III men - americanradiohistory.com · viewers are pushing back against such restrictions. Today's...

III MAY 2011

menww .broa castengin rin .com

01 011

ALSO-1111SIE:LOWER -COST CHANNEL DELIVERYUsing IT and software -based solutions

SPECTRUM AUCTIONSCongress acts to support the process

CONTROL ROOM SOUNDNew tools to tune the environment

A PENTON EDIA PUBLICATION

www.solidstatelogic.com

Big console power in a compact,simple and affordable package.

Integrated 'Production Assistants' like Dialogue Automix and 5.1 Upmix Renowned SSL reliability and support Premium audio quality, ready for 5.1 production Simple to install with flexible I/O options Easy to operate for users of all skills levels

Take the video tour at:

www cni iristatelOgir.rom /Cio

Get in touch

East Coast -

Steve Zaretsky I T: 1 (212) 315-1111 ext. 15 I [email protected] Coast -

George Horton I T: 1 (213) 249-9229 ext. 15 I [email protected]

Broadcast Audio. This is SSLSolid State LogicSOUND I I VISION

Oxford +44 (01865 842300 New York i (212) 315-1111 Los Angeles i (213) 249-9229 Paris +33 (o)i 48 67 84 85 Milan+39 039 2328 094 Tokyo +81 (0)3 5474 1144

Make the Most of Your ivedia with In-Jegrated \Jews WorkflowYour media is your lifeblood. From i= flDws the two most

essential elements of your business: creativity and profit.

Whether you're creating a complete news Dackage on your lapt(y,breaking a story from your mobile device, cr puti-ig the rundown

together in the newsroom, Avid' provides a seamless news workflow

with a new generation of tools for the crea ior and distribution ofnews that let you:

Create better content faster Work more efficiently and collaborative!), Make -your enterprise more profitable

Find out how. Visit www.avid.com/rrmri/integratednews

TABLE OF CONTENTSVOLUME 53 'NUMBER 51 MAY 2011

BroadcastEngineering,

FEATURES38 Lowering the cost of broadcast

channel deliverySwitching to an IT/software-based systemreduces complexity and increases flexibility.

46 The media life cycle in modernbroadcast environmentsCreating a file -based archiveenables content to have future value.

52 DVB-S2 and spectral efficiencyDeploying a DVB-S2 system can reducetransponder operating expenses by 65 percent.

BEYOND THE HEADLINESDOWNLOAD

12 LED lightinglhe new generation of lights offers longerthrows, better control and improved focus.

FCC UPDATE16 Incentive auctions

Three new pieces of legislation wouldcompensate broadcasters for giving up spectrum.

DIGITAL HANDBOOKTRANSITION TO DIGITAL

18 Captioning systemsLegacy analog issues remain afterthe digital transition.

COMPUTERS & NETWORKS22 SLAs, QoS and guaranteed WANs

Service level agreements are an importantpart of creating a reliable wide area network.

PRODUCTION ROOM28 Embedded audio

Integrating audio processing into a videorouting system presents new challenges.

continued on page 6

4 broadcastengineering.com I May 2011

re- !01 01011011101 101 010

1 010110 101 0101110 010

ON THE COVER:Whether it's on tape, DVD, hard drive, or in file or datastream, knowing where your media is and how quicklyyou can move k around your workflow is important tooperational efficiency.

Blackmagicdesign

Introducing UltraStudio Pro, the world's firstbroadcast quality editing for USB 3.0 computers!

UltraStudio Pro is the world's first professional video solution for USB3.0 computers! Only UltraStudio Pro has state of the art broadcasttechnology miniaturized into an attractive ultra -thin design with amassive number of video and audio connections, hardware up, downand cross conversion, full 10 bit SD/HD video quality, internal SDkeying and more! Get broadcast quality capture from any video devicewith amazing cinema style monitoring with full real time effects!

Connect to Anything

UltraStudio Pro includes 3 Gb/s SD , HDMI,and analog component which are all SD/HD

switchable, plus composite, s -video, 2 ch AES/EBU with sample rateconverters, 4 ch balanced XLR analog audio, down converted SD -SDIout, genlock/tri-sync and deck control. That's perfect for HDCAM SR,HD -D5, Betacam SP, Digital Betacam and more!

ZitilIncredible Quality with USB 3.0

UltraStudio Pro takes advantage of :he new

SuperSpeed" USB 3.0 to allow highest quality 10 bitHD video capture and playback! SuperSpeed USB 3.0

is 10 times faster than regular USB. That's a blistering z.8 Gb/s, whicheasily handles the highest quality 10 bit uncompressed 1080HD videowith maximum real time effects.

Powerful Image Processor

UltraStudio Pro includes a fast video processorfor incredible 10 bit quality hardware up,down and cross conversion! Now you can

edit once and deploy in SD, 720HD or 1080HD! Select letterbox,anamorphic 16:9 and pillar -box 4:3 video. When working in HD youcan even monitor in SD and HD at the same time!

IIUse the Software You Love!

Work with the software you love to use! UltraStudio Prosupports multilaye- real time effects in Premiere Pro-.You get Photoshop- plug -ins to grab and output

frames, plus real time playback in After Effects': Fusion' and Nuke"We also include our Media Express software for frame accuratecapture and playback of DPX, uncompressed YUV and MJPEG files.

Pi UltraStudio Pro

$895Windows Version

Learn more today at wvvw.blackmagic-design.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS(CONTINUED;VOLUME 53 1 NUMBER 5 1 MAY 2011

SYSTEMS INTEGRATIONNEW MEDIA NETWORKS

32 Listening environment testingImprove your space with software -based sound analysis.

NEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWSAPPLIED TECHNOLOGIES

60 Evertz's IntelliGain loudness control

62 Avid's Integrated Media Enterprise

64 Teradek's Cube video encoder

66 EEG's MPEG-2 Caption Legalizer

FIELD REPORTS68 Cobalt Digital's Fusion3G

9985 loudness processor

70 Blackmagic Design's UltraScopewaveform monitor

TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSITION72 TV sync and timing

Today's sync system is nearly the same as it was72 years ago when television was in its infancy.

NEW PRODUCTS74 Autoscript's CountPlus and more ...

DEPARTMENTS8 EDITORIAL

80 CLASSIFIEDS81 ADVERTISERS INDEX82 EOM

SEE IT ONLINE!Check out Brad On Broadcast, our editor'sblog covering the latest industry news.

Learn more at www.broadcastengineering.com


Windows° Life without Walls'!" Dell reccmmends Windows 7.

If you can imagine ityou can create it.Set your imagination free - and bring your most amazirgideas to life - with De.l Precision' workstations.

In the studio and now on the road, you have the power to keep up withyour ideas and stay on top of your schedule. Step up to server -level performance for your workstation w th Xeon® processors.

Collaborate, multitask, render and more - with a system ISM' -certified to run 90applications including Autodesk° Maya° 2011, Autodesk° ads Max° and Adobe® CS5.

Keep your software and hardware working seamlessly with optional DellProSupport-* - your single point of contact to over 75 software vendors - `orfast, efficient problem resolution.

Learn More Call 1-877-394-3355 or visitwww.dell.com/smb/imagine

Trademarks: Celeron, Celeron Inside, Core Inside, Intel, Intel Logo, Intel Atom, Intel Atom Inside, IntelCore, Intel, Inside, Intel Inside Logo, Intel vPro, Itanium, Itanium Inside, Pentium, Pentium Inside, vProInside, Xeon, and Xeon Inside are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Powerful.Intelligent.

EDITORIALDEPARTMENT

Content doublejeopardy

What if you purchased a morning paper, butwere only allowed to read it at the break-fast table? Or, suppose you bought a USAToday at an airport, but it came with re-

strictions that prevented you from reading it anywhere ex-cept on an airplane? That ice-cream cone you just boughtat the Dairy Queen? You may enjoy it only while insidethe store.

Such limitations sound ridiculous, don't they? Yet,that's exactly what happens when someone subscribesto a cable or satellite service. Sure, you can watch all thecontent you've paid for, but it must be done only in your

own home and on your big -screen TV. Should you desireto walk to the park and then enjoy an episode of HGTV's"Yard Crashers" on your Galaxy tablet, forget it. Despitethe enabling technology, the content owners and cable andsatellite companies are limiting the use of that content tothe viewer's home.

With ubiquitous high-speed Internet now available,viewers are pushing back against such restrictions. Today'sviewers want the ability to watch the content they've al-ready paid for when they want to watch it and anywherethey want to watch it. And, viewers don't like being toldthey must pay again for that same content.

"TV everywhere" was an early proposed solution. Withmuch fanfare, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Verizonconducted field trials. Consumer acceptance has been,shall we say, less than stellar; some experts say the results

were even dismal. Not all programming was available, andsome cable MSOs tried to charge extra for the "service?'

The latest MSO hurrah focuses on tablet applications. TheTime Warner website touts, "TWCable TV app turns youriPad into another TV screen and lets you watch selected livecable TV channels with your home WiFi connection?'

But before you sign up, let's dissect that statement. Thefirst key phrase is: "selected live cable TV channels?' Not allchannels are available. Second, viewers must subscribe toTime Warner's Internet service. Third, the service works,not surprisingly, only in subscribers' homes.

Could there ever be a solution to viewers' desire for no -cost portability that also provides the security that contentowners and multichannel video programming distributors(MVPDs) desire? Possibly. In late March, Adobe released anew product called Adobe Pass. Leveraging Adobe's Flashplatform and HTML5, Adobe Pass enables pay -TV pro-viders and content owners to deliver a wider range of con-tent on more devices while ensuring a high -quality, secureuser experience.

With Pass, an Adobe Flash widget runs in the back-ground while viewers access video streams from authenti-cated sites. For Apple devotees, instead of Flash, Pass relieson HTML5 and some JavaScript code. Adobe provides thesoftware free to cable companies, the MSO manages allthe customer data, and the content owners (networks) payAdobe to manage viewer access. The platform may helpfast -track over -the -top (OTT) delivery to millions who al-ready pay for content, but just want to watch it on otherdevices and outside their homes.

Although MTV is using the platform, the feature isonly available to Verizon subscribers. Other networks us-ing Adobe Pass include Turner Broadcasting's TNT, TBS,Adult Swim, Cartoon Network and TruTV. Additionally,Comcast, DISH, Verizon and Cox have agreed to supportthe service.

Pass may prove not to be the ultimate solution, buteven so, it represents a huge step in the right direction toprovide viewers with the portability they crave and the se-curity that content owners and MSOs require. But wait,wouldn't that be like free OTA broadcasts that viewers canalready enjoy?

EDITORIAL DIRECTORSend comments to: [email protected]

BE


Smarter IT -based playout,faster end -to -end workflows.

7Is

LET'S GO THERE.We've brought a new level of workflow integration to multi -format playout. By combining our iTX IT -basedautomated transmission with our infrastructure and monitoring systems, we've streamlined all coreplayout processes, from ingest to returns monitoring. This end -to -end integration allows you to deliver

more channels, with a higher quality of service, using fewer operators. It's a smarter, simpler approach.

www.miranda.com/playout

LET'S GO THERE.

r4 =Ica LicaLi 1:4 I;..2 16414Iza 1;3 1;41 1.4144-1 Lair-il.11410141413114E4 g;a 1;i1 WI 1;1 Cal LAU) W1

faz411311131$3Iiizli 140

r.11 nal iallwasta sal L41 La Li Li 111112 r41 =4114

11:21MOSN sal Soil 141 ICJ %41441 1 r11

lic;S 1c41 W111111111E11111110111141 11.41111 E21:2 rit:11101

lowe C,ouriesy of NBA D-Leaguo Qutional TriCaster 850 CS Hardman: Cot *of Surface

Learn mare about TriCaster at:www.rminitek.com/be

fi a

TAKE CONTROL

1460-1.16 d

JIM1111, ago

NewTek TriCasterim 850 EXTREME is Ike having an HD live truck thar fits in your rack or on yourdesk In Im production, there's ho time to second guess. We get it, that's why we [wild TriCaster

Affordable 24 -channel, native 1-113 system (up to 1080p) that broadcasts, strearm, projects one records

Record up to eight channels of video, simultaneously, with NewTek IsoCorder1M technology

Go wireless with Appleri0 AirPlay(g) to deliver video aryl audio from iPactO, iPodrii, or iphiDoerto

Eight external sources with the ability to mix and match formats

Eight virtual/mix channels for layered switti lei effects

18 HD, live virtual sets provide 3 network -style setting in a small space

Add the TriCaster 850 CS hart -Pram control surface and have illuminated bettors, a premium T-berand three -axis joystick mapped Meetly to the TriCaster 850 EXTREME vixAspace. Nov, youcan make split-second r torsions with your eyes on the show and your hands at the controls.

It's time. Take control.

Ct\ NewTekTriCaster

;Wm

5L1 eHcreme-

rd Nowittiii Mt. ;Alf Alamrt-41 k, AN wk... tmettow I

DOWNLOADBEYONDTHE HEADLINES

LED lightingThe new generation of lights offers longer throws,

better control and improved focus.

In today's challenging economy,broadcasters are looking at ev-ery possible way to save money.The economics of using LEDs to

light a television news studio is a no-brainer. Run the numbers, and theyspeak for themselves. The minimalpower required by LEDs, combinedwith long life and reduced HVACcosts, usually pays for the new light-ing equipment in just a few years,

BY STFVF MULKEY

to integrate this technology into yourstudio lighting environment.

I don't find it helpful to com-pare a particular LED fixture with alegacy incandescent or fluorescentfixture; they're different. Like anyother source, you have to learn whateach LED fixture is designed to do.You learn the capabilities and perfor-mance of each product, and designyour lighting accordingly.

The new HD set for KVLY of Fargo, ND, debuted in January 2011. The LED lightingincorporates 30 Litepanels 1x1 fixtures.

with continued savings well intothe future.

However, there is a learning curvewith LED fixtures. It's not unlike whatlighting designers, who were com-fortable with incandescent technol-ogy, faced in the 1990s, when modernfluorescent fixtures made their debut.Some embraced the new technology,while others watched it pass themby. The challenge is to recognize thegreat potential of LEDs and find ways

That said, the object of lightingwith LEDs is the same, regardless ofwhat type of source is used: make thetalent look great from every cameraangle, separate them from the back-ground, and provide illumination andaccent for the set when called for.

New developmentsWith the introduction of a new

generation of LED Fresnel fixtures,there are now LED instruments that

perform like a traditional incandes-cent, with a longer throw and im-pressive control and focus capability.Just as lighting designers have usedincandescent soft lights or fluores-cent fixtures, LED arrays have beenaround for some time now. They emita soft, high -quality light that worksextremely well with HD cameras.There are also LED arrays available ina variety of beam spreads, which givesthe designer better control and moreoptions to work with.

One of the properties of many LEDfixtures that everyone can appreciateis the ability to dim the source with-out a color shift. Incandescent hasvery little latitude to dim before thecolor starts to shift. So, to maintaincolor temperature with an incan-descent, the choice is to either lampwith a lower wattage, scrim or movethe source away from the talent. It's agreat feature of an LED fixture to beable to position it where you want itand dial in the light level you need,either locally on the fixture or usingDMX control.

Color temperatureLED fixtures are offered in day-

light, tungsten or equipped withboth daylight and tungsten LEDs thatprovide the ability to select any colortemperature between the two. In atelevision news studio environment,there are positive reasons for usingdaylight. On television news sets,there are often a number of monitors(LCD, plasma, DLP, etc.) worked intothe design. Most of these monitorsdisplay in the daylight range, so if youlight the set with daylight, you don'thave to adjust the color temperatureof the monitors like you do when try-ing to match tungsten. How manytimes have we used CTO or had to


ACQUIREwww.aja.com

Acquire with AJA.From Lens to Post, capture edit -ready

Apple ProRes 422 footage direct from your camera.

Pro Res

Ki Pro Mini. Lens to Post...in a FlaPortable 10 -bit 4:2:2 Flash Disk Recorder

Designed as a miniature field recorder forcreating 'ready lo-edif professional digitalvideo, Ki Pro Mini records Apple ProRes 422(including HQ, LT and Proxy) direct from an

SDI or HDMI camera. Mounted andconnected to your camera, Ki Pro Minirecords the ProRes footage to affordableCompact Flash media, instantly ready to

Ki Pro. Unify Cameras and Forma10 -bit Recorder with Cornersion

Designed to unify thediffer nt formats employedby brcadcast cameras, Ki Ptfeatur?s AJA's powerul '- fahardware up/down/cross- " I iregee lg. M;,_

conve-sion and captures ProRes

direct to removable Storage Module meExterv.ive I/O ensure! integration with a

Find out about our latest Acquire products at www.aja.com

Because it matters.VIDEO SYSTEMS

DOWNLOADBEYONDTHE HEADLINES

add expensive processing gear to getthese monitors to look right?

Often, when people walk into thestudio and see it lit with daylightLEDs, they say, "Wow, they're sobright" Usually that's because they'venever seen daylight used in a newsstudio environment. But when thecameras are properly set up to the

fixture. And that's no different fromwhat many of us did with fluorescentfixtures before LEDs came along. It'sjust easier with LED fixtures becausethey're smaller and can fit into placeswhere the larger fluorescent fixturesjust won't go.

For lighting control, where I don'twant light from one LED array to fall

This cable news studio uses Litepanels Sola 6 Fresnel and 1x1 LED fixtures.

daylight source, the pictures speak forthemselves. Then their reaction is oneof pure amazement.

The plan is still keyWhen it comes to creating a light-

ing plan, you do it the same way you'vealways done it. You have to look at theset and you have to look at the shots,where the cameras are going to be andwhat the angles are. That's what youdo with any form of lighting. Look atthe blocking and say, "We've got threeangles on this position and two an-gles on this one." You can easily take atraditional approach with three-pointlighting. I try to get double duty outof the LED fixtures, so if I use one asa key on position 1, it would be niceif when they turned to camera posi-tion 2 that key would become a fill.I don't want to light so tightly that Ican't get more than one use out of the

on the talent sitting one chair over,most LED fixtures can be fitted withtraditional barn doors and egg crate,as well as "honeycomb" grids withvarying degrees of beam spread. I

LED fixtures, they're so much lighterin weight than other types of light-ing equipment you may find there isno need for heavy duty grip gear tosupport them. We recently completedlighting a new set entirely with LEDssuspended from a 3/8in threaded rod.It was the operations manager's idea,and it worked flawlessly.

Caveat emptorA word of caution to anyone who

is unfamiliar with LED technology:All LEDs being sold are not createdequal. The truly good LEDs emit aconsistent, broad spectrum of light toachieve their color. Be careful. Thereare fixtures that rely on a variety ofdifferent colored LEDs to achieve abroad spectrum of light. This can casta variety of different colored shadows,which you don't want.

Suffice to say, before deciding whichLED manufacturer to go with, youwould be well advised to run sometests of your own. Having the equip-ment in your hands and lighting tal-ent and scenes will be the best way todetermine which products measureup. Also, take a look at who is usinga particular LED maker's product.Often a customer list will tell you ev-erything you need to know about theequipment and what you can expect.

Don't be afraid to try somethingnew. LED technology is here, it's readyand you need to take a serious look

A word of caution to anyone who isunfamiliar with LED technology: All LEDs

being sold are not created equal. Thetruly good LEDs emit a consistent, broadspectrum of light to achieve their color.

also find using light diffusion workswith LEDs to soften the light or tokeep light from traveling beyond thesubject. Using the lightest diffusion isoften enough to knock the light downand still keep the light quality ofthe LED.

When it comes to mounting most

at it. An associate of mine put it thisway, "Lighting with incandescent islike using a typewriter. Lighting withfluorescent is like using an IBM 286.When you light with LEDs, you're us-ing an iPad."

Steve Mulkey heads Redwood MediaGroup.

BE


An evolution in technology.A revolution in business possibilities.

The Selenio`" Media Convergence Platform

Every day our industry accelerates its migration from a traditional, broadcast model to a more flexible,

efficient IP-based workflow. Product vity demands it - and new revenue is reliant on it.

Enter Selenio`". The industry's first media convergence platform.

With Selenio, baseband video/audio processing, compression and IP networking are combined into a

single, scalable, space -saving platform.

So go ahead. Expand your channel portfolio. Make that transition to HD. Or move into web/mobile

services. Selenio enables you to add new services confidently and cost effectively.

Selenio. An evolution in technology. A revolution in business possibilities.

SELENIO.. Winner of the TV Technology STAR Awardbroadcast.harris.com/selenio

ORAWING THE NEW LINE

ii/?/"HSharris. corn assuredcommunications''

FCC UPDATEBEYONDTHE HEADLINES

Incentive auctionsThree new pieces of legislation would compensate

broadcasters for giving up spectrum.BY HARRY C. MARTIN

Three bills have been in-troduced in Congress thatwould give the FCC au-thority to share auction

proceeds with broadcasters who "vol-untarily" turn in their TV spectrumfor broadband use. There are reportsof more bills in the works.

It is no secret that the FCC wouldlike to repurpose already -occupiedbroadcast TV spectrum for broad-band use and that broadcasters willstrongly resist such repurposing. Theimpetus behind the new legislation,like the incentive legislation intro-duced last year, is that broadcasterresistance might be softened or eveneliminated by the prospect of largeamounts of cash coming out of the

DatelineNoncommercial TV stations in

Michigan and Ohio must file their bi-ennial ownership reports by June 1.

By June 1,TV and Class A TV sta-tions in the following locations mustplace their 2011 EEO reports in theirpublic files and post them on theirwebsites: Arizona; Idaho; Maryland;Michigan; New Mexico; Nevada;Ohio; Utah; Virginia; Washington,D.C.; West Virginia; and Wyoming.

The license renewal cycle be-gins June 1, 2012, for TV, Class ATV, TV translators and LPTV stationsin Maryland; Virginia; Washington,D.C.; and West Virginia. In thesestates, on April 1, 2012, TV, Class ATV and LPTVs that originate pro-gramming must begin their prefil-ing renewal announcements. Therenewal cycle continues region byregion until April 1, 2014, when sta-tions in Delaware and Pennsylvaniawill be the last to file for renewal.

proceeds of an auction of the repur-posed spectrum. But this schemerequires a change in the law becausethe FCC is not currently allowed toshare the proceeds of its spectrumauctions with private parties.

