Signal distribution white papers

Many existing Grass Valley products are easily adapted to 3D operation with minimal modifications. Thus production companies can, without heavily investing in new 3D-specific technologies, develop practical skills and experiences which will enrich and empower them as the market for 3D evolves in the coming months and years.

Broadcasters and media organizations have various requirements for converting media between formats. Numerous video system vendors, multiple video formats and countless wrapper types have created a landscape of non-interoperable systems. With the move to file-based workflows and the requirements to move media between systems, it is necessary to have a system for format conversion in order to ensure that content can be accessed on the destination device. The ideal transcoding system would be configurable to automatically deliver content in the correct format to any destination device and be able to do it faster than real time. This paper provides an overview of a transcoding application running on a distributed grid processing architecture and the benefits of that approach over traditional transcoding solutions. It also discusses the unique aspects of such an approach and examines some cases of how the technology may be used by broadcasters to improve their workflow and provide a platform for new business opportunities such as content distribution for web and mobile TV.

As new media distribution opportunities are enabled by the internet, mobile devices and other new technologies, broadcasters face many new challenges. While they need to pursue these new methods of distribution, the cashbox for the moment remains traditional broadcasting through traditional means. The new distribution methods are risky with a low return on investment, but necessary with a high likelihood of eventually replacing how we view and monetize media. So what can a broadcaster do to manage the need to invest in the future, while still maintaining today’s technology?

Recently there has been a resurgence in the marketing of audio processing designed around the principle of a single gain element controlling all frequencies of audio signals simultaneously. Known as wideband processing, these types of systems have been in use since the earliest days of telephony and broadcasting when frequency response and level variations were both restricted. Times have certainly changed. Is wideband processing effective at controlling the loudness of modern, full bandwidth audio channels with the sometimes significant variations in level and quality?

"It was a large scale system, used by China’s top broadcaster, to cover one of the biggest worldwide events of all time. This installation allowed EVS to demonstrate the power of our instant tapeless technology in HD, plus our excellent interoperability with Avid in the best possible way." - Raymond Chen, General Manager, EVS China

EVS Case Study: China Central Television (CCTV), China’s national television service, was named the sole provider of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing to mainland China. With a network of 18 channels broadcasting different programming, CCTV reaches more than a billion viewers on the Chinese mainland. CCTV had been using the EVS XT[2] production server and related software for field production in its OB Vans for several years already, but the 2008 Olympic Games marked the first time the company used EVS equipment in a studio setting as well as in the field.

Broadcasting over IP is rapidly becoming the paradigm by which broadcasters are planning future broadcast network infrastructures. Within the diverse range of broadcast IP devices coming onto the market, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is currently the signaling protocol that is used by most of the world’s Telcos and broadcast codec manufacturers. It is also the most likely to provide connectivity between IP devices for the foreseeable future.

A 206-page reference manual for the television broadcast & post production industries includes stereoscopic 3D

H.264/AVC which is also part of the MPEG-4 suite of coding standards, is a modern and highly efficient coding scheme.

As UK digital switch-over draws near and the last days of analogue television hasten to a close, many people are wondering which way to turn when it comes to replacing the analogue RF distribution systems in their buildings.

Using the simplest definition, digital video is the representation or encoding of an analog video signals in digital bits for storage, transmission, and/or display. If you have rented a DVD, watched digital cable, DirecTV, or Dish, played a video game, then you have experienced digital video. Objective Video Quality Metrics that look for blockiness, tiling, spatial, and temporal effects need to understand that different coding techniques create different artifacts.

This paper explores the challenges Video Encoder (MPEG, JPEG, WAVLET Compression) Equipment Manufacturers face when assessing video quality. Assessing video quality ultimately depends on the customer’s reaction on their new display (PC, POD, TV, etc.).

