arrives.”
And the next technological
advancement which IP will even-
tually lead to is the concept of vir-
tualisation. However, Denis Pare,
vice-president, sales, Embrionix,
quickly points out that broadcast-
ers would take some time before
getting used to a fully virtualised
environment, where applications
will share the same processing
resources in a centralised data
centre.
He says: “At that point, we
can foresee broadcasters renting
micro-services and processing
resources as they need them, own-
ing only the edge devices used on a
regular basis, such as camera and
monitors — and thus enabling a
❝ The value of
investing in IP
today is about
so much more
than increasing
revenue or
reducing cost, it
is about acquiring
knowledge in order
to prepare for the
future. ❞
— Denis Pare,
Vice-President,
Sales, Embrionix
31
reduction in Capex and Opex. All
of this virtualisation will happen
over IP networks. So, the first
step is definitely to get rid of SDI
signals, but again, this will not
happen overnight.
“Although IP technology is not
new, using it to move real-time un-
compressed media streams is quite
unique. There is a lot of priority
data to transport, with as little
latency as possible. New expertise
is being dev