Spectrum optimizationFirst this year was S.415 (the Spec-

trum Optimization Act). A four -pagebill from Sen. Mark Warner, D -VA, itwould give the FCC authority to con-duct auctions of spectrum that is "vol-untarily relinquished by a licensee,"with "a portion" of the proceeds beingshared with relinquishing licensees.

The bill would leave it to the FCCto establish a maximum revenue shar-ing threshold applicable within anyauction. It requires the commissionto "minimize the cost to the taxpayerof the transition of the spectrum tobe auctioned." The bill has no provi-sion, such as a spectrum tax, to forcebroadcasters into cooperating.

Spectrum inventoryRep. John Barrow, D -GA, has in-

troduced H.R.911 (the SpectrumInventory and Auction Act of 2011).This bill also would give the FCCauthority to conduct incentive auc-tions. But before such auctions couldbe conducted, the FCC and the NTIAwould have to complete an exhaus-tive broadband spectrum inventoryreport and make it public. As withS.415, H.R.911 would leave the to -be -shared amount of auction proceedsup to the FCC's discretion.

Importantly, the bill would express-ly prohibit the FCC from reclaimingspectrum "directly or indirectly on aninvoluntary basis:' It does not identifywhat would qualify as an indirect in-voluntary measure. Nevertheless, thefact that language is included may

comfort those who expect that theFCC might come up with coercivemeasures to persuade TV licensees togive up their spectrum.

Reforming airwavesBack on the Senate side, there also

is S.455, the 51 -page "Reforming Air-waves by Developing Incentives andOpportunistic Sharing Act" co -spon-sored by Sens. John Kerry, D -MA, andOlympia Snowe, R -ME.

Much like Barrow's bill, it wouldpermit the sharing of auction proceedswhile requiring the FCC to conduct aspectrum inventory and other similarexercises. The amount of auction pro-ceeds available for sharing would beleft to the FCC, and broadcaster par-ticipation would be strictly voluntary.And, as with the two bills describedabove, it says nothing about spec-trum taxes. But it would require thatthe commission assure that there willbe "adequate opportunity nationwidefor unlicensed access to any spectrumthat is the subject of such an auction:'This is intended to protect the contin-ued availability of spectrum for whitespaces devices. The legislation containsother proposed changes to the Com-munications Act that are unrelated toincentive auctions.

ConclusionIt is unlikely any legislation will be

approved this year or in 2012 due tothe 2012 congressional and presiden-tial elections. Budget and tax issues arelikely to crowd out any amendments tothe Communications Act leading up tothe elections. BE

Harry C. Martin is a member of Fletcher,Heald and Hildreth, PLC.

11_Send questions and comments to:[email protected]


HD -SDISCAN CONVERTERWITH GENLOCK AND REGION -OF -INTEREST SUPPORT

0 motrox Convert DVI Plus

Broadcast Computer -based Content Easily and EconomicallyYou Tube Goggle

Matrox Convert NI Plus ets broadcasters easily and economically take the computer -based content that is quickly becoming a

key part of the nightly news to air It's ideal for creating broadcast video from computer applications such as Skype, YouTube,

Google Earth, video games, and web browsers, as well as citizen journalists' mobile phone videos. It's also the perfect appliance to

drive projectors and large displays at live events and in hoses of worship.

Contact us today for the name of a dealer near you.1.800.361 4903 (US and Canaca), 514.822.6364www.matrox.cernivideo

matiomDigital Video Solutions

Matrox is a registered trademarx and Matrox Convert is a trademark of Mazrox Electronic Systems Etc. AR other trademarks ore the property of thew respective owners.

TRANSITION TO DIGITALDIGITAL HANDBOOK

Captioning systemsLegacy analog issues remain after the digital transition.

Although the FCC estab-lished rules for the car-riage of closed caption-ing quite some time ago,

the process of generating, encodingand transmitting captions has hadto adapt to the evolution of digitalbroadcasting. In the analog world,EIA-608 (now CEA-608) defined howcaptions should be carried on line 21of an NTSC transmission. With theonset of digital transmission, EIA-708 (now CEA-708) emerged, de-fining how to carry captions over aDTV transmission.

Captioning is complexWithin the broadcast plant, the

distribution of DTV closed caption-ing (DTVCC) is based on the use ofSMPTE 334-1, which defines a meth-od of embedding DTVCC and otherdata services in the vertical ancillary(VANC) data space of HD -SDI andSDI signals. Carriage over these twointerfaces is defined by SMPTE 292MHigh -Definition Serial Digital Inter-face and SMPTE 259M Serial DigitalInterface, respectively. The 334 stan-dard defines a caption distribution

BY ALDO CUGNINI

packet (CDP), the basic unit of datathat is carried through the DTVCCdistribution chain. The CDP consistsof a specific sequence of bytes thatcan carry CEA-708 DTV caption data,CEA-608 caption data, caption ser-vice information and SMPTE 12M-1

Caption authoringstarts with

the creationof captioning

intentions.

time code. All SMPTE 334 -1 -compli-ant distribution equipment handlingHD -SDI and SDI signals should passDTVCC when properly configured.

A standardized protocol for carry-ing CDPs over an EIA/TIA-232 (for-merly RS -232) serial interface from acaption encoder to an MPEG encoderis defined by SMPTE 333. As withmany devices using a serial interface,this protocol uses software (as op-posed to hardware) "handshaking"for flow control and synchronizationbetween the two devices. Alternatively,

FRAME GRAB A look at tomorrow's technology

HDTV households now dominate U.S. viewing landscape61 percent of households now own an HDTV, compared with12 percent in 2005.

8070605040302010

0

2011 2005

Own one

Source.. Leichtman Research Group

2011 2005

Own multiple

www.leichtmanresearch.com

the serial protocol described in SMPTERP2007 does not use flow control; thecaption data is "pushed" from the cap-tion encoder to the MPEG encoder.DTVCC caption data can also be car-ried in an AES3 digital audio datastream, as specified in SMPTE 337M.Such an application could be used, forexample, in place of DTVCC carried inthe VANC of an SDI interface.

Caption authoring starts with thecreation of captioning intentions:a high-level, usually text -based, de-scription of how and when the cap-tions should appear on consumerequipment. While there have beenattempts to establish an agreed CEA-708 caption intentions format, thereis currently no such standard pro-tocol. Without a standard, the cre-ation, handling and conversion ofcaption intentions is often a propri-etary process. Caption encoders andVANC embedders consequently mayor may not have built-in functional-ity to translate the caption intentionsinto CDPs.

Selection of video processingequipment should also take into ac-count how that equipment handlescaptions when the video is delayed,frames are repeated or dropped, etc.When a processor cannot handle cap-tions appropriately, bridging proces-sors can be used to bypass the prob-lematic system elements. The readeris directed to SMPTE EngineeringGuideline EG 43:2009 for further in-formation on the carriage of captionsin the broadcast plant.

Broadcast carriage requiredBoth CEA-608 and CEA-708 cap-

tioning must be sent on broadcasttransmissions for all nonexempt cap-tioned programming. CEA-708 dataalso includes "legacy" CEA-608 cap-tions, so that analog receivers canuse that to generate captions, e.g.,


More video... on more devices. Video is everywhere, and the explosivegrowth of video consumption is driving a whole new video economy forboth providers and consumers. This dynan-ic economy is geleratinghuge opportunities, but it also requires more efficient ways to jroduceand distribute more content, faster than ever.

At Harmonic, we're 100% focused on developing video infrastructurethat helps you create, prepare and deliver high -value video contest in anyformat, to any device. Let us show you how our innovations cart enaoleyou to succeed in the video economy.

0 0 0 Learn more at harmonicinc.com/video-economy

ENABLING THE VIDEO ECONOMY "

PRODUCTION PREPARATION PACKAGING DISTRIBUTION DELIVERY

TRANSITION TO DIGITALDIGITAL HANDBOOK

DTV CCtransport

CEA-608

CEA-708

MPEG-2 control

PSIP

Figure 1. DTV closed captions within the ATSC A/53 transport stream

when the signal is provided througha DTV converter. While DTV receiv-ers can use 608 data when 708 data isnot available, this functionality is notmandatory in the receiver.

The carriage of ATSC closed cap-tions is defined in A/53, Part 4. (SeeFigure 1.) Up to 16 services can be an-nounced in a caption service descrip-tor (CSD), which identifies each ser-vice as "digital" 708 or "line -21" 608 -type captions. With NTSC, CEA-608

(ANSI/SCTE 128) and SMPTE VC -1(SCTE 157). Digital Video Broadcast-ing (DVB) similarly defines CEA-708closed captions when using MPEG-2,AVC and VC -1 video coding.

Broadcasters and MVPDs mustensure compliance with FCC regu-lations on correct carriage of closedcaptions, and cable plants retransmit-ting broadcast programming mustcorrectly make captions available tosubscribers. In the past, an all -analog

Video with embeddedcaptions on line 21

Video with captionsas ancillary data -*

TV(decodes and

renders captions)

STB(decodes and

renders captions)

Figure 2. Captions can be processed by one of two means on TVs receiving videofrom an STB.

allowed each field to contain onlytwo characters at one time (2 bytes,or 16 bits); the data rate was thus 2x 60 = 120 characters per second, or960b/s. The CEA-708 data rate, how-ever, is constrained only by the par-ticular transport (or transmission)method. ATSC A/53 allows a datarate of 9600b/s, i.e., 1200 charactersper second.

ATSC A/72 Part 1 specifies CEA-708 when using AVC; cable systemsincorporate it as well for both AVC

cable plant would simply pass theentire NTSC signal from source tosubscriber, keeping the line -21 cap-tions intact. Today's situation, withdigital sources and mixed analog-digital cable plants, is more complex.CEA-608 captions can be re -encodedonto line 21 in an STB, but CEA-708(DTVCC) captions require differentprocessing, as the rendered captionsare essentially a superset of CEA-608.TVs receiving their video from STBs,whether from cable, satellite or even

DTV converters, have the additionalcomplication that the captions couldbe rendered by the STB or within theTV itself. (See Figure 2.)

Mobile broadcasting has its ownadaptation of captioning, too. Becausethe mobile multiplex is intended to bedecoded independently of the mainprogram, mobile captions must beembedded separately within the mo-bile transmission, even if simulcastingthe main program. At present, thereis no FCC mandate to carry captionswithin a mobile transmission.

Captions transmitted in the ATSCmobile standard ATSC A/153, as de-scribed in CEA-708D, can be carriedusing descriptors as defined in ATSCA/65, constrained as per ATSC A/72(i.e., as for AVC coding). The captionsare listed, together with video, audioand other services, in the service maptable, or SMT-M/H. One key differencefrom A/72 is that variable bit rates, notto exceed 9600b/s, are permitted forthe closed caption payload. (That is,packing bytes need not be used, andwhen captions are not present, nobandwidth allocation is needed.) Thiswas an intentional difference fromolder versions of CEA-708, which re-quired the fixed allocation of 9600b/sfor DTVCC. Another difference is thatclosed captioning, AFD and Bar Dataare not carried in the SVC enhance-ment layer, when that is used. Receiv-ers decoding the SVC enhancementlayer are expected to use the informa-tion present in the SVC base layer, i.e.,the AVC "compatibility" stream.

3-D closed captioningThe Television Data Systems Sub-

committee of CEA is considering howCEA-708 caption services can be ren-dered with stereoscopic 3-D programcontent, and how basic 3-D coding ca-pability might be added to CEA-608.CEA is welcoming participants to jointhe appropriate workgroups. BE

Aldo Cugnini is a consultant in the digitaltelevision industry.

ISend questions and comments to:[email protected]


TrinixTM NXT works seamlesslywith the Kayenne' Video

Production Center,K2 Dyno"" Replay System,Maestro"" Master Control

& Channel Branding systemand Kayak' Production Switcher.

All powered by Fusion.

fugin

-Itl°14-14140010.1stA-Trinix NXT

Bottom line: Trinix NXT has Defteroperating costs than any of its competitorsAsk any of our thousands of satisfied customers. Trinix jt.st works. Add newfeatures or even upgrade to a new format, including 3G, and you still get the same

independently certified highest quality signal performance -without the expense of

new frames or recabling your system. But one of the biggest benefits of Trinix thatall of our customers enjoy is the lowest operating costs of an/ comparable routing

switcher solution on the market. Find out how Trinix NXT can improve your ROl atwww.grassvalley.com/trinix_nxt.

when the world is watching...we're there

Ergrass valley

COMPUTERS & NETWORKSDIGITAL HANDBOOK

SLAs, QoS andguaranteed WANs

Service level agreements are an important partof creating a reliable wide area network.

Did you know that IP net-works are used everyday by Fox to get criticalsporting events back -

hauled from the venue to a facility inLos Angeles? Did you know that otherbroadcasters, Hollywood studios andmedia companies do the same thing?You might think that IP transport isunreliable and not suitable for profes-sional video. This article will discusshow to create an IP network withgreat reliability.

SLAs, SLS, TCAs and TCS'To get the reliable performance de-

scribed above, start with a service lev-el agreement (SLA) with your videoservice provider. An SLA serves as thebaseline and sets expectations bothon the part of the service providerand the user. We talk about SLAs andquality of service (QoS) together as ifthey both were technical frameworks,but this is not strictly true. The SLA isthe part of a contract between the twoparties that describes the characteris-tics of the transport, particularly interms of reliability, that the user canexpect the service provider to deliver.SLAs can be simple, or they can becomplex. But usually SLAs cover twobroad areas: business and technical.

When it comes to business aspects,these are broken down into SLAs andservice level specifications (SLS). Afew aspects of SLAs and SLS' are suit-ability for use, price and technicalsupport. Of course, when you en-ter into an agreement for transportfrom a service provider, the assump-tion is that the service being offeredis suitable. But misunderstandingscan occur if the two parties do not

BY BRAD GILMER

both agree what constitutes an ac-ceptable service. There is not muchto say about price except that it is acommon part of the overall agree-ment and that pricing, penalties forlost service, and what constitutes aloss of service should all be coveredin the SLA and SLS; otherwise, diffi-culties can ensue. For example, doesa one -second loss of signal constitute

you take hits on the network does notmean that the network is unavailable;the terms of the SLA will determinethat. You might wonder how this canbe. You can measure every single bitas it transits the network, and youcan make a note every time a bit isdropped. This is usually reported asbit error ratio (BER). Numbers suchas 10-3 or 10-5 are not uncommon.

An SLA serves as the baseline andsets expectations both on the part of

the service provider and the user.

an outage over a one -month period?What if you get 10 or 20 one -secondoutages in a month? Is that equivalentto a single 10- or 20 -second outage?You get the idea.

Finally, technical support is defi-nitely something that should bespecified in an SLA. When will theprovider answer the phone? How willit escalate a problem? Will it do thesame thing on the weekend or in themiddle of the night?

The SLA and SLS should also in-clude technical aspects. Some com-mon elements to include are perfor-mace metrics, availability metrics,mean time to restore, and operationsand service windows. Performancemetrics you may want to consider arethings such as IP loss rate, IP errorrate, jitter and wander, and out of or-der and reordered packets. Availabilitymetrics are interesting. Of course, youwant to track the availability of thenetwork, especially if you are going toget a rebate for times when the net-work is unavailable. But just because

In the case of 10-3, there is one errorevery 10,000 bits. But it is strictly a ne-gotiation between you and the serviceprovider to determine at what levelof error an outage has occurred. Youcan expect to encounter terms such asBER and errored seconds when youtalk about these things.

Also, should you measure everytime there is an errored bit duringtransmission, or are you going tomeasure outages in terms of erroredvideo output from a decoder? Whatif the system employs forward errorcorrection (FEC) and can correct forerrors in transmission up to a certainlevel? There is a lot to talk about withyour provider, and it is much betterto cover these things at the beginningrather than during a problem.

In addition to SLAs and SLS, youwill also encounter traffic condition-ing agreements (TCAs) and trafficconditioning specifications (TCS').These documents describe how traf-fic on the network will be treated.More on this in a minute, but what


MAX DIGITALPOWER

Harris° MaxivaTM UAX Compact Class:1More Broadcasting Coverage for Less

You already know the MaxivaTM U_X liquid -cooled and UAX air-cooled, UHF, solid-state

transmitters provide today's multiredia broadcaster with unmatched pEr'ormance, reliability

and quality.

Now, Harris unveils our newest series offering in a 2RU package: Maxiva UAX Compact Class.

This air-cooled UHF, solid-state transmitter incorporates the Maxiva UAX multimedia exciter

in a compact, cost efficient model, for use as a transmitter, translator or single -frequency

network gap filler for today's digital broadcasters.

The Maxiva UAX Compact Class is Elso designed with future broadcastirg needs in mind,

capable of ATSC, ATSC MDTV, DV:3-1/H, DVB-T2, ISDB-Tb and other digital standards, all on a

single -transmitter platform.

Maxiva UAX Compact Class means naximum broadcasting reach even on a minimum budget.

To learn more, please visit broadcast.harris.com/Ntransmiss on.

TIMMSharris. corn assuredcommunications


happens if you say that, in all cases,video is the most important traffic onthe network, but somewhere downthe line, a bank has entered into anagreement whereby its bank trans-actions take priority? If the networkgets busy, then the provider is goingto drop packets, and if you do nothave consistent TCAs and TCS' all theway from source to destination, pack-ets may get lost on purpose becausethe bank takes precedence.

QoS frameworksTo deliver the quality of service you

establish through SLAs and TCAs,providers use QoS frameworks. Fig-ure 1 shows a QoS framework estab-lished by the ITU, as described in thedocument ITU-T Y.qosar. (See Figure1.) Cisco has a QoS framework, andthere are other frameworks as well.

As you can see, the ITU frameworkhas several planes. The management Figure 1.The ITU-TY.gosar framework

Admissioncontrol

Control plane

Data plane

CoSrojtin

Resourcereservation

Buffermanagement

Trafficsha s in

Congestionavoidance

Traffico icin

Packetmarkin

Queuing andschedulin

Trafficclassification

Managementplane

Metering

Policy

Servicerestoration

Servicelevel

management

ENDLESS VIDEO CONTENT OVER IP

IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT END -TO -END

NEWSGATHERING

Learn more at www.streambox.com or call +1.206.956.0544


motrox MX02 Rack

Maximum Productivity for Apple® Final Cut Studio® andAdobe® Creative Suite® 5.5 Production PremiumMatrox MX02 Rack with MAX-, the ultimate desktop solution - all the features of a high -quality capture card plusbreakout box in a rugged 2RU form factor. It works with Mac and PC, and let's you get the most from Apple Final Cut

Studio and Adobe CS5.5 Production Premium. The built-in Matrox MAX H.264 encoding accelerator lets you deliverH.264 files for the web, mobile devices, and Blu-ray up to 5 times faster than software encoders such as AppleCompressor and Adobe Media Encoder. System connectivity via PCI Express®, ExpressCard®/34, and Thunderbolt'"

technology ensures maximum versatility for use in the studio and in OB vans. HD/SD 10 -bit video connectivity via HDMI,

SDI, and analog; professional audio connectivity via 4-in/8-out balanced XLR, 4-in/4-out unbalanced AES/EBU, up to

16 -channels of SDI embedded audio I/O, and 8 -channels of HDMI embedded audio I/0; plus genlock with loop -through,

ensure maximum I/O flexibility. Edit anything, anywhere!

Contact us today for the name of a dealer near you. matiom1.800.361.4903 (US and Canada), 514.822.6364www.matrox.com/video Digital Video Solutions

, toter. trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Svstems Incorporated in the untied States andtu otter mem Ines , Studm. eat, Mao are tratimmadss at Appte C ampule,mote. PCI Express Is a register. trademark of -MCI -SIG ExpreseCard to a reamterad trademark of PCMCIS d,,/ rs a trademark of Ira. Carporatfon in the LI.C. matt,

feted IfacIernark ant Metres 1.1X0 and Metros MAX Me 'Mefferd". Mtn Metros Etratron,m System UP. All artnef tracamoo o nra dat WPM, M Met MP... mamma


plane allows the provider to managethe performance of the network ac-cording to the SLA. The control planedeals with control of the network,and the data plane has to do with thetraffic transiting the network. A QoSframework probably will address allof these areas.

Obviously we are not talking aboutloosely controlled networks here. Wemust control what sort of traffic is al-lowed on the network. This is donethrough admission control. To con-trol delay variation from one packetto another, QoS routing can be estab-lished, where packets always follow

The good news is that these frameworksallow providers to deliver guaranteedperformance across their networks.

I have a limited space, so I am goingto pick a few areas to discuss. You canfind more detailed information online.

In the management plane, this ar-ticle has already covered how the SLAis established. It has also touched onservice restoration. Policy and meter-ing has to do with establishing poli-cies for traffic on the network, espe-cially when things get busy. One poli-cy could be that you will discard datatraffic before discarding video traffic.Of course, to implement this policy,you will need to meter the traffic onthe network in order to know if poli-cies are being followed.

On the control plane, admissioncontrol is an important concept.

the same path through the network.This can also help with out -of -orderpackets. Also, we want guaranteedthroughput, and one way to achievethis is to reserve network bandwidth.

At the data plane, you are dealingwith packets on the network. In or-der to meter traffic on the network atthe management level, you will needto know what sort of traffic is on thenetwork. One way to achieve this isto use packet marking to describewhat is in the payload of each pack-et. To do this, you need to use traf-fic classification to put each packetinto a particular group for marking.Queuing and scheduling can be usedto control the flow of traffic on the

network so that you do not overflowbuffers in routing devices, and buffermanagement can be used inside therouters to allow high priority trafficto avoid being dropped except in theworst congestion conditions.

Do you need QoS?As you can see, QoS with all of its

components is a rather complicatedtopic. The good news is that theseframeworks allow providers to deliverguaranteed performance across theirnetworks. But because of the compli-cation, you might want to carefullyask whether you need this sort of so-lution before deploying it.

