A technology serving the global AV industry.
Designed to be a new standard for the industry-wide support, TICO compression technology is the result of years of research conducted by intoPIX and co-funded by the European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) and the Walloon Region (Belgium) - more info. The innovative compression technology is standardized at SMPTE as RDD35 (aka TICO RDD35) and has been further improved to become an ISO standard called JPEG XS. The technology is available on multiple software and hardware technologies.
The meaning of TICO? TICO simply stands for
“TIny COdec”
Tiny in complexity (hardware and software), Tiny in latency
SIMPLY MOVE TO UHD
Compatible with different resolutions, from mobile to 4K/8K UHDTV, via multiple usual transport schemes.
LOSSLESS QUALITY
From 4:1 down to 15:1 with TICO-XS (JPEG XS)
Robust over multiple encoding generations.
EXTREMELY LOW LATENCY
Down to microseconds.
Fixed latency selectable
Around 10 pixel lines for the encoding or decoding
COST & POWER SAVINGS
Small in hardware
Fast in Software
Running on COTS infrastructure and equipment for capture, streaming, storage and editing
To support transportation of UHDTV streams across the IP network or the existing HD/3G-SDI infrastructure, a new smart, fast and light compression is needed. 10 GB Ethernet or HD/3G-SDI networks are widely deployed and operated cost effectively within the Broadcast landscape.
TICO RDD35 helps Broadcasters to fully benefit from a seamless, integrated and high-quality Ultra-HD ecosystem from end-to-end. With a visually lossless compression from 4:1, TICO RDD35 enables the mapping of a single 4K/UHD 2160p60 stream over a single 3G-SDI link. Over 10Gbps Ethernet, it allows typically the simultaneous transmission of up to 3 streams of 2160p60, or more. Moreover using the RTP mapping of TICO, any video formats can be transported over RTP over any networks.
TICO XS is the second generation of TICO, offering more compression efficiency (x2 or more) and standardized at ISO as the JPEG XS standard.
Example application with UHD TV:
Read about applications of TICO Technology by our Alliance members:
Standardization & Interoperability
SMPTE RDD35 provides open specifications of TICO compression & mapping of compression over a single 3G-SDI & IP Networks (over SMPTE2022-6 or over independent RTP according to VSF TR03/ST2110-22). The document is available in the IEEE/SMPTE online library.
ISO/IEC JPEG XS standard provides open specifications of JPEG-XS compression, referred here as TICO-XS.
Join the consortium and follow to the technical recommendations!
TICO SMPTE RDD35 & TICO-XS simplify the Roadmap and Transition to IP:
HD/3G-SDI
Leverage the current HD/3G-SDI Standard to carry UHDTV-4K over a single HD/3G-SDI and re-use SDI workflows built for HDTV.
SMPTE 2022-6
Leverage the SMPTE 2022-6 Standard to carry up to 3 streams of UHDTV-4K over 10G IP Network, by mapping TICO RDD35 compressed 4K video over SMPTE 2022-6 and transporting 4K as a 3G-SDI RTP stream
SMPTE 2110-22
Carry any resolutions and any video formats lightly compressed with JPEG XS as an independent compressed essence (a separated RTP streams) using IETF RTP Payload definition, along with other RTP stream (AES67) for Audio and ANC RTP stream. For HD, 4K or even 8K compressed essence transport.
Support new UHD streams in existing systems or networks using the available pipeline bandwidth with the lowest latency, the smallest complexity and a preserved high image quality.
Moving with the industry
With the ISO standardization of TICO as JPEG XS, the TICO family is growing in line with the broadcast industry’s transition. By 2018 a first point of deployment has been reached for SDI and hybrid SDI over IP workflows, and step II. “Elementary flows” is in full progress.
The move of TICO to JPEG XS is in line with Part 22 of SMPTE’s ST2110, defining the transport of compressed video over IP. The novel codec will be able to serve visually lossless quality up to full transparency. Thanks to its further compression efficiency, TICO (RDD35 & JPEG XS) is suitable for the whole production workflow. Running (faster than) real-time on software, it may even be used in video editing.
Today, TICO is already widely adopted based on SMPTE RDD35 for transporting 4K and 8K resolutions over existing 3G- and 12G-SDI or hybrid SDI / IP networks.
Toda, a growing number of manufacturers and broadcasters are deploying complete SMPTE 2110 solutions using the new JPEG XS standard.
TICO - A growing family
| Formats | SMPTE RDD35 (TICO) | JPEG XS (TICO XS) | IP networks & SDI mapping |
|---|---|---|---|
| HD 720p60 /1080i60 | ~ 300 Mbps | 200 Mbps - 70Mbps | 1 to x streams over 1GbE |
| HD 1080p60 | ~ 600 Mbps | 400 Mbps - 125 Mbps | 1 to x streams over 1GbE |
| 4K 2160p60 | ~2,4 Gbps | 1,6 Gbps - 500Mbps | 1 stream over 1GbE 1 to x streams over 10GbE Single 3G- or HD-SDI |
| 8K 4320p60 | ~ 8 Gbps | 6,4 Gbps - 2 Gbps | 1 to 4 streams over 10GbE Single 12G-SDI |