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34 Broadcast Asia2016

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Editorial04

SummaryEditorJavier de Martíneditor@tmbroadcast.com

Editor in chiefJesús Carrillodirector@tmbroadcast.com

Key account managersCristina Feduchiinternational@tmbroadcast.comTamara Meuwesetamara.m@tmbroadcast.com

Creative DirectionMercedes Gonzálezdesign@tmbroadcast.com

Editorial staffpress@tmbroadcast.com

AdministrationLaura de DiegoMarga Quevedoadministration@tmbroadcast.com

TM Broadcast International #34June 2016

TM Broadcast International is amagazine published by DaróMedia Group SLCentro Empresarial TartessosCalle Pollensa 2, oficina 128290 Las Rozas (Madrid), SpainPhone +34 91 640 46 43

Published in Spain

50The most important

HUB of FOX in Europe

Live IP Studio

Audio over IP Networking

in Broadcast 68Collaborative

Workflows76

Editorial

Netflix recently announced its intention to investigate and test linear

television. For a long time many technology experts say that linear

television was dying due to changes in consumption. It is not important to

reach the user through a particular via because viewers want to choose

from contents in many different channels, and this includes linear television.

Our market is changing with a strong irruption of mobile devices, but large

TV screens and traditional broadcaster will have their own space now and

in the future.

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SONY 4K CAMERAS A KEY COMPONENT OF SNEAKY BIGSTUDIOS

Arizona has long been aproduction mecca, and soonit will be home to Sneaky BigStudios, what is intended tobe one of the finestproduction facilities. Chosenfor image acquisition areSony’s F55 4K cameras.

From inception, Sneaky BigStudios has been intent onraising Scottsdale, Arizona'sprofile in the production worldto make it a first-pick in thishighly competitive industry.They provided DigitalGlue,the noted media design andintegration firm theopportunity to create the blueprint including today’s toptechnology which also allowsintegration with futureadvances. Starting with ablank page, the result is aground-up, groundbreakingdesign spanning over 15,000square feet that is scheduledto open in July.

"Our decision to standardizeon the Sony F55 camera isone of the most importantdecisions we made for ourbusiness," said StephenBrain, vice president andgeneral manager, Sneaky BigStudios. "Image acquisition iskey in what we're able toaccomplish. We're set ondoing the best and that's whywe're using the Sony F55's."

Throughout the selectionprocess, DigitalGlue made adetermined effort to look atcamera selection throughfresh eyes, to enable itsclients to come to aconclusion based on ahands-on experience.

"The Sony F55 promises tobe the camera of the 4Kproduction era," said SeanBusby, president and co-founder of DigitalGlue. "It'stempting to recommend gearbased on the opinion of

others in the business andreputation alone. Here, ourclient wanted to make achoice based on criticalevaluation withoutpreconceptions. This analysisresulted in all of ourconfidence in the F55."

"When you raise the bar inthe production community asSneaky Big Studios is set todo, it creates a ripple effectthat reaches far beyond thelocal production scene," saidAlex Rossi, Manager, ProductMarketing, Sony Electronics."The F55 has been makingwaves since the day weannounced it and continuesto do so. We havetremendous respect for whatSneaky Big Studios andDigitalGlue have set out toaccomplish and look forwardto seeing them take theindustry by storm with thebeautiful images they'll becapturing with the F55."

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IHSE USA AND LAWO UNITE THEIR KVM AND CONTROLSYSTEMS TO BENEFIT BROADCAST AND PRODUCTIONOPERATIONS

IHSE USA LLC announceda partnership with Lawowhereby IHSE's Draco teramatrix switch frames supportLawo's Virtual StudioManager (VSM) broadcastcontrol and monitoringsystem. A number of high-profile broadcast companiessuch as NEP Australia, YLEFinland, Danish RadioDenmark, and key broadcastand cable companies in theU.S. are already using Lawo'sVSM control environment tomanage KVM switching viathe IHSE products in theirediting suites, master controlsuites, and mobile productionstudios.

"KVM systems have gonefrom being a basic backroomtool for networkadministrators to an integralpart of any broadcast orproduction environment. Inthe process, IHSE's KVMsystems have becomeindispensable for mediaoperations around the world— not only for connecting toany keyboard and mouse, butalso for routing A/V and datasignals," said Dan Holland,marketing manager for IHSEUSA. "Lawo's widely adoptedVSM system is equallyvaluable to many of thesesame types of customers.

The partnership with Lawo isan example of how easilyIHSE's KVM solutionintegrates into third-partysystems, and how our manyexisting field installationsprove the performance andreliability of our joint solution."

IHSE's KVM system givesbroadcasters a way to sharecomputer sources withouthaving to dedicate specificworkstations to operationalneeds. With KVM, they canconnect any workstation toany server or computersource on the KVM matrixgrid. This connectivity meansthey can move noisy andheat-generating CPU units toa more centralized andsecure location while givingusers immediate performancefrom a workstation's keyboardand mouse. Simple APIcommands ensure easyintegration using commonGUI configurations that canbe adapted as needs change.

Beyond those benefits,IHSE's KVM system offersperformance gains withhigher-resolution video andaudio, such as 4K resolutionsand broadcast-quality digitaland analog audio.Furthermore, KVM systemsfrom IHSE provide legacysupport for RS-232 and RS-

422 shared serial datasignals.

Meanwhile, Lawo's VSMbroadcast control andmonitoring system provides astructured control system thatmanages all of these signaltypes under one interface,with symbols that can beeasily mapped to touch-screen or touch-pad devices.The Lawo VSM solution relieson unique logic to simplifyoperational user interfacesand workflows. A powerful yetintuitive toolbox allows usersto expand the broadcastsystem and make changes tothe workflow or configurationwithout manufacturer support.In this case, broadcasters areusing Lawo VSM to configureand control IHSE's KVMswitching workflows.

"IHSE's KVM solutions offerpowerful tools to customizeand simplify operations.Integrating the VSM systeminto an IHSE KVM solutionoffers even more possibilitiesin terms of connectivity,workflow flexibility, andconnectivity, freeing the usersfrom hardware restraints andgiving them ultimatefreedom," said Axel Kern,senior product manager atLawo.

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As the six strongest teamsof the HardMoves Fight Clubmet at Wuppertal'smagnificent HistorischeSchwimmoper indoorswimming center to competein the international boulderingseries' SuperFinal, RiedelCommunications supplied thereal-time media network andintercom system thatsupported live links to othervenues, as well as livestreaming. During the eventon March 5 in RiedelCommunications' hometown,the company provided aMediorNet fiber network,Artist digital matrix intercomsystem, Performer digitalpartyline intercom system,and STX-200 professionalSkype® interface, as well asa variety of control panels,beltpacks, and radios, toenable flexible, reliable signaltransport andcommunications.

Hailing from Wuppertalhimself, RiedelCommunications CEOThomas Riedel avidly

supports HardMoves. "Wefirst partnered for theSuperFinal in 2013 and werethrilled by the organizers'passion and enthusiasm," hesaid. "The HardMovessporting standard isimpressively high, and wewere delighted to participatein this event again in 2016 asa local business."

Over the past season,nearly 7,000 climbers fromsix nations participated in theHardMoves series.Competitors included WorldCup winners, worldchampions, and the bestboulderers on the planet.Hosted by the city ofWuppertal, the concludingevent of the HardMovesFightClub Edition 2015/2016featured athletes climbingfloating 7-meter-high walls infront of an enthusiastic crowdof 1,600, with another 2,300fans watching on a giantscreen at the nearbyHistorische Stadthalle. In all,more than 10,000 viewerswatched the event live orlater at sportdeutschland.tv,and the event's two YouTubechannels drew 32,000 views.

To support audio signaldistribution, Riedel tunneledAVB over a MediorNet fibernetwork to connect two Avidconsoles from satis&fy. Tocreate links between thethree Schwimmoper locationsand the Wuppertal city hall,more than one kilometer offiber was used. Together, an

Artist 64 system andPerformer system enabledcommunications at the twosites. Riedel also supplied awireless HD cameraproduction unit, acommentary control paneland headset, and 35 analogradios.

Riedel's STX-200 interfacefacilitated real-timeinteraction between fanswatching at a climbing cluband the fans in theHistorische Schwimmoperduring the competition.Licensed by Microsoft, theSTX-200 is a stand-alone,broadcast-grade solution thatleverages Skype to bring livecontent from remoteparticipants directly into thelive production. Together, theSTX-200, MediorNet, andArtist systems enabledtransport of program videowith embedded audio toproduction, as well as flexiblerouting of signals to individualSkype users using tabletsand other smart devices. TheMediorNet network also wasused to feed several livestreams to the Wuppertal cityhall. With fans around theworld watching at publicvenues and on several onlineplatforms, organizersestimate that up to 100,000spectators watched theSuperFinal.

RIEDEL SUPPORTS HARDMOVES INTERNATIONAL BOULDERINGSUPERFINAL COMPETITION IN HOME TOWN OF WUPPERTAL

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Medcom has installed anew Eclipse HX-Delta Matrixintercom system for use intheir new ‘EMA’ remoteproduction facility on one sideof the Panama City, wherethe broadcaster is shootingreality TV shows. At the sametime, Medcom upgraded itsmain production facility froman Eclipse Matrix to the newEclipse-HX Matrix platform,which is 15 miles away fromEMA. Now with an EclipseHX system at each facility,Medcom can connect themover IP and enable all V-Series control keypanel usersin both facilities tocommunicate as oneseamless group--all madepossible by the IVC-32 IPframe cards that reside ineach Eclipse HX system. All

of Medcom’s sevenproduction trucks are alsoequipped with Clear-Comintercom systems.

“We wanted to provide fast,efficient communicationsbetween our main offices(where our Master Controlfacilities are located) and ourEMA remote studio facility,”said Antonio Perez,Medcom’s Senior Operationsand Project Manager. “Clear-Com has been our intercomprovider for the last 20 years.We installed the EclipseMatrix 12 years ago and wehave continued to expandand upgrade it through theyears.

“Enabling the twoproduction sites to worktogether seamlessly was a

big part of Medcom’s plan,”said Joquebed Colin Lugo,Regional Sales Manager forLatin America at Clear-Com.“Making this happen was aneasy job thanks to the nativeIP technology built intoEclipse HX. Even across thecity, their users experiencegood audio quality andunnoticeable communicationdelay.”

“It was easy to add moreClear-Com intercom capacityto our production

system,” added Perez.“Working with our localdealer, Bitcom, systemintegrator Solotech, anddirectly with Clear-Com, theinstallation was seamless andfast. We have been verysatisfied with the results.”

MEDCOM INSTALLS A CLEAR-COM MATRIX INTERCOM SYSTEMWHILE UPGRADING MAIN SITE TO HX DIGITAL PLATFORM

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The Huffington Post anearly adopter of LiveU Solo,is utilizing the technology todeliver high-quality live videoto a wider audience onFacebook.

“At The Huffington Post,we’re eager to deliver livestreaming to our Facebookaudience and have alreadyincreased production byseven times in the lastmonth,” said PatrickMcMenamin, SupervisingProducer at The HuffingtonPost. “LiveU Solo has helpedus become one of the firstoutlets to stream high-definition video direct toFacebook. We've used LiveUin the field to stream HDvideo in our primary

campaign coverage and high-profile interviews, as well asour popular Game of Thronesafter-show chat.”

“Broadcasters and onlinevideo content creators arelooking to differentiate theircontent by delivering livequality streams, maintainingreliable connectivity, andsharing it with the worldseamlessly. This can beaccomplished with LiveUSolo,” said LiveU Co-founder& COO, Avi Cohen. “TheHuffington Post has seentremendous success in livestreaming. They understandthat live streaming contentconnects audiences to high-quality video on-the-fly.”

Optimized for online videoperformance, Solo deliversthe rock-solid video streamsLiveU is known for by usingLiveU Reliable Transport(LRT™) protocol’s integraladaptive bit rate and forwarderror correction technology.LiveU Solo connectsautomatically to FacebookLive, Wowza StreamingCloud™, as well as otherpopular CDNs, OVPs andYouTube Live, making livevideo simple. Solo can bemanaged and controlledremotely via a web interfaceor smartphone.

To learn more about LiveUSolo, visit

http://liveu.tv/liveu-solo.

LIVEU SOLO HELPS THE HUFFINGTON POST LIVE STREAM HDCONTENT DIRECTLY TO FACEBOOK

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MARQUIS ANNOUNCES THE APPOINTMENT OF PAUL GLASGOW

“Paul Glasgow is abroadcast industryprofessional with extensiveexperience in deployingsoftware and servicesinternationally,” confirmsChris Steele, managingdirector, Marquis Broadcast.“Paul will now focus ondeveloping sales for ourcomplete range of solutions,particularly those that solvemore complex workflowissues. Paul’s understandingof the Avid environment willalso enable him to take fulladvantage of Marquis’ recentAvid Certification for ProjectParking – our cost effectivesolution which manages Avidedit storage – in order topush this product into newterritories and markets.”

“I am excited to be joiningthe talented group ofindividuals which make upthe Marquis team,” confirmsPaul Glasgow, sales andmarketing director, MarquisBroadcast. “Integration andworkflow optimisation are keychallenges faced by thebroadcast industry today.Over the past ten yearsMarquis has ‘done the heavylifting’ and invested in thedeep development required tocreate technology whichenables manufacturers’systems to work together inan efficient and effective way.

“Today, Marquis provides a

range of media integrationproducts designed for thedata-rich requirements ofcurrent broadcastingenvironments and thecompany’s technology is amajor component of manycomplex infrastructures andworkflows,” continuesGlasgow. “I am now lookingforward to scaling Marquis’capabilities and replicatingthese successful installationsacross a global marketplace.”

Prior to joining Marquis

Broadcast, Paul Glasgowheld senior sales andmarketing roles atChyronHego, Chyron Group,Avid Technology and AvidBroadcast in addition toworking for otherorganisations over the yearsincluding: Sony, Arkemediaand EMC Media.

As part of Marquis’expanding internationalstrategy the company willexhibit at Broadcast Asia forthe first time this year on theDanmon Group stand 5A1-0.