Brad Gilmer is president of Gilmer &Associates, executive director of theAdvanced Media Workflow Associationand executive director of the VideoServices Forum.

BE

ESend questions and comments to:[email protected]

v. Writers and instructors wanted

for BroadcastEngineering

We have many opportunities for youto help others learn broadcast and

production technology. [email protected],

subject line "Opportunities" formore information.

illillill /VEIRE LISTENING.COBALT DIGITAL PRESENTS THE COMPLETEAUDIO LOUDNESS SOLUTION.

2 2 = 6 =

P

LOUDNESS PROCESS"Linear Acoustic. AEROMAX" Processing (5.1, Stereo, or Dual Stereo)LOUDNESS METERINuITU 85.1770, ATSC A/85, and EBU R128 Compliant; 'True Peak" Level Detection,Error Tracking and Logging/Graphing, Easy Interface with Touch Screen ControlAUDIO uPr.Stereo Upmix to 5.1 Channel Sound using Linear Acoustic' UPMAX- Technology

STAR 2010

COBALT DIGITAL ENGINEERING FOR TOMORROW'S BROADCAST

1 (800) 669-1691 / [email protected] / cobaltdigital.com COBALT


Always the Best.Now Even More Choices.

ammo& wort_ WIIIIRSIM110 MIMI% IX

SPORTSSUNRAYLIY j1011111140110 10 1IS111 Xi 100 1111% 1111I KW.

ratel secylee has isso0 Sneoe Vre

..d11M,...111=1.7..1Mr!AMErr Alir am=

LIVE SKYDOPPLERRADAR

Broadcasters have been relying on Utah Scientific Master Control Switchers for more than

thirty years. From major national networks to local market stations, they have all shared

the rock solid performance and re Viability and the peace of mind that comes from trusting

your station's revenue stream to a Utah Master Control Switcher.

Now this amazingly flexible family of switchers offers an even wider range of exciting new

models and options to address today's demanding on -air environment:

Internal and External Squeeze Options for all models.

Powerful graphics solutions for snipes, logos, and automated display of external data.

A new multi -channel control panel with advanced control features.

A new plug-in channel processor with even more power.

When you put these new switchers together with the industry's most experienced systemdesign and tech support personnel, you are guaranteed to have an on -air system thatis perfectly suited to your requirements - and still flexible enough to adapt to the ever-changing requirements of the on -air world.

Utah Scientific is the worldwide leader in routing and master control systems.Contact us today for full details on how we can help you solve your master control problems.

The Best in the BusinessilDit=7 Utah Scientificww w.utanstientitic.colo

,tomor

PRODUCTION ROOMDIGITAL HANDBOOK

Embedded audioIntegrating audio processing into a video routing

system presents new challenges.

The evolution from analogto digital signal distribu-tion in broadcast televisionfacilities has brought about

a number of significant changes inrouting and distribution system de-sign. One of the biggest has been inhow audio is handled. As recently asfive years ago, a state-of-the-art fa-cility would include several layers ofaudio routing, usually a mix of ana-log and digital, along with the videosignal distribution layer.

BY SCOTT BOSEN

ded audio signals. Eliminating audiorouting and distribution equipmentalong with patch panels, cabling andsupport gear saves money and reduc-es complexity. The embedded audioworld, however, also presents newchallenges that must be addressed ifdesired flexibility, cost-effectivenessand efficiency are to be achieved.

ChallengesThe first problem posed by embed-

ded audio is how to reconfigure audio

The first problem posed by embeddedaudio is how to reconfigure audio

channels encoded into the digital signal.

With the widespread adoption ofembedded audio, these separate au-dio systems have shrunk to islands inproduction and some master controlareas, while the main video routingsystem transports audio as embed -

channels encoded into the digital sig-nal. This can be as simple as addinga second language track, or making aleft -right swap to maintain a consis-tent channel assignment pattern. Inextreme cases, it may be necessary to

Normal sources(SDI -embedded)

Tielines

Video router

Tielines

Normal destinations(SDI -embedded)

Destinations requiringshuffling

(SDI -embedded)

Variable patternAudio extract/shuffle/embed

Fixedpattern

Digital audio sources -

MADI sources -Analog audio sources

Audio router

Digital audio destinations

--* MADI destinations

Analog audio destinations

Figure 1. A hybrid audio/video routing system can handle discreet audio sources as wellas embedded audio.

completely rearrange channel posi-tions. This function, generally knownas shuffling, can be handled at thetime material is ingested into the fa-cility, in which case the shuffling isperformed by dedicated equipmentin the ingest system.

Effective stand-alone audio shuf-flers are also available, but they maybe difficult to incorporate into alarge, integrated facility where quickchanges to live feeds from news orsports events are common. In a fa-cility like this, the idea of includingaudio processing within the videorouter is particularly attractive.

Any manipulation of the contentwithin an SDI data stream first re-quires that the signal be deserializedand decoded into its component datastreams. Some video signal processingequipment already does this, but videorouters traditionally do not. Instead,they output data that is a faithful copyof what was received at input.

Incorporating deserializing and de-coding capabilities into a video rout-er is a relatively new idea. What hasmade it possible are improvements inlarge-scale field programmable gatearray (FPGA) components that makethem smaller, more powerful andmore energy efficient. By using thesecomponents, it is now practical toincorporate signal processing into avideo router's circuitry without com-promising its operational reliability.(See Figure 1.)

But this functionality comes at acost -a literal one. An I/O card withserializing and/or deserializing capa-bilities is several times more expensivethan one that just moves SDI signals.

Modern routing switchers aretypically based on a structure thatdivides the circuitry into three parts:an input card that accepts a number


TV CAN BEA LOT OF THINGS.

PAINFUL SHOULDN'T BE ONE OF THEM.

Recipient of the62nd Annual NATAS Technology

and Engineering Emmyo) Awe rd.

AERO.air' - now in 2RU

ti.resp. When loudness attacks, it's never pretty. We've been solving DTV audio

problems since before loudness complaints existed. From production

to transmission, our products are ouilt for one purpose - digital auc io

perfection. Find it in the AERC.air'' when you visit our website. Unless

you work for the Obnoxious Channel, in which case, please continue to

ignore this message.

www.LlnearAcoustic.com LINEAR ACOUSTIC


of signals; a central crosspoint card,usually with a redundant card instandby; and an output card, whichdrives a number of output ports. Abasic shuffling capability could beimplemented on either the input or

a midsize routing switcher with 128inputs, this works out to 2048 individ-ual audio streams. Because every in-put must be available to every outputwithout blocking, the internal audiosubrouter must be designed with a

12 HDinputs

Audioextractor

card Videocrosspoint

card

Embeddingoutputcard

12 HDoutputs

TDMaudio stream

TOMaudio stream

TOM router(192 positions) (192 positions)2K x 2K

(144 x 144)

Figure 2. An internal audio subrouter within the video router allows any audiostream to be inserted into any embedded audio position.

the output card. Both approacheshave their advantages, but the out-put card option offers more flexibil-ity because it enables signals fromthe router's other input cards to bebrought in and embedded into theoutput streams. When signals frommultiple sources are being combinedto create new ones, an audio sub -router must be included in the videorouter. (See Figure 2.)

Let's consider how large this audiorouter needs to be. Each HD -SDI in-put to the video router has the capac-ity to carry 16 embedded audio com-ponent streams (eight AES pairs). In

capacity of at least 2K x 2K. That's asbig as some of the largest dedicatedaudio routers in existence, and it isonly serving a midsize video router.

Given the large number of audiostreams within the router, this func-tion is generally performed by a timedivision multiplex (TDM) systemrather than a crosspoint matrix. TheTDM router can be implemented inan FPGA, reducing the number ofcomponents required. A TDM sub -router can also be extended to pro-vide digital signal processing (DSP)functions such as mixing, phase re-versal and gain adjustments, giving

the router the ability to control audiosignal characteristics fully.

To increase the flexibility of thecombined audio/video routing system,it should also be possible to providedirect connections both to externalaudio signals and to the audio signalsextracted from the video. Audio inputcards can handle this job by presentingtheir signals to the internal TDM ma-trix as well as to the crosspoint matrix,if necessary. Analog conversion canalso be added to these cards, in whichcase their signals can be presented asdigital streams to either or both of thesubmatrices. On the output side, audiocards can connect the audio streamseither as AES pairs or as stereo analogpairs for monitoring or connection tolegacy equipment.

When MADI streams are handledthe same way, it simplifies the con-nection to audio mixing consoles orother equipment. This also provides ameans of connecting the audio signalswithin the router to an external audiorouter, should system requirementsexceed the capacity of the internalaudio subrouter. Since a TDM matrixis inherently a synchronous system,it is necessary for all of the input sig-nals either to be synchronous or to besynchronized within the router. Toprovide maximum flexibility for han-dling "wild" audio inputs, the syn-chronization process should include

Videosource

IN0000

IN0000-1

Edit

IN0000-2

Edit

2

IN0001-1

Edit

3

IN0001

Edit

Audio sources

AOC

Edit

A01

Edit

Audio channels

IN0001-2

Edit

4

A00-1

Edit

5

A00-2

Edit

6

A01-2

Edit

7

A01-1

Edit

8

111111 12 14 11 15 16

Cancel Done

Figure 3. A GUI -based control system provides visual confirmation of the audio stream that is feeding each embedded audioposition.

30 broadcastengineering.com May 2011


sample -rate conversion facilities thatenable digital audio signals from thewidest possible range of sources to bebrought into the system.

Controlling the combined video/audio router also presents new chal-lenges in the design of user interface

control panel that provides a visualdisplay of the video signal and itsassociated audio positions so thatthe operator can choose the audiosignal to be dropped into each posi-tion. GUI design also enables controlof DSP functions and other signal

Controlling the combined video/audiorouter also presents new challenges inthe design of user interface devices.

devices. Most routing switcher con-trol panels provide basic audio/vid-eo breakaway functionality carriedover from the days before embed-ded audio was the norm. Now thatthere are not only video but also 16audio positions to control, even themost powerful hardware panels mayfall short. More effective is a virtual

configuration information to behandled more easily than it is in atraditional hardware control panel.(See Figure 3.)

ConclusionWhile the addition of audio pro-

cessing functionality to video rout-ing brings facility -wide advantages,

the equipment is undeniably expen-sive. When deciding how much au-dio capability is needed in a router, itis therefore important to analyze re-quirements carefully and to consideralternatives for external equipmentor router re-entry paths. In manycases, it is sufficient to add a relative-ly small audio -enabled section to thevideo router, and then implement therouter control system's pathfindingfacilities and tie -line managementto route audio -embedded signals totheir destinations.

In summary, it is possible to takecost-effective advantage of the flex-ibility and operational benefits ofembedded audio, but to do so re-quires careful assessment of needand evaluation of the available tech-nology, as well as solid planning andsystem design. BE

Scott Bosen is the director of marketingfor Utah Scientific.

DIVASolutionsMigrate Manage Market your media

Media puzzles solved.Puzzled by media systems integration and workflow solutions?

Front Porch Digital brings you DIVASolutions, the world leader in integrated,video migration, management, and online publishing.

Our team of experienced video specialists is dedicated to supporting you24x7 in the design, delivery and implementation of modular, scalable solutionsthat ensure your success.

Solutions that work the way you do. It's that simple.

visit [email protected]

coalFRONT PORCH DIGITAL

May 2011 I broadcastengineering.com 31

NEW MEDIA NETWORKSSYSTEMS INTEGRATION

Listeningenvironment testing

Improve your space with software -based sound analysis.

Sound waves take up physicalspace and require physicaldistance to develop. Any-thing the sound "touches"

can positively or adversely affect whatyou are listening to. For example, thelength, height and width of a roomcan correlate to how particular soundwaves will develop. Materials withinthe room, from carpet to work surfac-es, can affect sound waves as well.

Even professional listening envi-ronments can have issues with au-dio accuracy. Large rooms, includingsound stages or broadcast productionstudios, tend to have reverb (echo) is-sues. Smaller rooms aren't big enoughfor reverb problems, but they are no-torious for natural resonance issues.Equipment noise can also affect whatyou hear and, as a result, how yourmix will sound.

Fortunately, software -based soundanalysis tools such as real-time analyz-ers (RTAs) can let you "see" what you

BY MARK MILLER

hear through various tests, so you cancompensate for your surroundings. Theprimary purpose of these tests is to helpcreate a "flat" room, a space in whichthe listener is hearing the "real" soundthat the rest of the world will hear.

Each audio frequency within thespectrum has a wave of a certain size.For example, the 100Hz wave is about34in long, so you can correlate thatparticular frequency to how many cy-cles you'll get in a particular space. It's

You want to hear what's been recorded,unaffected by the environment in whichyou are listening to it. Without proper

analysis, you won't know which frequencyor frequencies "get stuck" in the room.

A "room mode" test is generally oneof the first tests to run, because youneed to identify how the environmentis altering the sound. Every room, par-ticularly a small room, has its own nat-ural resonance. A result of the shapeof the room, this resonance (or roommode) can cause a buildup of particu-lar audio frequencies.

FRAME GRAB A look at the consumer side of DTV

Earthquake and tsunami cause minimal disruption to LCDsLarge -sized panel LCD prices fell 0.5 percent in April.

0.0%

-0.5%

-1.0%

0. -1.5%

-2.0%

-2.5%

Source: iSuppli

January2011

February2011

March2011

April2011

wwwisupplicorn

simple math, really. All right, it mightnot be simple with so many frequen-cies, but it is predictable (and yourRTA will do the math for you).

You want to hear what's been record-ed, unaffected by the environment inwhich you are listening to it. Withoutproper analysis, you won't know whichfrequency or frequencies "get stuck" inthe room. As a result, you might tendto reach for the EQ to compensate forthose frequencies. But when that con-tent, which was mixed to your particu-lar room mode, is played elsewhere,you have a hole in your audio.

An RTA will show a peak of any par-ticular frequencies, so you can resolveany room mode issues, but the qualityof your tools can affect the quality ofyour measurement. Garbage in, gar-bage out - the old industry adage -applies to sound analysis as well. Youhave a choice of software programsdesigned for real-time sound systemmeasurement and analysis.

You will also need to invest in ameasurement microphone to capturethe audio coming from the speakers inthe room you are testing. Some micsdeliver a certain sound. When it comes

32 broadcastengineering.com I May 2 011

CK lyz

Broadcasingineering

2011

See ItNow you can look at your source before you do a take. The exclusive live thumbnail display in thenew Avenue Router panel shows you the source before you take it to air. And it does so without theneed for external monitors or a monitor bus output on the router. Video monitoring plus indicatorsfor synchronicity and timing, audio, closed captions and AFD give you confidence that your sourceis ready to use.

Take ItIt's the best of both worlds, a router and a clean switch all in one. The clean switch gives you fullframe synchronization that locks to your house reference so it can even switch cleanly betweenasynchronous sources. Flawless audio sample rate conversion makes the 9430 truly Clean and Silent.

Choose Your Size. Then Choose Again. And Again.Highly flexible matrix sizing lets you decide on your own configuration. The basic size is 8x2. Adduser -configurable input or output ports all the way up to 28x2 or 8x22 - and any sizes in between.Maybe a 10x5 or a 15x15? You choose. It's a future -proof design that lets you easily reconfigure atyour convenience.

And this router supports any signal you have or will have in the future - HD, SD, 3 Gb/s,ASI and 310M. Built-in black, bars and tone save you some router real estate. Plus youget a five-year warranty and free software updates forever.

Whether you need a bypass switcher for your master control, or if you have an off -sitenews bureau or radio show, or maybe you have a mobile truck or helicopter, this routeris one you need to see.

Call us today for your demo!

ENSEMBLEDESIGNS+1 (530) 478-1830

www.ensembledesigns.comInfoComm 2312 Broadcast Asia AP3-01


to measuring listening environments,however, you want a measurementmic with a frequency response that isflat from 20Hz to 20,000Hz, the fullspectrum of audio frequencies thatcan be heard by the human ear, whichwill provide an accurate representa-tion of the room. There are a numberof measurement mics on the market.They are not inexpensive but are nec-essary for accurate results.

The measurement mic needs to beplugged into a preamp and then anA/D converter so you can feed thesignal into your laptop via USB. Es-sentially, you place a measurementmic in the location of the room fromwhich you will be listening, play pinknoise (for frequency response andphase tests) through the room's speak-ers, and analyze the results throughthe RTA software. Pink noise is the

A fewmore testsHere are a handful of other teststhat can improve your listeningenvironment: Room tuning - With room modeissues resolved, another wave ofpink noise through the measurementmic can show peaks and valleys inwhat should be a perfect signal.

Speaker placement - Propersubwoofer placement is essential,particularly in 5.1 surround -soundmixing environments. Time alignment- To compensatefor imperfections in speaker place-ment, this test makes sure audiosignals from each speaker arriveat the listener location at the sametime.

Noise rating - How much noisefrom outside sources (such as peo-ple talking in the hall) is affectingyour listening environment? Reverb times-The measurementof a room's natural reverb is impor-tant so you can replicate it, such asin a sound booth ADR session aftershooting on a sound stage.

Problem area before around 250Hz

6dB rise at 250Hz

Figure 1. Using Rational Acoustics Smaart software, we can "see" how pink noisebecomes acoustical energy in a room. As the transfer function and spectrographindicate, there is an obvious issue at around 250Hz.

preferred sound to analyze becauseit includes the full 20Hz to 20,000Hzspectrum, with all frequencies at thesame volume.

We used the Rational AcousticsSmaart software to measure the fre-quency response of a small audiomixing suite. (See Figure 1.) A dual-

source measurement called transferfunction (seen in the lower part ofFigure 1) allows us to compare pinknoise as electrical energy to the pinknoise once it has become acousti-cal energy in the room. Along withthe spectrograph in the upper partof the image, the test clearly showsan issue around 250Hz, as well asa smaller issue at around 500Hz,which is an octave above 250Hz(and is to be expected). It is likelythat in dealing with the 250Hz roommode, the 500Hz problem area willalso be resolved.

Once we are aware of the exact is-sues in the room, we can begin to as-sess how to deal with them. If you havethe luxury of changing the physicalstructure of the space, you can changethe room size or alter the angles ofthe walls. For most facilities, however,audio issues need to be controlledthrough absorption or diffusion.

Absorption material removes soundenergy from a room, while diffusionreduces echoes and reflections butkeeps the sound in the space.

Available in a variety of designs,diffusers often have blocks or bafflesin their designs. A bookshelf alsoserves as an excellent diffuser; the dif-ferent sizes and densities of the bookson the shelves serve to radiate soundenergy in several directions.

Once we areaware of the exactissues in the room,

we can begin toassess how to

deal with them.

Depending on the audio issues,absorption materials can be appliedto specific areas of a room, not nec-essarily every square inch of wallspace. Plus, with a little more appliedmath, we can select certain densi-ties of materials that can absorbparticular frequencies. Foam panelsand ceiling tiles are some of the most



popular absorption materials pur-chased to improve room sound. Youcan also install carpets and tapestries

Problem area after

for further sound absorption, as wellas fabric -covered office cubicle pan-els that are designed to reduce noise.

Figure 2. After installing absorption materials in the room, the issues at 250Hzwere resolved.

For the audio suite we tested,we used absorption materials in-stead of relying on an equalizer tocompensate for these anomalies.Owens Corning 703, 2in-thick semi-rigid fiberglass boards, or similar ma-terials, have particularly good absorp-tion coefficients down to the 250Hzrange. After some trial and remeasur-ing, we found acceptable acoustic andaesthetic locations for the panels, andwe achieved more desirable results.(See Figure 2.) BE

Mark Miller is a sales and design special-ist with Advanced Broadcast Solutions.

Writers and instructors wanted



production technology. Contactedito-e broadcastengineering. corn,


Re -Defining Media Archive WorkflowLTO-5 Video Archiving Recorder: LTR-100I-S

Continuous Innovation

FOR.®INNOVATIONS IN VIDEOand AUDIO TECHNOLOGY

The LTR-100HS Jses the latest generation of

Linear Tape Open (LTO) drive technology.

enabling a manaled media migration path and

open file System for a s mplified long-term

video archive sy ;tem. With its massive 1.5TB

capacity (50 hours @ 50Mbps) the

LTR-1 OOHS can be used for production

libraries, broadcast archives or

program distribution and

exchange.

www.for-a.co Feed Office (Japai) Tel: +81 (0)3-3446-3936 LISA Western (CA) Tel: +1 714-894-3311 LISA Eastern & Midwest (NJ) Tel: +1 201-944-1120 USA Southern (FL) Tel: +1 305-931-1700 Latin America & Caribbean (FL) Tel: +1 305-931-1700 Canada (Tpronto) Tel: +1 416-977-0343


Innovation in theMulti -Screen World

Playout SolutionsneIIi4tesir,

Channel in a Box Dramatically lower your cost per channel Pack multiple functions into a small footprint Start small and grow with ease Enjoy IT efficiency without losing broadcast

resilience

Business Continuity Disaster recovery for any playout solution Minimal capital outlay and low operational

overhead Maintain scheduled content and branding

snellgroup.com

Powered by Morpheusautomation softwareand ICE IntegratedContent Engine

1-`!,,,,i10111

leirea '1116eiga

fie a m rig II* 111

ionrnikI 0011 'Ott -10

AP gm aim, IN IN MP Om orconi Elvin %IA 01.1,1 em NI Pt t. RIF IMP t;

01 NW EI is its 44101 Efl 011.111. AI11,:: Vitt ell in rt prow ell F-1 11;671kb Ewe m * NO- le II Mika

Si s "k"ma Er -j . Ell MI alailbw° II SI 61 111167 1046v

iiii""111111" /-Arlim1110ffl Ohl. 1.0 &AI

Live Events Increase speed and accuracy of operator

response Maximize advertising revenues with last

second changes Reduce costly on air errors

mei

;

111- I- I s 1;11 I

Central Casting Reduce costs by centralizing operations Increase quality control and operational

performance Maintain local identity with regional

programming & branding

RoutingModular InfrastructureConversion & RestorationLive ProductionAutomation & Media ManagementContrcl & Monitoring

e

the costof broadcast

channel deliverySwitching to an IT/software-based system

reduces complexity and increases flexibility.BY JOHN WADLF

Broadcasting has passed a key milestone where many processes, formerly based heavilyon specialized hardware components, are now more focused on generic IT components.The emergence of IT as a key platform for new broadcast systems has not only defined

a new direction for stations, but is also changing the mix of system providers as well. As a result,broadcasters today have a wide selection of products available, spanning conventional broadcasthardware, IT/software-based systems and hybrids that combine both technologies.


