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MANAGING IP NETWORKSSoftware can help visualizesignal flow

CHANNEL -IN -A -BOX SOLUTIONSRemain competitive acrossnew channels

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TABLE OF CONTENTSVOLUME 52 1 NUMBER 5 1 MAY 2010

BroadcastEngineeringe

FEATURES50 Automating newsroom workflow

Employing automation news production savestime in getting news to all three screens - theliving room, computer and mobile device.

54 Building a file -based workflowThese steps, when done correctly, helpprepare content for distribution formats.

58 Budget Internet streamingA Colorado broadcaster targets Apple devices.

62 How social media isredefining broadcastingThe Internet, broadband and social media arerevolutionizing the traditional roles of media.

BEYOND THE HEADLINESDOWNLOAD

12 The channel in a boxThe openness of a digital channel in a boxallows broadcasters to stay competitivewith rapidly changing needs of viewers.

FCC UPDATE18 Retransmission consent

The FCC proposes to overhaulretransmission consent.

DIGITAL HANDBOOKTRANSITION TO DIGITAL

20 Mobile video technologyWhat does the ATSC A/53standard mean for you?

COMPUTERS & NETWORKS24 Network QoS

Moving video on Ethernet can be liketrying to cut wire with a screwdriver.

PRODUCTION CLIPS28 SAN connectivity

Proactive management candecrease system costs.

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ON THE COVER:Building a file -based workflow can help better preparecontent for d stribution formats like online, video ondemand and cable.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED)

VOLUME 52 I NUMBER 5 I MAY 2010

SYSTEMS INTEGRATIONSHOWCASES

36 Food Network spices upproduction facilitiesThe HD upgrade includes new cameras, aproduction switcher, and surround -soundaudio production and post rooms.

44 CTV at the Winter OlympicsFrom a temporary 40,000sq-ft HD -SDIfacility, the broadcaster produced andbroadcast 4800 hours of Olympics coverage.

DIGITAL TUTORIAL32 Managing IP networks

Route analytics software can help youkeep your networks in check.

NEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWSAPPLIED TECHNOLOGIES

68 Stagetec's XHDI-02 audioembedder/de-embedder

70 Small Tree's GraniteSTOR abcSAN

TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSITION72 Remote monitoring

Learn solutions for remotely diagnosingproblems in your broadcast facility.

NEW PRODUCTS74 Chrosziel's DSW 500 adapter and more ...

DEPARTMENTS8 EDITORIAL

10 FEEDBACK80 CLASSIFIEDS81 ADVERTISERS INDEX82 EOM

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EDITORIALDEPARTMENT

The money troughThe stage is set for a seismic battle between theover -the -air (OTA) broadcast industry and themost powerful political animals in the world: aCongress hungry for both money and control.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has just given theseambitious animals the scent of both.

Broadcasters are open-minded about technologicalchanges. After spending billions, these professionals havecompleted the move to digital, most have implementedHD, and some are even now broadcasting mobile video.These business people are not stubborn about implement-ing new technology and solutions when it benefits theiraudiences - and bottom line. However, the latest roundof government proposals has even the most optimistic TVstation owner feeling a bit nervous about the future.

A month ago, the FCC released its long-awaited Nation-al Broadband Plan (NBP). This plan promises a financialnirvana while simultaneously predicting data catastropheif it is not implemented. In the 25 years I've been follow-ing FCC activities, the commission has never executedsuch a carefully orchestrated public relations campaignfor anything. In fact, the NBP was being assembled longbefore Genachowski was approved as FCC chairman. Onlylater did we discover that the FCC's 300 -page tome costU.S. taxpayers $20 million. That works out to $50,000 perpage, or $50,000 per day, however you choose to calculateit. Even so, if the NBP were to be implemented as writ-ten, the document's $20 -million cost would represent buta tiny part of a trillion -dollar government expansion pro-gram and forever change the broadcast industry and howAmericans receive TV.

The justification for change isn't so much in questionas how it's going to happen. If offered money, some broad-casters are going to take it. From a capitalistic viewpoint,that could be seen as just one less competitor. If broad-casters operated in a free marketplace, fewer competitorsmight be good. The problem is that OTA broadcasting isno longer a free-market business. Congress and the FCCincreasingly have seen it fit to micromanage broadcastersand their business, often while giving some competitorsa free ride.

