TICO has become a broadly adopted technology for lightweight, ultra-low latency video compression. But now suddenly, we start hearing about a new “TICO-XS” and several questions come up:

TICO was originally developed to replace uncompressed video in the audiovisual industry. An industry in great change due to 2 factors:

1. Everyone is moving from SDI to IP
2. Video data is reaching unprecedented amounts thanks to 4K, HDR, and higher frame rates

The JT-NM (Joint Task Force on Networked Media) set up a roadmap in 2014 which visualizes this transition from pure SDI to IP and eventually virtualization in a time-frame of roughly 6 years.

It started out with pure SDI being the widespread way of doing and moved to step number one, the mapping of SDI over IP. This is defined by the ST 2022-6 where the SDI signal, consisting of video, audio and ancillary data in one package, is simply mapped onto IP. Here the original TICO-RDD35 (standardized by the SMPTE) comes into play. By compressing at 4:1 it allows the transport of 4K - instead of just HD over a single 3G-SDI or even mapping multiple 4K streams onto 10Gb Ethernet. This allowed the industry to keep their existing infrastructures, while still upgrading to UHD resolutions.

From 2017 we started looking at step 2: Elementary flows. Thanks to SMPTE’s ST2110 there is no more packaged SDI stream. Video, audio, and ancillary data are sent separately over IP, leading to much greater flexibility. Hence, we have a separate video stream to be compressed. Even more now, we are also facing an addition to ST 2110. Namely part 22 – specifically defining IP transport for compressed essence. This created a new use case for which we were looking to deploy a more suitable codec. And that is why we came up with a new TICO product family member: “TICO XS”

As mentioned above, TICO-XS is a new family member. However, with increased compression efficiency. Depending on your content, we can compress down to 1 bit per pixel and you won’t witness any quality loss. In bitrate this means compressing a 4K60 stream down to somewhere between 1,6 Gbps or even 500 Mbps. On top, it still keeps the properties that we all love about TICO RDD35 - virtually no latency, a very low complexity, and an extremely low power consumption.

It does, and you are right, they are very much related. About the same time SMPTE ST2110 was coming up, the JPEG committee announced a call for proposals for a new lightweight compression standard, called JPEG XS. TICO was submitted and actually selected as the baseline for further development. After that, intoPIX’s engineers (working together with other JPEG committee members) used the original TICO-RDD35 as a basis to develop JPEG XS

So TICO-XS is in fact compliant with the upcoming ISO standard JPEG XS - a very important step for simple, industry-wide adoption

Summed up, you’re working with SDI or hybrid SDI/IP networks and want to upgrade to UHD?

TICO RDD35 is your solution! If you’re looking for higher compression efficiency, especially relevant for ST2110 systems? TICO-XS is your go-to option.

Therefore TICO XS is not replacing TICO, it’s merely an evolution that goes along with the technological development in the media industry. And best of all, it’s ISO standardized as JPEG XS!

NAB Show, Las Vegas, 8th April 2019: The TICO Alliance announced today that it will be displaying a multi-vendor interop demo for bandwidth-efficient live production on their booth at NAB 2019 (C8626). Additionally it will talk about the arrival of the new compression family member “TICO-XS”, as TICO is moving to JPEG-XS standardization.

Since the last big broadcast meetup IBC, several new members have joined the growing consortium. The TICO Alliance recently welcomed NCS, TheFine Co. Ltd., and IBEX Technology to their member list of nearly 50 industry-leading vendors and broadcasters.

Following the JT-NM roadmap of networked media open interoperability, the focus of technological advancement in broadcast networks has now preceded SDI-related workflows and step II “Elementary flows” is in full progress. Currently specified as SMPTE RDD35, TICO technology is under standardization as JPEG XS. An evolution that is in line with the industry’s move to IP and the new SMPTE ST2110 part 22 defining transport of compressed video essence over professional media networks. Already today, the alliance’s members serve lossless quality with microsecond-latency to their clients, in order to create bandwidth efficient workflows.

“The Alliance is of great help for the industry to make SDI and Hybrid-SDI workflows more efficient. On top of that, the move of TICO to JPEG XS standardization naturally follows the desire to create bandwidth-efficiency also in IP-based infrastructures for HD, 4K and 8K.” says the Alliance’s Chairman Jean-Baptiste Lorent.

Visitor’s to the TICO Alliance booth at NAB 2019 will get a look at equipment displays and product demonstrations emphasizing TICO’s benefits in SDI, SMPTE ST2022-6 and ST2110 workflows. Members will be on site to answer questions about the ongoing JPEG XS standardization and its additional benefits. For those interested in learning more about its impact on the SMPTE ST2110 standard, JPEG XS will be part of the IP showcase presentations Booth C12634.