FEATURELOWERINGTHE COST OF BROADCAST CHANNEL DELIVERY

Broadcast workflowThe adoption of IT -based systems

has changed the broadcast workflowin a predictable way. Upstream pro-cesses, such as content production,provided a lower -risk opportunity forthe introduction of the new file -basedworkflows with "all software" edit-ing systems operating on standardIT workstations. Scheduling (traffic)and program management systemsfollowed on their own parallel path,moving from older mainframe orminicomputer systems to modernIT client -server architectures. (SeeFigure 1.)

An obvious next step in the progres-sion of IT within broadcast was con-tent acquisition. The advent of videoservers and content delivery servicesopened the door to file -based systemsthat leveraged existing IT tools.

These three processes - produc-tion, scheduling and content acquisi-tion - cover much of the broadcastworkflow, and all have been largelymoved to IT -based systems. The nextprocess, transmission, is a real-timefunction that requires IT perfor-mance based on the latest generationof processors and bus architectures.With the availability of multicoreprocessors, DSP extensions and en-hanced PCI bus speeds, real-time,frame -accurate video/audio process-ing on standard IT hardware is wellwithin reach.

For linear transmission (scheduledplayout), broadcasters havebeen cautious in adoptingmajor technology changesfor this unforgiving process

Contentacquisition I -

on which their revenue depends.Simply stated, during transmissionthere are no "do-overs." A spot lostdue to a transmission system failureis time and revenue that cannot berecovered. As a result, the transmis-sion process has been the last fron-tier for IT/software-based systems inthe broadcast workflow. At the sametime, it is the process that offers themost potential for cost saving with amore efficient system.

Software -basedsystem

The advantages ofmoving the signal pro-cessing to a softwareprocess are compel-ling. Most significantis a dramatic reductionin complexity, coupledwith increased flexibili-ty to accommodate newrequirements. (See Fig-ure 2 on page 44.) Thesebenefits are seen in several ways: Fewer hardware components requir-ing less rack space, power and cooling; Fewer connections among separatecomponents, reducing possible pointsof failure; Enhanced flexibility via "plug-in"software modules, and the scalabilityof IT hardware; Enhanced integration with other IT -based systems with standard technolo-gies such as XML Web services;

Programmanagement

Media

management

IT/sofware-based Hardware -based

An open platform with availablesoftware tools for implementa-tion of new features and customenhancements.

Cost of transmissionThe cost of a transmission system

includes both capital and operatingcosts, offset by potential new revenuesfrom added or upgraded channels.

The capital costs for equipment,software, installation and training are

With the availability ofmulticore processors,DSP extensions and

enhanced PCI bus speeds,real-time, frame -accuratevideo/audio processingon standard IT hardware

is well within reach.

usually well-defined by vendors, andcan generally be held within budgetby careful planning and execution.

Operating costs for a transmissionsystem include predictable, recurringcosts such as space, power and cool-ing. Human resources costs includingoperations, engineering and manage-ment are likewise predictable afterthe initial start-up period or transi-tion. However, the magnitude of allthese operational costs is directly af-

fected by the physical andoperational complexity ofthe transmission system.

Comparing the costs be-tween a conventional and anIT/software-based transmis-sion system requires a detailed

Distribution

Figure 1. A typical IT -based broadcast workflow


Find yourself in love with the new SDT ARK -6 Series.

Since the beginning we have been motivated to be a step ahead of the technology and solutions in our field This s why we havebeen heavily investing

in Research Et Development with energy and enthusiasm. Today we are proud to present the new SDT ARK -6 Series: intelligent and versatile, wits CVB-

T2, ISDB-T and ATSC/MH native technology, compact with TS-MPEG or T2 -MI input over ASI or IP, both Linear and Non-linear adaptive pre -coffee -ion,

50V transistor technology, either air or liquid cooling options. Ranging from 2.5W RMS to 18kW RMS, the new SDT ARK -6 Series is a perfect solution

to today's needs, as well as an extraordinary asset for tomorrows. The SDT ARK -6 Series, it is impossible not to lcve.

019911911TSCREEN SERVICE BROADCASTING TECHNOLOGIES SpAVia G. Di Vittorio, 17 - 25125 Brescia Btaly)T +39.030.57831 www.screen.it infoascieen.it


assessment of the capacity, redundancyand features required for the servicesto be hosted. Some questions include:How many channels? SD or HD? Fullredundancy, N+1 or none? How muchcontent must be stored? Is the pass -through of satellite or live sources re-quired? What graphics and brandingare required? Are there requirements

for Dolby or multilanguage audio?What about closed captions?

Each of these capabilities requiresassociated hardware and/or softwarecomponents. Moreover, the require-ments may be different for each chan-nel, even if all channels are hosted onthe same multichannel transmissionsystem. As a result, the configuration

BA2011

www.kobashow.com

ulture of MediaFuture of Broadcasting

21st KOREA INTERNATIONAL BROADCAS IAUDIO & LIGHTING EQUIPMENT SHOW

14 - 17 June, 2011 COEX, Seoul

THE KOREAN BROADCAST ENGINE

Tel. +82(2)551-0102 Fax.+82(2)551

ufi

R KOREA E & EX INC.

CIANS ASSOCIATION

T KOREA E & EX INC.

[email protected]

and pricing of a multichannel trans-mission system is a complex process.

Nevertheless, it is possible to com-pare the base (infrastructure) andincremental (per channel) costs ofalternative systems for a typical set ofrequirements. Such a comparison canprovide the approximate relative costsof these two system alternatives.

As an example, we can define the re-quirements for a multichannel trans-mission system to include the follow-ing capabilities for each channel: HD transmission (1080i or 720p); Redundant (mirrored) playout ofcontent; Video mix effects (transitions); Two -dimension DVE (squeezebacks);

The configurationand pricing ofa multichannel

transmission systemis a complex process.

Logo insertion with animations; Text overlays and crawls; Dolby Digital audio (AC -3); Closed caption insertion.

These requirements define typicalfull -featured channels, although ad-ditional demands such as multilan-guage audio, 3-D graphics and SCTEtriggering are not uncommon.

Based on these stipulated require-ments, we can project both the capitalcosts and operating resource require-ments (space and power) for conven-tional, hardware -based and IT/soft-ware-based transmission systems.

For an example, consider current-ly available hardware and softwaresystems. To simplify the example,components such as routers andshared content storage common toboth systems are excluded from thecomparisons.

In this comparison, the IT/software-based system provides a lower acquisi-tion cost at list prices. More signifi-cantly, the IT/software-based systemrequires significantly less space and


From local radio to large-scale live television productions, we provide powerfLI and intulive digital

mixing solutions that help to create the memorable events in broadca3ting.

0nAir 2500DIGITAL MIXING CONSOLE

www.studer.ch

VISTA 5DIGITAL MIXING SYSTEM

Mgtg 71111 1111111111 aMEM IMMO 1111111111111111t

wite%.4pit'.

tommogaiiimunim

VISTA 9DIGITAL MIXING SYS-EM

STUDERby HARMAN


NMI3efore they can live up

to your high standarcs,

they have to meet ours.

Schill cable reels are built withprecision and designed towithstand all kinds of abuse.Whether you're working withwire, fiber, or hoses, our superiorline of products will meet allyour demands.

U.S. wwvv.schill.usGermany www.schili.de

Automatior system

Channelbrandinggraphics

Subtitleinsertion

Fully integrated.100 percent software

solution

Audio andvideo

processing

IT/software-based playout server running onstandard IT server

Figure 2. A single -channel IT -based transmission system

power for its operation. This resultsin lower ongoing costs for floor space,power and cooling.

While this comparison is genericand based on assumptions that willlikely differ for any specific transmis-sion facility, the resultant operating re-source reductions provided by an IT/software -based system compared witha conventional hardware -based systemare significant. This means a substan-tially improved return on investment(ROI) for new channel deployments.

Adapting to newrequirements

Beyond these quantifiable costs, oneof the potential cost implications of anew transmission system is its abilityto support new service requirements.These changes might include upgrad-ing existing channels from SD to HDor the addition of secondary DTV,mobile or Web channels. In each case,a low-cost expansion of an existingtransmission system is the optimalsystem, but limitations in system scal-ability or feature set - or the require-ment for costly new hardware - canmake this option unfeasible.

This leaves two options: installadditional transmission system(s)dedicated to the new services, or can-cel plans for new services and forgothe potential revenue. Either of these

Conventionalplayout chain

IT/softw are -based playoutchain

choices has an associated opportunitycost incurred as a result of a transmis-sion system's limitations.

This means adaptability should bea major criterion in choosing a newtransmission system. In this context,IT/software-based systems have inher-ent technology benefits that provide theflexibility to adapt to new requirementsmore quickly and at less cost than con-ventional systems. These include: Adding a new channel by install-ing one or two extra 1RU servers andsoftware; Upgrading an existing SD channelto HD with only a simple softwarereconfiguration; Adding new features such as DVEor Dolby audio through softwareplug -ins.

In today's changing broadcast land-scape, the true ROI for a transmissionsystem includes more than the basiccosts of deployment and operation.Because traditional advertising rev-enues continue to be under pressure,broadcasters must find new ways toreduce costs and to enhance and ex-pand services. The cost-effectivenessand adaptability of your playout sys-tem are an essential component tothis objective. BE

John Wadle is director sales engineeringat Miranda Technologies.


RAI Amsterdam

Conference 8-13 September : Exhibition 9-13 September

IBC2011Discover moreIBC is at the cutting -edge of new technology in therapidly evolving electronic media industry. It couplesa comprehensive exhibition covering all facets oftoday's industry with a highly -respected peer -reviewedconference that helps shape the way the industry willdevelop in the future.

IBC2010 welcomed 48,000+ attendees from over 140 countries.They had access to 1,300+ key international technology suppliersand 300+ high -profile conference speakers. In addition, visitors tookadvantage of a variety of free extra special features including:

New Technology Campus -showcasing the latest developmentsin broadcast technology

Connected World - for IPTVand Mobile

Production Village - presentingthe latest camera technology in apurpose built environment

Big Screen - providing theperfect platform for manufacturerdemonstrations and moviescreenings

www.ibc.org

range of production trainingopportunities to further your career

Awards Ceremony - recognisesthose who have made a realcontribution to the industry andwhose careers have had a positiveimpact on its future direction

IBC Fifth Floor International Press Centre 76 Shoe Lane Loncon EC4A 3JB UK

T +44 (0) 20 7832 4100 F +44 (0) 20 7832 4130 E [email protected]

01 110 1 011 010110 101 01011101 010 0+1 011010

11 010110 101 01011101 010 001

01110

10 001

01 110 101 11 010110 101 OtH

46 bsoadcastengineering.com I NI 1\ ','11

The media life cycle in

MODERNbroadcast environmentsBY ANDREW WARMAN AND CHRIS SIMONS

Agreat deal has been written about the _mportance of file -basedworkflows for broadcast applications. Often, much of the discus-sion revolves around video servers anchor nearline storage sys-tems. These pivotal devices are central to file -based workflows,

tasked with holding the files for a period of time. Less attention is paic tothe processes and circumstances that cause the media to move through thesedevices, or what controls how media changes through its life cycle.

The life of a media asset often begins before there is a video or audio es-sence file. For example, it may be a placeholder in a newsroom system thatcalls fcr a video clip to add substance to breaking news. It could also be anentry in a schedule for a soap opera or investigative report that is still in plan-ning 07 production. or any of a vast array of syndicetec media or commercialassets that need to be scheduled for playout.

In the case of a newsroom, typically the media asset will reside on a sharedstorage system until it is archived. Other content may first enter a facility asa file or baseband signal and either be ingested directly to a video server, sentstraigl-t to nearline or archive storage, or passed very quickly from an ingestserver to nearline ar archive storage.

Regardless of wl-at triggers the need for a media asset in a broadcast envi-ronment, a human being will assist in creating the need, and a varying num-ber of other people will want to track, log, modify, monetize and eventuallypurge that media from the workflow.

May 2011 I oroadcas;engineering corn 47

FEATURETHE MEDIA LIFE CYCLE IN MODERNBROADCAST ENVIRONMENTS

Asset managementWe will assume for the purposes of

this discussion that media needs toexist in some form of video server forplayout at some point in its life andthat it will be archived once its imme-diate usefulness has been exhausted.

It makes sense that a number ofautomated steps exist to track themedia asset throughout its life cycleto ensure that the status and locationof media is known at all times. Thisrequires a system that learns aboutexistence of the media when it firstenters the broadcast workflow, andtracks its changes through retire-ment to a tape- or disk -based archivesystem. The asset management sys-tem should always recall the mediaexisted and be able to restore it inthe future for additional manipula-tion and reuse.

ment system lets the operator im-mediately preview the content beforemaking decisions on what to do withit. It also allows the operator to deter-mine if the copy is the right version.This is particularly beneficial withassets that have the same or similarnames and metadata but are signifi-cantly different in content.

Modifying mediafor delivery

Size often matters. The originalmedia asset may have been uncom-pressed or captured using high -qualitycompression during production to getthe best possible image quality withthe least amount of generational loss.This may well be the level of quality atwhich the master or "mezzanine" copywill be stored. However, this is likelyless than optimal for delivery.

The asset management system shouldalways recall the media existed andbe able to restore it in the future foradditional manipulation and reuse.

Low -resolution browse copies canhelp verify content when conduct-ing a search. These can be generatedwhen the media enters a video serveror when it is created and/or modi-fied. Ideally, low -resolution contentshould be generic to allow storage ofthe browse copies in an open storageenvironment such as nearline storage.Asset management and browse/edit-ing systems then have equal access tothe content.

New technologies for "fingerprint-ing" low -resolution content allow theasset management system to uniquelylink it with all instances of the high -resolution content, whether within on-line, nearline or archive storage. Thisapproach allows effective use of partialrestores by absolute reference and notjust by the clip name, for example.

Directly linking the low -resolutioncopy's location in the asset manage -

Many versions of the original maybe spawned from the mezzanine copyas the number of distribution plat-forms continues to grow. We are nowtracking dozens of potential versions,all generated from the same originalmedia, in different storage systemsthroughout the organization. Thissituation is magnified as promos,and teases are cut and linked to theoriginal asset.

Good practices dictate that any op-erator who has the appropriate privi-leges should be able to find the loca-tion of the right version of the media,determine its current status, add ormodify its metadata or the essenceitself, and cause it to move and/or bemodified to the next step in the work-flow. This means searching is unifiedthroughout the workflow, with userrights controlling the level of interac-tion the operator has with the asset. In

this way, there is no mystery as to thelocation or current state of the media.

Creating value from mediaMaking money on an aired com-

mercial is unlikely without the proofthat it played back on schedule and forits full duration. The "as -run" log is aproven output of playout automationthat shows when content was playedand for how long. Tight integration tothe sales and scheduling system is re-quired to monetize this effort in a waythat removes errors and adds simplic-ity. Enter BXF (Broadcast eXchangeFormat) and its rich metadata and as-sociated messaging.

The traffic system generates a play -list of content for air, which is auto-matically imported into the playoutautomation system's playlist. As theplaylist approaches its predeterminedtime window where a clip's availabil-ity is to be played, automation willcollect the media from nearline orarchive storage if it is not already onthe playout server. Issues are reportedif the media is missing or unavailable,so there is time to react by ingestingthe media into the playout server orreplacing it with alternative content.

Status is fed back immediately tothe scheduling/sales system once theasset has played out. This avoids theneed to reconcile as -run logs at theend of the day. Spotting problems andrectifying them is, therefore, possibleat the sales level as well as the mastercontrol level. The result is a reductionin make -goods, which adds to thebottom line.

The dynamic capabilities of BXFcan also instigate late changes in theschedule direct from the scheduling/sales system. This not only supportsthe instant scheduling of make -goodswithin the same time period, therebyminimizing losses, but also opens upthe possibility of more dynamic salesand promotional models.

Moving mediain a workflow

Whether it's a tape, DVD, harddrive, file or data stream, knowing


CORIOmatrix - ANYTHING IN / ANYTHING OUT CORIOsoftswitch firmware based Routing, Switching & Scaling platform 4RU Chassis w/16 AV Module Slots & 3 Data Module Slots Available Modules for any Analog or Digital Format thru 3G -SDI Up to 4 Inputs or Outputs per Module' 64 I/O Max Any AV Slot can be used for Input or Output Modules Scaling or Non -Scaling Outputs Available and can be mixed Hot Swappable Modules Optional Hot Swappable Power Supplies HDCP & EDID Support LCD Front Panel or Optional Blank Front Panel 3D Compatible

CALL US: (800) 721-4044 (859) 282-7303WWW.TVONE.COM [email protected]

FEATURETHE MEDIA LIFE CYCLE IN MODERNBROADCAST ENVIRONMENTS

Scheduling

Automation

Traffica2 Digital asset

management

Ingest client File transfer

Storagemanagement

Media spyengine - cluster

Videoserver

Enterprise network

Asset core service

11111/1Asset database - cluster

Database LAN

Device API command LAN

Editing

Playout control

/ Workflowmanagement

Content handlerengine - cluster

Web clients

File C1C Virtual FTP SAN/NAS Transcoding Post HSM/archivefile s stem production

Video file exchange LAN

Figure 1. Media moves through a variety of systems in the broadcast workflow, fromautomation and servers to scheduling and archive systems. The digital asset managementcomponent is key to moving content from nearline or archive storage, and verifying it isintact en route to playout.

where your media is and how quicklyyou can move it around your work-flow is important to operational ef-ficiency. The knowledge of whetherthe movement of media was success-

ful is important to overall quality.Asset management is key to the taskof moving content from nearline orarchive storage, and verifying thatthe media is intact after the transfer

is complete. (See Figure 1.)How media, particularly files, reach

their target destination(s) varies. FTPis the common approach. It is impor-tant to know the size of your data pipeand latency of the link when movingmedia over great distances. The laten-cy will help dictate it file transfer ac-celeration is required to add efficien-cy to the process. This will ensure thatfull value of the purchased bandwidthis attained while moving the media ina timely fashion.

Scheduling tools and network opti-mization techniques further enhanceefficient delivery, allowing the assetmanagement system to choose whenand by what route to send the mate-rial to even out network usage andprevent bottlenecks.

Automating the task of movingcontent, whether based off play -to -airschedules, archive and restore needs,on production workflow require-ments can become a very dauntingtask. Ensuring that a versatile rules -based engine is driving the processeswith tight integration to the assetmanagement system will simplify theoperator's life. He or she will have areal-time view of an asset in all itscurrent locations and a history ofits travels.

AVITECH

AVITECH

AM , s

WOE 2

6 0aid

Sequoi -

tow

One of a kind multiviewing.The Sequoia 4H.

Four HDMI inputs with mouse/keyboard control and touchscreen functionality.


FEATURE

00Irmnr1Olanaprnona

The Harris Invenio Capture component of the lnvenio digital asset managementsystem facilitates the ingest and transfer of media - and its associated metadata- from tape to storage and archive devices.

TI -E MEDIA LIFE CYCLE IN MODERNBROADCAST ENVIRONMENTS

Why we're movingfile -based media

A single piece of media can eventu-ally exist in multiple locations and ina variety of quality levels. It can be cutto length or edited to promote whentransmitted. We move media becausethere is finite storage capacity in trans-mission servers. We also move mediabecause play -to -air devices in the ex-panding universe of multiplatform de-livery systems have different needs.

We archive because we believe themedia has value in the future. Themedia, we hope, will eventually berecycled, repackaged and transmittedon future generations of multiplat-form delivery broadcast devices. BE

Andrew Warman is product marketingmanager for servers, editing and graphics,and Chris Simons is vice president ofautomation and asset management forHarris Broadcast Communications.

High -Speed Recording in HD FormatVariable Frame Rate Camera VFC-7030 Flash EYE

Continuous Innovation

40th,, FOR1,1

I " INNOVATIONS IN VIDEOand AUDIO TECHNOLOGY

- Variable *rase rate camera capable of lugh-speed recording in HD format

- Recording speed: High -Speed Ehootinc. in HD fill frame at 700 fps

- Recording speed can be vaned from 2- to 700 fps

- High-sensit city CMOS color senor

- Lens mount F mount (PL mount option will be available)

- Electronic high-speed shutter lip to 1/00,000 second for recording fast subjects

without We

- Recording time: Standard 9 sec., Maximum 39.2 sec.

- Recording method: Endless recording pith built-in memory, saved video can be

linked to an external trigger (stal, cent r or end trigger style can be selected)

- Video output: Equipped with 2 ciannels of HD -SDI output (720p or 1080i)

Simultaneous output of live and recorded video

- Genlock capability (BB or Tritmil sync;

- Camera head, main body and recordinc component all in one

integrated structure

- Also supprts DC drive, making 1 opting for

shooting outdoors and in other environnents

with no power source _w/d/

www.for-a.com Heac Office (Apan) USA iflkistern CA) USA Ecstern 8 Midwest (NJ) USA Southern(FL) Latin America 3. Cariboean (FL) Canads (Toror7o)

Tel: +81 (0)3-3446-3936Tel: +1 714-894-3311Tel: +1 201-944-1120Tel: +1 305-931-1700Tel: +1 305-931-1700Tel: +1 416-977-0343


r4/1i

and spectral efficiency

BY RUSS VAN DER WERFFndustry experts and vendorsalike recognize that DVB-S2satellite modulation offers sig-nificant technical advantages.

