The industry is always keen to talk up the next big thing and in 2024 we expect the big key words at IBC to be AI and cloud. By contrast, broadcasters have always been determined to take a steady, safe and measured approach to the introduction of new technologies. So once again we expect the real story to be a hybrid one – especially when it comes to network infrastructure.

Most of the system designers we talk to are seeking to create production infrastructure which delivers a combination of the familiarity, predictability and cost efficiency of SDI with the increased flexibility of IP networking, and increasingly, the integration of cloud and remote workflows using IP as an enabling technology. Hybrid systems are becoming more popular, powerful, important, and simpler to integrate and operate than ever. IP connectivity brings sophisticated production and processing capabilities to and through the cloud – and AI needs both cloud and IP.

If you’re integrating or want to integrate the benefits of IP and the cloud into your SDI media production and distribution work and content flows, the following exhibitors can discuss the challenges and benefits and how they can help you within your budget.

Vendor Focus

At IBC 2024 Arkona (Stand 9.D01) team up with Manifold to present a hybrid hardware/software ecosystem under the platform name ‘EASY-IP’.

The system spans a number of key technology areas including SDI-IP gateways, multiviewers, keying & color correction, SDR/HDR conversion, and audio routing & processing.  Arkona provide the hardware element with their BLADE//runner rack units which are designed to provide a distributed, networked and software defined architecture. They offer modular slot based (1U, 2U or 3U) frames housing high density AT300 FPGA PAC processing blades with various connectivity options. Manifold provide a software suite that brings additional processing & control functionality alongside Arkona’s own control & configuration software suite. Each AT300 blade provides 16x16 SDI to IP conversions across dual 100GE network interfaces. BLADE//runner scales linearly in-line with each facility’s specific requirements, enabling any number of conversions to be added wherever they are needed. Every I/O is capable of handling UHD as standard. A Master Clock option provides PTP GM and Master Clock functionality, including the ability to lock to GPS with an antenna.

Blackmagic Design (Stand 7.C49).  This year Blackmagic have continued the expansion of their portfolio with the introduction of the ‘Blackmagic 2110 - IP Converter’ range. There are a number of different boxes in the range, from which one can build out different systems to fit a range of applications. It is a clever and versatile system that can be used with a very simple to use SDI style point-to-point methodology, or scaled up with the incorporation of their own Ethernet switch to form more sophisticated and flexible systems. All of the converters conform to ST2110 standards and can work with uncompressed video streams, but there is also some proprietary Blackmagic technology involved that gives the option to use a compressed video format that can deliver UHD signals via low cost 10G Ethernet infrastructure. When used with Blackmagic devices (cameras, monitors, switchers etc etc) the entire system features auto device discovery, but it also conforms to NMOS standards. 

There is a selection of little mini converters that can be used for point-to-point or connected to an Ethernet switch. There is a bi-directional 12G SDI to IP mini, a 3x3 SDI-IP mini (3 x 3G SDI in & 3 x 3G SDI out all bridged to IP), and a mini designed for presentation applications. There are two 1U variants with control panels & LCD displays; the 4x12G PWR is a di-directional 4 channel 12G-SDI unit, and the 8x12G SFP which is a bi-directional 8 channel 12G-SDI unit. There are Cat6 copper or SFP based Optical variants available.

To accompany the converters they have also released the Ethernet Switch 360P. This is another interested hybrid; the Ethernet switch has 6 fast 10G Ethernet ports and 2 extremely high speed 100G Ethernet QSFP sockets for copper cables or optical fiber modules. The connectivity is all on the rear, on the front there’s a router panel to present 2110 IP multicasting using familiar video routing controls.

Cobalt Digital (Stand 10.B41) have a strong ST2110 focus for IBC with a number of new additions to their range of encoders, decoders, and converters. Cobalt is a leading designer and manufacturer of award-winning edge devices for live video production and master control, and a founding partner in the openGear® initiative. 

Cobalt describes the new INDIGO 2110-DC-01 as an on/off amp to and from IP/SDI. It is a factory add-on option for existing openGear® cards that adds native SMPTE 2110 support with 25G Ethernet interfaces and a complete native ST 2110 stack (including NMOS IS 04/05) to audio/video processing elements.

The INDIGO OG-2110-BIDI4-GATEWAY is a bi-directional quad-channel native ST 2110 interface to SDI I/O in the openGear form factor. The transmit and receive paths of the GATEWAY can operate simultaneously and includes support for ST 2022-7 seamless redundancy switching, as well as IS 04/05 NMOS for automatic discovery and configuration.

Cobalt Digital’s newest software definable encoding platform, COBALT® PACIFIC 9992-ENC-INDIGO, will be making its European debut at IBC 2024. This openGear® card incorporates Cobalt’s factory-installed option for SMPTE ST 2110 input, the INDIGO 2110-DC-02, to its existing PACIFIC 9992-ENC encoder card. The option supports up to 4 inputs at 3G and lower resolutions, or one input at 4K resolution, with full NMOS support. Each encoder channel can be individually configured for SDI or ST 2110 operation.

Evertz (Stand 2.B51).  As you might expect from a company that has been in broadcast since 1966 Evertz have a very wide and deep technology portfolio. Focusing on the latest news releases from Evertz runs the risk of missing the point of what they do. They are a solid port of call if you are looking for robust technology and expert advice on most aspects of broadcast infrastructure. 

New at IBC is the Fiber X-LINK (FX-LINK), the company’s next generation X-LINK for Expansion and Router Distribution Architectures that enables interconnections between NEXX SDI router frames. By connecting three NEXX routers together, users can create a single 960x960 IO unit – which Evertz say is the largest 12G-SDI router the industry has ever seen.

