Leading the transition to IP
The process of transitioning to IP broadcast systems has already begun for many Asian broadcasters . While this transition comes with challenges , it also brings many advantages and enables many new services . The effects of IP are now being seen in many different aspects of the broadcast chain . BY FINTAN MC KIERNAN
Ideal Systems are at the forefront of the move to IP and 2017 is shaping up to be a seminal year for IP broadcast technologies . We are witnessing the talk becoming a reality and seeing the real-world deployment of hybrid IP and full IP systems throughout the broadcast technology spectrum .
Already this year , we have designed , built and delivered a 16-camera 4K / Ultra HD ( UHD ) OB truck for Tencent in China , which has an end-to-end IP workflow . In Singapore and Taiwan , we have delivered large broadcast projects using GV ’ s new Node product , which delivers broadcastcentric , real-time , distributed edge routing and IP processing node , and supports hybrid IP and SDI implementations . These new GV Node switches , based on commercial-off-the-shelf ( COTS ) hardware , offer transparent broadcast-centric operation and processing , supporting SMPTE ST 2022-6 IP inputs and outputs , as well as TICO visually lossless 4:1 compression to support future 4K / UHD applications .
Another driver for IP is as an on-ramp to cloud-based systems . IP is a logical first step towards virtualisation and migrating the video transport in the broadcast facility from SDI to IP . These will bring flexibility , resilience and extensibility into the cloud , which is simply not possible with SDI infrastructure . One area where IP is pushing hard is the replacement of centralised SDI routers with an IT distributed architecture using COTS IP switches . As the IP signal is multicast and can be accessible to any destination in the network , it means the disappearance of the notorious DA ( distribution amplifier ).
Furthermore , the new SMPTE ST2110 standard is the answer to the elimination of dedicated devices such as audio embedder , de-embedder , audio shuffler and meta data inserters . Yet , it provides the same flexibility that broadcast operators are accustomed to having .
As in every technology migration , broadcasters cannot afford to simply replace all of their existing equipment pool , in this case replacing SDI with new IP native products . Many of today ’ s SDI products deployed across Asia have several more serviceable years remaining . Hence , using gateways to bridge SDI to IP is an elegant solution to migrate to IP . Numerous legacy broadcast solutions offered on the market today are still cardbased and fit into proprietary frames , and that goes against the principle of using COTS equipment .
So how can a broadcaster keep valuable SDI equipment going and migrate to IP ? There is an efficient and costeffective way to do this — by bridging IT and SDI with IP encapsulation and de-encapsulation in Small Form-factor Pluggable ( SFP ) connectors that fit directly into a COTS IT switch . In the migration to IP , SFP is a key enabling technology allowing many different formats and signal types to be bridged and converted into and out of IP .
Companies such as Embrionix are expanding the range and functionality of their SFPs to support the various SMPTE IP standards from a single SFP cage with multiple I / O options .
Outside of broadcast facilities , we are also seeing IP systems change the way broadcasters work . Again , Ideal is pushing the boundaries with these new technologies . In September this year , Ideal Systems engaged in a field trial of a new live sports production system with Singapore ’ s Eleven Sports Network . The trial took place over two nights at the Jalan Besar football stadium in the republic for a friendly between Singapore and Hong Kong , as well as an Asia Cup qualifier between Singapore and Turkmenistan .
So , what was different about the system ? In a four-camera shoot , all of the cameras were JVC Hybrid IP . Two cameras were production grade robotic pan-tiltzooms ( PTZ ) from JVC and the other two cameras we used were JVC ’ s HM660 , which were the industry ’ s first streaming camcorders and support Zixi , SMPTE 2022 , and RTMP Streaming .
“ Outside of broadcast facilities , we are also seeing IP systems change the way broadcasters work . Again , Ideal is pushing the boundaries with these new technologies .”
— FINTAN MC KIERNAN CEO , Ideal Systems , South-east Asia
These all lead back to our hybrid IP production server , which again is a standard COTS workstation running our production software . Our production server supports slo-mo and replay from any of the four cameras , allows complex graphics and scoreboards to be added , and manages the audio from the cameras as well as the two commentators on-site .
The output again provides flexibility , and we could stream directly from the production system to Facebook or YouTube over IP if we wish . What we did was output SDI to a Dejero EnGo encoder , which encoded the live signal to the cloud via bonded cellular and back to an SDI via a Dejero broadcast server at the Eleven Sports Network Studio to feed back into its studio workflow .
With IP and the cloud , we also have other options . For example , once the signal has been bonded and sent over the LTE network to the Dejero cloud , we can send the “ international feed ” back to the broadcaster , while sending the same feed to Facebook live and YouTube live . Over the two test nights , we had more than 170,000 views on Facebook , which opens new sponsorship opportunities and is indicative of the way that IT technologies are coming into broadcast from every angle .
6 systems integration 2017