A properly configured DVB-S2 sys-tem based on modern transmissionequipment can easily justify the out-lay required by dramatically reducingoperational expenses. This article willexamine the benefits of DVB-S2, andhow broadcast and cable operatorscan successfully implement and max-imize their investment by deploying aDVB-S2 system.

In digital communications, spec-tral efficiency is a measure of what

bit rate a given RF bandwidth cansustain. While not universally de-fined, it is often expressed as a ratioof megabits per second to megahertzused in the active channel band. Forexample, in the ATSC broadcast sys-tem, 19.39Mb/s of data can be trans-mitted in a 6MHz channel. The spec-tral efficiency of the system could becalculated by dividing 19.39 by six -yielding an approximate efficiency of3.23 bits per hertz.

The DVB-S2 system is highly flex-ible; depending on certain modula-tion parameters, it could providespectral efficiencies anywhere be-

tween 0.5 and 4.5 bits per hertz.Higher spectral efficiencies allow anoperator to inject more data into aleased transponder, reducing op-erational expenses significantly formany operators. However, the high-est spectral efficiencies can only beachieved under certain conditions.To understand the trade-offs in-volved in configuring a DVB-S2 sys-tem, it is important to know the fac-tors that contribute to spectral effi-ciency. The effort is worthwhile, andas demonstrated later in this article,optimal configuration can result insignificant savings.


FEATUREDVB-S2 AND SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY

Calculating DVB-S2spectral efficiency

Transmitted data is divided intoframes before forward error correc-tion (FEC) is applied, and certainheaders describing the transmis-sion are added. This FEC frame sizeis the first factor that drives spectralefficiency. The standard allows fortwo different frame sizes: 64,800 bits("normal" frames) or 16,200 bits("short" frames). Normal frames aremore efficient, while short frames canreduce end -to -end system latency.Most broadcast video systems usenormal framing.

The frames described above in -

dude a certain number of FEC bits.Two layers of FEC are applied to eachframe to provide protection againstRF interference. The DVB-S2 systemfirst applies a fixed FEC algorithmknown as BCH encoding. Nett, auser -configurable proportion of ad-ditional FEC bits are added via a pro-cess known as LDPC encoding. Theamount of LDPC encoding is rep-resented by a fraction known as theFEC code rate.

The FEC code rate contributes di-rectly to the transmission's spectralefficiency. A lower ratio of transportstream bits to total frame bits indicatesthat more FEC bits are being included

Normal FEC frames

FEC code rate TS bits per frame (K 80)

1/4 15,928

1/3 21,328

2/5 25,648

1/2 32,128

3/5 38,608

2/3 42,960

3/4 48,328

4/5 51,568

5/6 53,760

8/9 57,392

9/10 58,112

in the frame. This lowers spectral ef-ficiency while increasing link margin(resilience to noise). As an example,in a system configured for 64,800 bitframes, with a FEC code rate of 1/4,only 15,928 bits of transport data canbe encoded in a frame. In contrast,64,800 bit frames with 9/10 FEC cod-ing each contain 58,112 bits of trans-port stream data. A quick calculationshows that, in the latter configuration,approximately 9/10 of the frame datais used for carriage of video. Table 1shows transport bits per frame forvarious configurations, reproducedfrom the DVB-S2 standard itself. Thestandard uses the designation Km, -

Short FEC frames

FEC code rate TS bits per frame (K 80)

1/L 2,992

1/3 5,152

2/5 6,232

1/2 6,952

3/5 9,472

2/3 10,552

3/4 11,632

4/5 12,352

5/3 13,072

8/3 14,152

9/.0 N/A

Table 1. Transport bits per frame in various DVB-S2 configurations

shaping tomorrow with you

What do you call an award winningMPEG-4 H.264 AVC IP Encoder?

OpFUJITSU

IP-9400

MPEG H.264 AVC ENCODERS Broadcast HD & SD Video Real Time via The Public Internet Technologies Include FEC/ARQ to overcome IP burst errors and network jitter Highly reliable products and easy to set up

877-299-4614

Industries

www.ncsind.com


c

THE GAME CHANGERRevolutionary Infrastructure Solutions

*YOF.Titirl!F1.1,11 n

thinklogical think logical

TX RX

Xtrome

TX

thicklogical

- Xtretre,.*

RX

thinklesfica

{cremeXtreme,,~00

thinkkvical

Compact, broadcast quality, SDI over fiber extension systemsHigh performance non -blocking modular routers for complete, end -to -end !outing of video and peripheralsDigital audio routing and extension

Providing Total System Solutions Control Rooms Edit Suites Studios Live Broadcast

UNLEASH THE BENEFITS Thinklogical's cutting edge technology eliminates pathological problems with standard SFPs

Revolutionary router I/O card design functions as both an input and output card

RS -422 ports for remote camera control

The only fully redundant system architecture in the marketplace today

Systems can accommodate both copper and fiber interfaces

SMPTE Converter/Scaler - conversion from 3D to 2D, supports closed captioning and time code

Unrivalled Features, Unequalled Cost PerformanceAt Thinklogical, our business is built around knowledge - knowledge of your environments, knowledge ofyour systems... knowledge of your applications... knowledge of y3tir industry. Our traied experts specializein presenting solutions that save our customers time, money and improve their productivity and p'ofitability.

thinklogicat www.thinklogical.com 800-291-3211

Powering High -Performance

Audio &VideoWorkflows

Capture + tar+,

j7is+y

From capture through distribution, ATTO powers

high-performance audio & video workflows. Leading

industry solutions rely on ATTO to provide reliable

connectivity that is trusted by top audio & video

professionals. You can now have the same technology

that drives their success.

Experience, -the Solu+iortContact your ATTO Sales Representative to learn more

716.691.1999 ext. 241

AT TOwww.attotech.com

QPSK

16APSK

10

010

nt

8PSK

101

1010

mom yi.R2/R1110

y2=R3/Ri32APSK

Figure 1. RF constellations supported by DVB-S2

80 to represent transport bits per frame. The subtractionof 80 bits accounts for the space occupied by the basebandheader, which contains information indicating, in thiscase, that the transmission carries a transport stream.

DVB-S2 also allows for the use of several differentsymbol constellations. These constellations are simplymappings that define how data bits are mapped to sym-bols in the RF domain. The constellations supported byDVB-S2 are illustrated in Figure 1, as reproduced fromthe DVB-S2 standard.

The fact that symbols are closer together for "higherorder" constellations in the diagrams is significant. Thiscloser spacing correlates to more difficulty for receiverstrying to distinguish between symbols; thus, higher -orderconstellations provide less resilience to RF interference.However, the higher order constellations allow each sym-bol to represent more data bits. For example, the 16AP-SK constellation provides 16 symbols, each of which canrepresent four data bits (24 = 16). The number of bits persymbol is another important factor in determining spec-tral efficiency. The DVB-S2 standard uses 1MOD to repre-sent bits per symbol.

We have now arrived at a sufficient understandingto begin approximating DVB-S2 spectral efficiency formany configurations. We will begin by calculating thenumber of transport stream data bits per symbol for asingle frame. To determine this value, choose the appro-priate constant for transport bits per frame (Kbch-80) asdefined in the previously reproduced table, and divide bythe number of symbols per frame. The number of sym-bols per frame can be calculated by taking the number ofbits per frame and dividing it by the number of bits persymbol. (See Equation 1.)

Spectral efficiency - TS bits per frameFEC block size ± Bits per symbol

Equation 1. First cut at spectral efficiency

The equation approximates spectral efficiency based onframe size, constellation and FEC. This value "approximates"spectral efficiency, but there are a few more factors that



PL header Slot 1

Figure 2. Pilot insertion in DVB-S2

Slot 2

need be considered in order to paintthe picture in its entirety. The first ofthese is a feature of DVB-S2 known aspilots. Pilots are not RF carriers in thetraditional modulation sense; rather,in DVB-S2, they are simply repeatingpatterns of symbols that are injected atfixed intervals between symbols con-taining data. Their purpose, however,is the same as an RF carrier -based pi-lot - to allow the demodulating de-vice to more easily lock on to the RFtransmission. On average, pilots re-duce efficiency by about 2.4 percent,although, as will be demonstrated be-low, this number can vary dependingon modulation parameters.

Modulated symbols in DVB-S2are logically grouped into slots. A

90 -k36symbols symbols

Slot 16

slot is simply a grouping of 90 suc-cessive symbols, with a pilot string of36 symbols introduced after every 16slots - that is, after every 1440 sym-bols of data. One final factor affectsspectral efficiency: Before transmis-sion, a physical layer frame header(PL header) is prepended to eachframe. This header allows the re-ceiver to automatically detect modu-lation parameters, simplifying userconfiguration of a receiving device.The physical layer frame header addsone slot (90 symbols' worth of trans-mission time) to eachframe, which impartsan additional reduc-tion in efficiency.

An illustration of pi- Equation 2. Calculating number of pilots per frame

Pilottone

Slot 17

lot insertion and physical layer fram-ing is shown in Figure 2.

Thus, to calculate final spectral ef-ficiency, one must account both forpilots and for the PL header. Unfortu-nately, because frames are comprisedof an integer number of symbols, pi-lots do not add a fixed percentage ofoverhead; the number of pilots foreach frame length and constellationwill be different. The number of pilotsper frame can be calculated by Equa-tion 2, where the integer functionrounds down to the nearest integer.

Pilots per frame = integer { Slots per frame - 1

16 slots between pilots

Introducing VideolPathUnlock the power and flexibility of advanced video networks

Fiqiipmod

Mown,

Applications

r *-

nevion

Nevicn's new ViceolPath moves beyond video

transport to intelligently managed video services.

Whetter managing a Service provider's video-

over-IP services or a broadcaster's fully -redundant

optical network, VideolPath puts network

management and control in your hands.

Provisioning, schedulinc, resource management

and analytics, all from a single user interface-

that's a path worth following.

Make your move to intelligent,managed video services

WHERE VIDEO IS MOVING NEVION.COM+1 800 515 0811

May 2011 broadcastengineering.com 57


Slots per frame Total bits per framefrom TS data Bits per symbol

± 90 symbols per slot

Symbols per= 36 symbols per pilot x pilots per frame

frame from pilots

90 1 slotSymbols per frame

without pilots= ( symbols x

(Slots perframe

per PL ))per slot header

Slots per framex 90 symbols per slot

Efficiency reduction from TS data

for pilots and framing Symbols per frame Symbols perwithout pilots frame from pilots

Subtract one from the number ofslots per frame to ensure that a pilotis not placed as the last slot of a trans-mitted PL frame. Thus, the final im-pact of framing on spectral efficiencyis given by Equation 3.

At this point, we have described allfactors affecting spectral efficiency ina single -stream DVB-S2 transmission.Equation 4 shows the end -to -end ef-ficiency calculation considering all ofthe relevant framing factors.

Impact on broadcastEquation 3. Final impact of framing on spectral efficiency operations

Why does any of this matter to asystem operator? Understanding theDVB-S2 system can help a broadcastengineer properly specify parametersfor a DVB-S2 transmission. The in-dustry has recently begun to demon-strate that higher -order constellationsand DVB-S2 modulation are practicalusing recently deployed equipment.

Let us compare a DVB-S2 transmis-sion to a DVB-S transmission withthe following example. A satellite op-erator has leased a 36MHz transpon-der, which is currently being used forDVB-S, 3/4, QPSK transmission. ThisDVB-S system provides a spectral effi-ciency of 1.5 bits per hertz. The scenar-

Equation 4. End -to -end efficiency calculation for 16APSK transmission usinc 3/4 io in Figure 3 will replace this systemwith a DVB-S2 system using 16APSK

=

Where

Kbo, 80 90Sx

Tildpc /IMOD (901S + 1) +

-qt,,, = Spectral efficiency

Kio,- 80 = Transport bits per frame

iiidp, = Bits per FEC frame (64,800 or 16,200)

ylmo = Bits per symbol

S = Slots per frame (from TS data)f36 if pilots enabled

P = .

0 if pilots disabled

[xj = Floor function (round down)

LDPC FEC with pilots enabled

WWohler

2 3 15 I

111111. e.4(1 MADI-864 CHANNELS OF

AUDIO AT THE TWIST OF A KNOB

There are a lot of MADI products out there. Only one actually letsyou monitor your MADI, right in the rack. Introducing the MADI-8.

Monitor any 8 channels at a time from coax or optical inputs «Name channels and save presets for instant recall «

WWohler I I VIDEO I AUDIO I CAPTIONING LOUDNESS

CONFIDENCE. infonwohtercom www.wohter.com +1 888 5 WOHLER


38MHz transponderFEATURE

8Mb/s 10Mb/s 12 Mb/s 8.75Mb/s

Figure 3. 36MHz transponder saturated by DVB-S transmissions

38MHz transponder--s

8Mb/s 12Mb/s 8Mb/s 12Mb/s 7.6Mb/s

10Mb/s 8.75Mb/s 10Mb/s 8.75Mb/s

Figure 4. 36MHz transponder saturated by DVB-S2 transmissions

modulation with 3/4 FEC and pilotsoff. This transmission boasts a spectralefficiency of 2.97 bits per hertz.

Additionally, transmissions must bespaced apart to account for the roll -offfactor of the root -raised cosine filterused to shape the bandwidth of a satel-lite transmission. This filter is appliedto reduce intersymbol interference andis required by the DVB-S and S2 stan-dards. DVB-S requires a roll -off factor

of 0.35. RF roll -off is another param-eter that DVB-S2 has improved upon,allowing the user to select a narrowerfilter with 0.20 roll -off.

Figure 4 illustrates transponder us-age for the DVB-S system, showing fourseparate transmissions being uplinkedon this transponder, with bit rates of8Mb/s, 10Mb/s, 12Mb/s and 8.75Mb/s.As is apparent, the transponder band-width is completely saturated.

DVB-S2 AND SPECTRAL EFFICIENCY

In contrast, the DVB-S2 system cancarry those same transport streamstwice in the same bandwidth, plus anadditional transport stream at 7.6Mb/s.

This represents a bandwidth in-crease of 220 percent. If an operatoris paying $2.5 million per year to leaseeach 36MHz transponder, this im-provement could save an equivalent65 percent in operating expenses, re-ducing costs by $1.1 million annuallyfor this one transponder alone!

ConclusionThis article has addressed the ben-

efits that accompany an optimallyimplemented DVB-S2 system anddescribed the principals upon whichoperators can achieve significant costsavings. When selecting a modulationsystem, there are other factors to con-sider as well. Most notably, an opera-tor must carefully consider the linkmargin required, based on the equip-ment available at both the transmitand receive site, as well as the satel-lite RF band being used and relevantgeographic conditions. However, acarefully planned DVB-S2 system isan excellent investment, and under-standing why can help any operatorplan a successful deployment. BE

Russ Van Der Werff is a systems engineerat Sencore.

PrestoGET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR VIDEO

The Presto is a 16x1 3G switcher -.hat ingeniously putsvideo screens in every button, so you'll never have to cro3s your fingers again.

Low cost, and shallow depth perfEct for all applications «Auto -detects and supports 3G/HD/SD formats «

W/Wohler I I i i AUD iVIDEO CAPTIONING LOUDNESS

CONFIDENCE. Infoewohler.com www.wohler.com +1 888 5 WOHLER

May 2011 I broadc3stengineering.com 59

APPLIED TECHNOLOGYNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

L

IntelliGainEvertz's loudness control can be placed at any

stage of the broadcast chain.

oudness control is an impor-tant issue in the broadcastindustry today. In responseto audio loudness concerns,

President Barack Obama signed theCALM Act in December 2010 outlin-ing information and guidelines forloudness control.

Upon implementing this technolo-gy, an important question is: At whatstage should loudness control be in-tegrated? There are three strategic lo-cations in a broadcast facility that the

BY TONY TARE

It can be applied at the output ofthe IRD, fiber receiver, frame syn-chronizer or at the output of aplayout port from a media server. (SeeFigure 1.) IntelliGain allows loudnessto be controlled at the acquisitionstage, thereby enabling the user to ad-here to the CALM Act.

Evertz's MPEG decoder products,such as the 3480DEC18-MP2SD and3480DEC6-MP2HD bulk MPEG-2decoders, offer high -density MPEG-2decoding with integrated loudness

cm

Evertzdemodulators7/80DM2-LB

Evertzfiber receivers

3405FR

EvertzProp MPEG-2/H.264

decoders with IntelliGain

Evertzup/down/cross/FS

with IntelliGain

Evertzcore plant router

EQX/XENON

Figure 1. Loudness control can be applied at the output of the IRD, fiber receiver, framesynchronizer or at the output of a playout port from a media server.

loudness control processors are beingplaced: at the signal acquisition stage,master control stage or at transmis-sion just prior to the encoding stage.All three locations are feasible; how-ever, the loudness control location isultimately determined by the specificinternal practices of the individualfacility. Therefore, the user can pur-chase a processor that accommodateshis or her needs.

To achieve loudness control at anystage in the broadcast chain, Evertzoffers its IntelliGain loudness proces-sor, which can be added as an optionto many of its products.

Loudness control at signalacquisition stage

Loudness control is often ap-plied when the signal lands and isready for baseband video processing.

processing technology on all 18 orsix decoded outputs respectively. Forfurther acquisition solutions, thecompany's 7812 and 7746 series ofup/down/crossconverters and framesynchronizers provide an integratedsystem that enables a central point formonitoring audio and video signalintegrity. To meet specific target loud-ness levels, loudness control at the ac-quisition stage normalizes all signalscoming into the facility before anydownstream plant processing. Thisestablishes a target level for all audioflowing through the facility, therebyallowing any deviations in audio lev-els to be identified and controlled be-fore entering the transmission stage.

Loudness control at mastercontrol stage

Another common location for

loudness deviation to occur is dur-ing master control. This is becausethe master control stage experienceshigh levels of traffic due to transitionsbetween multiple program feeds andcommercial servers.

To deal with audio loudness at themaster control stage, the EMC EvertzMaster Control and Switcher platformhas been designed with integratedIntelliGain technology. The smartloudness processor will enable the userto monitor and trend audio loudnessin real time, thereby achieving targetlevels. The automation function en-ables the user to oversee a wide rangeof audio signals passing through themaster control, which include voice-overs and discrete audio tracks, suchas Dolby -E encoded audio. In rela-tion to Dolby -E encoded sources, it isbeneficial to apply loudness control atthe master control stage as the EMCallows audio handling to decode, mixand re -encode the audio data, whilethe loudness processor manages theDolby metadata to correspond withthe defined target loudness.

The automation capabilities of thisloudness control technology allowthe user to configure the loudnesscontrol engine so that gain control isonly applied during commercials andinterstitials and therefore does not af-fect the program segments.

Loudness control attransmission stage

The most common location for au-dio loudness control is at the transmis-sion stage. (See Figure 2.) Any unde-sirable audio levels are identified herebefore entering the compression ring.Loudness control at this stage is ben-eficial because undesirable audio levelsare dynamically adjusted to meet thetarget level before it reaches the end



of the chain. IntelliGain technologymakes loudness control simple at thisstage because of its flexibility and avail-ability on a wide range of automaticprotection changeovers; integratedDolby -E and Dolby Digital audio en-coders; and professional MPEG-2 andH.264/AVC HD and SD -SDI encoders.The loudness control processor en-ables backup protection and performsreal-time automatic loudness controlon the program output.

If a facility wants to maintain spe-cific target loudness or perform real-time monitoring to keep records forfuture recall, it is good practice toapply loudness control at the trans-mission stage. At this stage, the usercan also employ the loudness controlprocessor to confirm that the dial -norm level is programmed correctly.The loudness control processor is ca-pable of transmitting audio trendinginformation samples over SNMP toVistaLINK, which enables loudnesscalculations to be logged and ana-lyzed for compliancy.

Managing audio loudnessfor an entire system

The IntelliGain option forVistaLINK NMS provides the ca-pabilities necessary to manage the

Primary -' Evertz smartittautomatic changeover

EvertzProp MPEE-2/H.264

÷IG

backupwith IntelliGair encoders witHntell Gain

Figure 2. The most common locationtransmission stage.

audio loudness for an entire system.Because the FCC is responsible forensuring that facilities are comply-ing with the loudness guidelines andtherefore must police the averageloudness levels over time, it is cru-cial that the recorded audio levelsare accurate. To prove compliancywith the CALM Act, it is essential thatfacilities log and track audio levelswith the ability to datamine the nec-essary information. IntelliGain pro-vides a central location to configure,store and analyze all signal metricsincluding loudness throughout theplant. Therefore, the system is com-pletely accessible with the ability toextract the necessary logs.

The modular core technology ofthis processor allows control to beadded as a soft ordering option on a

for audio loudness control is at the

module -by -module basis, providingadvanced integration, flexibility andcost savings. BE

Tony Zare is product manager, modularproducts, at Evertz Microsystems.

Brought to you by BrigagnIneermg

From microphones to mixing to monitoring, level controland 5.1 surround, readers learn about the latest

new audio solutions and how to apply them.

Subscribe aoday at wwwbroadcastengmeering com



IVe have many opportunities for youto help others learn broadcast and

procuction technology. [email protected],


Dependable WirelessCommunication With the Most Options

Robust Communication for Highly Dynamic Productions. Based on an advanced RFcircuitry that has been proien to work where other wireless intercoms have failed, Tempest

is now offered in The 900MHz band for robust performance. Packed with the same flexibility,

capabilities and communication power as tte TempEst2400, it is an ideal solution for large

Enclosed spaces like large sports stadium: and performance arenas.

The new Tempesr900 is en all -digital system that it offered in 2- or 4 -channels, operating

ii the license -free 900MHz frequency bands.

Contact Clear-Com or a clear -Corn Authorized Feseller about Tempest forlour next production.

www.clearcom.comCopyright eV 2011. Clear-Com, LLC. All rights reserved. C) Clear -Corn and Clear -Corn log, ;ir registered trademark.of HM Electronics, Inc. Tempest and Tempest logo are registered trademarks of CoachComnv, LLC

1111; Clear-ComAN MME COMPANY



Avid's IMEThe concept offers a unified approach to

repurposing and working with media assets.