About the TICO Alliance:

The Alliance is an open coalition of companies united to set the bar for next generation UHDTV infrastructures by establishing TICO compression in the new IP-based Live ecosystem. The group enables the industry to seamlessly update existing SDI-based workflows to increase bandwidth-efficiency in HD, 4k, and 8K. More on www.tico-alliance.org

Contact:

info@tico-alliance.org

The new TICO compression technology will ease the challenge of moving 4K/UHD over current SDI infrastructure and IP Networks

The group is created to ease 4KUHD adoption over the current SDI and the new IP-based infrastructures. The group is formed by leading companies supporting intoPIX’s effort to promote TICO compression for UHD workflows: Altera Corporation, Artel Video Systems, Embrionix, Grass Valley - a Belden Brand, Image Matters, Imagine Communications, Keisoku Giken, Macnica Americas, Nevion, Ross Video, Xilinx and will be extended to all new supporters and adopters

The rapidly growing membership reflects the importance of TICO® to ease the move to 4K and IP within Broadcast Production facilities.

The addition of the new members demonstrates the growing acceptance worldwide of TICO compression as suitable technology for lightly compressed IP transmission in Live Production.

Las Vegas Convention Center, 18^th April 2016 : Blackmagic Design, B&M Modern Media, Bluefish444, Cobalt Digital, Ikegami, Leader, Net Insight, Panasonic, Pesa, Telestream and Village Island have joined the

alliance in the last few weeks. The growth of supporters and promoters of TICO continues, as a further eleven international companies, opt for the TICO Alliance.

Current members have collaborated to create a full set of open specifications that will be disclosed in the SMPTE RDD35, specifying TICO compression, its mapping on SDI, SMPTE2022-6 and RTP payload. The specification suits the industry roadmap converging on SMPTE 2022-6, VSF TR03 and TR-04 for the transition to IP.

New members say:

Blackmagic Design: “Broadcasters have been asking us for video over IP solutions for quite some time” said Grant Petty, CEO Blackmagic Design. “The TICO codec delivers incredible image quality with extremely low latency and we believe it is the ideal codec for our IP video solutions. We will be able to offer our customers advanced HD and Ultra HD video over IP products that will integrate with other TICO compatible studios and broadcasters around the world.”

Bluefish444: "With TICO lightweight compression our customers will be able to provide products capable of delivering 4K 60fps video over a single 3G SDI cable, infrastructure which is already well established globally," states Tom Lithgow, Bluefish444 Product Manager.

Cobalt Digital: “The TICO Alliance is less than a year old but has already attracted some major industry players, which is a testament to the technology’s viability. Participating in the TICO Alliance will help Cobalt maintain its strong position in the signal-processing and transport markets as a go-to provider of essential, problem-solving products that connect system components such as cameras, production switchers, and multiviewers,” said Jesse Foster, director of products and business development at Cobalt Digital. “We’ve built partnerships and trust with our customers by providing top-notch technology and support, and we expect they will be pleased to find TICO-enabled products across our portfolio.”

Ikegami: “We believe interoperability and scalability will ultimately benefit customers, especially in our specialty, 4K and 8K. As IP based solutions will play a key role, we see TICO as a real answer” says Naoki KASHIMURA, Director of the Board, Global Business Promotion, Ikegami.

Leader: "As well as being a trusted partner to broadcasters, LEADER is future-proofing its test and measurement products," comments LEADER'S European Regional Development Manager, Kevin Salvidge. "We are allowing broadcasters to migrate from the traditional SDI world to the brave new IP world at their own pace, with a test and measurement products that operate in either or both infrastructures."

Panasonic: “We’re excited to be a part of the TICO Alliance. Panasonic is providing several 4K delivery options to the market. In addition to 12G-SDI, TICO over 3G-SDI is one of the best options for the future of 4K on traditional SDI workflows. We’re also happy to show another possibility of TICO: transmission of 4K video over IP networks” comments Kunihiko Miyagi, Director of Panasonic’s Professional Video Business Unit.

Pesa: “TICO is a great solution for PESA to offer in support of our extensive customer base, allowing them to preserve their existing investment in 3Gbps infrastructure, yet move forward with implementation of UHDTV at their own controlled pace dictated by their customer and business demands without major capital equipment re-investment” says Pesa, President and CTO, Chris Thomas.

Village Island: “The Broadcast industry has conflicting needs: increasing the video quality while optimizing the infrastructure with ever more compact systems, lower delays and simpler cabling. In that trend it was natural for us to adopt TICO within our projects either in hardware or software solutions. We are excited to join the TICO Alliance and tackle these new technical challenges, says Michael Van Dorpe, Village Island President.

TICO compression

TICO enables 4K live production by transmitting lightly compressed ultra-high definition 4K 60P video over a single 3G-SDI link, eliminating the common issues which professional broadcasters face either using multiple 3G-SDI ports or updating their infrastructure to 12G-SDI to manage 4K video throughput. Moreover, on the road transitioning to fully IP workflows, it also optimizes the transmission of UHDTV using a single 10GbE interface to carry up to 3 UHDTV 4K streams.