A spectrum auction represents a threefold dilemmafor broadcasters. First, many will argue that broadcastersshould not be paid a penny because it is the "public's spec-trum:' That alone will make it difficult for politicians tojustify using auction money to compensate a local OTAbroadcaster for its loss.

Second, the NBP promises trillions of dollars in ben-efits. What politician will argue against receiving billionsof dollars in auction fees and the claimed trillions of dol-lars in benefits? After all, this has been called a crisis, andCongress' solution to any crisis is more money - spend-ing, taxing or both.

Finally, if the "incentive auction," called the carrot ap-proach by some, doesn't work, there is the stick approach.That ultimate FCC tool was insinuated by DemocratCommissioner Michael Copps. When it was suggestedbroadcasters might not agree to an incentive auction,he responded, "I've always been a believer in use it orlose it, [and] licenses all expire." Let me interpret what hesaid. Either you cooperate and do what the commissionwants, or the FCC may take your license. The battle linesare drawn.

Unfortunately, our industry's representative organiza-tion, the NAB, has lost the last several rounds with the FCC.Let's hope its new guy is better trained in political guerillawarfare than the last one. Our future depends on it.

EDITORIAL DIRECTORSend comments to: [email protected]

BE


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FEEDBACKDEPARTMENT

Universal camerasDear John Luff

In the March 2010 edition, you claim that universal cameras can be con-structed for different resolutions. You are overlooking the fact that the opti-cal low-pass filter (OLPF) can be optimized for one resolution only.

This is the main problem of all current HDSLRs. It leads to false detailand massive aliasing, like moire on repetitive structures in focus.

Uli PlankInstitut fur Medienforschung

Hochschule fur Bildende Kunste BraunschweigBraunschweig, Germany

John Luff responds:First, I concur entirely. The physics of imaging do not allow all things

without compromises. The question becomes: At what cost can we avoidcompromise today in cameras varying in price by about two orders of mag-nitude, and with optics that vary by the same amount? The design of a com-plete system must take into account the effects of sampling, and low-passoptical filters have been in cameras for a generation. DSLRs, the subject ofyour letter, were not the only topic of my article, but they are of increasingimportance in the marketplace.

One would hope that any professional shooting with a camera and lenscosting less than $5000 would not expect the performance of digital cinemacameras, but of course you are exactly correct. Not understanding the limi-tations of the tool could well lead to the assumption that the tool is defectivewhen it is simply not optimized for that use. The truth is that no one is will-ing to say much about the secret sauce, how the live video in DSLRs is pro-duced from a Bayer sensor with many times more pixels, whether they takeinto account any optical filtering or how they convert from "Bayer space"to 1080p. As one expert told me, "It appears they do make final choices onpictures and not test charts," though lots of threads about aliasing in DSLRvideo can be found in even a cursory search.

Survey saysThe "Nielsen: Broadcast -only TV

households to slip below 10 percent"article in the May 4 "HD TechnologyUpdate" newsletter certainly caughtreaders' attention. Here are two com-ments about the article.

Dear editor:Sacrilege alert: I really think that

Nielsen may be wrong.

As someone who has seen cablesubscriptions drop because of therecession in an area utterly under -served and overpriced by cable, satel-lite and broadband providers, I hon-estly think Nielsen's methodology isflawed, its results are skewed and thewhole survey is, in a word, unbeliev-able. Isn't this the same organizationthat swore up and down that Americawas ready for the DTV transition?

Do any of these research organi-zations, or the government for thatmatter, gather information beyondAmerica's city limits? My guess: no.That's why the whole notion of thebroadband spectrum crisis is a farceas well. This "crisis" was caused bythe FCC and the consumer electron-ics industry, not broadcasters. I havea feeling that a large part of main-stream America couldn't care less ifsomeone's iPhone runs slowly andthey can't update their Facebookpage from a local bistro.

America ought to worry moreabout the promise of giving spec-trum to emergency services, whichstill has not happened, and ask whyit has not instead of whining abouttheir cell phones not being able toaccess the Internet. When the nextHurricane Katrina happens and thegrid goes down, our 3G and 4G net-works die with it. Who's left to in-form the public about how to savethemselves? Broadcasters and emer-gency services.

