Q. What kind of products or services does your company offer for broadcasters?
T-VIPS designs and sells professional video transport systems. Our IP-based and DTV solutions enable network operators, broadcasters and content providers to deliver high picture quality at a low cost. We have extensive experience developing products for: video over IP, video compression, transport stream processing, monitoring and seamless switching. Our products and systems are designed to improve Quality of Service, ensure high-quality in live contribution workflows and enable next-generation TV services. Our technology is deployed throughout the world for demanding transport applications, including: 3DTV, alternative content for digital cinema, live HD sports contribution and the delivery of HDTV programming over IP. T-VIPS’ products are used regularly for live broadcast contribution, transport of video between studios, feeding from broadcaster to transmitters, regional content handling, local adaptation systems and monitoring and switching.
Q. What’s new that you will you feature at the NAB Show and that TV broadcasters should look for there?
Our new transport-stream-over-IP switch will make its U.S. debut. Previewed at IBC 2011, the TNS544 TSoIP enables operators and broadcasters to migrate from ASI to IP without experiencing any loss in quality or reliability, while benefitting from the flexibility and running costs of IP. It provides intelligent redundancy switch-over between transport streams, and it continuously monitors all inputs, switching seamlessly to the back-up stream if errors are detected or a signal is lost. Using the TNS544, network operators can monitor multiple transport streams and configure multiple switches. Potential customers include: telecommunication and satellite operators, broadcasters using IP head-end infrastructure and networks, as well as terrestrial broadcasters.
We will introduce two products for the first time at the NAB Show. They are the CP330 T2 Bridge and the TNS547 DTT monitor, which extend the T-VIPS portfolio of DVB-T and DVB-T2 solutions. The CP330 enables terrestrial broadcasters to use satellites for distribution to multiple single frequency networks (SFN) in DVB-T and DVB-T2 networks in a more cost-effective way than was previously possible. Using our unique deterministic multiplexing or Physical Layer Pipes (PLP) replacement, the CP330 provides regional adaptation of incoming transport streams and allows for the insertion of local content. The TNS547 enables end-to-end monitoring — from the headend to the RF signals at the transmitter. It monitors all major interfaces, formats and layers found in DVB terrestrial networks on the transmitter input signals and on-air RF signals.
Q. How is your new product offering different from what’s available on the market?
The TNS544 TSoIP switch allows broadcasters and network operators to build increased reliability into their network and reduce downtime. The product is based on our vast experience in video over IP and broadcast monitoring. The TNS544 provides seamless switching between IP input streams. The switching criteria are configurable and can be tailored to the input streams and the system architecture. In addition, the product provides TR 101 290 analysis and in-depth analysis of signals, services and components.
In an SFN region, it’s essential that all transmitters are fed with exactly the same bit stream. When used with our CP525 cMUX remultiplexer, a set of geographically dispersed CP330s can produce exactly the same transport streams or T2-MI (modulator interface) streams when fed with the same input signal. This means that a terrestrial broadcaster operating on a DVB-T or DVB-T2 network in an SFN region can take advantage of the availability, reach, geographic flexibility and reliability of satellites for distribution in a much more cost-effective way than was previously possible, since IP connectivity is significantly less expensive than satellite networks.
Our new TNS547 is the perfect tool for enhancing QoS, which is critically important to all broadcasters. It can monitor transmitter inputs and outputs for up to six multiplexes, continuously monitoring QoS parameters at crucial points in the transmission chain. The monitoring and analysis features enable fast fault-detection and diagnostics both in network management systems and through an intuitive Web-based user interface. The product provides in-depth analysis of signals, services, components and PSI/SI table decoding and results in quickly diagnosed errors.
Q. What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2012 NAB Show?
IP-based video networks solutions for both traditional broadcasting and for over-the-top systems. Increased focus on cost-effective management and analysis of IP-based video transport systems.
Q. Where are you based, and how many employees do you have? Anything else we should know about your company?
T-VIPS is based in Oslo, Norway. Our U.S. headquarters are in Millburn, N.J., just outside of New York City.
T-VIPS pioneered JPEG2000 compression for high-quality broadcast applications because of the anticipated growth of IP in broadcast and understood that this codec was particularly well-suited for IP video transport. Sending JPEG2000 compressed video over IP networks enables programmers and content owners to preserve the highest image quality and repurpose their digital assets for all device formats. This allows the broadcaster to not only deliver the content to big HD/3D screens, but also reformat the content to deliver a high-quality Internet or mobile video viewing experience. By leveraging its technology expertise in video over IP, T-VIPS also developed a range of products for transport stream processing, monitoring and seamless switching. These solutions improve reliability and Quality of Service (QoS) in satellite networks, IP-based video networks, as well as terrestrial networks.
Our company has won numerous technology awards in our history, including being ranked number four as one of the top 10 start-ups by Light Reading.
