Vizrt’s VizEngine video server and real time media compositor was central to the proof-of-concept VRT-EBU LiveIP studio production set-up to shoot and post content on screens throughout the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre.

“Working together with Matrox, to integrate the Matrox X.mio3 IP cards employing SMPTE protocol 2022-6 within the Viz Engine we utilized their IP encapsulation for HD transport,” Gerhard Lang, chief engineering officer for Vizrt told The Broadcast Bridge. “With the goal of demonstrating the advantages of IP for remote production and automation, our Viz Engine was used to render all of the graphics for the VRT-EBU LiveIP studio production in real time.”

The latest version of the Viz Engine has been designed to help broadcasters move to new IP architectures while maintaining current workflows during the transition by operating effectively in both hybrid SDI/IP and IP-only environments.

“We’ve been working with IP for a long time because we believe that is the technology that will bring the broadcast technology forward,” Lang said. “Once we found that Matrox had the same idea, we realized that it was important to enter the IP world with all the same functionality we had in the SDI world. The outcome was the X.mio3 IP cards from the Matrox side, and the new IP capabilities of the Viz Engine from our side. For a lot of people, IP-centric studios still hold a lot of unknowns and the transition still lacks sufficient standards. But as Lang pointed out, SMPTE 2022-6, which describes the transport of High Bit Rate Media Signals over IP Networks (HBRMT), is a major step in that direction.

“What our IBC demonstration with the VRT-EBU LiveIP studio production showed was you don’t have to jump to an all-IP ecosystem at once,” he said. “The equipment you buy today can be field upgraded tomorrow to conform to standards that are evolving. So it is important to choose a technology partner who is flexible enough to cover the changes that will be coming onto the marketplace.”