TICO Alliance - News , In the News

SMGs media network upgrade with 100 GbE, ST 2110 and JPEG-XS

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 11:50:25 +0200

“SMG selected Net Insight’s solution after careful consideration. As a professional manufacturer of media transmission equipment, Net Insight has a highly regarded reputation in China and we hope to expand our cooperation with Net Insight for Cloud-based transmission applications.” – Rocky Yang, Deputy Director of Engineering at the SMG Technology Center

The Challenge

Moving from Optical to 100 GbE all IP

Located in Shanghai, the economic center of China, Shanghai Media Group (SMG) is a market leading media and entertainment organization. Critical to continuous operations and expansion is the in-house capability to provide mission critical network services.

Following the commercial and technical maturation of “all IP” media networking using industry standard IP switches, SMG made several conclusions. First, video and audio equipment and application vendors have now broadly standardized on IP, bringing with it a competitive solution landscape. Second, the availability of cost-effective IP switches have removed a key barrier to deploying a high capacity IP network. Third, the availability of SDN service operations systems and compliant equipment could stitch together all the atomic elements in any new all-IP media network. Despite these key breakthroughs SMG’s evaluation concluded that there remained one key obstacle. How would it be possible to avoid the expensive operational complexity barrier and complete the migration of mission critical services into a reference standard IP media network?

With pressure to support the media organizations growing multi-disciplinary needs, SMG was searching for a media network solution that could provide lossless processing, protection and transport of all media services at ten times the capacity of existing solution. There could neither be any limitation in adopting future IP media standards nor access to cloud services and technology. Critical to achieving all of this would be a cost-effective solution to securely manage, automate, and assure all media services.

The solutions

The Future Ready Solution

SMG is the owner and operator of extensive optical infrastructure in Shanghai and needed to fully leverage this asset to expand its managed services offering to leading domestic and international service providers. Upgrading the legacy optical transceiver network to Net Insight’s virtualized IP media network dramatically increased the reliability and utilization of SMG’s fiber resources. To support SMG’s market leadership and future growth in distributed media services, the complete Net Insight ecosystem was called into play. This state-of-the-art Nimbra-based solution unifies dedicated IP networks, internet and cloud while seamlessly scaling from low bandwidth transport streams and data services up to uncompressed UHD-4K and 100 GbE workflows.

SMG Hyperscale Media Network

As SMG’s business grows and new market opportunities emerge, the Nimbra media network is ready to adapt and scale. The new media network offers forwards-compatibility and support for new formats, such as UHD-4K and UHD-8K as well as a seamless transition from SDI to IP, ST2110, PTP and NMOS control. Strong support for existing and future video encoding standards are also assured, namely AVC, HEVC, JPEG 2000 and JPEG-XS. In particular, ultra-low latency JPEG-XS offers a zero-compromise approach to latency and quality compared to working with uncompressed video. Lastly, as Net Insight offers its own Cloud-based routing technology, SMG stand ready to leverage hyperscale compute and media processing for the next generation of cloud-based production.

The results

Building Trust in Shanghai, China.

After three months of extensive evaluation with a focus on security, quality-of-service, reliability, simple operations and ease-of-use, SMG selected Net Insight. The new 100 GbE IP media network is a landmark evolution with the full support and confidence of the SMG Technology Center leadership. Looking toward the future SMG plans to expand the new network to include Cloud-based production and workflow connectivity, thereby fully utilizing the integrated “distributed SDN” capabilities.

Rocky Yang, Deputy Director of Engineering at the SMG Technology Center

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NBC Olympics selects Amagi to provide UHD cloud playout

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 11:41:01 +0200

Source : Advanced television

NBC Olympics, a division of the NBC Sports Group, has selected Amagi to provide UHD playout with cloud automation for its production of the Games of the XXXII Olympiad, which take place in Tokyo, Japan, from July 23rd to August 8th, specifically on Olympic Channel. The announcement was made today by Anil Abraham, Director, Systems Architecture, NBC Olympics, and Srinivasan KA, co-founder, Amagi.

As part of the agreement, Amagi will deploy its award-winning cloud playout platform, Amagi CLOUDPORT, and live sports/news automation solution, Amagi LIVE, to create Olympic Channel’s live coverage in UHD. With HEVC playout and mezzanine quality UHD encoding, Amagi CLOUDPORT architecture creates a new benchmark for video transmission over IP, especially for a global and premium live sporting event such as the Olympic Games.