Tn

' day's broadcast industry isundergoing profound chang-es, including proliferation of

ew distribution channels,rising costs and uncertain revenue ex-pectations. To cope with these chang-es, broadcasters must find new ways toovercome two main challenges.

First, many facilities still rely upona legacy of fragmented technol-ogy strategy, systems strung togetherwithout the ability to operate outsidespecific workflow parameters. Sec-ond, they are dealing with workflowsencased in a compartmentalized tech-nological environment.

Through consultation with a

wide range of media producers andbroadcasters, Avid has developed anew concept called the IntegratedMedia Enterprise, which effectivelydescribes the vision for a new technol-ogy strategy. Avid's Integrated MediaEnterprise, or IME, is capable ofadapting quickly to new distributionmodels, finding and repurposing the

BY PETFR THOMAS AND SAM BOGOCH

media it owns, and generally findingways to be profitable and grow in aconstantly shifting media environ-ment. An IME can perform consistentrepurposing of "raw" media assetsinto finished media products.

The IME framework breaksdown the traditional broadcastproduction workflow into five

At the core ofthis program isan enterprise -

level media assetmanagement

system.

well-known modules: acquisition,production, distribution, asset man-agement and storage.

This framework affords contentowners and broadcasters a unified,enterprisewide approach to working

with all the media assets the broad-cast organization owns or processes.

From a technical point of view, thegoal is to integrate all existing andnew digital production systems, fortelevision, radio, image and subtitlearchives, into a common, networkedproduction platform. At the core ofthis program is an enterprise -levelmedia asset management system thatsupports a wide variety of media. Keydesign components for such a plat-form include:

Maintenance of all long-term mediaand metadata in the MAM module;

Use of the MAM configurable datamodel to implement the divergingmetadata requirements for the dif-ferent content types and businessprocesses;

Integration, as seamlessly as possi-ble, between the MAM data model andproduction asset management (PAM)subsystems;

Modeling of all essence transfersand management of the overarching

GET A HANDLE ON YOUR LOUDNESSBEFORE IT'S OUT OF THE BOX

With a price right for everyone in theproduction chain, Pandora helps you keep

loudness contained before it's ever a problem.

Monitors and logs up to 8 channels of SDI or AES audio «One -button setup supports both ATSC and EBU standards «

Easy to use iPod touch based interface «

WWohler i I I VIDEO AUDIO CAPTIONING

111

LOUDNESS

CONFIDENCE. infordwohler.com


www.wohler.com +1 888 5 WOHLER


business processes with the work-flow scripting and business processmanagement capabilities of the MAM;

Employment of the MAM's service -oriented architecture to add capabili-ties as new services and integrate allthird -party systems under its directcontrol;

Integration with other businesssystems via an enterprise service bus(ESB).

An actual application might bestructured thusly: Systems directly at-tached to the MAM system are con-nected either using Web service in-terfaces provided by these systems, bycreating SOAP Web service wrappersagainst the respective systems nativeAPIs, or, in more simple cases, file -based exchange of essence and meta -data via watch folders. (See Figure 1.)

All business processes that requireinvocation of these directly attachedsystems are orchestrated by the MAM'sinternal business process engine. Usersengaged in these processes employ theextensible, Web -based MAM graphicaluser interface to search, find and usemetadata and media, and to initiateand monitor processes.

Business processes that start in, orrequire participation of, systems at-tached to the ESB use its messagenormalization capabilities to translate

Traffic system

Televisionarchive

Radioarchive

Musicarchive

Intercompanyfile exchange

Intracompanyfile exchange

Enterprise service Jus

Subtitlecrea-ion

Ingest/rlayoutautomation

Ingest/layoutservers

File de veryservices

rc VB

managemnt

MAMsystem

Stand-alone

NewsPAM

Aucio post

Subtitleserver

Userworkstations

Web portal

Translatorportal

Press previewportal

Press prelistenportal

Newsroomcomputer system

Radio productionsystem

Figure 1. A high-level overview of the system architecture of a deployed system

message formats where required. TheESB delegates subprocesses to theMAM where applicable, and the MAMuses the ESB to delegate tasks to othersystems where required by the process.To do so, the MAM exposes a SOAPinterface to the ESB that can be usedto issue queries and invoke workflows.The ESB also provides a SOAP inter-face that the MAM's workflow engineuses to delegate tasks.

Using open interfaces and proto-cols, standard IT integration technolo-gies and a high level of configurability,the IME can leverage a high level of in-tegration and interoperability across aheterogeneous system landscape.

The result is a new level of cross -enterprise collaboration providing

widespread access to corporate me-dia assets. Efficiency can be radicallyimproved, while still retaining the in-tegrity of the individual systems andwithout compromising the integrityand consistency of metadata and me-dia essence.

Media assets can now be handledin a streamlined manner, and beconverted and repurposed for newplatforms without a high degree ofmanual intervention. Profitability inhandling valuable content becomesmore of a natural outcome. BE

Peter Thomas is senior director of IMEstrategy and Sam Bogoch is director ofworldwide enterprise sales programsat Avid.

AMP2-16VJUST BECAUSE IT'S THE

BEST, DOESN'T MEAN WECAN'T MAKE IT BETTER.

SMPTE2020, new I/O and a even easier, more powerful interface are just a few new additions.Because 16 channels, industry awards, audio mixing and routiig aren't enough for us.

Use two OLED screens to monitor any combo of video, audio metadata «Hotkeys can recall presets, assign I/O, mix audio, switch to Dolby analysis «

Modu ar I/O available with SDI, analog, AES. Dolby, and TOSLINK

\\.://Wohler I VIDEO I AUDIO ICAPTIONING LOUDNESS

CONFIDENCE. info@wohtercom www.wotiler.com .1 888 5 WOHLER



Teradek's CubeThe video encoder offers a solution for streaming

HD video over an IP connection.

Fhiding a cost-effective so-lution for the backhaul ofnews feeds from the field hasalways been a challenge for

broadcasters. News organizations havetraditionally relied on expensive satel-lite or microwave -equipped ENG vans,but more recently, broadcast back-packs that aggregate the video streamover multiple cellular data networkshave become a popular alternative.

With the release of Teradek'sCube video encoder, news organiza-tions have a solution for streamingHD video back to the station over asingle IP network connection. Thecamera -top, H.264 HD video encodermounts easily to any camera using a1/4-20 screw or hot shoe mount andstreams HD video up to '1080p30over IP. The unit is about the size ofa deck of cards and uses only 3.5W of9V -24V DC, so it doesn't impedein the mobility of even the small-

est camera rigs. Itfeatures

At the 2011 NAB Show, Teradek usedits video encoder to broadcast boothcoverage via Livestream.com to morethan 33,000 unique visitors.

wired Ethernet plus USB and WiFioutputs, and buyers can choose eitherHD -SDI or HDMI inputs.

The encoder uses H.264 HighProfile (Level 4.1) video compres-sion and features a built-in scaler toconvert from 1080 to 720 or 480 res-olutions. Users can choose a resolu-tion and target bit rate based on the

BY ROD CLARK

availability of IP bandwidth.Uploading video to and download-

ing it from the public Internet presentschallenges, but this video encoder sim-plifies the process. The unit featuresRTSP announce to easily broadcastfrom behind firewalls, and on the re-ceiving end, the station has several

can report live from the summit of thelocal ski resort rather than the parkinglot. One sportscaster has successfullytested a direct-to-Livestream connec-tion from a large radio -controlledhelicopter and plans to use the videoencoder to broadcast aerial footage ofprofessional surfing and automobile

News organizations employing IP videosolutions can have a competitive advantagein the market, with greater mobility, lower

cost and the ability to put more feet onthe street within the same budget.

choices. One option is to simply hosta computer with a public IP addressand direct the video stream to it. An-other option is to use the unit's nativeLivestream integration. Users with aLivestream account can simply log onto the unit's Web user interface andenter a user name and password to

begin broadcasting via Livestream.com. Livestream users can choosebetween public webcasting andprivate, so the news can streamprivately and discreetly back to the

station for broadcast distribution.The increasing implementation of

4G cellular data networks means thatjournalists can use a Sprint Overdrive,Verizon 4G LTE modem or similar4G WiFi hot spot to bring along theirown broadband WiFi access point. TheENG van was reduced to a backpack;now, it's been reduced again, and thedata rates are high enough to provideBlu-ray-quality video over a single IPdata connection.

The increase in mobility comparedwith a traditional ENG van means that,for the cost of a lift ticket, newscasters

races when the 2011 season begins.The low cost of the unit combined

with the low cost of IP video over WiFior 4G provides a significant cost savingsover the ENG van using microwave orsatellite. Compared with broadcast-ing backpacks, Cube is one -fifteenththe cost to acquire and uses one -fifthof the bandwidth. News organizationsemploying IP video solutions can havea competitive advantage in the market,with greater mobility, lower cost andthe ability to put significantly morefeet on the street within the same bud-get, or even for a profit. With pervasiveWiFi coverage and 4G availability, IP isthe future of backhaul.

Rod Clark is director of marketing forTeradek.

BE




production technology. Contacteditorebroadcastengineering.com,



2

Oigitalf Edition

vIcastEngineering

port of 3-0a to the screen

11111rAli

,11000111I

AccessBmadcastEngineeringe

Anytime,Anywhere!

ihadcasiEngineeting

yuittes,

t*ma.Ma (Yr 4'M/I

Cielas:*uh'11411 Oftsialta08110'Mt'141-"esidint

GoRlon Sine, NONrsminte n ColgrovaWmeuintilty

hammy

.0 ,0klipillipts

partisan *pit140,0,,000.,0

00,ei as 00,3

0

MobileApp

BroadcastEngineering.com


EEG's Caption LegThe software is designed to fix HD ca4

problems in file -based workflowse*,BY PHILIP MCLAUGHI IN

File-based workflows are be-coming increasingly efficientand refined in broadcast andvideo distribution plants,

providing these facilities with all of theediting, storage and playout advantagesinherent in working with data, as op-posed to tape. When it comes to theclosed -captioning aspect of providingprogramming for video on demand(VOD), however, many complexitiesremain: Video assets such as moviesand TV episodes are ingested from a va-riety of sources, and can be mired withinaccurate, incomplete or otherwisefaulty captioning due to a wide range ofpossible causes. When consumers areaffected by these shortfalls, they mayregister a complaint that can be time-consuming and costly to resolve.

To minimize these occurrences, it iscrucial to have an efficient and effec-tive QC system in place for closed cap-tioning. A well -designed QC systemwill detect problems in the CEA-608and CEA-708 (HD) caption data, aswell as compliance with caption pack-ing requirements specific to ATSC andCableLabs delivery standards.

Full manual screening is a time-consuming and costly bottleneck, andmost manual screening proceduresare only set up to detect a few types ofproblems. Even some instances of tar-geted problems may get by the opera-tor. An improved approach that pairswith screening to greatly enhanceQC effectiveness is an automated sys-tem such as EEG's MPEG-2 CaptionLegalizer, which is software designedspecifically to fix HD captioning is-sues in file -based workflows. Manualscreening is then required only to de-tect issues with the transcription itself,such as correct time sync, while HD/SD matching, delivery standards com-pliance and decoder compatibility

UploadMPEG file to dropbox

Dropbox

MPEG file 1

Missing SCTE20 SCTE21 missing 708

MPEG file 2

Missing SCTE20

Legalizer

CC recovery Output streamA

SCTE20SCTE21

CC repair I--

DimMPEG file and It

Pickup

MPEG file 1

Compliant 608 in SCTE4 Compliant 608+708 in SC

Error log

Describesmissing dataand errorscorrected

Decoded CC loy

Service Service1 2

EC F and .SCC

file output

Figure 1. The EEG MPEG-2 Caption Legalizer's role includes fixing improperlyconstructed CEA-708 packets, normalizing caption window types that causeproblems on many consumer decoders, solving problems with mismatched 608and 708 captions, and other errors.

problems can be detected andresolved automatically.

Inserted into the workflow toolchain, a software -based legalizer al-lows video distributors to rapidlystandardize each file on ingest at upto 15 times real time and efficientlyfulfill captioning requirements forVOD or future archival playout.Before the MPEG-2 Caption Legal-izer was made available, there was

exhibited basic compliance problems.The role of an MPEG-2 CaptionLegalizer is to perform, without gen-eration loss, the tasks that an SDI le-galizer such as EEG's CB512, handlesin baseband installations, includ-ing fixing improperly constructedCEA-708 packets, normalizing cap-tion window types that cause prob-lems on many consumer decoders,solving problems with mismatched

A software -based legalizer allows videodistributors to rapidly standardize each fileon ingest at up to 15 times real time andefficiently fulfill captioning requirements

for VOD or future archival playout.

no equivalent solution for efficienttroubleshooting and fixes of caption-ing issues in the file -based realm. In-stead, entire libraries would need tobe run through a baseband captionlegalizer, or even recaptioned, if they

608 and 708 captions, and resolvingissues with inappropriate numbersof caption packets or incorrect place-ment of packets in the video frames.

In addition, the legalin-r also ad-dresses new issues specific to MPEG-2



workflows. These include noncompli-ant use of the SCTE-20 or SCTE-21constructs, and matching problems be-tween CEA-608 V -Chip data and MPEGcontent advisory metadata. More gen-eral problems with the MPEG streamare also fixed in a data -preserving re -multiplex. This is important becauseinsertion of any additional essence ormetadata, including captioning, canaffect the timing of the entire MPEGstream. Any tool modifying data in thecompressed stream must be fully flu-ent in these rules, examining PCR datato create an accurate fixed-rate streammatching the desired ATSC profile; giv-en a compliant or even "near -compli-ant" input, the EEG Caption Legali7Pr

ATSC DTVtransport stream

MPEG-2video ES

Pic:ureuser data

SCTE20 608

ATSC/SCTE21608

708

Figure 2. This diagram shows the location of closed -caption data within the ATSCtransport stream hierarchy.

times real-time capability, the legal-izer can process a feature-length HDmovie in 10 minutes or a TV episodein two minutes. For distributors who

With file -based workflows moving atever -higher levels of sophistication,it is essential that captioning not

stand out as a bottleneck.

will always produce an output streamfully compliant with the CableLabs andATSC A/53 specifications.

Interface to the legalizer is handledthrough an FTP dropbox. The ad-vantages of FTP are that it tends tobe easily scriptable and universallysupported on both specialized videoservers and general-purpose comput-er workstations. The dropbox is mon-itored for new transfers, and files areprocessed in a queue and output to adesignated FTP pickup box. With 15

need to control caption quality onthousands of archived shows prior tomonetizing via VOD, this time savingscompared with real-time processingcan be key, and even more so whenthe only alternative would be out -of -house recaptioning. The acceleratedprocessing time also means that a sin-gle caption legalizer server can oftenhandle the throughput of even largedistributors who ingest many hoursof new programming daily.

With file -based workflows moving

at ever -higher levels of sophistication,it is essential that captioning not standout as a bottleneck. For providers ofVOD who must QC and distribute agrowing supply of valuable contentdaily, a system designed to eliminateas many captioning bugs as possibleis critical for saving time, money andmanpower. By inserting the EEGMPEG-2 Caption Legalizer into thesignal path, video distributors have atool designed specifically to ease thecaptioning difficulties commonly as-sociated with today's systems. BE

Philip McLaughlin is president of EEG.



We hive many opportunities for youto help others learn broadcast and



\,\,%*\0"

CRESCENDODigital Production Console

411

11111111111REATE - CONNECT - DELIVER

NEXUSAwarded with

The EngineerirgEmmy® 201C

powered by NEXUS

- . cp.4.4"11

-le- *err. "

STAGETEC USAenail: [email protected]

www.stagetec.com)))STAGETEC

May 20-1 I broadcastengineering.com 67

FIELD REPORTNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

Fusion3G 9985Cobalt Digital's loudness processor enables KTVN-TV

to deliver a consistent audio level.

With the launch of HD,KTVN-TV in Reno,NV, also wanted toimprove its audio

chain. The station wanted to deliverHD images along with Dolby sur-round sound and a consistent au-dio level. It also needed to ensurethat during Emergency Alert System(EAS) messages, the program audiowas ducked and, finally, that EAS testsaren't run during commercial breaks.The solution was a Cobalt DigitalFusion3G 9985 loudness processor.

The processor was a perfect matchfor both current and future needs.It handles either an AES or embed-ded audio input, and it enables theupmixing of news and other sourcesto Dolby 5.1 surround. The result is

KTVN-TV uses the upmix function of the Fusion3G 9985to create 5.1 surround -sound audio from news andother non -surround sources.

consistent loudness without transi-tion noise that some processors mayproduce in a viewer's surround de-coder or satellite STB.

The software control of the 9985,which is mounted in an openGearframe, permits the station to eas-ily make configuration changes asdesired. The menu structure of theprocessor's software allows instantswitching from AES to embeddedaudio inputs. The upmix featureadds flexibility in combining the au-dio channels to create a Dolby 5.1

BY ALAN NICHOLS

surround sound. The result is a high -quality center channel, which oftenhas important dialog that would belost without the upmix feature.

One of the other important fea-tures is the ability of the device'sclosed -caption detector to move anycaptions that are not on line 9 to thecorrect line for transmission. Also,the unit includes a built-in framesynchronizer, which eliminates theHD -SDI switching glitches the sta-tion sometimes previously encoun-tered. The result is a higher -qualityfeed to its 54 translators and thecable headends.

Managing EASViewers need to hear the EAS mes-

sage, and the Fusion3G 9985 can eas-ily be set up as a programducker that drops the pro-gram audio by 15dB uponactivation. The feature en-sures viewers get programreference level audio forthe EAS message.

The processor is LAN -connected to a stand-alonecontrol panel in MCR.This permits operators toview and change settingswhen required.

The station combined the loudnessprocessor with a Dolby 568 loudnessmonitor, which results in sophisticatedcontrol and monitoring of TV station'saudio channels. It can now both con-trol and monitor loudness, measureand log discrepancies, and monitor theaudio from any IP, AES, analog, HD -SDI embedded or SD -SDI sources.

Sophisticatedaudio processing

The 9985 provides 16 audio chan-nels that can be used to route and

process AES or embedded audio sig-nals. KTVN uses the upmix functionto create 5.1 surround -sound audiofrom news and other non -surroundsources. (Monaural content on a ste-reo LR feed then appears in the up -mix 5.1 -channel Center channel.)

The 9985 was aperfect match forboth current and

future needs.

--mrsrxi

The station easily matched thevolume levels of other stations in itsmarket by comparing the off -air sig-nals using the processor's output gaincontrol. Using the general setting as astarting point for audio control, it wasthen easy to utilize the unit's otherpresets to sample the other audio con-figurations to find the best settings fordifferent programs.

KTVN worked through the sameprocess with the auto cross -fade speedfunctions for upmix, 5.1 detectionthreshold, center width and surrounddepth. The remote control panel is IP-controlled and is located in master con-trol, so weekend operators can changelevels for live sports or other shows.

In summary, the Fusion3G 9985loudness processor is a sophisticatedand versatile audio, surround -soundand caption controller. BE

Alan Nichols is the chief engineer forKTVN-TV

AUDIOBrought to you by BroadcastEngneermo

From microphones to mixing to monitoring, level controland 5.1 surround, readers learn about the latest

new audio solutions and how to apply them.

Subscribe today at www broadcastengineering.com


BroadcastEngineeringa.SPECIALIZED TRAINING: Tutorial

GIVE YOUR EMPLOYEES THETRAINING THEY NEED TO CLIMBTHE LADDER OF SUCCESS!

Does your staff need training on the latest technology?

Can't afford to send them tc expensive seminars?

Broadcast Engineering's Specialized Training Corporate

Subscriptions provide the solution!

Broadcast Engineering has assemb ed key and knowledgeable

instructors to prepare video, broadcast, satellite, engineering

and operational tutorials for station and production staff.

Get access to the full catalog with a corperate subscription.

BENEFITS OF A CORPORATE SUBSCRIPTION:

Provides low cost training

Ensures a standard basic leve of training for all employees

Provides a refresher course to current staff

Helps employees keep pace with :he :imes and technology

Use the courses to prepare key staff for promotions

Authors are industry -specific experts

Material helps prepare for SBE certification

For a complete catalog of current courses, or more information on

purchasing your corporate subscription, please contact:

Julie Dahlstrom at 312-840-8L36 or [email protected]

TRAINING DOESN'T

COST, IT PAYS! zeus,BROADCAST

An Obor Digital Company

Powered by

FIELD REPORTNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

Blackmagic Design'sUltraScope

When used with HDLink Pro, the waveform monitorallows LUTs to be adjusted in real time.

As a digital image tech-nician (DIT) in thefilm industry, I recentlywrapped production on a

prairie western. The main set of themade -for -TV movie was a farmhouseand barn in the middle of goldenfields and hills about an hour northof Los Angeles. It was a beautiful set-ting, but I quickly realized it wasn't aneasy setting to shoot in. As long as thecharacters were outside in the sun orinside the barn or house, things werefine. When there was any combina-tion of the two, however, that becamean issue. Because the story took placein the mid -1800s, the interior lightinghad to seem natural, or from a candleor flame -based lantern.

The range of digital still hasn'treached that of film. This was mostapparent when we were shooting inthe barn or cabin with the bright sun-shine bouncing off the wheat in thebackground. Trying to find a balancebetween the subdued foreground andthe explosive background was a con-stant challenge. Before I get into thesolution, I need to talk a little tech.

Monitoring an HD signal directlyfrom a camera is often misleading.People are under the impression thatwhat you see is what you get, but thisisn't exactly the case. High -end digi-tal cinema cameras are capable of re-cording more information than theyare outputting to the on -set moni-tors. The chip can see more than whatwe know as broadcast legal. This iswhat look -up tables (LUTs) are for.They allow us to manipulate areas ofthe image we send to the monitors inorder to best simulate the final result.In post production, the colorist will

BY TYSON BIRMANN

Digital image technician Tyson Birmann uses the UltraScope 3Gb/s SDI waveformmonitor on location for a prairie western. Plugging the UltraScope PCI Express cardinto any compatible Windows PC in combination with a 24in monitorsix live HD or SD scope views.

finalize this process. It is the DIT's jobto do this on the fly on set.