Mark

Dear editor:Here we go again with flawed

Nielsen data. Does anyone remem-ber the DTV mess? Nielsen claimed10 percent of households weren'tready. The actual number was closer to40 percent.

For OTA in Los Angeles, 10 per-cent is simply wrong! In this six -county DMA, the number using an-tennas is still well over 25 percent.Cable companies have been losingsubscriptions because of the reces-sion, and it's the same at DIRECTVand DISH.

It is time for Congress to act andrequire one seat on the FCC to beheld by a practicing engineer (certi-fied by SBE), not D.C. lawyers or theiracademic buddies. This flawed datawill be used by the FCC chairmanfor his 20 -channel wireless spectrumgrab. The data is flawed, and so is theFCC's approach.

Chrishansentv


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Channel in a boxThe openness of a digital channel in a box allows you

to stay competitive with viewers' changing needs.

The FCC mandate for thedigital conversion was a

costly and challenging en-deavor for the broadcast in-

dustry. The conversion did, however,create valuable additional bandwidthand opportunities for local broad-casters. The productive use of the ad-ditional digital bandwidth has beenslow to evolve partly because of theeconomic downturn and the lack ofavailable, efficient revenue -generat-ing products. Considerations such as

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brand extension to local and increas-ingly hyperlocal audiences, competi-tion from other forms of media, bud-get and manpower constraints, andthe upcoming mobile TV arena havecaused a considerable amount of con-sternation for stations as they attemptto make decisions about how to at-tract an ever more distracted viewingpublic.

The convergence of the Web, digi-tal television and mobile TV, as wellas the severity of the economic down-turn, is more than ample cause forstations to rethink their digital tierstrategy. Station management teamsare being challenged to employ sys-tems and processes that are capable ofdelivering their content and program-ming on a variety of platforms in asingle efficient system that minimizesthe strain on the stations' resources.

The concept of the digital chan-nel -in -a -box system is an appealing,albeit elusive, objective for broad-casters. The solution must have theflexibility to meet a variety of viewerand advertiser demands, ease of

FRAME GRAB A look at the issues driving today's technology

Young people consuming TV on handheld devices increasing48 percent of 15-17 year olds consumeTV on mobile devicesmonthly.

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programming and the dexterity tohandle a variety of content types andformats. The single -system, channel-in -a -box approach is a cost-effectiveand flexible solution that addressesmany of the configuration and sta-tion needs for a digital tier program-ming system.

ProgrammingSelection of programming for the

digital tier is difficult because of therapid evolution of competing indus-try media. If broadcasters select adigital tier product or system that islocked into a single type of content- such as weather, news, movies orsports - and the market demandschange, broadcasters will be left withequipment and systems with greatlyreduced viewership and revenuegeneration.

Over the past six years, therehave been many options availableto broadcasters for airing on theirdigital tier (NBC WxPlus, MGM,RetroTV, The Tube, MyTV, etc.),but few options have actually gen-erated a consistent revenue streamand a profit for the station. Many ofthe companies providing digital tiercontent over proprietary platformsare no longer in business, leavingstations with useless equipment andlooking for a viable solution.

Networks are scrambling to findprogramming that appeals to themasses, creating an opportunity forlocal television stations to target theirlocal viewers on the digital tier. Tele-vision stations have spent many yearsestablishing local content and brandsin their markets. Critical to the sur-vival of local broadcasters is the abil-ity to expand their brand in the mar-ket and easily move their content tomultiple platforms.


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System considerationsAn automated workflow is the

single most important factor at thestation level when selecting a digitaltier channel -in -a -box solution. En-gineering and IT resources are beingcut, and monetary resources are lim-ited. Some of the systems being airedtoday require full-time staffs to op-erate; this will dramatically cut intothe station's return and viability ofsucceeding as the digital tier evolves.Systems that are fully automated andaggressively supported bytheir vendors are requiredto ensure the highest prob-ability of success in thelocal market.

Integrating a new digitalprogramming channel withother station equipment is acritical factor in determiningthe automation and flexibil-ity of the systems the broad-casters consider. If the newsystem can interface with thestation's existing equipmentand is transparent with otherstation platforms, it expandsthe capability and flexibilityof what broadcasters air and how ro-bust the presentation will be.