Marquis Broadcast has announced the appointment of Paul Glasgow to the newlycreated role of Sales and Marketing Director, with responsibility for drivingMarquis’ direct and indirect sales across the globe.

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MOG Technologies hasrecently announced a newversion of MXF::SDK, its MXFSoftware DevelopmentToolkit. MOG’s MXF::SDK waslaunched in 2003 and wasthe first commerciallyavailable implementation ofMXF. MXF::SDK abstracts theapplication layer from thedetails and complexity of theMXF format, using simpleapplication programminginterfaces. It counts with avast number of customersworldwide using it to enableMXF on their own products.

The new version of

MXF::SDK issimpler tointegrate withand even morecomplete, withsupport for thelatest formatslike XAVC, AVCUltra and DNxHR, as well asa simplified licensing anddistribution model.

Our current customers willnotice two great changes:

• Firstly, it was totallyrewritten internally in orderto take advantage of thelatest C++ compilers but we

managed to do it whilebeing binary compatiblewith older compilers;

• Secondly, we havepackaged all the codecsand formats in a singleproduct, with a single DLLand license. This meansanything SD, HD and UHD,in one place.

“MATERIAL EXCHANGE FORMAT” POWERED BY MOG

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2016

NPR MEMBER STATION WJCT-FM AUTOMATES RADIOOPERATIONS WITH ENCO

“The grant enabled us toshore up our stationoperations to ensure that wecan remain on the air in theevent of natural disasters andpublic emergencies,” saidAlan Rhodes, BroadcastTechnician for WJCT-FM(89.9 FM). “We choseENCO’s DAD automationsystem primarily for itsreputation for reliability, andsince installing the systemthere hasn’t been a singleperformance issue. It’s been100% reliable in deliveringour audio programsaccurately and on-time.”

WJCT currently uses fourDAD automation computers,three of which are dedicatedto the on-air operation, withone dedicated as a backupsystem. Based on a MyersProTrack traffic log, the DAD

system automatically playsout all terrestrial and onlinestations, including the mainNPR FM signal on HD1,“Classical 24” music on HD2and “Music of Your Life” easylistening on HD3, as well asthree Internet streams fromthe website, www.wjct.org.WJCT also airs a RadioReading Service for the Blindon SCA1, and a FEMAemergency informationservice on SCA2.

Most often, the DADsystems play out live NPRnetwork shows, such as “AllThings Considered” and“Marketplace,” third-partyproduced shows like“Performance Today,” andoriginal WJCT programminglike “Deemable Tech.”However, during morning andafternoon drive-times, the

station takes the reins fromDAD to switch their own liveprograms, such as localnewscasts and, in the 9-10am slot, the public affairsshow, “First Coast Connectwith Melissa Ross.”

Scalability was anothercritical factor in WJCT’schoice of ENCO DADautomation. While the stationhad maxed out its previousautomation system’sdatabase, Rhodes said thatDAD’s databaseaccommodates a virtuallyunlimited number of audiofiles. DAD automationsoftware also scales from oneto many workstations, each ofwhich can playout up to 16separate playlistssimultaneously. And the high-speed database allows forinstant searching and sorting,

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with scrollable asset lists.

WJCT also takesadvantage of several specificDAD applications tostreamline productionworkflows, including Dropboxfor content management; andautomatic playlist creation tosimplify log maintenance. TheDAD installation alsointegrates with AxiaLivewire+, an AES-compliantAudio Over IP local areanetworking solution, tosimplify facility-wide contentsharing and distribution.

“DAD automation controlsLivewire+, triggering it toswitch or route audio frompoint A to point B. If we have

a live network show comingin via satellite, DAD willswitch that source and deliverit via Livewire+ to theappropriate destination foroutput to air,” Rhodes said.WJCT’s IT Manager DeniseCox supervised the ITsystems integration andassisted with the end-to-endDAD workflow, which waspurchased through localreseller Broadcasters GeneralStore.

“When we were firstshopping for this new radioautomation system, DuaneSmith, WJCT’s then VP oftechnology, selected theENCO DAD system,” Rhodessaid. “A primary driver was

NPR’s deployment of ENCODAD systems in conjunctionwith its Content Depotproject, as we knew it wasbeing successfully used inthe NPR community. Sincewe’re receiving programmingfrom their DAD systems, thatmade it a nice fit for ourstation too. Today, DAD isabsolutely the backbone ofour station. Without it, thecost to run our 24/7 stationwould be astronomical. Thereare many times when wedon’t even notice it running.It’s just there, in thebackground, doing what it’ssupposed to do.”

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NEW BLACKMAGIC DESIGN LIVE PRODUCTION WORKFLOWINSTALLED AT AL JAZEERA

The Al Jazeera MediaNetwork had previouslyworked with KidZania in boththe UAE and Qatar and whenthe decision was taken toexpand that partnership,Manager of Technology -Europe, Anil Chaman lead onthe project locally. “Our aimwas to replicate thebroadcast experience as

closely as we could, withoutall of the complexity,” heexplains. “KidZania has verystrict guidelines for partnerslike ourselves and ease ofuse was chief among them.What I liked aboutBlackmagic’s offering was itsphysical packaging. It’snaturally very user friendlyand intuitive to use, whilst still

providing us with all thefunctionality we’d expect ofour own studios.”

The studio is made up ofthree distinct components, alllargely operated by children,under the supervision ofKidZania staff: the studio floorwhere the presenter deliversa five minute news cast to

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three camera heads; aproduction gallery wherechildren can take control ofvarious aspects of theproduction process; and acolor separation overlay(CSO) or green screen setup.

On the studio floor are threeBlackmagic Studio Camera4Ks providing a live feed overoptical fiber, which is run viaan ATEM Studio Converterand patched via SDI into aSmart Videohub 12x12 videorouter. The same optical fiberprovides talkback and tally,with each camera operatorhaving their own set of noisecanceling headsets, enabling

them to take direction fromthe gallery. “The morecomplex roles such as visionmixing and audio are handledby a KidZania supervisor,”said Chaman. Blackmagic’sATEM 1 M/E ProductionStudio 4K with the ATEM 1M/E Broadcast Panel wasemployed to produce thenewscast on. “We thenmonitor everything from aseries of preview monitorsand while simultaneouslyrecording to a HyperDeckStudio Pro. A secondarybroadcast deck is used forVTs.”

Scaling was hugely

important to Al Jazeera onthis project. “We even wentas far as building a replicaversion of the same deskused in our own newsbroadcasts,” he concludes. “Ithad to feel real in everyaspect of its design andoperation or it was nevergoing to work, even down tothe training modulesthemselves, which, weredeveloped with our editorialteam.”

For more information,please go towww.blackmagicdesign.com

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SAM CHOSEN FOR EUROMEDIA’S NEW FLEET OF THREE HYBRID4K OB VANS

EUROMEDIA turned toSAM for its new OB vans dueto the flexibility and reliabilityof its products, as well as thelevel of post-sales andtechnical support provided.Consistency across all of itsoperations was also aconsideration in the decisionto invest in SAM technology:EUROMEDIA wanted toensure that its operatorscould switch seamlesslybetween OB vans to ensuremaximum efficiency.

The broadcast servicesprovider has invested inSAM’s market-leadingKahuna 9600 productionswitcher for its multi-formatcapabilities. Enabled bySAM’s unique FormatFusion3technology, Kahuna supportsany combination of SD, HD,

1080p (level A & B) and 4Kenvironments. Kahuna alsoallows EUROMEDIA to avoidthe need to use valuablespace within the OB van forexternal conversionequipment.

EUROMEDIA has alsoinstalled SAM’s Sirius 800routers with advanced hybridprocessing (AHP), integratedwith VSM controllers, in itsnew OB vans. The Sirius 800delivers operational flexibility,redundancy and providesprocessing capability onevery input and output. Thislatter feature generates hugespace, cabling, cost andpower savings – all criticalwithin an OB environment.EUROMEDIA is an existingSAM customer, havingalready invested in its ICE

CiaB and Morpheus playoutautomation technology.

Gaël Tanguy, TechnicalDirector at EUROMEDIAsaid, “Our aim is to remainthe premium technicalservice provider in thebroadcast live events space,whether we’re talking aboutthe summer athletics, a majorfootball tournament or a livemusic event. We’ve workedclosely with SAM to help usreach this goal, and thesupport that they provide uson a day-to-day basis iscritical. SAM offers the bestsolutions to help us build ouroperations to cope withwhatever our customersrequire.”

More information can befound at: www.s-a-m.com

The announcement was made by JohnPastore, Director of BroadcastCommunications for NBC Sports &Olympics and Ralph Strader, DirectorGlobal Product Management, RTS. “We areproud of our long-standing partnership withthe NBC team,” says Ralph Strader, “andthat RTS continues to be their brand ofchoice for broadcasting the world’s largestsporting events. The RTS equipment list forNBC’s Olympics coverage in Rio isextensive, including OMNEO, RVON, IPtrunking ADAM intercom matrix andintercom panels.”

“NBC Olympics has a long history ofusing RTS products for its coverage of theOlympic Games. By using RTS’ OMNEOand IP Trunking services, we will onceagain be able to expand the boundaries ofintercom communications during ourcoverage of the Olympic Games,” saysPastore.

For more information on NBC Olympics’coverage of the Rio Olympics, please visit:http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/

For further information, please visitwww.rtsintercoms.com

RTS SELECTED BY NBCOLYMPICSNBC Olympics selects RTS as its broadcastintercom provider for its production of 2016Olympic Games in Rio, first Olympics use ofRTS OMNEO Technology

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TNDV NETWORKS TWO LIVE WORSHIP EVENT PRODUCTIONS

The unusual aspect is thatthe unrelated eventsdiscovered each other shortlybefore they took place.AzusaNow Producer MarkHerring of 3D TechnicalDirections inquired withTNDV president and ownerNic Dugger about thepossibility of providing a livelink between the two eventsto share content.Unbeknownst to them, asecond TNDV crew wasalready onsite in DCpreparing for the UnitedCryproject.

“TNDV has worked with thisclient before, and as thisproject developed I knew wehad to have their level ofservice and expertise on thisshow,” said Herring. “I knewthat Nic and his team wouldbring their ‘A Game’ and dowhatever it took to make ithappen. Once the live DClink came up, I knew Nic andhis team would make it work.

In addition to the live linkcomplexity, our audioinfrastructure was massive.Between 13 different bandsand countless speakers,audio routing was particularlyintense. Between my audiolead, Kelly Epperson, TNDV’saudio engineering team, andour broadcast audioengineers, everything cameout amazing.”

“Our mobile trucks are builtfor networking, as wecommonly bring two trucks tolarge events to create acommon, unifiedinfrastructure for sharingvideo, audio and intercomsignals across a centralizedrouting architecture,” saidDugger. “Adding a live, bi-directional link wasessentially just a long-distance, wide-area extensionof our traditional local-areanetworking approach tounifying multiple disparateproduction elements. In

addition to contributing,managing and distributingvideo and audio signals, built-in Voice over IP connectivityallowed the crews tocommunicate as if the truckswere parked right next toeach other as usual.”

TNDV established the livecontribution via hardwarefrom Teradek, LLC, withCorporate Events Online alsohelping to manage the live bi-directional link. The real-timeHD feeds were encoded anddecoded whilecommunications wereestablished over VoIPhardware interfaced with anRTS matrix intercom on eachtruck. That connectivityallowed the two trucks totransmit and receive specialprogram content, includingprayer recitals in English andSpanish, over a secure,bandwidth-rich connection tosupport optimum imagequality.

TNDV customized theacquisition and productioninfrastructure at eachlocation. The company’sflagship 40-foot expandingside Aspiration truck poweredthe AzusaNow event, whichcommemorates the historicAzusa Street Revival of 1906where multiple races joinedtogether to usher in thePentecostal Movement.Taking place at the 93,607-seat Los Angeles MemorialColiseum, a former Olympicvenue, TNDV captured the15-hour event using nineHitachi Kokusai SK-HD1000

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cameras, and provided alltelevision support for in-venue IMAG and livebroadcasts, including GODTV (satellite TV and OTTsystems) and YouTube. Livefeeds were also provided tolocal media covering theevent.

The massive size of thevenue made camera runs achallenge for TNDV, furtherhampered by the venue’spolicy of limiting productionteams to its antiquatedcabling infrastructure. TNDV’sMultiDyne SMPTE-HUT fibertransceivers ensured thatcamera signals were cleanlytransported to the on-boardAspiration crew for liveswitching and monitoring.

“We were not able to pullcables from truck to cameraas we traditionally do, but theexisting fiber infrastructure inthe venue allowed us theopportunity to apply all ourspecial adapters, includingour MultiDyne fiber blocks, topower long-distance videoand audio transport andenable a full audio split,” saidDugger. “We used this samesignal transport strategy topower five large LED videoboards inside the arena, andtransmit all of our livebroadcast feeds.”

Back in Washington DC,TNDV used its Elevation HDtruck to power cameras,video and graphics playback,and audio mixing and

multitracking. The event, heldat the Lincoln Memorial,gathered more than 30,000pastors and ChristianLeaders to gather and prayfor America’s future. Theseven-hour event featured alineup that repeatedlytransitioned between musicalacts and speakers, whichmade the attention to detail inlighting and audio especiallysignificant. The UnitedCrybroadcast was alsodistributed by TNDV andcarried live on GOD TV.

In addition to the similarthematic content of eachevent, both crews were facedwith weather-relatedproduction challenges fromsetup to teardown.

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DIELECTRIC RELEASES DIELECTRIC ANTENNA SYSTEMSPLANNING (DASP) SOFTWARE VERSION 7.0 AS FREEWEB-BASED SERVICE

With the 1995 introductionof DASP, Dielectric wasamong the first antenna andRF systems suppliers to offerdesign software. Version 7.0adds a smart, interactive userinterface along with a widearray of new features andfunctionality, assuring thatconsultants and broadcastershave the broadest array ofplanning tools to simplify theupfront system designprocess. The online serviceand richer toolset also furtherreduces the proposaldevelopment timeline forDielectric proposal engineers,who will quickly become verybusy in the early phases ofthe Spectrum Repackprocess.