Meanwhile, back atthe ranch ...

On set, we were shooting actors in adark cabin with a bright field throughthe windows. Ideally, we want themboth to be within the limited range ofthe digital sensor. Normally, we wouldcover the windows with ND or net-ting, which would bring the exposureof the two areas closer together.

The problem is that there was noglass in the windows. This, combinedwith wide depth of field of the 2/3inchip, meant that anything we put inthe window would be seen, and wewere forced to shoot it clean. At thispoint (like most things in produc-tion), it became about compromise- finding a happy medium of bothexposures so that the post -productioncolorist had the most to work with.

My workstation is almost exclu-sively Blackmagic Design products. Atthe heart is the UltraScope. The PC -

based waveform is about 80 percentof what I look at in a day on set. Inthis case, however, I was also relyingheavily on the HDLink Pro (also fromBlackmagic Design). The HDLinkPro not only converts the HD -SDIsignal into DVI so that I can monitorit with low-cost computer monitors,but it also lets me implement and ad-just LUTs in real time. For the shotsthat required a higher dynamic rangethan the monitors could show, I couldadjust the LUTs to show only the topor low end of that range while leavingthe recorded image unaffected.

As a result, I was able to explorethe full range of the recorded image,meaning I could feel confident thatthe information recorded to the tapewould contain everything the color-ist would need to finalize the imageeffectively. Without using LUTs, thiswould have been a guessing game -a game that I would rather not playwhen my job is on the line.

Tyson Birmann is a digital imagingconsultant based in Los Angeles.

BE


EIK4Seleastnes. Al

4AA111.111167ff re I-

.7E3 - .

BROADCAST ENGINEERING:B.E.. IN THE KNOW!

BrOaltastEmineering

EngineeringBrnadcasli 0111 r a

Technolo CONTROLLING

LOUDNElevels /SS,1 When your PrommaKeyrtrmaintainiag consistert

'em with

to StoryPr.:PA./1Q manogYISISPJ91,0,Strong attend,

sgushlansinals technology showslean.me dptantsm amid ec

MAC rsnt11sorosSP. Sat.

tudrosallows every day thousandsonsntanus C

regardless spotsure-and ITO BSI770 c

CASTS

Broadcast Engin ering's not just in your mailbox. It's online. I:'s in your ii3OX. It's 3n your mp-3 player.

It's delivering all of the industry's latest news, technology, and updates in the format you choose, and

providing the solutions, training, and answers you need to help you get the job done right.

Visit us online at http://broadcastengineering.com to sign up for the FREEcoverage you need to keep on top of the latest developments.

US/Canada Edition

World Edition

Podcasts

Essential Guides

broadcastengineering.com

Broadcast Engineering E-zine

E -newsletter Suite

Webcasts

NAB Special Report

IBC Product Source

Digital Reference Guide

BroadcastEngineeringe

It's Your 360 -degree Connection to the World of Broadcasting.

TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSITIONNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

TV sync and timingToday's sync system is nearly the same as it was72 years ago when television was in its infancy.

Because television started asan analog medium, timinghas always been a prerequi-site for combining or switch-

ing pictures. The cameras that RCAdeployed at the 1939 World's Fair atFlushing Meadows scanned in perfectsynchronization with the beam scan-ning the CRTs in the displays acrossthe Hudson River. Cameras, switch-ers and film chains had sync inputsthat effectively guaranteed that thecomposite program could be deliveredwithout interrupting the timing of thebeam in the consumer display.

In the 72 years since that happened,it is quite remarkable that nearly thesame sync system is in place. Whilecolor burst has been added to makecolor black into a reference withmuch higher precision, fundamen-tally the same horizontal and verticalsync used in early commercial tele-vision exist today. As our needs formore complex systems and the tim-ing needs of digital video and digitalaudio systems have evolved, we havefound ways to keep the legacy systemin place while facilitating multipleframe rates, progressive scan, AESand compressed audio systems, andcompression systems.

What's different is that in someways we have less precision today. Itis often said that buffers change ev-erything, and digital systems don't re-quire the kind of rigid precision thatthe color subcarrier in the NTSC (orPAL) system require. Think about thatfor a moment; we used to time sig-nals to subnanosecond precision sothat errors in color phase would notaccumulate. With digital switchers,timing to plus or minus a full line, ormore, is sufficient. That is because ofbuffers built into the switcher, buffers

BY JOHN LUFF

large enough to allow in some casesnonsynchronous signals to be handledfreely. This does not remove the needto carefully design systems to avoid is-sues that poor timing creates. Routingswitchers don't have buffers to effec-tively retime the output with mistimedinputs. When switching (on line 10 inHD systems normally), one cannotautomatically correct when the secondsignal is lines away from correct tim-ing, causing potential processing er-rors in downstream devices.

In analog systems, there was no re-quirement to "time" audio to video.

48kHz audio tracks with video. Thereis a five -frame cadence to the match-ing of audio access units and videoframes. In addition, there is a defini-tive need to lock both AES referenceand video reference to the same clock.Most modern sync generators will dothat, but the need for AES referenceis sometimes forgotten when systemdesigns are drafted in-house withoutcareful thought (and perhaps a lackof experience).

With all of the emphasis on audiosync these days, it is also wise to becareful about the reference signals to

AnalogwaveformIrR'G'B)

Durations inreference clockperiods (T)

OH

+A.T+

441k 4-441-÷ 4-44T->C.T

441)- 4 -19201

Figure 1.Trilevel sync. Courtesy SMPTE (from SMPTE 274M - 2008)

Unless you put delay into the videopath, audio processing had so littlelatency that it was hard to make lipsync problems happen. As soon asyou digitize audio and add audioprocessing - such as embedders,sample rate converters, or any devicewith local buffers or storage - theneed to manage audio sync becomesjust as critical as video issues. Thereare, however, some inconvenient factsabout syncing audio. Our need touse 59.97Hz as the vertical frequencygives rise to a disparity in syncing

audio and video encoders. In addition,equal care should be taken in settingoffsets in Dolby and MPEG-2 encod-ers. A good practice is to lock the mas-ter sync generator to GPS, which givesboth a stable and accurate frequencyreference, but also allows time code tobe derived with higher precision. Timecan be referenced in some software -based products to NTP time servers,but GPS is preferred if it is available.

With HD systems there is often aneed for trilevel sync. (See Figure1.) TLS is defined in SMPTE 240M


TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSITIONNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

(1035 -line HD), SMPTE 274M (1080 -line HD) and SMPTE 296M (720 -lineHD). It is used by a relatively smallnumber of devices, but often is criti-cal in HD systems.

At one time it was thought that TLSwould provide a replacement for colorblack in developing HDTV systems.That has not turned out to be true, inpart because digital systems seem to

Our industry wouldnot be as simpleas it is withouttime sponges.

work just fine with existing referencesignals. Also some manufacturers, toremain nameless here, worked againsthaving new reference signals for manyyears, successfully I might add.

A new reference signalThere is now work (well advanced)

on a new reference signal that wouldprovide rich information as well as atiming reference for all signals with-out regard to frame rate or samplingstructure. The premise is by usingGPS as a frequency standard and bydefining an "epoch" when all signalsare deemed to "start." MI HD, SD, au-dio, MPEG and other reference sig-nals start at that epoch, and by usingmath that is easily derived, one cancalculate the exact state of each sig-nal at any future time. For instance,using the 5MHz GPS reference, onecould derive the NTSC color sub -carrier frequency by using thefollowing formula:

fsc= 63/88 x 5MHzor

fsc= (32 x 7)423 x 11) x 5MHz

If the subcarrier starts positiveat the epoch, you can calculate thestate of an NTSC signal accurately byknowing the current time, which isthe reason GPS is used.

Though not obvious, one need notdistribute an actual 5MHz reference

to make this a workable scheme. Youcan use a network to send the timeaccurately as a time stamp, much asMPEG clocks are sent as time stamps.If the latency of the network is known,or can be discovered, any referencesignal could be generated by using adigital phase -locked loop to establishthe 5MHz reference from the timestamp and then use simple arithme-tic to get the current signal status.Though not yet in use, this approachcould lead to precise references for allmanner of devices that generate oruse video with only network cablingrequired. As a bonus, accurate timesignals are generated as well, whichmakes the use of existing time codeseem a bit anachronistic.

Time spongesLastly, our industry would not be

as simple as it is without "time spong-es." Frame synchronizers, which usedto include as a class "time base correc-tors," allow free running sources to beretimed into any system. Today theyoffer a multitude of other features likeembedding audio, shuffling tracks,down- and crossconversion, and procamp -like controls. They seem to bea sort of Swiss Army knife for tele-vision content. When dealing withsatellite and terrestrial feeds, there isno better tool. They solve the timingproblem and allow resyncing audio inmany cases. I suspect we will see thesecapabilities built into many moredevices over time. Much of the capa-bility is simple today with software -defined devices. BE

John Luff is a broadcast technologyconsultant.

Send questions and comments to:[email protected]


for BroadcastEnnineerinn


product on technology. Contacteditorgbroadcastengineering.corn,


RIIIRIEDEL

Fresh

NEW PRODUCTSNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

Autoscript CountPlus Clear -Corn

Time code generator, time code inserterand up/down count generator is designedfor use in conjunction with Autoscript'sClockPlus time code display; users canpreset and store 10 different combina-tions of start and stop times, addressingthe requirements of many live studiopresenters to have separate countdownsand program sections; embeds SMPTE/EBU Vertical Interval Timecode (VITC)into the NTSC and PAL prompt video;provides two video outputs, which can bedistributed to all prompt monitors andClockPlus units in a studio.

203-926-2400; www.autoscript.tv

Shotoku SP series

SP pan and tilt/tripod series includes fournew models; SP80 and SP60 are compact75mm ball tripod systems; the SP80 fea-tures a maximum payload of 221bs, mak-ing it ideal for ENG camcorders; the SP60offers a maximum payload of 15.41bs,making it ideal for handheld camcorders;the SP40 75mm ball tripod system is de-signed for handheld cameras; it supportsa load range of 4.41bs to 8.81bs; the SP20is suitable for handheld cameras weighingless than 4.41bs.

310-782-8491; www.shotoku.tv

HME DX210 Panasonic

Wireless intercom system operates inthe 2.4GHZ band; designed to enableinterference -free communication forhighly demanding productions; its wiredintercom interface is compatible withClear -Corn's or RTS' two -wire systems,and provides two separate two -wire andfour -wire interconnections; 1RU base sta-tion supports up to 16 full -duplex and44 half -duplex beltpacks and/or wirelessheadsets by linking four base stations; adigital auto -nulling circuit allows usersto eliminate the return audio of the wiredtwo -wire intercom automatically.

510-337-6600; www.clearcom.com

Belden Brilliance HD Connectors

New line of connectors is designed foruse with Belden Brilliance precision videocoaxial cables; provide better than -20dBreturn loss performance through 4.5GHz,exceeding the SMPTE specification re-quirements; comprised of one-piece BNCcompression connectors with an option-al patented locking feature, optimizedthree-piece BNC crimp connectors, andconnector tools for both one-piece andthree-piece connectors.

314-854-8000; www.belden.com

Blackmagic Design

AG-HPX250

P2 HD handheld camcorder offers 10 -bit, 4:2:2 independent frame, full 1920x 1080 resolution AVC-Intra recording;also records in DVCPRO HD, as well asSD recording in DVCPRO50, DVCPROand DV; supports international HD andSD standards; equipped with two P2card slots; can record for up to 320 min-utes in AVC-Intra 100 at 720/24pN, 160minutes in AVC-Intra 100 1080/24pNand 128 minutes in other AVC-Intra 100or DVCPRO HD formats on two 64GBcards; in AVC-Intra 50, the recording timeis twice that as AVC-Intra 100.

877-803-8492www.panasonic.com/broadcast

Telecast Fiber Systems Python 3G

(5320.120:11;:

The latest release of the company's Pythonmultichannel fiber-optic HD/SDI trans-port system; offers a broad range of digitaltransmission rates while maintaining thesignal quality and reliability required indemanding studio and OB environments;designed to enable broadcasters to reachhundreds of times further using a cablethat is a tenth the size of equivalent coax;allows fiber-optic transport for up to fourgroups of HD/SDI channels, in a compact1RU frame.

508-754-4858www.telecast-fiber.com

illtilINE111111811111111111111111111111111111111110111111111111111111J

ATEM Camera Converter

Converter allows consumerHDMI or professional SDIcameras to use optical fiberfor low-cost connection to

live production switchers up to 25mi away; designed to let users get more cameras closerto the live action at a lower cost; includes professional local microphone inputs forhigh -quality audio from the camera location; also includes talkback, on -air tally and aninternal battery for remote use when cameras are located far away from power sources.

408-954-0500; www.blackmagic-design.com



Integrated Microwave Technologies Nucomm Passive Tracker

12 -way Passive Tracker receive system is an autonomousCOFDM central receive system designed to simplifymobile -to -fixed and mobile -to -mobile signal acquisi-tion; consists of an array of antennas, adaptive signalprocessing and maximum ratio combining techniques;requires users to set the operating frequency to work thesystem; the unit analyzes the RF landscape and identifiesand eliminates unwanted signals before they can impairreception, allowing for spatial separation and frequencyreuse; this isolation is done electronically using adaptivesignal processing.

908-852-3700; www.imt-broadcast.com

JVC GY- H MZ1U

ProHD 3-D camcorder features an inte-grated 3-D twin lens design; simultane-ously records each left and right imagein full 1920 x 1080 resolution; offers dual3.32 megapixel CMOS sensors - one foreach lens; delivers 34Mb/s AVCHD re-cording in 3-D or 24Mb/s in 2-D; videocan be recorded with time code at 60i toprovide smooth motion for sports andother fast action or 24p for a film -like ef-fect; can capture 3-D time lapse and 3-Ddigital stills.

973-317-5000; www.pro.jvc.com

Hamlet 9K series

Preconfigured, entry-level monitor-ing systems are based on the DS9000DigiScope and MS9000 MonitorScopeplatforms; available in 12 configurations- six for the MonitorScope, where usersneed the half -rack width form factor, andsix for the DigiScope, where users need tobe able to route the output to a convenientmonitor; the configurations cover com-mon combinations of signals to be tested,including analog video as well as SD, HDand 3Gb/s HD digital streams.

+44 1494 729 728www.hamlet.co.uk

Grass Valley 3G Transmission

Camera transmission system can carryuncompressed 3Gb/s signals over bothtriax and fiber; this allows any choice oftransmission cable to carry either uncom-pressed 1080i, 720p or 1080p50/60 video,while being prepared for multiplexed pairsof 720p or 1080i HD signals for stereo-scopic 3-D applications; extends the rangeof triax coverage by 25 percent to a con-servative minimum of 4921ft (1500m); inaddition to the camera's digital video out-put, it carries four digital audio channelsback to the base station as two AES/EBUpairs and as an embedded signal withinthe digital video signals itself.

530-478-3000; www.grassvalley.com

Anger Audio C8586/C8582

Combo cards are designed for the C8000processing system; C8586 is a dual comboboard that provides two SDI streams, eachwith four channels of audio; enables usersto process up to 32 channels in dual stereoand in one frame; C8582 is an eight -chan-nel analog and DSP card that can handlefour stereo pairs, enabling cable headendsto process four television programs perboard.

+49 30 677721 0www.junger-audio.com

Tektronix WFM/WVR5200

Waveform monitor and rasterizer canmonitor up to four 3G -SDI signals simul-taneously; designed for use in OB vans,studio control rooms and post -productionhouses doing editing, special effects andcolor correction; offer a comprehensive setof color gamut monitoring features, as wellas multirate color bar and pathologicalsignal generation for basic installation andmaintenance applications; other key fea-tures include closed captioning, subtitles,AFD decode/display and full ANC datasupport for quality control applications.

800-833-9200; www.tektronix.com

RIIIRIEDEL

fromVegas

www.riedel.net


Utah Scientific UTAH -400 series Anton/Bauer

Digital routing switchers now featureembedded -audio signal processing; newcapability comes courtesy of a new lineof I/O boards that rely on advanced field -programmable gate array technology toperform signal processing; the enhancedrouting systems also incorporate a virtualcontrol panel to provide an easy -to -readdisplay of the video signals and their as-sociated audio positions.

801-575-8801www.utahscientific.com

Alteran Technologies ViTaDi DigikitPortable plug -and -play digital migrationcapture system uses standard computercomponents and connections; availablein two- or four -channel, and SD or HDversions; features ease of use and quicksetup; portable desktop design is idealfor modest libraries, but also appeals tocompanies with larger collections thatneed reliable on -the -fly automatic videoingest as an alternative to less productiveas -needed manual migrations; adapts to acontent owner's pre-existing architectureand integrates with any pre-existing tapelibrary systems.

818-998-0100www.alterantechnologies.com

1111-DSIR Wheatstone

Power solution is designed for the CanonEOS 5D Mark II, EOS 7D and EOS 60DDSLR cameras; provides 7.2V power tothe camera via the Canon DR -E6 Couplerand 14.4V power via the PowerTap for ac-cessories such as the Ultralight2, onboardmonitors and external hard drives; canmount to most third -party support rigs,such as Red -Rock Genus, Micro, Zacutoand Cinevate; Logic Series Batteries Real -Time LCD indicates remaining run timefor all items being powered.

203-929-1100www.antonbauer.com

Gepco V -Light Active Fiber Cable System

Designed to offer a convenient, reliable and durable interface for high-speed serial digi-tal video transmission over single -mode fiber with data transfer rates up to 1.485Gbis;inside each weather -tight V -Light connector shell, the fiber is sealed and isolated, whilethe electrical signal is converted to an optical one (or vice versa); custom -length V -Lightactive fiber cables are available in two- or four -path versions with either unidirectionalor bidirectional signal transmission.

847-795-9555; www.gepco.com

ALP -1000

Loudness processor designed to help sta-tions ensure compliance with the CALMAct legislation; manages loudness in com-pliance with the ITU BS.1770 loudnessstandard, as well as processes programmaterial with stereo and 5.1 surroundaudio processing technology; featuresSD/HD-SDI inputs and outputs with de -embedding and embedding; 2.0 to 5.1upmix and 5.1 to 2.0 downmix capabili-ties are also included; dedicated, separateinputs are provided for EAS audio andfor ancillary program channels; RS -485/RS -422 connectivity is provided for meta -data input.

252-638-7000www.wheatstone.com

Volicon Observer Scout

A/V monitoring, logging and trouble-shooting system allows broadcasters andnetworks to perform proactive content -based monitoring and quality checks atA/V handoffs with over -the -air and sat-ellite downlinks, pay -TV operators, con-tent contributors and other partners; cancapture up to three days of full -motionSD or HD content; provides continu-ous recording of video and audio to lo-cal storage; enables browser -based remoteviewing of stored media by multiplesimultaneous users; supports media ex-ports for sharing of select content; offerscentralized management.

781-221-7400www.volicon.com

Stay CALM with Level MagicThe Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act

www.junger-audio.com

ATSC A/85EBU R128ITU.1770/-2

BroadcastLoudnessControl

by

_iLin9er

Chyron


BlueNet Lawo

Graphics creation and playout system le-verages Chyron's suite of graphics toolsand streamlines ordering and graphicsasset management, collaborative graph-ics creation, and real-time playout; inte-gration with AXIS, Chyron's cloud -basedservices offering, extends the power ofBlueNet workflows in speeding even themost sophisticated graphics to air; givesbroadcasters an array of tools that can beconfigured to meet the specific needs oftheir graphics workflows as well as theirbudgets, while providing seamless inte-gration into newsroom systems.

631-845-2000; www.chyron.com

Canon FK14.5-60

PL -mount lens addresses emerging 4Kproduction standards; features a newCanon optical design that virtually elimi-nates focus breathing; wide-angle lensmaintains its T2.6 maximum apertureover the entire focal range; these attributescombine to help ensure contrast under awide range of scene -lighting conditions,helping to maximize the image -creationcapabilities of single -sensor digital cin-ematography cameras.

516-328-5000www.usa.canon.com

Harris NEXIO AMP

Enhances the ingest density for produc-tion applications, provides 1080p (3Gb/s)format support and improves energy ef-ficiency; cost per channel is improved,with twice the number of physical ingestchannels and a choice of up to four bidi-rectional HD channels or eight SD -onlychannels (four in, four out); ideally suitedfor ingest and playout in multichannelbroadcast and media operations; incor-porate a single -link 3Gb/s-capable I/Ocard (as opposed to dual -link); supportsall codecs in a single chassis.

800-231-9673www.broadcast.harris.com

xtra Faders

ME! *LI.. Iv .....

........ fgeref.ft t""........... .. ...onatNede:t: 1:41:atWin:

New surface layout option for the mc266MKII production console; the ScreenControl Module in the console's CentralControl section is replaced by the ShortFader Control panel; in addition to thecontrol elements commonly associatedwith this section, the new surface layoutincorporates eight additional faders; thisnew arrangement provides more faders inthe first row and less administrative but-tons, facilitating greater control over cru-cial mix elements assigned to this area; theExtra Faders layout also provides a newScreen Control panel that provides for avariety of essential functions requiringdedicated hardware buttons.

+49 7222 1002 0; www.Iawo.de

LYNX Technik Series 5000

Fiber, receive and transceiver cards providean electrical -to -optical and optical -to -electrical conversion solution for the trans-mission of SDI content to fiber over longdistances; consists of the OTX 5844 four -channel fiber-optic transmitter with inte-grated 4x6 router, ORX 5804 four -channelfiber-optic receiver with integrated 4x4router, and OTR 5842 dual -channel SDIto fiber-optic transceiver with integrated4x4 router; all three modules offer CWDMsupport for up to 18 wavelengths.

661-251-8600www.lynx-usa.corn

Front Porch Digital DIVArchive V7.0

Content storage management system now implements Front Porch Digital's open ArchiveeXchange Format technology, which is designed to protect, preserve and facilitate the ex-change of content among storage systems; supports complex DPX packages with as manyas 1 million individual files per DIVArchive object, frame and path -based partial restore -operations, and desktop browsing of DCP and IMF -formatted files; also supports OracleT10000C tape drives with 5TB of native data -tape capacity and 240MB/s throughput.