The workflow for the digital chan-nel system should incorporate fullintegration with all of the contentthe station generates. Once contentis generated at the station, the digitalsystem should be able to ingest thecontent without further configura-tion. The more flexible the contentcapabilities of the digital system, thegreater the opportunity for a higherreturn on investment (ROI) at thestation. The digital system shouldalso be able to process informa-tion and share additional informa-tion between a variety of platformsincluding Web, digital tier, mo-bile TV, streaming and traditionaltelevision broadcasts.

Ideally, the digital channel systemshould be content agnostic. The con-cept of content agnosticism allowscontent and video to be ingestedfrom a wide variety of sources and

formats, automatically, without fur-ther configuration by the televisionstation. Types of content should in-clude websites, XML/RSS, AP/ENPSfeeds, wire feeds, school closing,National Weather Service, videos,live video feeds, simulcast video, dig-ital media, etc. To ensure the flexibil-ity of the system, it will most likelyrequire nonproprietary formats fordata acceptance.

The digital system should also in-clude an integrated digital video server

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of revenue -generating sources thathave been successful on the Web andhave been key revenue sources for thenewspaper industry - classified ads,real estate, obituaries, employmentads - are starting to find their wayto the digital tier. Many stations arealso finding opportunities with new,nontraditional advertisers because ofthe substantially lower cost to air adson the digital tier. As sponsors andsales departments demand more op-tions to generate revenue, the digital

tier system will have to beflexible enough to handlethe requirements.

The ability to ingest and81 display local information on

the station's digital tier sys-

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for content and commercial playbackand be capable of integration with ex-isting servers. It should also providean integrated traffic and automationinterface designed specifically for theplayback and billing of commercialand other revenue content on digitaltier channels or at least integrate withexisting traffic systems. The cost of asecond license on the current trafficsystem is often a prohibitively expen-sive method of trafficking the digitalchannel, so an integrated system byyour digital channel supplier may bethe best option.

Generating revenueAdvertising flexibility should be

another consideration when lookingat digital channel systems. The daysof 30- or 60 -second spots are givingway to logo placements, sponsor-ships tied to specific content, prod-uct placement and paid program-ming. Many nontraditional types

tem with virtually no stationinvolvement creates a highROI. Several systems availabletoday allow a fully automatedworkflow solution, allowingthe broadcaster to start theworkflow with a third partyinputting the information,which is then pushed to thestation's Web page and thendirectly to the on -air display

system. This type of automation work-flow provides a turnkey website anddigital tier presentation, which doesn'tneed to be managed by the station.

FCC compliance is an area that isstill under review on the digital tier. Ifyou select a system today for the digi-tal tier that includes the three primaryFCC mandates - EAS notifications,closed captioning and children's pro-gramming - the future costs associ-ated with these items on the systemwill be controlled, and broadcasterswill not have to worry about integra-tion issues in the future.

One additional considerationmay be the capability of the systemto stream your channel to your Webpage and to mobile TV spectrum inthe future. The efficiency of the sys-tem configuration and output shouldbe carefully analyzed. If the broad-caster can use the same system forcreating its digital tier and mobileTV applications, many efficiencies in


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both personnel and financialresources will be realized.

SummaryTo be successful on the

digital tier, broadcastersmust be as flexible as possi-ble in content and platform,having the ability to changeprogramming quickly tomatch local viewers' andadvertisers' changing needsand viewing habits. The sys-tem must also be transpar-ent with the other equip-ment and content at the sta-tion, allowing the station personnelto create content once and push itout to a variety of platforms includ-ing the digital tier.

Broadcasters should consider digi-tal tier products that operate on anopen platform with nonproprietarysoftware and equipment that is flex-

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Revenue sources from the Web and newspapers, such asobituaries, are starting to appear on digital tiers. New ornontraditional advertisers are also interested in the lowercosts to air ads on digital tiers.

ible enough to adapt to a variety ofcontent. The open platform of a truedigital channel -in -a -box system al-lows the broadcaster the flexibility toair its brand, change programmingeasily and as often as required, andto stay competitive with the rapidlychanging needs of its viewers.

Investment in an auto-mated digital channel system- which capitalizes on thestation's current look, staff,and branding - will create ahigh -quality local digital pro-gramming channel. This willsatisfy the FCC's demandsfor local digital program-ming while generating addi-tional revenue at a low costof production.