Since it is a web-basedprogram with design importfunctionality, Dielectriccustomers will receiveupdates throughout the yearon new products, elevationand azimuth patterns.

“Our newest DASP softwarewill save the broadcastindustry from the hugequagmire that an antennadesign bottleneck couldcause,” said John Schadler,vice president of engineering,Dielectric. “Given theimpending TV SpectrumRepack—with increaseddemand by broadcastersneeding to buy and installantennas to support their newDTV channels—we estimateas many as 1400 proposals

in a three-month periodduring the proposal andquotation phase of theRepack. DASP allowsindustry professionals to beproactive, and take charge oftheir antenna systemplanning.”

Based on information thatcustomers input about theirantenna needs, the DASPinterface guides them throughthe custom design process.Using DASP’s antennadatabase, users canconfidently match the newantenna’s design to theirunique technical parameters,such as polarization,elevation and azimuthpatterns, and transmissionline requirements.

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Once they’ve chosen abasic design direction, thesystem’s smart menus andinherent logic prevent usersfrom making inappropriatechoices that would beincompatible with theirtechnical objectives, such aschoosing the wrongtransmission line for theirdesired ERP.

New functionality allowsusers to flexibly base theirdesigns on either ERP orTPO, and flip back and forthbetween the two with asimple toggle button. SinceDASP 7.0 adds verticalpolarization, users can try outdifferent ellipticalpolarizations, such as a 60/40or 70/30 split betweenhorizontal and vertical, or afull CP 50/50 circularpolarization, and their designsadjust and updateautomatically. These optionswill also prove valuable tointernational TV and globalFM broadcasters, given

Dielectric’s expansiveportfolio of high-power andlow-power antennas. Version7.0 also adds multi-lingualcapability to better serveinternational users, withsupport for Spanish,Portuguese and Germanlanguages.

DASP’s online environmentallows users to access theFCC’s database, input theirstation’s call letters, andimport their FCC file pattern.Broadcasters and their RFconsultants can exploredesign options, rotate thepattern for differentperspectives, and experimentwith gains, powers andpolarization, among otherattributes, all while viewingtheir design in relation to theFCC footprint for theircoverage area. DASP 7.0also allows users to exportfiles in multiple file formatsthat can be transferreddirectly to the FCC,streamlining the FCC filing

process.

Once plans are ready, userscan print out a summary oftheir antenna specificationsor send the DASP plans toDielectric’s engineers. Thisreduces delivery timesbecause the time-consumingantenna system planningwork will have beencompleted. After reviewingthe customer’s plans,including perfecting thedesign, and confirming theprice and product, Dielectricproposal engineers canexpedite the order.

In the future, Dielectricplans to embed powerfuldesign software engines—and dynamic patterngeneration—into DASP.These more advancedfeatures and capabilities willallow “super-users” of thesoftware service to gobeyond planning to fullydesign their own broadcastantenna systems.

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PAN SHOTJUN

2016

TIGHTROPE MEDIA SYSTEMS’ ZEPLAY BOOSTS FAN EXPERIENCEAT SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY

The stadium buildout andcontrol room upgrades werealigned with the formation ofthe Southeastern Fire footballprogram. To stimulate fanengagement inside thestadium, the Media ServicesDepartment wanted anaffordable, multichannel

instant replay server thatwould deliver high-qualityvideo clips, yet was simpleenough for students tooperate with minimal training.ZEPLAY, currently priced at$45,000, proved to be theonly instant replay server tomeet or exceed each of

these requirements.

“Of all the capitalimprovements we havemade, ZEPLAY has done themost to enhance thegameday experience,” saidIan Fritzsche, Director ofMedia Services,Southeastern University.“ZEPLAY was half the priceand offered twice thefunctionality othercomparable systems on themarket, with a faster learningcurve and better ease of use.I watched demos of severalleading replay systems at anNAB show, and ZEPLAY hadthe simplest, most intuitiveoperation. I felt confident thatI could run ZEPLAY in a liveproduction situation 20minutes into the demo.”

The learning curve wasimportant as broadcaststudents run most of thecontrol room equipmentduring sports and live events.From an instructional level,Fritzsche and the broadcastprofessors ran ZEPLAY indemo mode to acceleratestudent learning, whichallowed students to practicecreating replays using oldergame footage. Students veryquickly move on to advancedZEPLAY features, such as

Media ServicesDepartment finds valuein ZEPLAY’s compactfootprint, quick learningcurve and reliableperformance in liveproduction

PAN SHOTJUN

2016

building highlight packages athalftime and following thegame.

From a workflowperspective, ZEPLAY offersreplay operators a built-inswitcher and multiviewer tomanage and monitor eight(four in, four out) high-qualityvideo angles. Camera feedsfrom the stadium aredelivered to ZEPLAY overSMPTE fiber connections,with replays distributed to in-venue displays and integratedwithin live broadcastsstreamed over the university’swebsite. Its compact designhas proven to be anotherbenefit in the new controlroom, which is rich in high-quality equipment butchallenged in terms of realestate.

Since going live withZEPLAY, Fritzsche is equallyenthused at both its qualityand performance – vital totranslating the excitement ofreplays to the stadium

experience – and how quicklystudents have adapted to itsoperation. The latter point isespecially important toFritzsche in an educationalenvironment.

“Producing great-lookingand entertaining sportscastsis a priority for us, but givingour broadcasting studentspractical, hands-onexperience is equally

important,” he said. “Wewanted a replay system thatour student would likelyencounter as they seekprofessional media jobs upongraduation. Since ZEPLAY iswidely installed, our studentswill be qualified to operate itgiven their experiencerunning it in our live sportsproductions.”

http://www.trms.com.

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PAN SHOTJUN

2016

"Riedel's products arequickly gaining acceptanceworldwide because they aresimple, cost-effective, andefficient systems that deliverexceptional performance andnew levels of flexibility andfunctionality," said CameronO'Neill, director, Asia-Pacificregion, at RiedelCommunications. "While theinstallations at industry-leading media facilities suchas TV 5 are among our first inSoutheast Asia, we anticipatethat these companies'

successes with Riedelequipment will lead to furtheradoption in the region."

TV 5 is a terrestrial free-to-air-television channel locatedin Bangkok, and it broadcastslocal dramas andentertainment. The companyis deploying five MediorNetframes to support moreversatile and sophisticatedrouting of audio, video, anddata in support of broadcastoperations. As a best-in-classproduct that combines andimproves on the functionality

of multiple individual devicesat a fraction of the cost, theMediorNet system presentsTV 5 with a lower total cost ofownership than if thebroadcaster had invested inmultiple individual solutionsneeded to achieve the samecapabilities. Because theRiedel media network isscalable, TV 5 can easilyexpand the network toaccommodate its growth.

Further information isavailable at www.riedel.net.

EFICIENT WORKFLOW WITH RIEDEL AT TV 5

Riedel Communications Gains Traction in Southeast Asia WithInstallation at Thailand's TV 5

Riedel Communications has deepened its presence in Southeast Asiawith a new installation of the company's equipment at Royal Thai ArmyRadio and Television (TV 5). Adoption of Riedel gear will enable the broad-caster to realize a simpler, more flexible, and more efficient workflow inbringing content to viewers.

PAN SHOTJUN

2016

With static access rules, therule is set permanently until itis changed or removedmanually or by another rule.Metadata values can now beincluded within the rules toenable intelligent processingand movement of assetsdepending on those metadatavalues.

Cantemo Portal 2.4 alsointroduces enhancements tothe advanced search

capability, enabling inclusionor exclusion of certain NLEprojects or collections whensearching. This could beused to apply a group actionto all items within a specificproject, such as quicklyarchiving those assets, forexample. The collectionspage now includes filtering bydata and media type, plusdrag and drop functionality formoving assets and

collections into othercollections.

The player within CantemoPortal has also beenenhanced, with the upperlimit for fast forward andrewind now removed, and theaddition of support for slowmotion playback, both inforward and rewind. Cantemohas extended its support forintegration with storagemethods, with Portal nowable to connect with remoteSFTP storage and S3buckets. Cantemo Portal 2.4will be demonstrated on theNMR booth (#220) at theMedia Production Show, from9th – 10th June.

For an overview of thefeatures in this version referto:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsJN-1VLHmI

CANTEMO LAUNCHES CANTEMO PORTAL 2.4

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BroadcastAsia is theregion’s leadingmultimedia and

entertainment technologyevent that presents the

latest in digital andinteractive media,

covering the entire valuechain of content creation,

management, anddistribution.

ADDER

TECHNOLOGY N

New IP-based KVM solutions

Adder Technology will beshowcasing a host of newtechnology solutions at thisyear’s Broadcast Asia eventfrom 31 May to 03 June inSingapore. Visitors to theshow will be the first in theregion to see the newAdderLink XDIP extender inaction.

The AdderLink XDIP is anIP-based KVM extensiontechnology which allows

small IP matrices to becreated without the need fora separate manager orcontrol system. Each devicefeatures an onboardconfiguration interface forsetup and to make livechanges. The device alsofeatures feed-through ports,which are ideal for AVapplications. Another featureof the XDIP is that each endpoint can be either a receiver(RX) or transmitter (TX)allowing customers to fluidlyreconfigure their installationwithout the need foradditional devices.

Adder Technology will alsobe launching the Adder C-USB LAN network extenderat the show where it will bedemonstrated live on stand inconjunction with a number ofother products thatdemonstrate the value thatIP-based KVM can bring tothe broadcast ecosystem.The Adder C-USB LAN canbe used alongside theAdderLink Infinity matrix todeliver high-speed USB2.0extension at 480 megabitsper second making it ideal forfile ingest from cameras orother USB devices.

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Other highlights at the showwill include:

• The AdderLink XD150FXfibre extender, a high-performance point-to-pointfibre extender with USB2.0that can transmit highquality video — up to2560x1600 — and analogueaudio over a duplex fibreoptic cable. The extenderenables users to locatecritical computing hardwareaway from workspaces inan access and temperaturecontrolled environment. Thislatest addition to the rangeincludes a built-in level of IPcontrol with the inclusion ofa network port, whichenables it to be controlledby other systems.

• Adder RED-PSU powerdistribution unit, withoptional redundancy. Thenewly launched 19 inchrack-mountable solutionfeatures 8/16 lockablepower outputs, two hot-swappable power modules,a web interface andintelligent load balancing for24/7 reliability.

• A VGA computer accessmodule (CAM) thatcomplements the range ofmodules available for theAdderView DDX matrix. TheVGA CAM is designedspecifically for use with theAdderView DDX range, acompact and flexible digitalmatrix solution. This newmodule supports VGAconnections which ensuresall DDX matrix systems cannow flexibly handle bothanalogue and digitalsources.

These new solutions and avariety of Adder’s other highperformance IP-based KVMproducts will be on show atthe Adder Technology stand4D2-06.

BLUEBELL OPTICOM

"We're constantly innovatingto stay ahead oftechnological trends and tomake sure that your Bluebellfibre link will work flawlesslyin live-on-air applications,whether you're using ourportable, stand-alone devicesdesigned for outside

broadcast or our highlyversatile rack-based systemsin a studio — or anycombination in between. Thisinnovation will be on displayat BroadcastAsia2016. Checkout the new BCX-760 Series,the first camera-backinterface to map signals ontoa 10G Ethernet point-to-pointlink." — Paul McCann,Managing Director, BluebellOpticom.

NEW BCX-760 Series 10GEthernet Point-to-Point FibreLink

At BroadcastAsia2016,Bluebell Opticom willshowcase the BCX-760Series 10G Ethernet point-to-point fibre link, a camera-back interface that allowseasy connection and signaltransport between a cameraand an OB truck or a basestation. In a first for theindustry, BCX interfaces mapall signals presented at theback of any broadcastcamera onto a 10G Ethernetpoint-to-point link, ensuringsafe, robust, interference-immune, high-quality

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transport over much longerdistances than have beenpossible before.

The BCX-760 Seriesproducts are designed tocreate rugged connections ina range of OB environmentssuch as special-eventvenues, ENG sites, sportsarenas, and golf courses.They can also serve as areplacement for heavySMPTE hybrid connectionson cameras in a studiosetting, and in certainvariations can be deployed tolink and control remoterobotic cameras. The BCXrange will transport bothdigital 3G-SDI program videoand return video, as well ascomposite feeds for genlock,analogue audio for intercomsignals, and Gigabit Ethernetfor network access. A single,lightweight fibre cable easesrigging, and customers canlink multiple cameras over thesame cable using Bluebell'smuxing and wavelength-management systems.

TDM-750 HD-SDI Module WithEthernet Fibre Interface

Making its Asian debut atBroadcastAsia2016 will bethe TDM-750, a rack-mounted module for single-direction transport of HD-SDIand 100Base-T Ethernetsignals. Requiring only twofibres with an option forsingle-fibre operation, theTDM-750 is perfect forsmaller robotic/POV camerasystems that require only asingle video path and

bidirectional data viaEthernet. The unit can beused widely in broadcast andsecurity applications.

BC364 Wavelength-Management System WithRemote Monitoring

The BC364 multiformatinterface takes in multipleoptical signals andretransmits them atwavelengths that can beinserted into a CWDM mux.On the other end of the link,the signals are returned totheir individual state. Thisfunctionality, coupled withBluebell's ShaxX power-insertion technology, is whatmakes camera multiplexingpossible. In this application,the BC364 is packaged withShaxX in a flight case tofacilitate the operation ofmultiple broadcast HD-SDIcamera systems over a singlefibre. Remote monitoringcapabilities make it easy andconvenient to oversee thesystem from a distance via anetwork connection.

ShaxX SMPTE Hybrid CableAlternative With PowerInsertion for BroadcastCameras

At BroadcastAsia2016,visitors will see BluebellOpticom's ShaxX, a ruggedsystem designed to providefull bidirectional signallingand power for broadcastcameras fitted with standardSMPTE 304M hybridconnectors. The ShaxXallows OB and remoteproduction crews to forgo

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SMPTE hybrid cables andtake advantage ofpreinstalled fibre networks onlocation in order to cut riggingtime and position camerasfreely wherever they areneeded, regardless ofdistance or the location ofmains power sources.

