Virtualization, on-prem, and off-prem are just a few of the new terms to find their way into the broadcaster’s dictionary. Discover how IT and HPC technologies are impacting broadcast television to revolutionize your operation.
The subjects of timing, synchronizing and broadcasting are inseparable and in this new series John Watkinson will look at the fundamentals of timing, areas in which fundamental progress was made, how we got where we are and where we might be going.
KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) switching and KVM extension provide access to critical IT assets. They might be deployed to give desktop users access to multiple computers from a single console, keyboard, and mouse, or implemented by facilities to enable distribution of high-quality video, audio, and peripheral signals across networks and through hybrid physical and virtualized server infrastructures.
A number of new production facilities are now being designed and built around the ST 2110 standard for video over IP, but the cost has been prohibitive for many others. The engineers at Diversified Systems Inc. (DSI), a veteran systems integrator, were challenged by this when it came to a recent project to add cameras to the recording studios of New York City’s renown Power Station.
IP networks are delivering outstanding success for broadcasters, both in terms of scalable functionality and flexibility. And the recent NMOS suite of specifications is improving integration and control, with IS-06 and IS-07 accelerating the process.
SDI and IP differ fundamentally in their approach to data transport as SDI is circuit switched and IP is packet switched. This provides interesting challenges for us as we start to consider what it means to route IP signals.
IP networks provide us with untold flexibility, but this flexibility presents us with interesting challenges of control. Developments in SDN (software defined networks) are leading the way through the separation of the control and data plane. And as we discover more of what SDN means, we soon realize that broadcasters are closer than they may think in achieving its operation.
Having a collection of PCs and MACs stacked under a desk to facilitate the multitude of operational requirements not only proves difficult to operate but challenges our modern ideas around security and makes maintenance almost impossible.
This time last year, had anyone predicted or suggested what is now normal in live TV news, sports and entertainment, such as fake fans, laugh track-style crowd noise and regular live news reporting and interviews from reporter’s homes, they would have been laughed out of the industry. Who would have thunk?