If stations use the rightcombination of products andservices by virtue of an open -platform, content -agnostic

digital channel in a box, they will beable to optimize their return on invest-ment and generate a profitable "new"revenue source with their digital chan-nel programming. BE

Peter Levy is the president of WeatherMetrics.

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FCC UPDATEBEYONDTHE HEADLINES

Retransmission consentThe FCC proposes to overhaul retransmission consent.

In the wake of the recent well -publicized disputes betweencable companies in the New Yorkarea and the Fox and ABC TV

stations there, the major cable andsatellite program providers (MVPDs)have asked the FCC to establish a newregulatory framework to govern ne-gotiations for retransmission consent.During the New York disputes, the lo-cal Fox and ABC affiliates threatenedto pull their programming, includ-ing New Year's Day football and theOscars, off the affected cable systems.

Arbitration of disputesThe MVPDs are urging the FCC

to impose a mandatory arbitrationprocess and to require that MVPDscontinue to carry stations when par-ties cannot reach a deal providing forretransmission consent. This system

DatelineNoncommercial TV stations in Ari-

zona; Idaho; Maryland; New Mexico;Nevada; Utah; Virginia; Washington,D.C.; West Virginia; and Wyomingmust file their biennial ownershipreports by June 1. The biennial own-ership reporting date for commercialTV, Class A TV and LPTV stations has

been suspended pending a further re-design of FCC Form 323.

June 1 is the deadline for TV sta-tions in Arizona, Idaho, New Mexico,Nevada, Utah and Wyoming to elec-tronically file their broadcast EEOmidterm reports (Form 397) withthe FCC.

June 1 is the deadline for TV sta-tions licensed in the following states toplace their annual EEO reports in theirpublic files: Arizona; Idaho; Maryland;Michigan; New Mexico; Nevada; Ohio;Utah; Virginia; Washington, D.C.; WestVirginia; and Wyoming.

BY HARRY C MARTIN

would come into play at any time acable or satellite operator claims thatthe parties cannot reach an agree-ment. Once the dispute resolutionprocess is invoked, the appropriatecompensation level would be es-tablished by arbitrators rather thanthrough direct negotiation betweenthe parties. Because such a processcould last for a year or more, dur-ing which the broadcaster could notpull its programs from their sys-tems, the MVPDs would gain anadvantage through the proposedregulatory scheme.

Ancillary carriageThe proposal, if adopted, also

would prohibit a broadcaster fromdemanding carriage of other pro-gramming services in return for theright to carry a broadcast signal. Sucha demand would be considered a perse violation of the "good faith" ne-gotiation requirement that will ap-ply to preliminary negotiations. TheMVPDs suggest that the FCC shouldallow such ancillary carriage arrange-ments, but only if the MVPD con-sents to them.

Changed environmentDuring the 18 years since passage

of the Cable Act of 1992, which per-mitted TV stations to elect betweennegotiating retransmission consentagreements with MVPDs or invokingmust -carry rights, the competitiveenvironment has changed. In 1992local cable systems had monopoliesin terms of retransmission of localbroadcast signals, making it difficultfor the stations to achieve much morethan basic carriage of their signals. Intoday's marketplace, however, localcable systems face competition fromsatellite providers such as DIRECTVand Dish Network, as well as fromtelephone companies such as Verizon

with its heavily -marketed FiOS sys-tem. While more than 200 channelsof nonbroadcast programming maysound tempting, the viewing publiccontinues to demonstrate an affec-tion for broadcast TV programming.

Broadcasters have substantiallymore bargaining power in this envi-ronment than they did in 1992 andcan risk losing carriage by one MVPDbecause their programs will continueto be carried by the others in the mar-ket. Moreover, MVPDs cannot affordto lose carriage rights to their sub-scribers' most popular TV shows.

To add appeal to their plan, theMVPDs argue that their proposalis consumer friendly because it willeliminate the loss of popular TVshows due to ongoing private dis-putes. This may resonate with thecommission given the public outcrythat occurred over the threatened dis-ruption of sports programming andthe Oscars earlier this year.

