Axon Partners With EBU, VRT And Leading Vendors To Deliver IP-Based Live Broadcast Production

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Belgian public broadcasting company VRT have unveiled the LiveIP Project, a multi-vendor system integration to showcase IP-based live broadcast production. The collaboration between EBU, VRT and a group of innovative industry partners sees the implementation of a live TV production studio at VRT’s premises in Brussels. It uses state-of-the-art IT-centric hardware and software, including Axon’s Synapse based networked multiviewer technology, to enable broadcasters to produce programmes quickly, efficiently and cost effectively.

A scaled down version of the LiveIP setup will be shown as a proof-of-concept demonstration on the EBU booth (10.F20) at this year’s IBC Show in Amsterdam from 11 to 15 September.

The multi-phase LiveIP Project is part of Sandbox+, an international joint platform for collaborative innovation put together by VRT, EBU and iMinds. Industry technology partners participating in the project include Axon, Dwesam, EVS, Genelec, Grass Valley, Lawo, LSB, Nevion, Tektronix and Trilogy who provide all the elements of a live production chain driven by IP.

In recognition of the team’s role in driving the industry to the next level of interoperability in live production, the LiveIP Project has been shortlisted for this year’s IABM Design & Innovation Awards, which will be announced on Saturday 12 September at IBC in Amsterdam.

Visitors to the EBU booth at IBC will see a demonstration of the system, which uses open standards – in this case SMPTE 2022/6, AES67, and PTP – to transport broadcast feeds via an SDN. The project shows a high level of interoperability between multiple vendors, enabling seamless switching and limited redundancy of uncompressed video and audio feeds as they’re transported over an IP network. It features Axon’s Synapse based networked multiviewer (SynView), which has 10Gbps Ethernet connectivity and can process and display both traditional SDI sources as well as incoming streams from the network.

Jan Eveleens, Axon’s CEO, said: “We’re proud to be a partner in this landmark project and to work with innovators in the industry to make it happen. Axon supports all relevant emerging technologies and is actively involved in developing the next generation of standards. Our products will be capable of handling S2022 as well as AVB based on its technical merit, to deliver flexibility, performance and reliability.”

Axon will use IBC to update visitors on its on-going development work on S2022 and AVB and discuss how both standards could shape production workflows in the future. On Stand 10.A21& B21, the company will also show an Ethernet AVB backbone working effectively in a production environment.

The LiveIP proof-of-concept demonstration will be showcased in the EBU theatre on the EBU booth (10.F20) at IBC2015 on Friday 11 September at 16.00 CET.

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About Axon

Headquartered in The Netherlands, and with offices across the world, Axon develops, manufactures and markets high quality broadcast equipment for the conversion, processing and compliance recording of audio and video signals. Products integrate advanced signal processing techniques, innovative engineering and modular flexibility and provide high quality, affordability and reliability within mission-critical broadcast applications. For more information please visit www.axon.tv

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