The ShaxX works withBluebell's Shax hybridalternative interface toprovide power to the camerawithout having to transport itfrom a remote CCU. Userscan multiplex completecamera chains onto a singleduplex single-mode fibre andpower them locally.Furthermore, using Bluebell'spopular BC Series footprint,ShaxX offers a completewavelength-managementcapability while providing allcamera and CCUcommunications. In this way,users can easily deploy up to16 cameras and connectthem over a single cable.

WB170 Converter System forCompact, 1-RU 3G-SDI, HD-SDI, SD-SDI, and ASITransport

Bluebell will also showcasethe WB170 atBroadcastAsia2016, an ultra-compact, 19-inch rack-mountmedia converter forconverting up to 32independent 3G-SDI, HD-SDI, SD-SDI, or ASI signalsonto fibre. The WB170 canbe populated with WB172transmitter or receiver cardsinserted in the front of theframe. At BroadcastAsia2016,

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Bluebell Opticom willintroduce additional frameoptions for the WB170 rangethat come in a fixed format inpopular configurations. Thenew, attractively pricedvariants will include electrical-to-optical conversion andoptical multiplexing.

Also new toBroadcastAsia2016 will bethe latest addition to theWB170 system, the WB172-63 card for format conversionand HDMI monitoring withinthe WB170 frame. Acompact, rack-based

multiformat converter for usewith a wide range ofbroadcast signals, theWB172-63's base unitcomprises two SFP cages.By using different SFPconverter modules, the unit'sfunctionality can be adaptedto suit different applications.The WB172-63 card offers acost-effective range ofoptions such as distribution,format conversion,monitoring, and wavelengthmanagement includingCWDM.

CALREC

Brio Compact Digital AudioConsole

Calrec Audio's new Brioconsole makes its Asiandebut at KOBA 2016 andBroadcastAsia2016. Brio isthe most powerful andcompact digital broadcastaudio console in its class,with a comprehensivebroadcast feature set thatsupports a wider breadth ofbroadcasters while retainingthe same market-leading

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levels of quality and customersupport for which Calrec isrenowned. The smallest inCalrec's Bluefin2 family,Brio's control surface is unlikeany other. At only 892 mmwide, the 36 dual-layer fadersurface provides more fadersin a given footprint than anyother audio broadcastconsole.

Based on Calrec's 20 yearsof digital development, Brio'suncluttered, compact, andconfigurable surface givesinstant access to a largenumber of audio paths whilstan intuitive 15.6-inch HDtouchscreen UI providesquick access to more in-depth control. A bank ofilluminating hardware rotarycontrols gives fast andprecise control overparameters displayed in thetouchscreen UI.

Brio is entirely self-contained, with analogue anddigital I/O and GPIO built intothe surface. Additionalexpansion I/O slots allow forfurther I/O integration, andfitting an available Hydra2

module makes it possible toconnect to and share audioover Calrec's Hydra2network.

RP1 Remote Production Unit

Calrec Audio's RP1 remoteproduction unit makes itsAsian debut atBroadcastAsia2016 andKOBA 2016 following itshighly successful reception atthe 2016 NAB Show. Visitorswill see a unique live-broadcast product thatdirectly addresses anincreasingly prevalentrequirement for high-qualitycontent from remotelocations.

Remote production offersthe ability to capture abroader range of live events,such as sports, news, orregional music festivals.Broadcasters cannot alwaysjustify the time or expense ofsending a dedicated outsidebroadcast truck and a teamof skilled on-site operators forthese niche events, but theymust always ensure that thesame high broadcast

standards are met.

Calrec's new RP1 remoteproduction engine is a 2Ucore that contains integrated,FPGA-based DSP, whichenables a console surface atanother facility to control allmixing functionality. The RP1core manages all of theprocessing for IFB routingand remote monitor mixes,and it does so locally with nolatency. This level ofintegration and remotecontrol makes it simple forany remote mix engineer toset up IFB mixes anderadicates any delay forremote listeners orpresenters.

The RP1 core quicklyembeds audio into existingvideo-transport mechanisms,while its modular I/Obackbone accepts any ofCalrec's I/O cards. Thisversatility means the RP1 canconnect via analogue, AES,MADI, SDI, and the latestAoIP solutions from AES67,Ravenna, Dante, and SMPTE2022.

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IKEGAMI

Introducing 4K UHK-430 toAPAC Market atBroadcastAsia 2016

Ikegami's new 4K UHK-430portable broadcast camerawill be introduced to the AsiaPacific market atBroadcastAsia 2016 followingits highly successfuldemonstration at the recentCABSAT exhibition in Dubaiand at the NAB Show in LasVegas. 4K resolution andhigh dynamic range havebecome important issuesthroughout the broadcastmedia industry, as contentproducers and deliverychannels plan theirinvestment strategy for thecoming five to 10 years. Thefirst in Ikegami's new-generation UNICAM XErange of cameras, the UHK-430 incorporates three newly-developed 4K-native 2/3 inch8 megapixel CMOS sensorswhich provide full 3840 x2160 ultra-high definitionresolution, plus the depth offield required for studio andoutdoor production. TheUHK-430 delivers four timesmore image detail than highdefinition and has a colourdepth of 10 bits per pixelinstead of the current limit of8 bits per pixel.

The UHK-430 incorporatesa B4 bayonet mountcompatible with 2/3 inch HDlenses. An optional SE-U430expander accommodateslarge studio or OB lenses.Two piece construction

allows the sensor and lenshead to be detached as acompact unit for easydeployment on a supportdevices such as long-reachmanually-controlled camera

poles. In this mode, the headcan be operated up to 50metres from the camerabody.

At the heart of the UHK-430is a new processor, the AXII,

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reducing power consumptionand delivering a wide rangeof features including 16-axiscolour correction and newfocus-assist for 4K and HDvideo modes. The AXII also

provides the processing forIkegami's newly developed i-Log transfer characteristicwhich delivers high contrastfor a wider dynamic range.This allows more image

information to be retained forgreater headroom and colourgrading. The ITU-R BT.2020extended colour spacespecification is supported in4K mode. BT. 709 colourspace is supported in both 4Kand HD modes.

Ikegami viewfindersavailable for the UHK-430include the 7.4-inch OLEDVFE741D, the 7-inch full HDresolution LCD VFL701DLCD and the 2-inch portableLCD VFL201D. All threeinclude a serial digitalinterface for integratedcamera and viewfinder menucontrol.

The companion IkegamiCCU-430 camera control unitenables easy migration fromHD to 4K live production.Features include switchable 4x 3G-SDI 4K output as wellas HD output. An optionalplug-in board makes 4Kvideo, HD video, and HDcutout from 4K availablesimultaneously. 12G-SDI andvideo-over-IP interfaces willbe introduced in the comingmonths.

A built-in 40 gigabits persecond optical transceiverdelivers full bandwidth 4KRGB 4:4:4 componentchannels from camera toCCU, allowing very highquality chroma keying. DualHD outputs are provided forteleprompt and talent monitorplus return video lines fromstudio to viewfinder. TheUHK-430 also has a GigabitEthernet data port to allownetworked control.

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LIVEU Ten years ago, LiveU

disrupted the industry andushered in the IP revolution inbroadcasting with cellular

bonding. Since then, theadoption of IP-basedworkflows in broadcastinghas grown tremendously withLiveU remaining at theforefront of this tech

evolution. With new,innovative hardware andsoftware solutions, strategicpartnerships, and advancesin 4K, LiveU is transformingthe way broadcasters andonline video content creatorsproduce, integrate, and sharehigh-quality streamingcontent.

At BroadcastAsia2016,LiveU will present its fullrange of live videoacquisition, management anddistribution solutions over IPand latest additions to itsportfolio.

LiveU’s New LU710 4KEncoder

LiveU will showcase itsnext-generation LU7104K/p60 rack-mountable 1Uencoder.

Combined with the Xtendertransmission device (LiveU’sexternal antenna with sixmodems, delivering videorates of up to 40 Mbps) andLiveU’s enhanced server with4K output, the LU710encoder transforms any SNGtruck into a fully mobile hybridcellular/satellite solution fortransmitting 4K/HD video withimproved efficiency.

Delivering superior videoperformance, the LU710 isfully integrated in the LiveUecosystem via the LiveUCentral browser-basedmanagement platform.

APAC Debut of LiveU Solo

LiveU will demonstrate itsnew plug-and-play livestreaming bonded solution for

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the online media market,LiveU Solo.

LiveU Solo allows users tolive-stream seamlessly intoany web streaming workflowby connecting automaticallyto popular content deliverynetworks such as Facebook,YouTube Live and WowzaStreaming Cloud™. Solo issimple to manage and controlremotely via a web interfaceor smart device.

Also on show

• LiveU’s award-winningLU500 portabletransmission unit. Weighingaround 1 kg (2.2 lbs),LiveU’s LU500 offers theultimate combination of high

performance and portability;

• LU200 ultra-small portabletransmission unit andLU200e, the most cost-effective video encoder onthe market, enablingstreaming for webdistribution, point to point,and point to multi-point for afraction of the cost of othersolutions;

• LiveU Central, cloud-basedmanagement and videodistribution system, enablingfleets of units to be centrallycontrolled using geo-location capabilities;

• LiveU’s new, enhancedversion of MultiPoint,internal and cross-

organizational professionalvideo distribution service,enabling the sharing ofhigh-quality live videobetween multiple broadcastfacilities over the publicInternet;

• LU-Smart mobile app,bringing bondedtransmission to mobilephones & tablets.

RIEDEL

COMMUNICATIONS

"Attendees atBroadcastAsia2016 will findthat our MediorNet real-timemedia network and theMicroN network device in

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particular, are much morethan just fiber transport andglue. We look forward todemonstrating how thesesystems enable a uniquelyflexible new approach torouting — one that bringsusers an array of benefitswhen compared withconventional monolithicsystems. We also will featurethe new ExpansionSmartpanel, which makes iteasy to augment our popularSmartpanel system withfurther customizable keysand displays." Rajveer Singh,General Manager, South EastAsia.

MediorNet MicroN as aVersatile Decentralized Router

MicroN is a high-densitymedia distribution networkdevice for Riedel's MediorNetline of real-time mediatransport and managementsolutions. AtBroadcastAsia2016, Riedelwill demonstrate howinterconnected MicroN unitscan be deployed to create adecentralized routing systemthat distributes signal load,takes advantage of flexiblenode placement, andeliminates any single point offailure to create an attractivealternative to traditionalmonolithic routers. MicroN ispoised for 4K and IPworkflows, and provides

greater flexibility in buildingmedia infrastructures, fromsignal transport to full videorouter functionality includingsignal processing. With theseon-board signal-processingcapabilities, a MicroN-basedsolution can handle SDIsignals in a very powerful,tremendously versatile, andhighly scalable routingsolution ideal for productionsof all sizes and complexity.

ESP-2324 ExpansionSmartpanel

The new ExpansionSmartpanel (ESP-2324) forRiedel's award-winning RSP-2318 Smartpanel is makingits BroadcastAsia2016 debut.The Smartpanel itself is apowerful multifunctional userinterface with features andcapabilities that enrich theuser experience and changethe way broadcasters andA/V professionalscommunicate. By connectingthe new ExpansionSmartpanel directly to thisunit, users immediately gainan additional 24 keys, fourhigh-resolution multitouchcolor displays, premium-quality stereo audio, andbuilt-in matrix connectivity viaAES67 or AVB — allpackaged in just 1 RU.Because as many as fourExpansion Smartpanels aresupported by Riedel's RSP-

2318 intercom app for theSmartpanel, users have theability to extend theirSmartpanel configurations toinclude up to 19 displays and114 keys.

SAM

Snell Advanced Media atBroadcastAsia 2016

At stand 5D3-01, SAM willshow a host of technologiesthat explore the company’sposition insoftware/virtualization,solutions for monitoring andworkflow, IP and 4K.

Software/Virtualization

SAM offers sophisticatedsoftware-driven platforms andgoing forward, it will transitionfurther to a datacenter modelfor many additional productofferings. SAM’s CiaBsolutions - ICE, ICE IP, andICE SDC - coupled withMorpheus, Momentum andSAM’s xFile framework forma pathway to the future. Inresponse to the growingmarket demand for adjustingcontent duration, SAM isdemonstrating AlchemistKronos, which bringsAlchemist’s unmatchedimage quality to theapplication of durationadjustment within thesoftware based xFile series.

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Monitoring and Workflow

SAM’s Media Biometrics willbe on show, bringing uniquecapabilities to monitoring. Forthe first time, automatedmonitoring can not onlyunderstand the quality ofmedia, but that it’s the rightmedia. It’s now shipping inproducts across SAM’sportfolio including the newSirius 800 integratedmultiviewer, enablingmonitoring by exception andreducing cost of operations.

Enabling the IP Transition

SAM will be demonstratingits full range of IP solutions,highlighting how it can helpcustomers make a risk-freetransition to IP whilst stilladdressing their currentbusiness needs. SAM’s newIP-Edge technology takescomplexity away from hybridand pure IP rollouts. Products

that are IP-Edge enabledinclude routers, switchers, IQprocessing, servers andplayout systems, andcustomers can buy withconfidence knowing that IP-Edge systems closely followthe interoperability goals ofAIMS. One of the firstproducts launched in the IPEdge family is the IQ Edgeprocessing solution,developed to bridge the gapto IP environments by offeringa range of image and audioprocessing capabilities in anintegrated package.

Leading 4K Solutions

SAM’s new Kula switcherrange will be shown in Asiafor the first time duringBroadcastAsia 2016. Kulahas already created a hugeamount of interest in themarket as the most powerfulproduction switcher in itsclass. It breaks new ground

with its price point andperformance combination.Easy installation and set-upmeans operators can workquickly and efficiently,focusing on high valuecreative tasks. It’s capable of4K/1080p/HD and SD in1M/E and 2M/E versions, andcan handle multiple formatsmaking it both future-proofand adaptable for today’sproduction environment.