TICO is the optimal answer to the challenging requirements of Broadcasters for Live production environments: the ground breaking technology guarantees a visually lossless quality with only a few pixel lines of latency, is robust to multiple coding generation, has an extremely small footprint in FPGA so that firmware can easily be upgraded to support 4K in existing or new IP or SDI infrastructures.

TICO related technology demonstrations at NAB 2016

NAB 2016 is the opportunity for visitors to see several demos at various booths of how TICO compression is transforming and facilitating the transport of video over SDI and IP networks for Live production. TICO adopters and promoters will be demonstrating real-life solutions and deployments of TICO, across multiple applications including UHD/4K over single 3G-SDI, SMPTE 2022-6 or VSF TR03. TICO enabled products are demonstrated at several booths, including Imagine Communications, Grass Valley, Panasonic, Deltacast, Bluefish444 and others.

NAB show will be the first chance to publicly see also joint demonstrations between equipment manufacturers. The interoperability is enabled by the use of the SMPTE RDD35. Panasonic, a new member of the Alliance, is showing a multi-vendor interop demo over 10GbE IP network - booth C3607. The demo is showing 4K/60p Video over IP with TICO and RDD35 implementation amongst three different equipment manufacturers.

About TICO Alliance

The alliance is an open coalition of companies united to set the bar for next generation UHDTV infrastructure by establishing TICO compression in the new IP-based Live ecosystem. Leveraging the TICO compression with open standards and specifications, the group enables the industry to seamlessly update the existing SDI-based workflows to IP and UHDTV 4K without the cost of a complete renewal. Member companies now number 34. The group is open to all individuals and companies that are interested to grow the IP ecosystems, by supporting the TICO technology.

For more info about the alliance, visit www.tico-alliance.org

Media Contact:

info@tico-alliance.org

Las Vegas Convention Center, 24th April 2017: Aperi, Axon, Cesnet, Icron and Pronology have recently joined the alliance in the last few weeks. The growth of supporters and promoters of TICO continues in 2017; as new companies opt for the TICO Alliance and deliver TICO interoperable products and as more broadcasters are adopting the tool in their workflows.

IBC 2017 – AMSTERDAM — September 15, 2017 — The TICO Alliance today announced that Appear TV - world class designer of equipment for delivery of professional video services - has joined the TICO Alliance to support interoperability for Broadcast IP migration. 

“Appear TV is proud to adopt the TICO codec and join the growing TICO Alliance. Adding TICO lightweight compression to the Appear TV X10 and X20 product range will allow premium quality UHD transport over 10G IP networks or legacy 3G-SDI links with a minimum of latency. IP production enables studio grade signals to be easily routed between both local and remote locations. As a purpose-built HW solution specifically designed for IP transport, the synergies of TICO compression and the capacity of the X platform optimizes network bandwidth usage while upholding video quality at a premium level.”

At IBC 2017, TICO Alliance solutions meet the increasing demand for higher resolutions such as 4K and 8K and play a vital role in accelerating the SDI to IP industry migration.

“The mission of the TICO Alliance is to provide an interoperable, bandwidth efficient and cost-effective way to manage HD, 4K and 8K in the new Live IP-based production workflows.  Moving from SDI to IP, the Broadcast industry is becoming aware of the benefits created by interoperability and bandwidth efficient IP infrastructures,” said Jean-Baptiste Lorent, chairman of the TICO Alliance. “We look forward to working with Appear TV to capitalize on their vast experience in IP connectivity.”

Learn more at IBC 2017

Visitors to the IBC Show (September 15-19, 2017) can learn more about the TICO technology and solutions at the TICO Alliance booth 10D31 and at the Appear TV booth 1C61. Members will be demonstrating real-life solutions and deployments of TICO, across multiple applications including HD over 1GbE, UHD/4K over single 3G-SDI or 10GbE IP using SMPTE 2022-6 or SMPTE 2110 and will also showcase first 8K products using TICO on the show floor. At the TICO Alliance booth, demos include equipment from Aperi, B&M Modern Media, Deltacast, Grass Valley, Nevion, Panasonic, and Village-Island.

About Appear TV

Appear TV is based in Oslo, Norway, with an additional office in Bangkok, Thailand. The company produces world-class equipment that enables operators to deliver professional broadcast services to millions of users around the globe. The company is dedicated to developing reliable, revenue-generating and innovative solutions for operators looking to deliver real-time content to the home. Appear TV headends are designed for modularity, high density, and flexibility. More info on : www.appeartv.com  

Multi-member demonstration, TICO moving to JPEG-XS standardization and new member Adeas round up show news

RAI Amsterdam, 14th September 2018:  The TICO Alliance announced today that it will be displaying multiple technology demos with several members on their booth at IBC 2018 (Hall 10 D31), September 13th to 18th, RAI Amsterdam.

Makuhari Messe, interBEE 2018, 14th November 2018: Tokyo-based broadcast equipment manufacturer Nippon Control System Corporation (NCS) has joined the TICO Alliance as new member.