This paper describes a massively parallel Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD) "Smart Memory" processing fabric, the ASProCore, developed by Aspex Semiconductor. It then describes Aspex's new seventh generation LineDancer HD system-on-chip, which includes 4,096 ASProCore processing elements. The paper then goes on to describe Aspex's implementation of a multi-standard high definition video compression solution, using the ASProCore fabric to implement multiple codecs including MPEG-2, H.264, and VC-1

With the advent of digital signals, system timing considerations have become simultaneously less critical and more important.

Video processing and compression algorithms change the characteristics of the original program in the quest of reducing the bandwidth needed to send the programming information to the home. The art is to do this without allowing the audience to perceive a change in video quality. Successful video processing and compression algorithms perform the desired modifications while presenting a result to the viewer that, subjectively, looks natural and realistic. This sounds difficult, but it is necessary to send many channels of high-quality programming. Each broadcaster – traditional or web caster - must deal with rapidly changing varieties of programming, new video processing algorithms, and new compression algorithms.

In recent years a lot of attention has focused on communication protocols as the key to quad play — the ability to blend content and programming across a branded offering that combines TV, phone, Internet, and wireless services. The conventional wisdom states that IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) must be fully deployed for consumers to enjoy the quad play experience. Once diverse access types (IPTV, DSL, WAN, GPRS, etc.) can interoperate then diverse services can converge. But if the promise of any content — on any service — on any network — and on any device — is to happen, then the language of diverse services is not the only thing that must become universal. So must the service delivery platform on which services run.

Cable operators face many challenges today, from the quest for more bandwidth to the pressures of competition. To stay ahead, they must deploy new, personalized services to meet the needs of customers, while delivering highly targeted advertisements to generate revenues from advertisers in an increasingly on-demand environment. In addition, with the cable industry seeing constant growth in the number of programming channels, and particularly in the number of high definition (HD) channels, cable operators face the challenge of managing a rising number of digital MPEG video and audio streams. To meet these demands, MSOs must deploy scalable and flexible solutions that support this growth and the expansion of their programming networks. This paper reviews the various technologies and applications of digital program insertion (DPI) in today’s digital video environment. It also spells out the benefits of RGB’s high density solution for grooming, transrating, statistical multiplexing and DPI.

Master control with traditional broadcast signals has presented relatively few difficulties for programme playout. Video and Audio in SDI and AES formats are linear signals. Once a small amount of timing adjustment has been applied, each signal is processed sample by sample. This introduces little delay in the system, perhaps a line or so for the video and a few samples for the audio. Any relative timing changes between video and audio are minimal. With the advent of surround sound, Dolby E has become the de-facto standard for encoding, storing and routing audio. This paper discusses some of the implications of Dolby E, and some possible solutions.

In this white paper we will address how Red Bee Media researched and built the BBC's HD playout solution and how we have developed various levels of end-to-end HD solutions for a variety of broadcasters.

Chris Howe, Red Bee Media’s Chief Technology Officer, talks about Flextech’s new Creative Village and the possibilities integrated, tapeless production and playout facilities provide for the future.

SATELLITE based compression technology has become increasingly important to the broadcast industry, where the primary techniques of direct to home (DTH) and contribution/distribution (C&D) are employed by throughout the world. In recent years, advances made in these techniques have overall improved efficiency, and broadcasters are keen to move forward to use these technologies. However, there are issues, both financial and technical, that govern their deployment.

WRAL-TV is the first commercial station in the United States to adopt a file based High Definition (HD) newsroom. WRAL is famous for breaking new ground in HD starting 10 years ago with their first HD broadcast programming in 1996, and the first station to broadcast a local High Definition newscast in 2000. This transition to using video as files was driven by the need to consistently deliver the highest quality product to their viewers, as well as easily repurpose their HD content for products such as their 24-hour News Channel, website, and mobile devices. The selection, preparation, and deployment of WRAL-TV’s newsroom production system, in partnership with BitCentral, resulted in an improved workflow, superior quality from acquisition to air, and a streamlined means of re-purposing video content.