Key features of Amagi’s playout and automation solution include:

Compute-efficient architecture with entire UHD playout on CPUs and no GPUs
Containerized and componentized architecture leveraging Kubernetes
Micro-services for scaling video processing on demand
Browser-based UI for real-time controls with end-to-end low latency operations
Rich graphics with DVE effects including HTML graphics, live closed captioning support, and live-to-VOD recording capability
End-to-end software solution including multi-view monitoring, hitless switching and 24/7 tech support

Amagi provided deep integration with NBCUniversal’s existing workflows to ensure seamless operational capability to the network’s various teams.

“NBC Olympics, along with NBC Sports Group, are together setting a shining example of how sports broadcasters can put the power of cloud technologies to create unparalleled experience for the viewers as well as those involved in managing broadcast operations,” said Srinivasan KA. “Amagi is delighted to be their cloud technology partner and create new milestones in live sports broadcast on a global scale through innovation, superior quality and reliability.”

“Amagi’s support for JPEG-XS, SMPTE 2110, and AMWA NMOS along with a cloud native software architecture combines to give NBC Olympics a powerful solution for UHD playout,” said Abraham. “It is a game changing combination that allows for the flexibility of cloud based remote control with the low video latencies expected for sports.”

Link to article

NEW【VICO-4L-XS】4K SDI to ST-2110 IP converter with JPEG XS codec

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 11:22:17 +0200

Source : Village Island

VILLAGE island has an exciting new addition to the flagship VICO converter series: the JPEG XS enabled VICO-4L-XS. This new converter allows 4K XS encoding/decoding at various compression rates (from 8:1 to 60:1), enabling a 12G-SDI 4K conversion to IP, and streaming in compliance to the SMPTE ST-2110 standards.

Thanks to this upgrade, customers can now transport 4K/UHD (4:2:2 10bit 3840×2160 59.94p/50p) broadcast video over a standard GigE link according to the ST-2110 standards while keeping the “visually loss-less” quality and the “near-to-zero” conversion delay performance well known for intoPIX wavelet codecs. By “visually loss-less” quality, it is meant that human eye cannot perceive visual deterioration in standard viewing professional environments. By “near-to-zero” overall delay, it is meant sub frame delay, which is down to several tens of video lines.

“By combining the ST2110 standard and the JPEG XS standard, VICO-4L-XS enables the construction of new high-speed, high-quality remote broadcast workflows, accelerating the transition from SDI to IP in our customer studios and OB vans.”, says Michael Van Dorpe, CEO of Village Island.

Key features

flexible compression rate (8:1 to 60:1)
4K/UHD video I/O as 12G-SDI or 4x 3G-SDI
IP streams according to SMPTE ST-2110
NMOS IS-04/05 support
switchable enc/dec mode for on-field operation
decoder sync through PTP, or physical Genlock
front panel, or WebGUI control
up to two 4K channels within 1RU

About JPEG XS

“XS” stands for “eXtra Small & eXtra Speed” as it enables small foot print on FPGA, and ultra-low delay (fewμsecs) for in/out video data coding. The new JPEG XS is an open standard (ISO/EIC 29170) gaining more and more momentum in the video industry.

JPEG XS, like intoPIX TICO and JPEG 2000, is a wavelet-based codec that targets high-quality video. A remarkable advantage of wavelet-based codec, compared to DCT-based codecs like H.264, HEVC, is the possibility to cascade multiple encoding/decoding chains without video degradation through such process. JPEG XS enables the preservation of the original video quality with near-to-zero latency. It enables to management of more pixels thanks to its advanced compression optimization, and it also enables savings in implementation cost and power consumption, when compared to its predecessor TICO, and to a further extend when compared with JPEG 2000.

Comparing JPEG-XS codec, with Intra-frame and “Distribution” codecs

JPEG XS, in contrast to Intra-frame codecs such as (JPEG, J2K, AVC-I, ProRes), enables low complexity implementation, low latency, but also efficient hybrid (hardware & software) workflows, therefore allowing the combination of on-premises and cloud systems. JPEG XS is aimed at high video quality as opposed to Distribution codecs, like MPEG, H264, HEVC, which are more appropriate for low bit-rate user applications with “fair” quality.