303-440-7930; www.fpdigital.com

RTRIEDEL

MediorNetCompact

Synchronized 50G real-timenetwork for 3G/HD/SD-SDI video,audio, data & intercom at theprice of multiplexing point-to-point fiber products

Flexible signal routing incl. point-to-multipoint

Integrated Frame StoreSynchronizer, Embedder/De-Embedder, Test PatternGenerator, On -Screen Display &Timecode Insertion at every pert

Fully compatible with otherMediorNet systems

www.riedel.net

A PENTON MEDIA PUBUCATION

BroadcastEngineering®www

Editorial Director. Brad Dick, brad.dick@pemon coif;

Eder VIA Mice David Austerbary, editcabtedcastengineeringnorld.com

Managing Editor. Susan Anderson, [email protected]

Assoc. Editor. Collin LaJoie, collin.lajoierkenton.com

Assoc. Editor. Angela Snell, angela.snellapenton.com

Assoc. Editor. Andrew Ward, andrew.wardOpenton.com

Art Director. Michael J. Knust, [email protected]

Art Director. Robin Metheny, [email protected]

Technical Consultants: Computers & Networking - Brad Gilmer

Digital Video-Aldo Cugnini

Legal - Ham/ C. Martin

New Technology-John Luff

Industry Watcher - Anthony Gargano

Group Publisher Wayne Madden, [email protected]

Sr. Marketing Manager. Kim Davidson, [email protected]

Dir, Online Product Development Dean Maio, dean.musciogpenton.com

Senior Director of Production: Carlos Lugo, carlos.lugorgpenton.com

Production Manager. Kathy Daniels, kathy.danielsWpenton.com

Classified Ad Coord.: Sarah Maxey, sarah.maxey@pentoncom

Audience Development Kris Cunningham [email protected]

Gimp Show Director/LDI: Sharon Morabito, sharon.morabiti@ ienton.com

*' FentonPenton Media, Inc.

249 West 17th Street

New York, NY 10011

Chief Executive Officer. Sharon Rowlands, sharon rowlands@penton corn

MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS .BPASustaining Member of:WWWWWW

Society of Broadcast Engineers ----,/^Member, American Business Media; iTirrr irrirtVulirm"*".

The Missouri Association of Publications

BE US/Canada SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Free and controlled circulation

to qualified subscribers. Non -qualified persons may subscribe at the fol-

lowing rates (subject to change): USA and Canada one-year subscription

(12 issues) $99. Outside the USA and Canada $116. Customer service can

be reached at [email protected] or by calling 866-505-

/173 or 847-763-9504

BE World SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Free and controlled circulation to

qualified subscribers. Non -qualified persons may subscribe at the follow-

ing rates (subject to change): USA and Canada one-year subscription (12

issues) $94. Outside the USA and Canada $110. Customer service can

be reached at [email protected] or by calling 866-505-

7173 or 847-763-9504

ARCHIVES AND MICROFORM: This magazine is available for research

and retrieval of selected archived articles from leading electronic databases

and online search services, including Factiva, LexisNexis and Proquest. For

microform availability, contact National Archive Publishing Company at

800-521-0600 or 134-761-4100, or search the Serials in Microform listings

at napubco.com.

REPRINTS: Contact Penton Reprints to purchase quality custom reprints or

e -prints of articles appearing in this publication at 1:1-858-8851. Website:

www.pentonreprints.com. Email: [email protected]

PHOTOCOPIES: Authorization to photocopy articles for intemal corporate,

personal, or instructional use may be obtained from the Copyright Clearance

Center (CCC) at 978-750-8400. Obtain further information at copyright.com.

PRIVACY POLICY: Your privacy is a priority to us. For a detailed policy

statement about privacy and information dissemination practices related to

Penton Media products, please visit our Web site at www.penton.com.

EDITORIAL and BUSINESS OFFICE: Penton Media, 9800 Metcalf,

Overland Park, Kansas 66212 913-341-1300 penton.com

Copyright 2011, Penton Media, Inc. All rights reserved.


Digital Rapids MediaMesh TX Larcan

Content contribution appliance providesflexible, easy -to -use content packag-ing and sending capabilities; scales frompoint-to-point delivery to global distribu-tion networks; combines robust, scalabletransfer technology with full -featured,easy -to -use sending and receiving solu-tions; provides efficient transfer of digitalmedia files between content providers,contributors, aggregators and distribu-tion partners; optimizes the transfer ofHD, SD and Digital Cinema media overterrestrial I P networks and satellite.

905-946-9666; www.digital-rapids.com

Oasis

Series of liquid -cooled solid-state trans-mitters features Cool -dock technology,which is designed to lower maintenancecosts by eliminating potential for leaks;using building-block design, power levelsof up to 10kW in a single 24in cabinet arepossible; higher power levels are availablein multiple cabinet configurations; light-weight, hot-pluggable modules can be safe-ly removed without waiting for cooldown.

905-564-9222; www.larcan.com

Let Broadcast Engineering keep you up-to-date onthe latest industry news, technology developments,new products and services...and more.

Apply for your free subscription today. Log on toBroadcastEngineering.com and click on "subscribe."

And...you can also sign up for any of the industry'sleading E -newsletters from Broadcast Engineering.

BroadcastEngineering.com BroadcastEngineertho



Harmonic Omneon MediaGrid Ericsson

New version of active storage system isthe combination of the ContentServer3000, new scale -out storage hardware,and a new version (v3.0) of the OmenonMediaGrid file system software thatfeatures integrated software RAID forefficient and smart data protection;ContentServer 3000 hardware comesin a 3RU form factor, houses 16 3.5inSATA2 hot-swappable hard disk drivesand has dual active -active controllers forhigh availability; offers both RAID 6 andRAID 4 options, enabling users to balancestorage capacity with performance basedon their workflow needs.

408-542-2500www.harmonicinc.com

Miranda Axino

A multiprogram, IP transport stream loud-ness control processor; can perform high -quality automatic loudness control acrossdozens of HD/SD programs carried over IP;ideal for cable, satellite and IPTV operators;addresses excessive channel -to -channeland program -to -program variation; wheninstalled downstream of the advertisementinsertion equipment, it will prevent exces-sively loud commercials and will improvethe quality of service for subscribers.

514-333-1772www.miranda.com

Dalet Media Life

Manages the complex media manage-ment requirements of high -volume, mul-tiplatform program producers, such asbroadcast networks and thematic chan-nels; combines the company's media assetmanagement platform with specializedtools covering the complete programmingchain - from ingest, QC, compliance andcontent enrichment to playout, distribu-tion and archiving; natively integratedtask -specific tools address specialized ar-eas of program preparation, while Dalet'sadvanced workflow engine orchestratesresources, assets and tasks to efficientlymanage program and promo preparationacross the entire production chain.

212-269-6700; www.dalet.com

Multiplatform Stream Processor

Processor is a high -density video andaudio processing solution for telcoand cable operators - enabling thelaunch of additional services, migra-tion to MPEG-4 AVC and time -shiftTV ingest processing; enables cost-efficient disaster recovery sites for business conti-nuity; is a multiformat dense transcoder, enabling support for up to 24 HD or 72 SDMPEG-4 AVC or MPEG-2 services with concurrent PIP outputs; can serve as a re -en-coder for MPEG-2 services, allowing for lower overall bit rates or VBR to CBR conver-sion for applications like time -shift TV

678-812-6300; www.ericsson.com/television

JOHN LENNON U2 BOB DYLAN RED HOTCHILI PEPPERS LADY GAGA BEYONCE BRUNO ARS KATY PERRY RIHANNA J SIN TIMBERLAKE MADONNA EMI N Etv' BRUCE PRINGSTEEN JOSH GROBAN KE TH URBAN BLA K EYED PEAS PI\ K CEE LO GREEN LADY ANTEBELLUM BONJOVI FOO FIGHTERS R.E.M. NICKI MINAI SADE MIC AEL BUBLE JUSTIN BI BER

DUE ENYA E TON JOHN JOHN MAYER QUEEN KING OF LEON STING LEONALEWIS NE -YO SHAKIRA NORAH JONES

37 CHART -TOPPING HITSAND CLASSIC TRACKSFROM THE BIGGEST NAMESIN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC.SONY MUSIC AND ITS AFFILIATESWILL DONATE 100% OF THE NETPROCEEDS FROM THE SALE OFTHIS ALBUM TO THE JAPANESERED CROSS SOCIETY.

SONGS FOR JAPAN

CD DUE APRIL 4TH

CD EMI aWiddUle on

111 I Tunes

May 2011 broadcastengineering.com 79

CLASSIFIEDS

END TO END SOLUTIONS FOR SATELLITE TV BROADCASTING

UC - 250L2 DVB - S/S2 MODULATOR

CAS/CI

DVB-SDVB-S2

1-408-329-4158sales©upcom com

MPEG2

HD/SD

MPEG4

IP

UC - IRD +

MIM /10,1111.

Technologies, Inc.

BISS ANALOG

ASI

SDI

RECEIVER/DECODER

www.upcom.com

Employment

TVIS Support Manager

KTRK-TV, the ABC O&O and number onestation in Houston, TX, is seeking an

experienced Television Information SystemsSupport Manager. Extensive knowledge andexperience in desktop computer support,Cisco layer 2 switched environments,and management required. Operating,troubleshooting and repairing computerizedtelevision broadcast equipment and

systems including, but not limited to,broadcast automation, graphics systems,signal distribution and routing; along withnewsroom automation is also necessary.Experience with Non -Linear Editing Systemssuch as Avid, Aurora, Edius, and Final CutStudio is desirable. Candidate must have aproven track record managing people andprojects. Night, weekend and holiday workwill be required.

Interested candidates must apply on-lineat www.disneycareers.com by uploading aresume file. Please reference Job ID: 294156on all materials submitted. No phone callsplease, no third parties.

Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/DN.

Recruit Retain Explorehttp://jobzone.broadcastengineering.com

For Sale

Lithium -Ion Batteries forProfessional Video Camerasand Camcorders

LED or LCD MeteringExternal Power Port

FlAcoustics Firstgoer 888.765-2900

Materials to Control Soundand Eliminate Noise"http://www.acousticsfirst.com

HORITA horita.com"UNIVERSAL" TIME CODE

23.976, 24, 25, & 29.97/ 30 FPSRead Generate Display Transcode "Cross -Jam"

Your source jor standard and specializedSMPTE time code products for over 24 years!

(949)489-0240 Honey^ [email protected]

BROADCAST ENGINEERING

TO REACH INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS PLACE YOUR AD TODAY!

JULIE DAHLSTROM

P 312.840.8436 [email protected]


AVID BROADCAST SYSTEMSENGINEER II

Golf Channel, one of the nation's leading sports

networks is looking for a top notch AVID Certified

Engineer with skill level in a variety of broadcastengineering disciplines.

The qualified candidate must possess ACSR Cer-

tification and demonstrated progressive careergrowth in broadcast engineering. Golf Channelutilizes some of the most state of the art tech-nology in its broadcast operations including a300TB AVID ISIS, Interplay, AVID ARCHIVE, AVID

HD Multistream, AVID HD Nitris Systems, AVID

Streaming, INews, ASSIST and more.

The successful candidate will be responsible for

the technical operation, maintenance and evalu-ation of all AVID based functions in a dynamic

environment. EVS understanding and technical

maintenance on a multitude of server based plat-forms is a plus.

Requirements include: 4-6 years experience ina broadcast IT facility, AVID ACSR Certifications

and a bachelors degree in either CIT, Computer

Science or the demonstrated equivalent in workexperience.

Competitive salary, full company benefits. DFWP

/ AN EEO

To apply please send resume to:

[email protected]

Page Advertiser

Hotline

Website

Address

AD INDEXBroadcast Engineering is not responsible

for errors in the Advertisers Index.

SALES OFFICES

AJA Video 13 800-251-4224 aja.com US/CANADAATTO Technology Inc 56 716-691-1999 attotech.com WESTAvid Technology 3 800 -949 -AVID avid.com/mmm/

integrated news

George Watts Ill(360) 546-0379; Fax: (360) [email protected]

Avitech 50 877- AVITECH avitechvideo.com EASTBlackmagic Design 5 408-954-0500 blackmagic-design.com Emily Kalmus

(312) 840-8473; Fax: (913) 514-6301Clear-Com Communication Systems 61 510-496-6600 clearcom.com [email protected]

Cobalt Digital 26 800-669-1691 cobaltdigital.com INTERNATIONALDell Inc. 7 1-877-394-3355 dell.com/smb/imagine EUROPE

Richard WoolleyEnsemble Designs 33 530-478-1830 ensembledesigns.com +44-1295-278-407

Evertz Microsystems Ltd. IBC 877-995-3700 evertz.comFax: [email protected]

For. A Corporation of America 35, 51 714-894-3311 for-a.corn

Front Porch Digital 31 fpdigital.comISRAELAsa Talbar

Grass Valley 21 grassvalley.com/

trinix_nxt

Talbar Media+972 (77) [email protected]

Harmonic Inc 19 harmonicinc.com/

video -economyJAPANMashy YoshikawaOrient Echo, Inc.

Harris 15 800-231-9673 broadcast.harris.com/

selenio

+81-3-3235-5961; Fax: [email protected] jp

Harris 23 800-231-9673 broadcast.harris.com/

tvtransmission

ASIA PACIFICTan May LingInterAct Media & Marketing

IBC 2011 45 +44{0)2078324100 ibc.org/register +65 9623 1405; Fax: +65 6265 [email protected]

Junger Audio 76 junger-audio corn

KOBA 2011 42 +82(2)551-0102 kobashow.com CLASSIFIED ADVERTISINGJulie Dahlstrom

Linear Acoustic 29 717-735-3611 linearacoustic.com (312) 840-8436

Matrox Electronic Systems 17, 25 800-361-4903 matrox.com/videoFax: (913) [email protected]

Miranda Technologies Inc. 9 514-333-1772 miranda.com/playout

NCS Industries 54 877-299-4614 ncsind.com REPRINTSPenton Reprints

Nevion 57 800-515-0811 nevion.com 888-858-8851www.pentonreprints.com

Newtek Inc. 10-11 210-370-8000 newtek.com/be

PlayBox BC 404-424-9283 playbox.tv LIST RENTAL SERVICESMarie Briganti

Riedel Communications 73,

Schill U.S

75, 77

44

818-241-4696 riedel.net

schill.us

MeritDirect(877) [email protected]

Screen Service Broadcasting 41 +39 030 57831 screen.it

Snell Group 36-37 snellgroup.com Customer Service:Solid State Logic IFC 212-315-1111 solidstatelogic.com/c10 913-967-1707 or 800-441-0294

Songs for Japan 79 Broadcast Engineering, May 2011, Vol. 53, No. 5 (ISSN

Stagetec USA 67 888-782-4391 stagetec.com0007-1994) is published monthly and mailed free to qualified

persons by Penton Media, Inc. 9800 Metcalf Ave., Overland

Streambox 24 206-956-0544 streambox.com Park, KS 66212-2216. Periodicals postage paid at ShawneeMission, KS, and additional mailing offices. Canadian Post

Studer Professional Audio 43 studer.ch Publications Mail Agreement No. 40612608. Canada returnaddress: Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON

Thinklogical 55 800-291-3211 thinklogical.com NBC 6B2. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Broadcast

TV One 49 800-721-4044 tvone.comEngineering, PO. Boa 2100, Skokie, IL 60076-7800 USA.CORRESPONDENCE: Editorial and Advertising: 9800 Metcalf,

Utah Scientific 27 800-453-8782 utahscientific.com Overland Park, KS 66232-2216 Phone: 913-341-1300; Edit. fax:

913-967-1905. Advert. fax: 913-967-1904. © 2011 by Penton

Wohler Technologies Inc 58, 59, 62, 63 888-5-WOHLER wohler.com Media, Inc. All rights reserved.


EOMDE-PARTMENT

3-D HDTV predictions3-DTV is overhyped and not ready

for prime time - yet.

Amarket research firmin our industry, InsightMedia, focuses on emerg-ing display technologies.

Its market coverage ranges every-where from e -paper to OLED to 3-Ddisplays, and it produces newslettersand market reports on this entirerange of technology. "Large Dis-play Report" and "Mobile DisplayReport" are the two monthly news-letters. Following this year's CES

My convictioncontinues to be

that 3-D HDTV willremain very much

a niche vehiclefor entertainment

television.

show, the company also released aspecial report on 3-D HDTV titled"3D at CES 2011 Special Report."

In February 2010, in the midst ofwildly aggressive market forecastsfor the sales of 3-D HDTV sets bymanufacturers and industry punditsalike, Insight Media sailed against thetide. For example, at the 2010 CES,the Consumer Electronics Associa-tion (CEA) projected sales of 4 mil-lion 3-D sets for the year, a forecastit subsequently lowered significantly.Insight Media, rather than succumb-ing to the unbridled 3-D enthusiasmof the time, forecasted sales at whatthen seemed a paltry 1.1 million setsfor the year. In early 2011, when theCEA started to release preliminarydata, it posted the sales of 3-D HDTVsets for 2010 at ... yep, 1.1 million.

The 100 -plus page special report

BY ANTHONY R. GARGANO

covers 3-D products, content andtechnology not only gleaned fromthe CES show floor but also derivedfrom off -floor meetings and follow-up discussions.

3-D displaysMy conviction continues to be that

3-D HDTV will remain very much aniche vehicle for entertainment televi-sion until the advent of high -quality,large -screen, nonstomach upsetting

autostereoscopic (AS -3D) displays.Given that, naturally, the first portionof the report I turned to was the sec-tion designated "AS -3D Displays &Productsf I concluded that, no sur-prise, we're not there yet.

Acceptable AS -3D technology isbasically still limited to small -screenand portable devices. Lenticularand parallax barrier are the primarytechnologies that are being used forsmall -screen devices and seem to be

V Writers and instructors wanted





meeting with some degree of accep-tance. At CES, there were some futuretechnology large -screen prototypeson display, but the only thing thatthey convinced viewers of was thatit really is future technology - welloff into the future! No discussion ofglassless 3-D can be complete withoutmention of fast -blinking technology,and the term technology, as appliedhere, is tongue in cheek.

Around the time of CES, JonathanPost, a small post house in Brazil,circulated a video on the Internetdemonstrating 3-D viewing withoutglasses by using a display that had a120MHz refresh rate and having theviewer blink at the appropriate rate,thus creating a faux shuttered lensviewing experience. Some of the tech-nical cognoscenti were even sucked inby this scheme. The video went viralon the Internet, actually creating ar-guments in technical circles over theveracity and viability of the concept!Can there be any more convincingargument than this that 3-D is wayoverhyped today?

Insight reportFor more information about 3-D

technology, subscribe to BroadcastEngineering magazine's "3-D Technol-ogy" e -newsletter at http://broadcas-tengineering.cominewsletters. BE

Anthony R. Gargano is a consultant andformer industry executive.

ESend questions and comments to:[email protected]

3-D TECHNOLOGY UPDATEBrought to you by BreatagEnjpeettp

Highlights and presents the latest techniques andtechnologies related to the acquisition, processing and

distribution of content in 3D in the broadcast, video an9production spaces.

Subscribe today at www broadcaste,pneering cum


End -To -End Workflow

LminginthelNild

MON 02/10 9.PMI 9.0PM 10.PM 10.30PM

1701 INFONov 11;;;;ies7,

702 Sin;171r-; CaIlegeRee.11 170:1:7:1:1.ghts

703 WLTV MTV

Set Top Box

TV

Optimizing End -to -End Workflow

File Based Live -ape

PC / Web TV

Portable Media Player /Tablet

The Complete Multi -Cast Facility 4

Evertz® now offers a complete solution that is well beyond strictly infrastructure, core routing, and multi -viewing. We now deliver an integratedfacility that provides superior file/non-file based multi -channel ingest and playout systems with advanced asset management tools.

With the combination of Evertz Media Server (EMS), OvertureRT LIVE (channel playout), and Pharos' Mediator® (content managementand workflow tools), we deliver a workflow optimized for the modern Multi -Cast facility. Coupled with our award winning unified facilitycontrol system (MAGNUMTM) and our robust NMS (VistaLINK® PRO), Evertz® provides an end to end solution for facilities that delivercontent to television, video -on -demand, WebTV, IPTV, and mobile devices.

www.evertz.com 1.877.995.3700 eVerli-zUS West Coast Sales

818.558.3910LAsalesErevertz.com

New York Salesnewyorksalesoevertr.com

Washington DC Sales UK Sales South -East Europe Sales

703.330.8600 +44 118 935 0200 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Dubai Sates011-977'-50693-0204middleeastsaleswevertz.com

Asia Pacific Sales+8522850-7989asiapacificsalesWevertz com

P LA BOXTECHNOLOG`o"

From a Single Channel Playout Serverto a Multi Channel Turnkey Broadcast CentreIt's All in a PlayBox

Single and Multi Channel Playout Automation with interactive CG and Graphics Traffic Management Media Asset Management and Archive Newsroom System Remote Redundant Playout Ad Insertion and DPI Time Shift IPTV and Internet TV Solutions Available in HD / SD and DVB (ASI/IP)

General Sales Contacts: [email protected] Website: www.playbox tv

PlayBox UK +44 1707 66 44 44 PlayBox Bulgaria +359 2 9703050 PlayBox Romania +4 031106 5115

PlayBox Turkey +90 216 3379402 PlayBox Germany +49 22411691717 PlayBox Adria +381 113117286

PlayBox Albania +355 44 80 45 52 PlayBox USA +1 404 424 9283 PlayBox Asia Pacific +6012 2880760

PlayBox India +91 9811913333

Broadcast sia2011

Join PlayBox onStand 4S2 - 06

III men - americanradiohistory.com · viewers are pushing back against such restrictions. Today's...

Documents

Transcript of III men - americanradiohistory.com · viewers are pushing back against such restrictions. Today's...