Broadcasters are reverting to being engineering driven after some years operating as little more than content houses, but this time the focus is more on software than infrastructure. That conclusion emerged from the EBU’s (European Broadcasting Union) fourth annual software engineering conference called Devcon, which started in 2013 in recognition that the industry was becoming more IT focused.
Consumer off the shelf technology (COTS) is providing broadcast TV facilities an economical foundation for technical growth in all directions.
Bonding between fixed and mobile networks has emerged as the latest attempt to bring remote areas up to speed for Internet access and relieve “broadband deserts”.
IP networks have been at the heart of many broadcast operations for two decades and more. Editing uses commodity workstations and IP networks, as do playout operations. But live production has, until recently, been the preserve of SDI. The advances in IT, driven by the data centers that power the cloud, and the general move to virtualization, brings benefits that now make live, real-time broadcast operations possible in an all-IP environment. There is gathering momentum to consider IP-connected broadcast equipment instead of the tried and tested SDI, which has served the industry well since the introduction of digital video.
While the debate surrounding the need for a complete migration from handling video (and audio) as a baseband SDI signal to IP continues, manufacturers of bonded cellular video transmitters say they got the transition started with their camera-mounted systems and are committed to helping their customers move past acquisition and on to the studio infrastructure.
Experimental Next Generation TV station transmits the first live MLB World Series game broadcast in ATSC 3.0.
Innovation has become a mantra for broadcasters, driven in part by the disruption of online content consumption and proliferation of video content sources which now number 1 billion globally by some counts. Innovation is seen as crucial for the very long term survival of traditional public service broadcasting, which must remain relevant by adapting to fast evolving content consumption patterns.
Everyone wants to migrate from SDI to IP production, and NewTek has provided the technology to do it—for free!
