EBU, VRT and Technology Partners create the world’s first IP TV studio

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Belgian public broadcasting company VRT unveiled the LiveIP Project. The project is a collaboration between EBU, VRT and a group of companies to build of a live TV production studio at VRT’s premises in Brussels.

The project will use state-of-the-art IT-centric hardware and software to enable broadcasters to produce programmes quickly, efficiently and cost effectively.

A scaled down version of the studio will be shown as a proof-of-concept demonstration on the EBU IBC stand,10.F20.

The multi-phase LiveIP Project is part of Sandbox+, an international joint platform for collaborative innovation put together by VRT, EBU and iMinds. Industry technology partners participating in the project include Axon, Dwesam, EVS, Genelec, Grass Valley, Lawo, LSB, Nevion, Tektronix and Trilogy who provide all the elements of a live production chain driven by IP.

The LiveIP Project is a collaboration between the VRT, the EBU and a ten broadcast technology companies. Image courtesy Sandbox.vrt.be

The LiveIP Project is a collaboration between the VRT, the EBU and a ten broadcast technology companies. Image courtesy Sandbox.vrt.be

Visitors to the EBU stand at IBC will see a demonstration of the multi-vendor system, which uses open standards – in this case SMPTE 2022/6, AES67, and PTP – to transport broadcast feeds via SDN. The project shows a high level of interoperability between multiple vendors, enabling seamless switching and limited redundancy of uncompressed video and audio feeds as they’re transported over an IP network.

“While this project is about producing live content via IP, it’s also a great measure of the added value IP-based production workflows bring to functions like sharing resources, remote production and automation,” said Mick De Valck, Head of Technology & Operations at VRT. “There’s been talk for a long time about what individual vendors can offer in IP production, so we wanted to bring together those parties to design a state-of- the-art system which relies entirely on IP.”

“We’re very proud that we’ve been able to implement a leading-edge studio workflow using only IP-based technology,” said Hans Hoffmann, Head of Media Fundamentals & Production Technology at EBU. “This takes our industry to the next level of interoperability in a live production environment. This project was a huge undertaking and we wouldn’t have been able to complete the infrastructure without the technology and expertise of our partners.”

The proof-of-concept demonstration will be showcased in the EBU Innovation Theatre at the EBU stand (10.F20) at IBC2015 on Friday 11 September 2015 at 16.00 CET.

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