Evertz will also show the recently released RFK-ITXE-HW-DUO media processing platform. Each RFK-ITXE-HW-DUO can support up to 4 transcodes where each transcode can accept a range of compressed input format including JPEG XS, JPEG-2000, HEVC, H.264, and MPEG 2 or SDI and SMTPTE ST 2110 uncompressed inputs. Each transcode path includes a full up/down/cross conversion stage including an in-line frame sync for video, audio, ancillary data, timing and color space based normalization. The output of each transcode path can provide a multi-stage output path handing off a SDI legacy output, a parallel uncompressed ST 2110 output, high bitrate mezzanine encode, low bitrate IPTV encode, and finally a parallel JPEG-2000 (or JPEG XS) high bitrate low latency output. The RFK-ITXE-HW-DUO supports JPEG XS encode wrapped in SRT or RIST that make the platform suitable for remote production and cloud-based workflows. It also supports SMPTE ST 2110 (up to UHD) as well as SDR and HDR.

Lawo (Stand 8.B90).  Alongside new developments within their software first HOME platform Lawo have announced that they will be expanding the power of their .egde platform. 

Lawo describe .edge as a hyper-density SDI/IP conversion and routing platform and a viable replacement for traditional SDI routers, with high bandwidth IP interconnection and software defined flexibility. Its processing blade is based on the latest generation of high-performance FPGAs, featuring high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for high-density, high-performance 100Gbps operation. The .edge blades are hot-pluggable and designed to support multiple ways of connecting to the network fabric. Each blade is equipped with four 25Gbps SFP28 and two 100Gbps QSFP28 ports. 25GbE connectivity comes as standard, 100GbE operation can be activated via an optional license.

Matrox Video (Stand 7.B15) will be showing its ConvertIP product line. Designed for ST 2110 and IPMX workflows, the PoE-enabled Matrox ConvertIP video converter/encoder/decoder, which Matrox say is a practical solution for integrating the latest IP video formats into existing SDI video infrastructure and 1/10/25GbE data networks. ConvertIP ensures quiet, reliable, and flexible operation for demanding applications, supporting compressed and uncompressed ST 2110 formats, including JPEG XS for 2110-22, as well as IPMX, 12G-SDI, 4Kp60, and HDMI 2.0. A new ST 2110-7 Daisy Chain mode enhances flexibility and resiliency while reducing the total cost of ownership by enabling the transmission of multiple streams per connection.

Matrox will also show Vion IP, a new video gateway designed to facilitate moving from one IP video format to another. The first Matrox Video product to support NDI, Matrox Vion transcodes between NDI6, NDIHX3, IPMX, ST 2110, SRT, RTSP, and other formats and codecs for flexible routing workflows, including NDI over SRT, that boost productivity and enable new on-prem and cloud IP-to-IP workflows. With support for HEVC 4:2:0, 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 10 bit, and H264 codecs, plus optional SDI/HDMI inputs, SDI/HDMI I/O, the IP-to-IP video gateway is ideal for demanding live production and collaboration applications. With flexible, low-latency multi-channel encoding, decoding, transcoding, and processing, the gateway handles color space conversions and changes to streaming protocols and bitrates.

Meinberg (Stand 8.D43).  Timing is the lifeblood of any network and the masters of PTP will be exhibiting once again. If you are looking for expert advice on system timing infrastructure you will find it here. 

Meinberg will be showing their new ANZ141/NET clock display that allows the time & date provided by a high-accuracy source to be displayed directly via a high visibility, high-contrast LED display that is readable in almost any conceivable lighting conditions and can be set to one of ten brightness levels. The integrated PTP slave capability of the ANZ141/NET supports both the C37.238-2017 Power and G.8265.1 Telecom profiles for use with industry-compliant PTP networks and has a range of connectivity options. In the event of the upstream time reference failing for any reason, the ANZ141 will continue to operate reliably using the integrated real-time clock, and in the event of a loss of power to the ANZ141, the real-time clock will continue to operate accurately off the integrated goldcap capacitor or an optional lithium cell battery.

Meinberg will also show its new IMS-PSX210 Module 10 Gigabit PTP Solution. The new IMS-PSX210 is the latest IMS module for IEEE1588 PTP support, now with two discrete physical interfaces and direct support for 10 Gigabit networks, allowing a single module to be connected directly to two different 10 Gigabit subnets without the need to introduce a dedicated switch between the clock and network. This makes your network management more efficient and potentially increases clock accuracy due to the reduced hop count for PTP traffic.

Riedel (Stand 10.A31) will demonstrate its MediorNet HorizoN distributed video infrastructures for routing, multiviewing and processing. It allows for hybrid solutions that combine the best of SDI & IP and support a smooth, incremental transition to IP workflows.

HorizoN houses 16 independent and individually configurable processing engines within a single rack unit, facilitating flexible processing while seamlessly bridging the gap between baseband and SMPTE ST 2110 IP infrastructures. The platform provides up to 128 SDI - IP gateways, up to 32 channels of SDR-HDR conversion and color correction, or up to 16 up/down/cross conversions and color corrections. SFP-based baseband video I/O completes the package, making HorizoN an extremely versatile solution capable of handling even the toughest challenges in a modern production environment. The system is controlled and configured by an app that brings the flexibility and simplicity of a software control to a distributed hardware ecosystem.

Other articles in this IBC 2024 'Show Focus' series:

The Broadcast Bridge will be at the IBC Show – on stand 8.A52. Please come and see us and share your thoughts on what we do and what you would like to see from us in the coming year.