SAM will also bedemonstrating its LiveTouchsports highlights solution,built on the company’s latestgeneration of 4K productionservers, offering replay, slow-motion and powerful editingwith no media movements.

SGLSGL's FlashNet content

management solution isdesigned to integrateseamlessly with MAM or

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automation control systemsto provide significantimprovements to workflowefficiency without intruding onthe users’ familiar desktop.SGL’s Open SystemArchitecture providesbroadcasters, post productionfacilities, and news/sportorganisations with reliable,scalable solutions withsubstantial cost and workflowbenefits.

At Broadcast Asia 2016SGL will show its newFlashNet Infinity userinterface for the first time inAsia, which includes thefollowing key features:

NEW – FlashNet Infinity: AtBroadcast Asia 2016 SGL willdemonstrate new FlashNetfeatures including a previewof the new FlashNet Infinity

user interface. FlashNetInfinity, which providescustomers with an elegantdashboard that furthersimplifies archive procedureswith sophisticated tools forarchive and restorefunctionality, system health,monitoring, analysis,reporting and more, will beincrementally rolled out overthe next 12 months.

SGL will highlight featuresincluding: automatedworkflows to offload orbackup media content fromonline storage to low-coststorage and deep archive,support for inline partial filerestore and new archiveanalytics to help improveoperational planning andefficiency.

Full Avid Archive Manager

demonstration on Avid booth:SGL will be showing a fullAvid Archive Managerworkflow in conjunction withan Avid Interplay demo on theAvid booth, as well as thecost-effective FlashNet IPWSworkflow. Visitors to the SGLdemonstration on the Avidbooth will also find out how toefficiently restore SGLarchived Avid Interplaysequences using theenterprise LTFS restoreapplication for emergencyrecovery.

NEW - Media productionworkflow by Gemiso: Mediaand workflow softwaredeveloper Gemiso willdemonstrate a highly efficientmedia production workflowwith SGL FlashNet includingremote management using aSmartphone.

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NEW – Support for AXF:SGL now supports readingand restoring from SMPTE’sArchive exchange Format(AXF). FlashNet, SGL’sflagship content managementstorage system, can nowread and process AXFobjects providing greaterflexibility for customersworking with both LTFS andAXF archived objects. Thisensures long term availabilityof content in the futureregardless of technologyevolution.

• NEW – Archive contenttransferred to the cloud orremote locations usingExpedat Gateway: SGL’sintegration with Expedatallows media professionalsto create workflows fromtheir MAM or archivesystem and to collaborate

on the creation and sharingof high quality, highresolution content. It utilisesthe low-cost, flexible natureof AWS cloud storageservices to ‘park’ projectcontent or to create off-sitearchive backups for disasterrecovery purposes. TheSGL integration withExpedat’s networkacceleration gatewaytechnology means thatbroadcasters and contentowners can quickly andreliably transfer materialdirectly to remote sites or toAmazon AWS cloud storagefrom their MAM or archiveproduction systems usingSGL FlashNet.

• NEW - Checksum Support:SGL now providesChecksum support tofurther protect data. The

Checksum feature receivesor calculates the Checksumof each asset in either MD5or SHAI format, andvalidates the Checksumwhen the asset is about tobe used to ensure that ithas not become corruptedin some way.

• NEW – Pre-defined drivesfor specific archive roles:The new version ofFlashNet allows customersto allocate a pre-definednumber of drives within theirlibrary for a specific role,such as archiving Avid jobsonly, or restoring/archivingmaterial at a certain time ofday. This allows largerbroadcasters with multipledrives to further improveoperational procedures.

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INTERVIEW WITH

ANTONIO TABLERO,OPERATIONS

MANAGER.

What is the origin ofFOX's center?

Since the launching of FOXin 2001, BroadcastingOperations have increased inscale and scope up to 270feeds, which we now deliverin Europe and Africa. InFebruary 2015 we began toredefine our facilities inMadrid, to remain competitiveand efficient. Today, we havea Center of Media Operationsin Ciudad de la Imagen, astorage and communicationscenter at the Interxion datacenter and the company'sheadquarters in CalleOrense. The three centers

are connected by a ring of40Gbps. The Center of MediaOperations in Ciudad de laImagen is where workflowstarts and ends: materialacquisition, quality control ofmasters, quality managementand control of every languageversion and reworking, thatare then delivered to thedifferent linear playoutcenters and assets for on-demand video services. Themost creative and strategicpart of the company islocated in Calle Orense:marketing, sales,programming, design andpost-production.

What operations arebeing carried out fromSpain?

In our operations center wemanage about 50 lineardistribution channels and

about 120 feeds for Spainand other countries in Europeand Africa. As to volume, it isthe biggest HUB of the FOXNetwork Group in Europe.Next to these facilities, inOveron Madrid, we have 22linear play outs and we alsomanage 18 linear channelsfrom the cloud, with solutionsdeveloped by Inetsat forFinland, Estonia, Norway,Romania, Holland and othercountries. This volume ofchannels explains the large-scale facilities that we haveand the stability of ourprofessionals. Our team hashardly changed in the lasteight years, except for newhires. Similarly, we havesignificantly developed thepreparation of files andpackages for VOD services.In just four years we havegone from having a fewpackages, to more than

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In Madrid we find the mostimportant HUB of FOX in Europe.We have visited their facilities to

talk to Antonio Tablero,Operations Manager.

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22,000 VOD packagesdelivered over the last year,in order for our content to beaccessible to consumers,choosing how and when,through own services ofpayment operators.

Please let us knowabout your workflow.

It is a complex process, notonly because it involvesmany steps, but also becausewe have to adapt to thedifferent modes of deliveryset by studios and productioncompanies. We do not onlywork with 20th Century FoxTelevision, but with manyother providers. Generally,everything starts when wereceive the confirmation ofproduct acquisition, and thenthe program schedules. Wethen have to make the

estimates of resources thatwe are going to need.

Once we have access tothe materials that have beensent, we define processes to

cover the editorial and legalneeds of each market towhich content is to bedelivered. To do so, we needto adapt our intake flows tothe delivery processes ofeach studio or productioncompany. The exchange offiles is done throughSmartjog, Signiant or Aspera,which are the systemsauthorized by our group,even though in some veryspecial cases we also useFTP.

In that regarding languages,we work at least with twodubbing/subtitling companies.Sometimes we work with upto 20 different languages,which greatly complicatestiming when having to receiveevery version to prepare thebroadcasting asset.Normally, dubbing starts 40

We manage about 50linear distributionchannels and about120 feeds for Spainand other countriesin Europe and Africa.As to volume, it is thebiggest HUB of theFOX Network Groupin Europe.

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days before broadcasting. Incase of voice over it's 15days, and for subtitles, 7 daysbefore its premiere. Thisstrategy has been heldsteadily over years but now,due to the threat of piracy,release timings are muchshorter with respect to UnitedStates, which means that ourservices are continually beingtested. We often work withshort time limits for thereceipt of broadcastedmaterial, hours from the USpremiere and the proceduresare the same: once it isreceived, setting up sync,components are closelychecked for quality in eachlocation, it is introduced in

the MAM system and filedalong with metadata for thebroadcasting managementsystem, in our case,SintecMedia.

For some local productionseries or historical files ofother countries, we stillreceive tapes, althoughvolume has declined to 1% ofthe total content that wehandle, about one thousandmonthly masters.

Once completion of thisstage, contents are classifiedas ready to be broadcasted,specifications are donedepending on the systems inwhich the content is to bebroadcasted and according to

This strategy hasbeen held steadilyover years but now,due to the threat ofpiracy, releasetimings are muchshorter with respectto United States.

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the playout flows of providers.Harmonic's broadcastingsystem in Amsterdam is notexpecting the same type offile as Harmonic's system inMadrid. This all has to betaken into account and itresponds directly to thetechnological development towhich our providers areadapting to. Adaptation totechnology makes everyprocess different in eachchannel, ever since thematerial is received, and upuntil it is broadcasted.Therefore, we need to haveflexible systems. Flexibility

and productivity are the keyof our facilities, in order tooffer personalized attention toour internal customer and todevelop feasible businessstrategies. This is why wehave to avoid locked-insolutions. Major brandsnormally have one single flowsystem and adapting to themis restrictive and expensive.Mixing different languages inone same audio track basedin linguistic preferences isvery common in some areas.This is the case of thechannel Mundo Fox,distributed in Angola and

However, the cloudoffers appropriateservices to deployoffshore play outsthat we managefrom Madrid. Serverscan be installedanywhere in theworld.

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Mozambique, delivered inAngola's Portuguese but alsoin Brazilian Portuguese,Portugal's Portuguese ororiginal language withsubtitles according to theavailable locations.

What do you thinkabout 4K? Are youready to work with it?

With regard to 4K, there is alack of knowledge about it,but we have some hours of4K content, mostly for NatGeo Wild, NationalGeographic's channel onwildlife. In this Premium

brand, a lot of attention isdrawn to production, andwork is developed for qualityto be the best possible. Inany case, most productionsthat are being made todaywork with this technology andwill gradually be incorporatedto a catalogue of ultra highdefinition contents. Forexample, in April it was theworld premiere of Story ofGod, a series of NationalGeographic Channel withMorgan Freeman, withspectacular 4K photographyin the color space 2020.Along with other filmed and

post-produced productions inUHD such as Wild Venice,The Giant Serpent, etc., wehave the possibility ofpackaging them anddelivering them quite easily.However, the leap forward toHDR is still a problem due tolack of standardization. Wehave a long way to go yet.Within the renewal of theinfrastructure, and eventhough we do not know whatthe distribution format isgoing to be, we are ready tosupport required 4K flows,without the other processesbeing affected.

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Do you have a deepfile?

We have a file storagesystem with a capacity closeto a petabyte, supported byIsilon's EMC2 technology.Due to contracts with studios,we have to store the contentsuntil the exploitation rightsend. Management of thedigital file is also progressingand changing to Tedial. Forthe time being, we have onlyworked with disks, as storagecosts for every TB and theoffered bandwidths are fairlyreasonable. Even though atthe beginning of the projectwe thought overload would allbe derived towards cloud

services, we have realizedthat the current situation ismore advantageous in termsof internal growth, so thisyear we will add 450TB.

What is the cloudmissing?

In order to maintain thecondition of our current files,on-premises domain is morethan enough. However, thecloud offers appropriateservices to deploy offshoreplay outs that we managefrom Madrid. Servers can beinstalled anywhere in theworld, which enables thelaunching of channels in anycountry in just a few weeks

time. Having content in thecloud is very flexible and, in acouple of hours, that contentcan be broadcasted. Weupload the new material tothe cloud, approved andperfect, we then add audiosand subtitles for eachcountry, and we then justhave to set the output serverwith streams in the formatthat is required for itsdistribution.

What about incidents?The cloud is delocalized

and distributed in severalgeographical areas. Localservers where streaming isdone are set as 1+1, installed

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in Data Centers with highavailability services andpreferably in those wheretechnical services withexperience in TV distributionare offered. In this way, weensure monitoring and localmaintenance of video signals,whether through distributionbase band or comprised.Apart from this, the platformoffered by Inetsat constantlywarns us on possibleproblems based in thecontents shown in thecontinuity play-list, alarmsdue to lack of location in thechannel's configuration,alarms on the situation ofservers, etc. The system isstable, with a powerfulgraphic capacity, auto-managed content accordingto the internal storagecapacity of servers and amanagement console andcentralized configuration.

You use your ownBPM...

There are many solutions inthe market. Our own MAMhas a developed andpowerful processmanagement module butfrom our point of view it is toofocused on Media, which intheory should be perfect forus. But we are not anisolated unit and we have tointegrate ourselves with therest of the company, wheremany other businessprocesses are carried out,that nothing have to do withvideo files.

This is why we decided thatwe needed another type ofBPM, an enterprise levelsolution. We adoptedOracle's BPM Suite. Wetherefore have a component,Service Bus, which is crucialfor us due to the number andcomplexity of systems.Through Service Bus we canconnect different contentmanagement systems inEurope and resources tooptimize operations at thelevel of the hub of Madrid andthe region. A systemupdating will only need anupdating of its connector withService Bus, with no need tomodify the processesmanaged by users, which aretransparent to systems.

Apart from integratingbroadcasting systems, it alsohelps us to integrate withsystems that weretraditionally managed by IT,

such as Human Resources,invoicing control, quotations,etc. In these integrations wesee that this BPM can reduceour regulatory burdens andprovide us more accurateand instantaneous reports.General purchase orders,accounting locationsdelivered by each provider orapproving invoices willbecome automatic processesthat will only require theconfirmation of theresponsible manager. Forthis all to be possible, Ebantichas developed Media flowsand we are now adaptingbusiness processes. Oracleis very powerful, but it hasnot developed Mediaconnectors. In short, we areadapting traditional ITsolutions to our Mediaoperations world, adaptingthem to our needs andintegrating everything thatcan be automated. With thisBPM we can easilyincorporate VOD platformsthat are perfectly adapted totheir local configurations,languages, etc. Ebanticprovides expertise and abilityto synthesis and develop tomake it possible. The abilityto be flexible and dynamic iskey in this market. It is theonly way to fulfill the businessneed as soon as possible.That is why we try to havethe "turn-key".

In these integrationswe see that this BPMcan reduce ourregulatory burdensand provide us moreaccurate andinstantaneousreports.

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In previous editions we compared SMPTE 2022-6and AVB, after having left AVB for live video

productions over IP. In this new issue we look atnew systems for IP live production.

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Little more than five yearsago, when we started toinclude data networks intoproduction systems, it wouldhave been hard to imaginethat shortly afterwards wewould be thinking about tryingthese kind of infrastructuresto carry linear productionsignals, because datanetworks were limited tocontrol signals, monitoringparameters and specifictransfers such as shortvideos, static images,graphics, data to supplygraphic platforms orcomplementary metadata invideo and audio. It was hardto imagine that it could beused with 270 Mbps SDIsignals and, much less, with1.5 Gbps HD-SDI signals ofemerging high definition inthose data networks wherewe had connections of 10 or100 Mbps.

