The Cloud itself is pretty simple, but for broadcasters, leveraging it can be complex. It isn’t that difficult technically, but Broadcast still straddles requirements that demand real time, high resolution, quick turnaround solutions. These requirements are coupled with the need to connect geographically separate locations, reduce costs, and extend access to assets for multi-format distribution.
The number of vendor specific playout and edit systems continues to increase year on year. Consequently, the different types of media and metadata files required by broadcasters follows suit. The unfortunate result is a complex system that compromises quality through multiple transcoding. All this increases the potential for lost air time because of human error in highly automated playout systems causing unnecessary delays in the programme chain.
Founded in 1912 as the Institute of Radio Engineers, the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society (BTS) has been dedicated to advancing electrical and electronic engineering. Today, the Society works to maintain scientific and technical standards and conducts a full program of education for its 2,000 members through meetings and presentations, events and conferences, and training programs.
In time travel fiction, one of the most fruitful plot devices, is uncertainty of outcome. Going back (or forward) in time is a risky business, and there’s even more risk if you don’t know in which direction you are traveling, and how far.
If you handle media assets, you know how to store lots of data and manage its constant growth. You’ve put the right storage with the right performance into the right places. You’ve got asset management solutions that serve your workflows well. You have distribution tools that let you send data across the globe. The problem is that none of it works well together.
Broadcast and production facilities will maintain islands of SDI-dependent functionality within their workflows for the near to mid-term. Even so, an increasing number of facilities are on the road to establishing operations that can truly be called IP-based. With several IP-migration roadmaps from which to choose, and the likely hood of new interoperable IP-based broadcast solutions by the end of 2016, broadcasters are poised to move into the all IP domain.
Adaptive-bit-rate technology is a boon to multi-channel delivery, in part because of reduced bandwidth requirements. A downside is that ABR signals need specialized testing. Fortunately, specialized test solutions are available to easily and objectively make the needed analysis.
The adoption of tapeless digital workflow is becoming customary in the modern world of media and entertainment. Unlocking creativity, improving production quality, obtaining better control of digital assets, and surpassing viewer expectations without attendant cost increases are powerful factors that influence the adoption of file-based production. HD and 4K are now required capabilities along with delivering content in broadband, mobile and DVD/Blu-ray formats. Optimizing tapeless digital workflow in order to allow for the best possible implementation requires the careful consideration of many variables. After the production planning and workflow design are done, after the cameras and codecs and edit tools have been chosen, after the workflow is documented and the file naming and metadata conventions have been determined, what then?