Advocacy on all frontsThere is a big political push be-

hind the MVPD proposals. A letterwas already sent to Congress raisingthe points to the House and SenateCommerce Committees. The NABhas fired back with its own letter tothose committees. In Congressio-nal testimony in March, ChairmanGenachowski said the retransmis-sion consent process "is a subject thatshould be looked at seriously . . . fora framework that works for consum-ers:' Ten days after the MVPD peti-tion was filed, the FCC issued a publicnotice inviting comments on it. Theextended deadline for comments wasMay 18. BE

Harry C. Martin is a member of Fletcher,Heald and Hildreth, PLC.

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TRANSITION TO DIGITALDIGITAL HANDBOOK

Mobile video technologyWhat does the ATSC-M/H standard mean for you?

ith the ATSC standardfor mobile DTV re-leased last year, and thepotential for a half -bil-

lion worldwide mobile TV subscribersby 2013 (according to ABI Research),this is the year that mobile video ser-vices and devices will make it into theU.S. marketplace. The ATSC Mobile/Handheld standard A/153 (also calledATSC-M/H or simply ATSC Mobile) isa backward -compatible enhancementto the existing ATSC A/53 standard fordigital television transmission. (SeeFigure 1.) New devices can decodeeither the mobile or the main stream,and existing devices can continue tooperate by decoding the main streamalone. This month, we'll describe thehigh-level features of the standard.

i3Y ALDO CUGNINI

ATSC-M/H is organized into eightparts: system description, RF andtransmission system, service multiplexand transport subsystem, announce-ment method, application framework,service protection, video coding, andaudio coding.

RF and transmissionTo improve reception reliabil-

ity for moving receivers over thatof ATSC A/53, ATSC-M/H uses ad-ditional training sequences and FEC.Because power consumption is a

critical factor for handheld receiv-ers, the standard also provides timeslicing, which allows the receiverdemodulator (a high consumer ofpower) to cycle on and off, result-ing in power savings. This is possible

ATSCmain service

MPEG-2transport

Channel

pM/H

framingcoding

andmodulation

-110.

ATSCM/H service I P transport

Figure 1. ATSC-M/H adds a new mobile service to the existing main service.

FRAME GRAB A look at tomorrow's technology

Data services, like mobile TV and video, increase revenueRevenues from data services are projected to hit $330 billion in2013.

a)

a)

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because the M/H data is organizedinto groups called parades, whereineach parade can carry different kindsof services. It is rarely necessary thata receiver simultaneously decodes allof the services present in a stream.

Because the total bit rate for anATSC transmission is fixed at19.4Mb/s, the M/H data stream must

ATSC-M/H usesadditional trainingsequences and FEC

to improve receptionfor moving receivers.

borrow bandwidth from the mainchannel. This main data rate loss(MDRL) can be set between 0.9Mb/sand 7.3Mb/s. The efficiency of thisloss will vary, however, as the M/Hstream requires overhead for addi-tional error protection. This over-head can be set, upon transmission,and presents a trade-off betweenthe payload data rate (PDR) anderror resiliency.

The heart of the M/H error pro-tection scheme uses what is called aserial concatenated convolutionalcode (SCCC). The standard definestwo SCCC rates, namely 1/4 and 1/2,and these can be applied separately todifferent arrangements of RS frames,which are selectable groupings of ser-vices providing the same QoS. Funda-mentally, the SCCC rates imply dataefficiency (data -to -overhead) ratiosof 25 percent and 50 percent, respec-tively. However, the actual through-put efficiency is a more complicatedfunction of these rates plus otheroverhead data. In addition, differentservices can be grouped together intothe different RS frames. To give anidea of the boundary conditions, thetotal PDR can vary from 152kb/s (at


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Payload datarate (kb/s)

Main data rateloss (kb/s)

Efficiency GUS

152

312

1258

2529

917

917

7334

7334

16.5 percent

34.0 percent

17.2 percent

34.5 percent

highest

lowest

Table 1. Sample ATSC-M/H data rates and efficiencies

the highest QoS) to 2.5Mb/s (at thelowest QoS), while the MDRL canvary between 0.9Mb/s and 7.3Mb/s.Numerous combinations of PDR andMDRL are possible; a few are shownin Table 1.