The use of IP technologiesrepresented a significant costsaving: elimination ofphysical means, technicaltools and time of operators intraffic, contribution,broadcasting and transport ofcontents. Contribution,edition and collaborationsystems soon incorporatedstorage computertechnologies and networksthat, along with the video andaudio compressionstandards, and improvementsin telecommunicationnetworks, increased notablythe efficiency of productionand broadcasting systems,increasing productivity innon-linear processes and theefficiency of contributionroutes.

The changes in systems'engineering and in theadaptation of work processes

of professionals in contentproduction, experiencingtimes of relevant changes toadapt to a new technologicalreality that involved aconsiderable effort amongprofessionals from relatedareas, should beremembered.

The inclusion of IPtechnologies in order to carrylinear signals in the origin oflive content production wasstill pending, and it is here.In this area, the explosion ofIP technology coincides withthe taking off of Ultra HighDefinition, which brings a newvariable and adds a newchallenge to theimplementation of theinfrastructures within thevalue chain of contents ofthis segment.

In the following pages we

Vicente Pla Ferri

Training and Technology

ABACANTO SOLUCIONES

vicente.pla@abacantosoluciones.com

TXT:

Jorge de la Torre Sánchez-Bravo

Managing Director

ABACANTO SOLUCIONES

jorge.delatorre@abacantosoluciones.com

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want to help understand thestate of art and the currentcontext of live productionswith IP technologies.

PARADIGM SHIFT

The fact that the worldchanges is a reality, andengineers of the Broadcastsector with some years ofexperience know it well:Composite, Components,SDI, SDTI, HD-SDI, 3G-SDIand, now what?

While SMPTE standardizedlast year interfaces 6G-SDIand 12G-SDI, based onmultiplexing on one singlecable with several virtualstreams, as with 3G-SDI, IPtransmission of productionsignals is gaining a largershare.

Initially, AV engineers, veryconcerned about the qualityof the viewer's experience(QoE), worked with point topoint signals, avoiding cutsand pixelation. In parallel, ITengineers were in charge ofIP streams, traffic, networkconfigurations, etc.

They all now have to worktogether:

• AV engineers to adaptthemselves to the IT world

• IT engineers becomingmore aware of the highimportance of loosing apackage.

SMPTE-2022.

THE FOUNDATION

OF HYBRID

ENVIRONMENTS

TV signals started to travelthrough IP in 2007 thanks tothe SMPTE-2022-2 standardthat enables MPEG-2 TSsignals to be carried on IP. In2010 the option of includingvariable bit-rate signals wasadded and finally, in 2013,SMPTE 2022-6 wasdeveloped, completed withparts 5 and 7 of the standardof 2013:

- Part 1: Forward ErrorCorrection for Real-TimeVideo/Audio Transport OverIP Networks

- Part 2: UnidirectionalTransport of Constant BitRate MPEG-2 TransportStreams on IP Networks

- Part 3: UnidirectionalTransport of Variable BitRate MPEG-2 TransportStreams on IP Networks

- Part 4: UnidirectionalTransport of Non-PiecewiseConstant Variable Bit RateMPEG-2 Streams on IPNetworks

- Part 5: Forward ErrorCorrection for Transport ofHigh Bit Rate Media Signalsover IP Networks (HBRMT)

- Part 6: Transport of High BitRate Media Signals over IPNetworks (HBRMT)

- Part 7: Seamless ProtectionSwitching of SMPTE ST2022 IP Datagrams

The standard adopted on atransitional basis for IP studioproduction is HBRMT(SMPTE 2022-6), based onencapsulating SDI using non-

Protocol stack of SMPTE 2022-6

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connection orienteddatagrams (UDP) andoptionally adding forwarderror correction (FEC) onRTP.

For now, standardization isonly available for resolutionssupported by 3G-SDIinterfaces or lower.

This is the ideal standardfor hybrid environments,where SDI signals and IPcoexist. Units can still workinternally as they did with SDIand it simply changes theSDI interface for a SMPTE-2022-6 one.

Will this affect the topologyof our test? Not really. It mayeliminate part of the cabling,but not too much. The mainadvantage is that, as it is anIP signal (layer 3) we can

transmit signals over publicnetworks and transportuncompressed video signalsfrom one location to another,with no need of using links.

What implications does SDIconverted to IP have? Apriori, although it wouldappear to be the same, theyhave several advantages

Signal routing of SDI and SMPTE 2022-6.

Example of live AV production infrastructure based on IP.

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such as:

1.Remote access to signals.

2.Source signals can beshared in differentdestinations.

3.Automation, redundanciesand cabling are simplified.

4.Studios can be divided fromcontrols. Now, a control canmanage several studios orhave floating controls thatare assigned to one studioor the other, according tothe production that has tobe produced.

5.Conducting works outdoors,directly from a control roomand without need to have amobile unit.

At the same time,converting SDI to IP directlyhas some disadvantages,such as:

• Wasted bandwidth (AncillaryData: VANC and HANC)

• Impossibility of routingaudio and videoindependently at networklevel without having to de-encapsulate the contentinside IP packets.

THE EVOLUTION

TOWARDS

ENVIRONMENTS

FULLY BASED IN

IPIf we really want matrices to

be substituted by networkelectronics, it is far moreversatile to transport Audio,Video and Metadata packetsin independent streams.

In order to promote its usein the market, twocommunities have developed,supported by mostmanufacturers:

• ASPEN (Adaptative SamplePicture Encapsulation):

Initiated by Evertz in IBC2015, and has an open-ended working frameworkwhere 70 manufacturerscollaborate

• AIMS (Alliance for IP MediaSolutions): Created byGrass Valley Group, with 10members. It promotesstandards such as SMPTE2022-6, TR-03, TR-04 andAES 67.

In both cases, in order toconvert SDI signals into IP, 3uncompressed independentstreams are generated: audio,video and metadata.

The main difference lies inthe way in which informationis encapsulated in each ofthe streams.

On the one hand, ASPENpushes to use, as transportlayer, mature technologyproducts, such as MPEG-2TS, according to the SMPTE2022-2 standard, as withDVB but with an encodingwithout compression: it usesSMPTE ST-302 for audio,SMPTE ST-2038 formetadata, and for video it hasjust managed for SMPTE toinclude SMPTE RDD-37, as aproposal, a few weeks ago.

On the other hand, AIMSuses IP directly for transport,and for video encoding ituses alternatively thefollowing recommendations:

Example of audio processing on SMPTE 2022-6.

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• VSF-03 that calls for RFC-4175 encapsulation, whichonly digitalizes the activepart of the video signal.

• VSF-04 that recommends

using SMPTE 2022-6 forvideo, with or withoutembedded audio.

Audio can be processedembedded along with video,

or independently in AES-67

format. In that regarding

metadata, it must comply with

the corresponding IETF

standard.

SMPTE 2022-6 vs. ASPEN.

AIMS’s proyect.

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SYNC SIGNALS

AND REFERENCE

IN SDI/IP

ENVIRONMENTS

As signals can now travelthrough means with differentdelays, it is essential to havea unique SDI/IP hybridsystem.

The industry has so farbeen able to agree and forthe IP world has adopted thePrecise Time Protocol (PTP),an evolution of the NetworkTime Protocol (NTP) underthe name SMPTE-2059-2.

SMPTE 2059-2 wasapproved at the end of 2014and it is an IEEE1588 (PTP)

profile, with the necessaryoptions to work withuncompressed video;capable of bypassing routingqueues in electronicnetworks.

Even though we will refer toit on a specific article aboutsync and references in the IPworld, we believe it wasnecessary to illustrate an SDIhybrid and sync IP system.Sync generators TEKTRONIXSPG-8000A already havetraditional outputs such asPTP, NTP, etc. In summary,we are facing a transitionalphase towards IP liveproductions and syncgenerators must allow thesetwo worlds to work togethersynchronously.

ADAPTING TO

UHDTVSMPTE 2022-6 is limited to

3G-SDI because currentnetworks do not permit theconveyance of signals ofmore than 10 Gbits/s at areasonable price. However,this standard opens the doorsfor future growth. Exceeding10Gbits/s requires optical<->electrical converters, thatare quite expensive, andmake facilities unprofitable.UHDTV transport in its purestate requires 12 Gbits/s,making the introduction ofcompression systemsnecessary.

As they are related to liveproduction signals, these

Sync generators and TEKTRONIX SPG-8000A reference hybrid SDI/IP with changeover and referenced on GPS/GLONASS with a slave systemthrough PTP.

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compression systems have someconditioning factors:

• Compression must not benoticeable to the human eye (novisual losses)

• Latency must be as low aspossible.

In this sense, there are threeinitiatives driven by different groupsto transport UHD signals on 10Gbits/s:

• SMPTE ST-2042: VC-2 by BBC

• SMPTE RRD-34: Sony LowLatency Video Codec (LLC)

• SMPTE RRD-35: Intopix TinyCodec (TICO)

MEASURES IN

HYBRID

ENVIRONMENTS

In this new stage of change, wheresignals can travel through SDI andIP, compressed or uncompressed, agreater convergence of IT and AVengineers will be necessary. Inorder to do so, the new analysis andmeasurement tools will have to buildbridges between both worlds andallow, besides from what waspermitted up to now, other thingssuch as:

• See the whole AV content in anethernet cable, without having toknow the IP addressing

• Analyze IP parameters such asjitter or lost packets, so that if aproblem arises, IT engineers are

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able to determine the cause.

All in all, it is a challenge formanufacturers, engineers, installers,operators and the entire supplychain, which will have to adaptprogressively to this new scenario.

CONCLUSION

IP technology is familiar and is fullyintegrated in infrastructures onproduction, contribution and contentbroadcasting. But the firstacquisition and production segment,where linear live signals require thehandling and processing in real timeof different lines with bandwidths of1.5 or 3 Gbps, present particularchallenges that have to be solved inorder to guarantee the reliability thathas been provided up to now bysystems based in SDI.

There are promising developmentsto solve the base level requirementsof these systems, suchsynchronizing signals, sources anddestinations. It is also important tohave tools that address theconnection problems between the IPand SDI worlds (Tektronix PRISM),that is to say, between the technicalstructure and the data structure andcontent information, which is a hugestep to start with the shift.

Many manufacturers arecommitted, and have includedmixers, cameras, monitors, matricesand other devices with IP interfaces,but certainly the topology of systemsinfrastructure based in IP is different,which opens up opportunities to newactors of this sector with provedexperience in other fields of

application of IP technologies of highefficiency and reliability.

The challenge is to unify standardsthat facilitate interoperability that, atthe same time, is the same risk in itsapplication: it happened with filestandards, currently on the maturityof use, the same standard hasdifferent variations, that are notcompatible between each other, andthe application is the oneresponsible for managing these gapsto guarantee its efficient use. In thisscenario, platforms working onsoftware are important, with whichwe have to familiarize ourselvesbecause they will provide safety andadaptability to the needs andevolution of productioninfrastructures.

Lastly, it is important not to mix thedebate between UHD and IPtechnologies that, even when theyconverge in time, have differentconsiderations. UHD will certainlyuse IP but we still do not know howand when, and that needs furtherwork and development that will firstarrive with high definition. This lastone is the real practical demand ofmost actors within the industry forthis use.

We will soon see high definitionproduction systems based in IP, asthere have been consolidatedimprovements with which to start toconsider the taking-up of thistechnology.

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While the transition fromanalog to digital is completein TV broadcasting in manyregions worldwide, the nextwave of change is alreadyhere. The use of computernetworking as a cost-effectiveand technically superiormeans of connecting, routingand managing AV systems isa reality that is changingequipment, workflows andpossibilities today.

Today’s broadcasters areseeing a steady increase inthe number of audio andvideo channels in use.Controlling and routing all ofthese signals using legacynon-network transports canbe a daunting task, involvingexpensive specialized routersand complex workflows thatvary from one manufacturerto another. Adding andincorporating new equipment

can mean upgrading andreplacing many other piecesof gear to maintaincompatibility and providebandwidth. Simple tasks suchas maintaining lip sync canrequire format conversionsand expert use of costlyequipment.

By way of contrast, an IP-based solution can handlemany hundreds or thousands

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As adoption takes off globally, broadcasters strive forbroader interoperability

Txt: Brad Price, Product Marketing Manager, Audinate

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of channels of audioconnecting dozens of devicesusing inexpensive Cat5Ecabling and a fewinexpensive gigabit networkswitches. There are nospecialized routers needed toprovide conversion anddistribution; all changes aremade quickly and easily insoftware running on ordinarycomputers, with no disruptionof production activities. Evenmetadata delivery andsynchronization is a natural fitfor IP networking, whichprovides an open and well-understood platform fordevelopment of deliverysystems that non-networkedsystems cannot match.

Gigabit and faster networkspeeds have made IPnetworking an indispensablemedium. In broadcast, it issimply the best way totransmit bit-perfect audiobetween as many devices asneeded, with low latency andtight synchronization. Today’sIP technology offers a best-of-all-worlds combination ofincreasing performance withdecreasing costs, a trend thatis sustained by the growinguse of IP networks acrossnearly every type of industry.

The growth of IP systemsfor media has resulted in therapid deployment of hundredsof new products in all keyaudio categories. Today thereare over 800 networked audioproducts available on the

market, with Audinate’s Danteaudio networkingincorporated in more than 60percent. Complete end-to-end systems frommicrophones to loudspeakersmay be specified acrossdifferent brands, and newproducts are constantly beingreleased.

Manufacturers have risen tothe challenge of integratingdigital audio networking withexisting systems, so olderequipment can remain a vitalpart of modern broadcastfacilities. Many mixers,routers, intercom systemsand amplifiers supportmultiple interface cards,

allowing them to bridge olderdigital protocols such asMADI or CobraNet to amodern Audio over IPnetwork, and dedicatedconvertors are available fornearly any format. Thispermits audio flows to remainentirely in the digital domain,avoiding signal-degradationfrom intermediate A/D andD/A conversions.

