TICO Alliance - News #SMPTE

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

Link to article

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

Riot Games Leverages Hyper-Speed of JPEG XS for Historic League of Legends, Valorant Events in Iceland

Fri, 11 Jun 2021 11:31:15 +0200

Link to article

Source : SVG

In 2019, Riot Games became the first organization in the world to use JPEG XS compression for a trans-Atlantic remote production, deploying it for the League of Legends World Championship in Paris. Last month, Riot’s Esports Technology Group aimed to take its use of JPEG XS to the next level during the back-to-back League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) and Valorant Champions Tour (VCT) Masters Reykjavík events in Iceland — its first in-person events since LoL World Championships in Shanghai in October.

“Originally,” says Scott Adametz, head of Esports Technology Group, Riot Games, “we were planning on this being a test [of JPEG XS] for Iceland; it wasn’t planned to be used for the actual production paths. But the technology worked so well in the test, and we became comfortable enough to decide, the week before the show went on-air, to use it for the live production. XS ended up solving some needs we didn’t even realize we had with regards to transmission delay.”

For many in the industry, the JPEG XS standard represents the next great leap forward in transmission. The codec delivers high-quality compression with ratios up to 10:1 at sub-millisecond latency, and compressed video can be transported using SMPTE ST 2110-22 over WAN (wide-area network). Riot Games’ broadcast team had been using JPEG2000 for several years but has found a wealth of new possibilities for remote production and ultra-fast transmission with JPEG XS, according to Adametz.

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

Download the 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.

Tektronix Joins TICO Alliance

Mon, 08 Apr 2019 10:37:35 +0200

Tektronix Joins TICO Alliance for Smoother Path to 4K/UHD

30 June 2015 -- Adds Support for Emerging TICO Compression Technology that Will Ease the Challenge of Moving 4K/UHD Content over Current Infrastructures

BEAVERTON, Ore., June 30, 2015 - Tektronix, an industry-leading innovator of video quality monitoring solutions, today announced that it has joined the TICO Alliance, bringing additional industry support to efforts by the newly formed alliance to ease 4K/UHD adoption challenges. TICO is a new lightweight compression technology that provides visually lossless compression up to 4:1 and enables 4K/UHD content to be transported over existing SDI infrastructure as well as 10 GigE IP production and contribution networks.

To support transport of UHDTV streams across an IP network or existing 3G-SDI infrastructure, a new smart, fast and light compression is needed. Announced at NAB 2015, the TICO Alliance is a coalition of leading broadcast technology companies working to promote the use of TICO compression in 4K/UHD workflows.

"By joining the TICO Alliance, we are continuing to demonstrate our leadership in enabling the transition to 4K/UHD and IP," said Charlie Dunn, general manager, Video Product Line, Tektronix. "TICO compression technology effectively balances quality, bit rate and latency to keep data rates for 4K content below 10G. As with other compression technologies, it will be critical to monitor quality at every step of the workflow."

Tektronix offers the broadcast industry's most complete portfolio of solutions for ensuring picture and sound quality, including expanded options for 4K analysis and monitoring. These include comprehensive 4K monitoring using WFM/WVR8000 Series Waveform Monitors and Rasterizers, a recently expanded line-up of 4K-capable file-based analysis solutions, 4K picture quality analysis and 4K video distribution network monitoring.

TICO provides extremely low latency (limited to just a few pixel lines), preserves video quality across multiple generations of encoding/decoding, fits into the smallest cost effective FPGA devices and runs efficiently in software. The technology is designed to enhance live IP systems by increasing efficiency and reducing cost for both HD and 4K/UHD video. Developed by intoPIX, TICO has been submitted to SMPTE for publication as a Registered Disclosure Document (RDD) for the benefit of the broadcast and media industry. Members of the TICO Alliance are closely collaborating with intoPIX on the SMPTE RDD draft document

"TICO compression technology has the potential to ease the transition to the next generation infrastructure needed for 4K today as well as High Dynamic Range, High Frame Rate and 8K content in the not too distant future. However, for this technology to be successful, it must have backing from across the broadcast industry ecosystem," said, Jean-Baptiste Lorent, marketing manager of TICO Alliance. "The addition of Tektronix to our group is critically important because it means that broadcasters will be able to ensure the quality of TICO compression streams throughout production and contribution workflows."