Transport and servicesThe ATSC mobile service multiplex

and transport subsystem supports var-ious mechanisms for delivering multi-media to portable devices. Whereasthe main channel service was designedto carry A/V transport streams, ATSC-M/H was designed to carry IP data -grams. (See Figure 2.) These are net-work layer packets that contain datatogether with source and destinationinformation, intended for transmis-sion over a network where a recep-tion acknowledgment is not relayedback to the source. In other words, IPdatagrams map the concept of an IP

network onto a lossy medium such asbroadcast transmission. IP-based de-livery allows for the implementationof an interactive application softwarestack that is compatible with existingmobile delivery standards.

IP-based networking forms thebackbone over which the Internet op-erates, by means of Transmission Con-trol Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). TCP/IP, however, requires a two-way communications path to allow theretransmission of lost packets - some-thing that broadcasting does not pro-vide. For this reason, User DatagramProtocol (UDP) is used on top of IP,which is a connectionless protocol thatdoes not set up a dedicated end -to -endconnection. UDP requires only a smalltransport layer and provides packetswith definite boundaries, which aids insynchronization. UDP does not have amethod for time stamping, however,

so Real-time Transport Protocol/RTPControl Protocol (RTP/RTCP) overUDP (over IP) is used.

Designed for real-time, end -to -endtransfer of multimedia data, RTP/RTCP provides methods to achievejitter compensation and to detect andcompensate for out -of -sequence pack-et arrival, conditions that are commonin an IP network. One of these meth-ods is time stamping, which speci-fies the sampling instant upon trans-mission of the first byte of the RTPpacket. RTP does not guarantee arrivalof packets, but the use of sequencenumbers can provide an indication ofpacket loss. The payload type in RTPdefines various codecs and allows forfuture codecs, but this is currentlyconstrained for ATSC-M/H.

ATSC-M/H supports the deliv-ery of many types of content. In IPparlance, TV broadcast would nowbe called streaming delivery of au-dio and video using a unidirectionallink route (UDLR). File delivery overUDLR is also possible, providing aversatile mechanism for the transferof data (e.g., HTML, XML and simi-lar files) and applications, as well asnonreal-time caching of content forlater consumption.

ATSC-M/H also defines an in-teraction channel, an out -of -band

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bidirectional link route (BDLR), whichcan be used for carrying out interac-tive transactions. The form of BDLRchannel is not specified but would beimplemented by means of a two-waycommunications channel, such as thatprovided by a cellular phone. The stan-dard supports the delivery of a serviceguide over the in -band UDLR channel,or by means of the BDLR channel, asdefined in the ATSC A/96 standard forATSC Interaction Channel Protocols.

ATSC-M/H also supports A/65captions and parental controls, and

provides for graphical overlay sup-port through a standardized ap-plication (also called presentation)framework.

Announcement andservice protection

A special announcement protocolis used in ATSC-M/H to announce thecontent and services being delivered orscheduled for delivery. This protocolincludes, but is not limited to, a ser-vice guide (or EPG) that is sent as itsown service. Because this guide could

Video -10.

Audio -4.

Videocoding

Audiocoding

Ancillary data

Control data

Structure data

Service muxand IP

encapsulation

TPC/FIC

IP transport

Figure 2. ATSC-M/H uses the IP transport mechanism.

be extensive, a much smaller servicesignaling channel (SSC) is also sent,which indicates what services are cur-rently available. This allows receiversto quickly display information to theuser regarding the immediately avail-able content. Service protection andcontent protection are also available.The first is used to protect contentduring its delivery, and the second isused subsequent to delivery.

Video and audioATSC-M/H specifies MPEG-4 Part

10 AVC and SVC video coding, andMPEG-4 Part 3 HE AAC v2 audiocoding. While the standard does notspecify the bit rates for video and au-dio, we can consider an example case:Using 500kb/s for video would pro-vide five program channels using themost efficient mode of transmission.With so many options available, therewill no doubt be much experimenta-tion and customization of broadcastconfigurations. Watch for more de-tails about video and audio codingand interactivity in later installmentsof this column. BE

Aldo Cugnini is a consultant in the digitaltelevision industry.

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COMPUTERS & NETWORKSDIGITAL HANDBOOK

Network QoSMoving video on Ethernet can be like trying to cut

wire with a screwdriver.

ncreasingly, users have a require-ment to interconnect profession-al video equipment via InternetProtocol (IP) over Ethernet.