Interest is growing in thebroadcast industry about theAES67 standard, and itspotential benefits to endusers transitioning from wiredto networked audio systems.With a number of differentnetworking options available,broadcasters welcome astandardized approach thatsupports basic interoperabilitybetween different equipmentvendors, who havehistorically offered their ownsolutions.

AES67 is recent standardthat aims to accomplish thistask. The AES67 standard isa networked audiointeroperability specificationdeveloped by the AudioEngineering Society. Itdescribes techniques forexchanging digital audio on aTCP/IP networking usingRTP, or Real-time TransportProtocol. Additionally, AES67specifies particularimplementation constraints tofacilitate interoperabilitybetween implementations.

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An IP-based solutioncan handle manyhundreds orthousands ofchannels of audioconnecting dozens ofdevices usinginexpensive Cat5Ecabling and a fewinexpensive gigabitnetwork switches.

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GREAT EXPECTATIONSAES67 promises basic

interconnectivity at its core,and has fairly modest andachievable goals. Primarilyfocused on the audionetworking transport element,AES67 does not specificallyaddress system control,signal routing or channellabelling. For audio quality, itrequires 48kHz, 24-bit streamwith one-millisecond latencyas a lowest commondenominator. AES67 allowsfor, but does not require,support for higher samplerates and different bit depths,which means that supportedaudio formats may varybetween devices in theecosystem.

Since AES67 is essentiallya set of network standardsaround how audio channelsmove across an IP network, itrepresents a pragmaticevolution in audio networking.Unlike previous specifications(e.g. AVB), AES67 offers astandards-based way todeliver multichannel audiobetween devices across anetwork without requiringspecialized networkequipment. This is significantas it is the first specificationto achieve this goal. LikeDante, the AES67 transportoperates with common off-the-shelf switches. Therefore,we expect AES67deployments will not face theadoption delays that have

challenged AVB rollouts.

However, there appears tobe a potential mismatchbetween expectations ofAES67 and its true scope,particularly in the area ofdevice/channel discovery.Many broadcasters andmanufacturers are unawarethat the AES67 standarddoes not require a commondiscovery method to beimplemented.

This has fostered a situationof uncertainty. Mostnetworking vendors haveproprietary systems todiscover hardware-enabledcomponents that are part oftheir ecosystem, but do notdiscovery componentsenabled with another

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vendor’s networking software.This is not to say that AES67cannot be used to connectaudio streams without adiscovery protocol – it can,but doing so will be a manualprocess specific to eachvendor.

The danger is that whileAES67 does not specify norrequire a common discoverysystem, many broadcastersexpect that AES67 deviceswill be naturally discoverableonce deployed. At present,this is simply not the case.

In lieu of mandating adiscovery protocol, theAES67 specification insteadoffers four possible optionsfor discovery protocolimplementation. An AES67

implementation using one ofthese four options cannotdiscover implementationsusing a different discoveryoption. Each discoverysolution operates in its ownworld. In addition to the foursuggested options, othercompanies have created theirown discovery solutions foruse with AES67.

This creates severalproblems. First, eachadditional incompatiblediscovery solution createsislands of AES67 devices thatcan only discover each other.From a purely engineeringstandpoint, it is possible tomanually configure thesevarious devices to speak toeach other over a common

Interest is growing inthe broadcastindustry about theAES67 standard, andits potential benefitsto end userstransitioning fromwired to networkedaudio systems.

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network, but this will be a complex, time-consuming data entry processes – a taskthat will excite very few engineers andintegrators.

A close examination of the four discoveryoptions in AES67 shows only one optionbased on mature, published standardspecifications: Session AnnouncementProtocol (SAP).

For AES67 devices to be discoverable asusers expect, the industry must settle on asmall subset of discovery protocols for usewith AES67. Ideally, that subset is exactlyone protocol. Audinate has selected SAP asthe discovery protocol mechanism for usewith AES67 transport in Dante because it isthe only non-proprietary, mature, publishedstandards-based option described in theAES67 specification.

The benefit for the broadcaster is thatDante devices supporting AES67 candiscover other AES67 devices usingsupporting the SAP discovery mechanism.Dante devices supporting AES67 announcetheir AES67 audio using SAP and DanteController can discover non-Dante AES67devices that support SAP.

It is our hope that networking vendorsindustry-wide will coalesce around thisstandards-based protocol from the IETF –the body that defines all Internet protocols –to simplify AES67 discovery across anyaudio networking ecosystem. This path isthe most certain to meet the expectationsthat broadcasters have about how AES67interoperability should ultimately work: Asystem that is fully discoverable, easy topatch and easy to deploy without manuallyentering a series of complicated letter andnumbers to enable interoperability.

The Benefit of Experience

Discovery concerns aside, Audinate seesthe long term viability in AES67 comparedto earlier protocols. In creating the AES67interoperability standard, the AES

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organization utilized proven existing standardswhich mitigates the risk of the technology.

It is important to note that AES67 is not acomplete audio networking solution. Leading audionetworking solutions still have a key role to playoffering additional features, management tools andsupport, which greatly simplify audio networking forusers and manufacturers. This includes the matrix-style signal routing software, virtual soundcards,network health and clock status monitoring, real-world naming for devices and channels, and muchmore.

In contrast, AES67 just specifies the baselineconnectivity of audio streams, and more closelyresembles an Audio over IP version of MADI orAES3. It focuses on how audio channels movethrough the network between points without defininghow routing or switch-defined control may occur.

Audinate has taken the step of adding AES67 as afeature to Dante. As an IP-based standard, AES67is a comfortable fit for Audinate since Dante hasalways been built upon Layer 3 networking (thearchitecture required for pure Audio over IPtransport).

Audinate will continue to be involved in thedevelopment and tracking of new standards andprotocols that further the possibilities of audionetworking for TV and radio broadcasting. If onething is certain, the industry will continue to developnew standards that require implementation in asensible way, and it is important to have a robustnetworking solution that can evolve to incorporatethe latest standards.

Audinate has taken the step ofadding AES67 as a feature to Dante.As an IP-based standard, AES67 is acomfortable fit for Audinate sinceDante has always been built uponLayer 3 networking.

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Collaborative workflows have grown in the recent

years and will continue in the future. There are many

options to solve a lot of problems. TM Broadcast

International has talked to several manufacturers and

developers, to be able to find different solutions and

projects of interest.

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AVID

INTELLIGENT MEDIASTORAGE AT THE HEART OFPRODUCTION

Storage plays a major partin any production chain.Avid's users worldwide arefully exploiting what thegrowing family of intelligentmedia storage – including thelatest addition, Avid NEXIS -can do in conjunction withAvid’s range of creative tools,as well as many third partyapplications such as AdobePremiere Pro CC, AppleFCP-X, Grass Valley EDIUSand Blackmagic DaVinciResolve.

The increased level ofglobal production has created

a demand for more efficientand reliable workflows. Thesecan be provided through thecombination of creation andfinishing systems with high-capacity, extremely reliableand easily accessiblestorage. Many post-production houses alreadyuse sophisticated mediaasset management (MAM)systems to manage bothmaterial and productions.This is the glue that securesa workflow. When combinedwith a central storage systemMAM greatly aidsincreasingly complexproduction schedules,enabling facilities to work onmultiple shows at the sametime.

Because systems such asAvid NEXIS empower teamsacross the entire production,projects can move in paralleland be completed faster. Inaddition, Avid’s softwaredefined storage systemsscale both in capacity andperformance to meet themost demanding ofproduction needs.

Avid’s intelligent mediastorage enables collaborativeworkflows that are provenand trusted daily by the mostdemanding broadcast, mediaenterprise, and post-production professionals, atover 3,000 facilitiesworldwide. They haverecognised the powerfulbenefits to be gained from

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Avid storage solutions, andthe results can be seen in thehigh quality programming thatis making such an impact onthe international stage.

Cannes International FilmFestival

Official TV and webcoverage of the 2016 CannesInternational Film Festivalwas powered by an all-Avidcollaborative workflow. Avid’sElite partner VIDELIO -Cap'Ciné once againprovided production and post-production facilities forbroadcasters Canal+ andOrange, and for the officialFestival de Cannes TV andweb content.

Two Avid AirSpeed® | 5500servers were at the heart ofoperations, streamlining theentire workflow from captureto playout. These two serversenabled the acquisition ofclean and dirty feeds, whichwere sent in real time to anAvid ISIS® | 5500collaborative storage system.The content was immediatelyavailable to editors workingon Avid Media Composer®editing stations, to createhighlights packages, trailersand short programmes, whichwere then sent back to theAirSpeed | 5500 for playout.The media was also madeavailable to an FTP platformfor web editors creating

content for the officialFestival de Cannes website,YouTube and Dailymotionchannels, as well as theFestival archive.

Thanks to the large storagecapacity, the Avid solutionenabled the production teamto work on and save thefootage in HD, with imagesavailable in real time. Inaddition, the integratedplaylist tool and IsoSync® (asynchronization application ofmulti-channel recordings)offered a simple and effectiveworkflow for operators.

The Avid workflow rancontinuously throughout the2016 Cannes InternationalFilm Festival.

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DIMETIS

Service orchestration for filebased production

Dimetis provides telecomsand media broadcasters withmulti-vendor networkmanagement andprovisioning software focusedon seamless realtime videoand media file transport overdiverse, general purpose IPand legacy networks, withbroadcast-grade quality andreliability.

A hardware agnosticplatform allows the customersto buy best-of-breed HW/SW,to find the best fittingHardware to resolve hisissues - in a multi-vendorenvironment. This is the basisfor intelligent solutions for anyoperator. In this case, ahighly scalable solution was

sought to allow the variousdepartments as well asexternal productioncompanies, broadcasters andnews agencies, exchanginglarge volume of data, whileenabling the users to focuson their daily operations. Therequirements:

* Contribution interface tovarious companydepartments

* Connect to externalproduction and broadcastcompanies

* Heavily manual businessprocesses (island solutions)

* Require technicalknowledge to operate thesystems

* Metadata Handling

The major challenge was tokeep the operation as simpleas possible on one hand,

while providing enoughflexibility to cover complexworkflow automation, on theother hand. In order todisplay all file basedworkflows, it is mandatory tointegrate 3rd party systems,such as transcoder, filechecker, WAN accelerator,storages, contentmanagement system, etc.

During this project, thefollowing external systemswere integrated: Signiant FileTransfer System, AsperaWAN acceleration, InterraSystems Baton File Checker,Harmonic Rhozet Transcoderto name just a few. In Fig 3 afully automated ingest basedon Dimetis OrchestrationPlatform is shown. Based onthis convenient approach forthe delivery of externalmaterial or the collection ofmaterial for a certain time

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critical, external files arepushed to a copy controller ofBOSS FILE TRANSFERManager™ ─ located in thepublic DMZ ─ which thenoperate as as an ftp-server.The copy controller thenwrites the files to thededicated storage with anautomatically generatedpacket title and ID.

After the file packagecreation, BOSS FILETRANSFER Manager™activates the appropriate testplan on the Baton Filechecker in order to filter forcorrupt or dangerous files.After the checker hasreleased its result (includingmetadata information) theBOSS FILE TRANSFERManager™ executes theaccording transcodingpresets in order to achievethe required video or audioformat. In the last step, thefiles get transferred via

Signiant to the desiredlocation(s).

All ingested packets have adate of expiry and carry thetest results from the filechecker and a preview file ofthe video. The result of thefile checker is indicatedthrough a traffic light in thefile view of the BOSS FILETRANSFER Manager™. Thedate of expiry is indicated inred when the packet hasnearly reached the end of life.In this case, BOSS FILETRANSFER Manager™automatically sends an emailnotification to the file packageowner to inform that thecontent will be deleted withinthe next 24 hours.

The integrated workflow-engine, as mentioned above,is a very powerful tool toautomate the technicalprocesses within thecustomer facility. Due to the

ease-of-use- concept,workflows can be created bysimple Drag&Dropoperations. The execution ofall workflows, e.g.automatically transcoding thecontent into the appropriateformat or executing a testplan on a file checker,happens in the backgroundwithout demanding anyknowledge or interaction fromthe users.

Together with a broadcastservice provider, DimetisGmbH realized a flexible filebased contribution solutionthat is growing in phases,including other departmentsand their specific workflowse.g. production, step by step.The challenge for thecustomer was to provideworkflow based file exchangebetween differenttechnologies, locations,departments and externalcustomers. The main focus

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was to achieve easy usability,while hiding complexprocesses and technicaldecisions from the end userthrough the execution ofpredefined workflows in thebackground.

Depending on a user’s role,access to functionalities andworkflows can be configured.In order to achieve a highdegree of automation a lot of3rd party systems have beenintegrated to be controlledand monitored by BOSS FILETRANSFER Manager™.Through this, usermanagement, formatconversion, quality check,WAN acceleration, bandwidthmanagement (in cooperationwith our BOSS LINKManager™), asset

management, notification,metadata mapping, and morecan be bundled intoworkflows to gain productivityand customer satisfaction.

The implementation wasrealized in virtual IT-environment withoutdedicated server hardwarefor a particular component.All BOSS FILE TRANSFERManger™ components –Web-Server, Core-Server,Copy- Controller run asvirtual redundant servers,thus ensuring high availabilityand the highest levels ofperformance across theworkflow.

Dimetis´ response to thenetwork growth challenges isa distributed managementsystem SOA based

architecture that expands thecapabilities of Dimetis´products (modular SW, onesingle source code worldwide, components that canbe deployed on regional VMand Cloud, user profilesbased on objects andfunctionalities, customizableGUI for individual ajustmentdemand.

ELEMENTS

Enhance workflow efficiency.But how?

Intelligent technologies boostcollaborative workflows inpost-production andbroadcast facilities

“Workflow” is definitely theultimate buzzword in today’s

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post-production andbroadcast field. Everybodyappears to be aware what itmeans, and nods with aknowing smile when thisfrequently used phrase ismentioned. However, how aperfect “collaborativeworkflow” is actuallyestablished, implemented,and maintained over timeseems to be a whole differentstory. So we dare to ask thequestion:

What exactly is a “goodworkflow”? And how can it beturned into a “greatworkflow”?