Two approaches for video quality in compression system

“We can distinguish two mentalities (or customer expectations) when deciding to use wavelet-based codecs such as JPEG XS, TICO, J2K versus DCT-based codecs such as HEVC, H.264.”, says Edgar Carlos, Senior Product Engineer. “DCT-based codecs are designed to reach the lowest bitrate with acceptable video quality, and they surely offer a remarkably good performance in such cases, however we qualify such video quality as ‘Visually Lossy’, with PSNR values typically measured below 40dB.”

Wavelet-based codecs come with a different spirit in mind. Their aim is to not compromise the original quality of the content. There is surely quality degradation when lowering the compression rate here as well, but the degradation is graceful (as compared to the block of pixel constraints with DCT-based codecs) and most importantly, wavelet-based codecs target “Visually Loss-Less” quality. With that objective in mind, lowering the bitrate is only allowed as far as the pristine original content quality is not affected.

JPEG-XS: Visually Loss-Less quality at 12:1 video compression

Both JPEG XS and its sibling codec TICO, enable visually loss-less (PSNR> 40dB) video quality at reasonable compression rates such as 6:1 for TICO and 12:1 for JPEG-XS. From experience, we see JPEG XS achieving the same visual lossless video quality as TICO at less than half the bitrate. By visually Loss-Less quality, we mean that human eye cannot perceive any difference between the original and the recovered content in normal professional viewing environments. Furthermore, if a viewer were to pause the resulting video after decoding and zooming into it as much as possible (for example: Zoom x40~x60), it would still be nearly impossible for the viewer to detect any difference when compared with the original content.

VICO-4L-XS typical use case

When setting the JPEG XS encoder with compression ratio such as 12:1, it is possible to bring down a 4K live stream bitrate below 1Gbps without suffering in quality and delay. At sport venues, a 4K camera video signal can be sent individually to the 4K OB van on a single cost 1GigE link, or IP-muxed over a 10G link cost-effectively and conforming to the ST-2110 standard. Thanks to the ST-2059 (PTP) support by VICO-4L-XS and other network switches, all feeds can be received, processed, and switched synchronously inside the OB van or at the geographically distant Broadcast Station. The same stream can be sent to distant site for public viewing. VICO-4L-XS can host two channels per 1RU which can be set independently as encoder or decoder, enabling the return monitoring channels for cameraman and OB van operators. Thanks to JPEG XS, OB van operators can reencode the stream after switching edition, without suffering quality degradation.

About Village Island team.

VILLAGE island is based in Tokyo with international activities including distribution, integration, development, and services. With its dedicated team and network of qualified professionals, “VI” offers a full range of hardware and software technologies, highly integrated, flexibles and known as cost-performing solution for all broadcast and streaming needs.

VILLAGE island typical customers are broadcast/telecom operators, TV/Radio stations, system integrators, HE equipment and STB/TV manufactures. VILLAGE island disposes of a wide customer base with more than thousand systems deployed. The reason of this success lies in VI’s engineer mind and spirit of teaming-up with customers, with a focus on delivering practical solutions to concrete needs. For more details, visit our website: www.village-island.com

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Bridge Technologies : Latest Product Developments

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 11:12:05 +0200

Our Bridge Event and Bridge Awards show last week came on the back of one of our most important Bridge Shows of the year - announcing some of our latest product developments.

https://lnkd.in/d9Qp6AY

It includes discussion of the huge value generated from our embedded probes, which will now move to the same v6 as our server and software solutions, allowing for operation on the edge where remoteness and power requirements are key concerns.

It also includes significant additions to our VB440; new closed captioning functionality, 5.1 and 7.1 audio monitoring with a browser downmix (amazing for audio engineers working remotely), and perhaps most excitingly, the ability to accommodate JPEG XS. Worth a watch!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AawUL9-ZWK0

Unboxing the MPA1000 Development Kit from Macnica Technology

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 11:00:43 +0200

(Source : Macnica)

The MPA1000 Dev Kit is a perfect tool for 4K AV over IP system developers to evaluate the functions of MPA1000 SOM and develop software and customize the web interface for their products. See what is included in the box.

