BRUSSELS, BELGIUM—The Alliance for IP Media Solutions is reporting a successful implementation of an open-standards all IP-based live broadcast. The group said the telecast involved a performance at Bozar concert hall carried by Flemish Belgian public broadcaster, VRT.
“An outside broadcast unit at the Bozar concert hall in the city center was connected to the VRT production studio five kilometers—three miles—away via IP, using just a single dark fiber cable,” the group said in a press release. “Signals from four IP cameras, 10 microphones via an IP stagebox, intercom, cam control, tally, Internet and more, were transmitted via the 10 kilometer cable at 25 Gbps. The trial proved the capability to remotely produce live broadcast events via IP, without the use of an OB vehicle.”
This is the second report of the deployment of a live IP-based production workflow, the first having taken place last November in Hilversum, Netherlands. There, NEP’s CMI division, DutchView Infostrada, aired a live program on RTL4 with remote-controlled cloud production using SMPTE-2022— the standard for encapsulating video signals for IP transport—over Grass Valley IP camera technology.
NEP referred to its IP-based broadcast as the “world’s first,” as did AIMS. A spokesman for the AIMS group clarified:
“Both of these broadcasts were live,” he said. “The key difference in terms of being ‘first’ is that the [Bozar] ‘trial’ was produced using a workflow based solely on open standards—[SMPTE] 2022-6, AES67, PTP, OpenFlow—which is the essence of the AIMS mission.”
AIMS was formed late last year by a group of television equipment vendors working on transitioning the industry from serial digital interface to Internet protocol workflow connectivity. The purported benefit of using IP versus SDI in TV production is that it is supported by a far wider range of commercial off-the-shelf hardware compared to SDI. Also, as demonstrated by this and NEP’s productions, it enables the creation of what can be characterized as a virtual television truck, eliminating the need to send crew members and heavy gear to onsite locations.
(It should be noted here that the Pac-12 collegiate sports network in the United States uses its own homegrown IP technology for remote live productions. See “Pac-12 Networks Innovates Live Remote Sports With IP Production Model.”)
AIMS is comprised of Imagine Communications, Belden’s Grass Valley, Cisco, Arista Networks, Snell Advanced Media, EVS, and Lawo among others. The non-profit consortium was formed in December and recently appointed its board, with Michael Cronk, senior vice president of strategic marketing for Grass Valley, as chairman.
A second and separate group of vendors is also working together on the SDI-to-IP transition. ASPEN, for “Adaptive Sample Picture Encapsulation,” was created by Evertz last year.
AIMS is supporting the work of the LiveIP Project, a multi-vendor system integration to showcase IP-based live TV broadcast production, and a collaborative project between the European Broadcast Union and the Belgian public broadcaster VRT. AIMS member companies EVS, Grass Valley, Lawo, Nevion and Tektronix, are industry technology partners within the LiveIP Project, which formed last August.
The Jan. 15 concert in Brussels was carried out under the auspices of LiveIP.
Karel De Bondt, project manager for LiveIP, stated that, “All signals were transmitted via the single cable without noticeable delay, such that technically, there was little difference between an OB truck and a remote production room.”
The multi-phase LiveIP Project is part of VRT Sandbox, an international joint platform for collaborative innovation, put together by VRT, EBU and iMinds. Industry technology partners participating in the project provide all the elements of a live production chain driven by IP; these include Axon, Dwesam, D&MS, EVS, Genelec, Grass Valley, Lawo, Nevion, Tektronix and Trilogy.
AIMS said that it “endorses the work of LiveIP as a primary example of the growing momentum in the broadcast and media content industries towards the adoption, standardization, development and refinement of open protocols in the transition to a fully IP-based workflow, as described in the AIMS Roadmap, with support for SMPTE 2022-6, AES67 and VSF recommendations TR-03 and TR-04.”
AIMS Chairman Michael Cronk said LiveIP “…is a major proof-of-concept of just how far the industry has already moved towards a possible future based on open standards. Not only is it another proof point that a multi-camera live production can be achieved with SMPTE 2022-6 and AES-67 technology, it showcases the wide availability of SMPTE 2022-6 and AES-67 technology as 10 different vendors contributed equipment to this production.”
Open standards work for the SDI-to-IP transition also is being carried by the 74-member Video Services Forum, with the support the Society for Motion Picture and Television Engineers and the EBU.
AIMS endorses an IP transition plan that includes support for SMPTE 2022-6, AES67 and VSF recommendations TR-03 and TR-04.
Also see…
Feb. 19, 2016
“HPA 2016” Remote Live Production”
With trucks, when they’re in use, they’re making money. When they’re parked, they’re not. IP technology held the promise of a more efficient architecture versus the truck fleet, if it could work for live TV production.
Jan. 20, 2016
“‘AIM'-ing for Interoperability”
The new, independent trade association was founded to foster the adoption of industry standards that would help facilitate the broadcast and media industry’s transition from SDI to IP.
Jan. 12, 2016
“Video-Over-IP: AIMS, ASPEN Compared”
While both organizations support the idea that the future of video transport will use IP-like protocols for switching and delivery, they differ in how they manage the important requirement of video synchronization.
Oct. 20, 2015
“SDI vs. IP: Packet to Packet”
If one looks at the delay through an IP switch, it is due to the necessity to buffer the packets as they arrive, are processed and then sent out.
Oct. 14, 2015
“SDI vs. IP: Which Switch is Which?”
The technology and protocols for each were developed for different use cases and thus have evolved as a best fit for the applications intended.
December 17, 2015
“All About ASPEN”
Broadcast Engineering Extra spoke with Mo Goyal, director of product marketing for Evertz, to discuss the latest progress on ASPEN, the company’s IP transport protocol which it introduced at the 2015 NAB Show and how broadcasters are managing the overall transition to IP.
December 15, 2015
“ASPEN Framework From Evertz and Sony Deployed by NBC Sports”
A recent collaboration on an IP production framework from Evertz and Sony that is based on ASPEN technology will be deployed by NBC Sports starting in February 2016, the two companies announced.
November 6, 2015
“Evertz Launches Aspen Community Website”
ASPEN stands for Adaptive Sample Picture ENcapsulation and was developed as an open framework to build IP facilities.