While there are numerousaspects to consider when itcomes to creating acollaborative M&E workflow,five components that are trulycritical. First of all, a sharedmedia storage, regardless ofa SAN or NAS set-up,

providing all workstations withsimultaneous access to themedia assets is the vital partof any collaborative workflow.The next critical part is ashared file system – andthat’s where it alreadybecomes tricky: sharing thefiles natively across allplatforms is nearly impossiblewhen proprietary softwareand hardware applications,such as Avid, are involved.

The result: a lot moremanual effort is required, asIT team of the post-production or broadcastfacility has to manage andmaintain two entirelyseparated file systems. (pic1)

This makes it rathercomplicated and highly time-consuming tasks like datashuffling necessary andinevitable to make the media

files available for otherapplications.

ELEMENTS, Germany-based developer of innovativeand advanced technologiesfor the M&E industry, hasdefeated this very disturbingissue for good. By simulatingan ISIS shared storageenvironment ELEMENTSserver and storagetechnologies make sharingmedia files natively across allplatforms and applicationspossible, even including AvidMedia Composer.

ELEMENTS SAN/NASsolutions enable virtually allnon-linear editing and VFXapplications in everySAN/NAS environment toshare not only media files butentire projects natively acrossthe entire facility and acrossall platforms, regardlesswhether utilizing

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StorNextFS® or Xsan filesystem – even Avidworkstations will read andwrite files natively to theshared storage. (pic 2)

All features such as Avidproject sharing and bin-locking are fully supported,and the Avid clients don’teven realize that they areworking on a StorNext filesystem.

Easy in – easy out

The second important issuethat contributes significantlyto notably simplified andstreamlined workflowprocesses is the ease ofingesting media assets to themedia storage. Regardless ifthe media content came tothe facility the “traditionalway” on 35mm film and isdigitized via a telecine duringcolor correction, or the mediaassets were created digitallyright on set; ELEMENTSsupports easy-ingest throughdirect connect via USB andeSATA for all externalsources, while workstationsconnect through on-boardFiber Channel or Ethernetports. By supporting virtuallyall file system protocols(SMB, NFS, AFP etc),ELEMENTS server andmedia storage combinationsallow for an ultra-easy set-upthat requires practically no ITskills – simply connect allexisting workstations and letthem collaborate right away.Yet, the high performancesolutions meet the demandsof high-end post-production

workflows in many respects.

Access Control with simpleUser Management

Keeping the users and theirread and write rights in checkcan be critical, irrespective ofthe team comprising 5 peopleor 55. To avoid massivechaos on the media storage,it is definitely advisable tostart each and every projectwith a well-thought-outproject and user matrix,determining as manyparameters as possible.ELEMENTS embedded set offield-proven web-basedworkflow managementfeatures, accessible througha fully intuitive graphical userinterface, allow for takingultimate control of the sharedstorage file system, includinga professional user andproject management tool.

Proper Asset Management

Rank 4 on the list ofimportant things to considerwhen designing acollaborative workflowconcerns the topic“housekeeping”. Maintaininga tidy and neat condition ofthe media storage is criticalwhen numerous workstationswork simultaneously, creatingvarious versions of similarclips. To make the mediaasset management as easyand effortless as possible,ELEMENTS has developed aMedia Library, acomprehensive media assetmanagement tool embeddedin their server and storagesolutions. Accessible through

the same easy-to-useHTML5-based GUI, theMedia Library provides notonly access for managing thesystem but also forprofessionally managing,presenting and sharing mediaassets - from anywhere andwith every standard PC orMAC. The Media Libraryincludes a rough-cut editorthat is fully compatible tovirtually every professionalediting application availabletoday, such as Avid MediaComposer, Adobe Premiere,Apple Final Cut Pro andothers, enabling operators totransfer entire projectsseamlessly from the MediaLibrary to any other editingapplication. With full supportof Avid Project Sharing andAvid bin-locking, sharing ofentire projects becomeseasier and faster than everbefore.

Process Automation

Last but not least, intelligentautomation of recurringprocesses can simplify boththe housekeeping and theasset management - andeven communicationprocesses. Part ofELEMENTS’ embedded set ofworkflow management toolsis an intelligent task managerthat allows for customizedautomation of processes –without in-depth coding skillsrequired. In combination withELEMENTS Media Libraryusers are enabled to setevent triggers for everyproject folder within the MAMto automatically initiate

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customized actions, forexample "Clips/sequenceshave beenselected/approved/disapproved", "Move approved files/clipsto folder xyz", "Send email tothe director new edit hasbeen written to folder xyz","Customer feedback hasbeen submitted".

The sophisticated andversatile architecture ofELEMENTS appliances,equipped with thecomprehensive set of well-designed and useful workflowenhancements tools, providean all-embracing and easy-to-use option to set up a highlycollaborative workflow easilyand quickly. With addedlayers of data security,ELEMENTS hasaccomplished to develop aprofessional solution thatprovides more than justmedia storage and a meta-data server.

SUITCASE TV

Automated Language QCWorkflow

The purpose of theAutomated Language QCworkflow is to supply anautomated system to addlanguage audio tracks toprimary assets, check thesynchronisation of the newaudio against specified basetrack(s) and quality check theprimary asset and new audiotracks using predefinedparameters.

The project requiredintegration with a third partyMAM system using theSuitcase TV SOAP APIinterface.

The MAM system controlsthe movement of all assetsinto and out of the SuitcaseTV solution using definedSOAP calls to initiate audiostacking and publishing.

Once a request to auto QCaudio files for an asset hasbeen made, the assets arecopied to a specified sharedlocation on the Suitcase TVMediaStor server and theworkflow within the SuitcaseTV domain operates toprocess the assets through aseries of workflow steps andprocesses.

The main steps are:

• Transfer content to beprocessed from the sharedMAM location to theSuitcase TV MediaStorserver.

• Validate the primary assetbefore further processing.

• This is followed by aniterative process, repeatedfor each new audio asset,whereby each audio isanalysed for QC, stackedwith the primary asset andchecked for synchronisation

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against the mix-minus orother base track.

• A QC status is applied toeach new audio trackdepending on whether thenew audio conforms to theQC profile/spec and theability of the system tosynchronise the new audiowithin the tolerance level forthe language.

• All tracks not achieving aQC pass with highconfidence are madeavailable for a manualreview within the SuitcaseTV TrakStak review

application. WithinTrakStak, audios can bemanually re-synchronisedand the track QC status, aswell as the overall assetstatus, can be altered topass or QC failed.

• When all new tracks havebeen processed and, ifrequired, manuallyreviewed, the QCprocessing is complete andthe asset becomesavailable for publishingback to the MAM system.

• There is also the option topublish before the stack job

has completed. Only audiosthat have QC passed withhigh confidence at the pointof the request will bepublished. Processing ofremaining tracks continuesas for the standard QCprocess.

• An emergency stack facilityis also available foroccasions when an audiotrack has previously failedQC and there is no time tosource a replacement audiotrack before thetransmission date.

1+1 Media Group in the Ukraine MonitorsMultiplatform TV in the Cloud with

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1+1 Media Group is a largemedia conglomerate servingthe Ukrainian population witha variety of television andonline news services. Thebroadcast division comprisesfour terrestrial and foursatellite TV channels, and aproduction arm, 1+1Production, which creates avariety of original programsand works with external

media companies to adaptinternational programming forUkrainian viewers.

Based in the City of Kyiv,1+1 Media Group previouslyrelied on disparate video andaudio monitoring platforms atits Kyiv facilities, and amovable van-based lab tomonitor RF performancemetrics of signals in remote

cities throughout the country.The lack of a geographicallydispersed monitoringpresence caused limitationsin monitoring the quality ofexperience (QoE) for viewersof its three DVB-T2 terrestrialchannels (1+1, 2+2, TET),four analog terrestrial (1+1,2+2, TET, PlusPlus) and alleight channels across cableand satellite delivery

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platforms. Additionally, qualityof service (QoS) monitoringof signals leaving the studiosand moving through RFplants, cable headends andsatellite infrastructure were

less than comprehensive.

Dmytro Orkusha, Deputy

CTO, New Technology

Development for 1+1 Media

Group stated, “We were

seeking a way to efficientlycombine video, audio and RFperformance monitoring, andcompliance recording, withthe option of automaticallyretrieving the corrupted

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portion of video. We then needed to combine everything into a

centralized system that could access information across many

remote sites.”

Migration to a networked, cloud environment has evolved into an

effective means for broadcasters seeking to centralize operations.

1+1 Media Group, onthe leading edge ofthe emerging cloudmonitoring trend, waslooking for amonitoring solutionthat leveraged thepower and flexibility ofthe cloud but offeredan on-premiseshosting option. Thathunt eventually led toQligent, a specialist incloud-based,enterprise-level mediamonitoring andanalysis based in theUnited States. 1+1Media Group’smonitoring network isnow exclusively builton Qligent’s Visioncloud-enabledmonitoring platform.

“Qligent offered botha permanent license topurchase and deploytheir system in house,and a cloud solutionoption where the coreof the system wouldbe deployed onQligent’s premises.We chose the cloudsolution,” saidOrkusha. “It is a trueSaaS solution eventhough we still hostpart of the system (themonitoring probes) onpremises. Visionprovides a software-defined architecturethat leverages off-the-

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shelf hardware, and has theability to centralize amultitude of informationacross the Ukraine at ourKyiv facilities. Add the factthat Vision is highly scalable,and Qligent offered the onlysolution on the market thatcould address our needs.”

The reach of the monitoringnetwork is impressive. Inaddition to monitoring itseight channels across alldelivery platforms, 1+1 MediaGroup is monitoring a total of17 DVB-C cable and DVB-Ssatellite channels. In theexample of DVB-Cmonitoring, Vision caneffectively monitor the signalquality as channels areconverted from RF to IPstreams upon leaving thecable headends. Terrestrialsignals are monitored as theypass through the transmittersand radiate from theantennas. And Qligent’s cost-efficient, networked Visionprobes are deployed instrategic locations around thecountry, with the ability tomonitor signal quality down tothe last mile.

Back at the Kiev facilities,operators monitor allbaseband (SDI) and IP signalactivity from the time theyleave playout systems at thestudio. Vision providesvisibility into all physical andtransport layers associatedwith QoS; and detailed insight

into QoE across all deliveryplatforms to Ukraine viewers.The flexibility of the Visiondashboard allows eachoperator to create their ownlayouts based on theirmonitoring assignments.

“We like the visual elementsof Qligent’s platform, whichallows our staff to quicklydetect performance alarms,analyze recorded videoassociated with those alarms,and compare that with avariety of data and graphicson Vision’s centraldashboard,” said Orkusha.“Each service has its ownwindow or thumbnail. Theycan then easily produce a full

report for managers who areinterested in this performancedata for compliancemonitoring.”

While Vision’s cloud-basedarchitecture invitesbroadcasters to fully offloadthe hosting operation toQligent’s managed servicelayer – which offers theindustry’s only truemonitoring-as-a-service(MaaS) solution – itsstreamlined design simplifiesconfiguration for broadcastersthat wish to host and maintainVision on premises. Settingup Vision’s cloud-basedarchitecture eliminates theneed for expensive and

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proprietary hardware, whichallowed 1+1 Media to procurecommon, low-cost off-the-shelf servers in the Ukrainededicated for the monitoringprobes. This eliminated theneed to invest in a hardware-centric system with highimport taxes and complex,ongoing technical supportrequirements, while loweringoperational costs. The mainservers are hosted atQligent’s data center, and themain probes are installed at1+1 Media Group’s mainproduction and playout centerin Kyiv.

Since being deployed,Vision’s single dashboard,based on a simple userinterface, provides insight intonetwork-wide performancefrom a single seat.Additionally, 1+1 MediaGroup is able to effectivelymonitor performance of itscompetitors’ channels acrossthe country as desired.

Vision’s infinitely scalableplatform will also allow 1+1Media Group to graduallyscale the system to coveradditional cities around thecountry, and add newmonitoring points to the cloudarchitecture within hours.Adding a new locationrequires an operator to loadthe Vision probe software onlocally available hardware,and specify which channelsto monitor. Orkusha notes

that such scalability will lenditself to extending Vision tomonitor live OTT streams aspart of 1+1 Media’s B2Bcontent delivery platform.Now under development, thisservice is intended to delivercontent to a variety of 1+1Media Group’s and third-partyweb services and appliances.

Moving forward, 1+1 MediaGroup also expects tointegrate other Qligent cloudservices into the centralSaaS solution. 1+1 MediaGroup is currently testingQligent’s Scan fingerprint-based platform, whichprovides automatic contentverification and ad deliverycontrol across multiple TVdelivery platforms.

In the meantime, 1+1 MediaGroup is enjoying a far widermedia reach with minimallabor, maintenance andfinancial requirements.Though it is early to estimatecost-savings network wide,Igor Prohorenko, head of TVbroadcast quality monitoringdivision at 1+1 Media Group,stated that direct refundsbased on service-levelagreements with terrestrialnetwork operators alone arerelatively small (less than$1000), but still provide areasonable return oninvestment in the earlystages.

“It is a good start for us

because we expect manymore savings over the longterm, which at the moment isnot easy to calculate,” saidProhorenko. “That savingsincludes the higheravailability of thebroadcasting services that wehave experienced sincelaunching Qligent, now inoperation for about sixmonths.” He thereforeexpects a fairly rapid returnon investment, which ismagnified by the expectedlong lifecycle and simplescalability of Vision well intothe future.

“Through off-site hostingand transitioning ourmonitoring operations to thecloud, Qligent has delivered atrue OPEX solution thatreduces short- and long-termcosts,” said Orkusha. “Wealso now enjoy a true growthplatform to extend theseservices into new citieswithout time-intensive laborand support. Vision helps usunderstand the true picture ofour media distribution efforts,prescribe specifictroubleshooting actions withimmediate results, andmaintain the best possiblequality of service andexperience with exceptionallylow total cost of ownership.”