AWS Elemental MediaConnect adds CDI and JPEG XS support

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 10:54:48 +0200

(Source : AWS)

Today, we are excited to announce support for AWS Cloud Digital Interface (AWS CDI) flows in AWS Elemental MediaConnect. A MediaConnect CDI flow allows you to build uncompressed video workflows in the AWS Cloud, using MediaConnect to link different products and services together into a virtualized live video production system. With MediaConnect CDI flows, you can build additional on-demand live video production capacity at a fraction of the cost of traditional on-premises capital investment, paying for transport only when you use it. MediaConnect CDI flows support uncompressed video transport up to UHD 2160p60 at a latency between nodes of only 1 frame.

APPEAR TV BRINGS JPEG XS SUPPORT TO X PLATFORM

Wed, 15 Jul 2020 08:14:14 +0200

(Source: IBC Daily)

Appear TV has added JPEG XS compression to its X Platform. Users of the Appear X Platform can, the company says, now take advantage of high resolution and real-time capabilities with the lowest possible latency.

Appear’s X Platform is described as codec-agnostic and is designed to serve as a key building block within an ultra-flexible and ultra-low latency broadcast network. Its design allows customers, the company says, to flexibly execute a broad range of applications including contribution, remote production, video networking, and distribution.

According to Appear TV, the X Platform addresses the latest challenges facing both encapsulated and compressed video applications without compromising visual quality, rack space and ease of use. With a backplane latency of less than 1ms, it is claimed to ensure universal applicability for any video format and supports the implementation of both current and future IP video standards, such as SMPTE 2022-6 and SMPTE 2110.

Carl Walter Holst, CEO, Appear TV, said: “We’re excited to introduce this latest compression standards upgrade for the X Platform. Our X Platform is ideally suited for video delivery for any modern media outlets seeking to deliver existing and next generation video services. Incorporating these latest standards will further enhance our customers’ abilities to deliver high-quality content to viewers around the world.”

In addition to the new JPEG XS and other IP standards, the platform can also receive compressed or uncompressed video from 12G SDI and 40G IP and offer simultaneous support for a broad spectrum of codecs, including AVC (H.264), HEVC (H.265), TICO and JPEG 2000.

Link to article

Tencent Video Goes Live

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 11:16:39 +0200

Tencent Video Goes Live with Grass Valley 4K/IP for Online Broadcast

Chinese video streaming website Tencent Video is preparing to expand beyond its original digital video business and into live production and distribution, requiring upgrades to handle new types of content creation for live and sports programming. Because mainland Chinese internet users are becoming more willing to pay for premium content, rivalry in the online video market has led some of the platforms to use exclusive content as a competitive strategy.
Tencent Video has over 457 million mobile monthly active users and 43 million subscribers, doubling in less than a year, and features video content on China's biggest television maker, TCL Corporation.

SVG Europe Analysis: Compressed UHD goes live with TICO Alliance

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 11:15:02 +0200

SVG Europe Analysis: Compressed UHD goes live with TICO Alliance

The extra bandwidth required by the move to Ultra HD will probably result in extra costs and complexity. One approach to mitigate this could be using compression. However, most compression systems require additional processing power and cause delay, making them unsuitable for live production. TICO, a lossless compression scheme created by intoPIX in 2013, may be the answer, and a wide variety of manufacturers have now joined the new TICO Alliance to support the codec’s use over SDI and IP-based infrastructures.

Implementing 4K in a 3G-SDI Plant

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 11:13:24 +0200

Implementing 4K in a 3G-SDI Plant: A Conversation With Jean-Baptiste Lorent

Can you use four times the data in your existing facility?

Why this matters : Your 3G-SDI still smells too new to consider replacing it. This is a way to use 4K signals in your existing infrastructure.

ALEXANDRIA, VA.—Despite the fact that HD broadcasting is relatively recent, and most people in the U.S. bought their first HDTV only in the past seven years, there is growing pressure to shoot, produce and distribute programming in 4K resolution. There are already a couple episodic TV shows available for viewers in 4K, and more are on the way. Of course, big sporting events will also be shot in 4K, but there are a number of reasons why broadcasters can’t yet deliver 4K to viewers.

One reason has to do with the broadcast infrastructure inside every TV station and network control facility.