T-VIPS announces that NAB 2006 will see the world’s first launch of a High Definition (HD) IP video backhaul solution based upon JPEG2000 compression, the T-VIPS TVG430. Using JPEG2000 compression, the TVG430 reduces the bit-rate required of an HD-SDI signal from 1.485 Mbit/s to between 50 and 200 Mbit/s. T-VIPS has selected the JPEG2000 format for the TVG430 as it has many advantages over traditional video formats, the most important of which are maximizing video quality for HD postproduction and the format’s high resilience to packet-loss.
“Our mission is to provide the broadcast industry with the best portfolio of IP video backhaul solutions. As part of this we’ve been preparing for the point at which JPEG2000 was nearing readiness for professional HD video backhaul and now we are able launch the world’s first realtime JPEG2000 IP backhaul product, the T-VIPS TVG430,” says Johnny Dolvik, CEO, T-VIPS. “As HDTV becomes increasingly adopted we believe that our TVG430 solution will be hugely attractive to broadcasters and content rights holders who want to take advantage of the cost-effectiveness and flexibility of IP video transport while retaining the highest possible video quality for HD backhaul.”
Unlike DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) based compression methods such as MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and VC1, which encode using i-frames and motion vectors to build the frames in-between i-frames, JPEG2000 is wavelet-based and hence encodes each frame independently. This means that errors introduced through packet loss are not carried over to subsequent frames—a huge advantage in terms of error resiliency. In addition, the wavelet compression method does not suffer from the visual blocking impairment of DCT-based standards and provides 10-bit resolution inherent in the HD-SDI format. The JPEG2000 format has already been selected as the standard compression technology for the distribution of feature films in Digital Cinema, JPEG2000 is making inroads into video acquisition and its frame independent encoding gives the format many advantages in the edit domain.
“The combination of JPEG2000’s inherent error resiliency combined with our advanced implementation of Pro-MPEG FEC means that the TVG430 is incredibly resilient to errors,” says Helge Stephansen, CTO, T-VIPS. “I believe that the TVG430 removes the remaining obstacle to the wide adoption of IP for video backhaul and that we now have a portfolio of products that’s ideal for all IP video backhaul applications.”
The award-winning T-VIPS team has a wealth of experience in video and IP transport, having for a number of years been heavily involved with pioneering MPEG over IP contribution solutions and broadband IPTV to the home.
T-VIPS IP backhaul solutions are deployed by leading operators in Norway, the Netherlands, Portugal and Italy. Building on its successful European launch, at NAB 2006, T-VIPS will exhibit its entire Connect portfolio, including the T-VIPS Connect management application and the T-VIPS Video Gateway products, a line of compact and powerful, yet cost-effective and scalable solutions designed for realtime backhaul of professional video over IP networks. T-VIPS provides IP solutions for Broadcast Contribution, Studio-to-Studio media exchange, in-house signal distribution, live event coverage and primary distribution. T-VIPS customers typically include broadcasters, IP network operators and telcos offering video services.
TVG430 TECHNICAL DETAILS
TVG430 uses JPEG2000 compression for bit rate reduction of an HD-SDI signal from 1.485 Mbit/s to bit rates between 50 and 200 Mbit/s. The HD television formats supported are 720p59, 1080i59, 720p50, 1080i50. JPEG2000, which has been selected as the standard file format for Digital Cinema, does not create blocking defects and works at full 10 bits resolution. TVG430 is a very cost effective implementation designed for realtime contribution applications. Each TVG430 unit may be configured by the user as either a transmitter or a receiver.
Picture formats supported:
- SMPTE 274M-2003 System 5: 1920 x 1080/59.94/I
- SMPTE 296M-2001 System 2: 1280 x 720/59.94
- SMPTE 274M-2003 System 6: 1920 x 1080/50/I
- SMPTE 296M-2001 System 3: 1280 x 720/50
IP TRANSPORT
- IP protocol based on Pro-MPEG code of practice for video over IP. The solution includes RTP and Forward Error Correction.
- Transport Protocol based on RFC 3550, and IETF draft “RTP Payload Format for JPEG 2000 Video Streams”
- Forward error correction by either column FEC mode for moderate packet loss cases or combined column and row FEC mode for connections with high packet loss. Adaptation of Pro-MPEG extension of RFC2733
- Wide out-of-order packet reordering.
- Packet loss concealment to reduce visual impairment for uncorrected packets
- Configurable receiver latency setting in order to match expected network jitter, latency variations, FEC setting and out-of-order range.
MANAGEMENT
- Flexible and user friendly configuration through WEB GUI and XML configuration files.
- Integrated in T-VIPS Connect connection management application.