Many times it's because this is themost readily available technology. ButEthernet connectivity is also generallylow cost, and it is ubiquitous, not justbetween facilities but within facilitiesas well. Equipment manufacturershave responded by adding Ethernetconnections on almost all profes-sional video devices. At first, theseconnections were not used to transfervideo of any kind. Then manufac-turers added the capability to movevideo files on and off of devices viaEthernet. Now it is becoming morecommon to stream real-time videousing Ethernet. However, users haveencountered problems transferringvideo over Ethernet.

What is the problem?In short, the problem is reliability.

As the professional user comes to relymore on IP-based technology, limi-tations of this technology raise reli-ability issues that must be addressed.In a way, we are victims of our ownsuccess. Someone tries moving videofiles or real-time video over a networkand succeeds. Others then do thesame thing, and quickly, the networkis overwhelmed by the amount andtype of traffic video represents.

The root of the problem is thatmoving video on Ethernet was neverforeseen. We are trying to cut wirewith a screwdriver; while you can suc-cessfully do it, a screwdriver may notbe the best tool for the job. To be fair,it is likely that IP will be the predomi-nant method of video transport goingforward, and network engineers haveaddressed the fundamental issues.That said, it is difficult to achieve

BY BRAD GILMER

reliable professional video transporton generic Ethernet networks.

A brief review oftraditional IT QoS

I wrote about this topic in theMarch column, but let's have a re-fresher. Using traditional IT QoS,you can guarantee the level of per-formance across a network. But youshould know that QoS is not a thing;you cannot buy QoS. You also cannotset the "QoS switch" on your routerand get guaranteed delivery.

Instead, QoS is a framework ofpolicies and technologies that canbe used to control the quality of ser-vice that your network delivers. At ahigh level, QoS works by controlling

For a more detailed discussion of QoS,read the book "Video Systems in an ITEnvironment" by Al Kovalick.

Other QoS optionsWhen addressing the QoS issue,

it may help to stand back from theproblem and think outside the box.Do you really need to use IP over Eth-ernet in this application? If you aretrying to cut wire, perhaps you canfind a wire cutter rather than use ascrewdriver. Here are some other op-tions that can move video from oneplace to another without the QoS is-sues associated with creating a man-aged IP over Ethernet network:

SDI/SDTI. There is not much to sayhere that has not already been said. SDI

Now it is becoming more common tostream real-time video using Ethernet.

However, users have encountered problemstransferring video over Ethernet.

traffic admitted to the network,marking traffic by type (voice, video,data, etc.), and establishing prioritiesfor traffic types so that lower prior-ity traffic gets dropped first when thenetwork gets busy. QoS can also es-tablish guaranteed routes for particu-lar flows so that all packets in a streamflow from source to destination viathe same path or reserve bandwidthduring a specific time. Other QoStools exist as well.

The IT world has spent a lot of timeand effort to address QoS on IP overEthernet. It is possible to provide re-liable professional video transportacross Ethernet networks. But in orderto do this, you will need to implementa QoS framework on the networks.

and SDTI are well known to the pro-fessional video community. SDI rout-ers are recognized quantities. They arenonblocking switches, meaning that ifyou use every input and every outputon a video switch, things continue tofunction; this cannot be said of almostall Ethernet switches when they arerunning at the maximum bandwidthon all ports. Furthermore, SDTI canbe used to transmit all sorts of data,not just video. And at 1.5Gb/s, SDTIprovides high data transfer rates. SDI/SDTI can be a great choice for videotransport inside a facility.

Fibre Channel. This technol-ogy was developed for high -density,high-speed data transfer. It providesnonblocking transport without the


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need to deploy QoS technologies. It isknown within the professional videoand IT communities. Unfortunately,Fibre Channel is nowhere near asubiquitous as Ethernet or SDI. It alsohas technical and financial limita-tions that make it unrealistic to de-ploy across an entire facility. ATM. Several years ago, asynchro-nous transfer mode (ATM) lookedlike it was going to be the preferredchoice for professional video appli-cations. ATM provided guaranteedhigh -bandwidth connectivity betweendevices, was widely used in other in-dustries, supported large file sizes andhigh speeds, and large switches wereavailable to interconnect the numberof devices typically found in a televi-sion plant. However, high costs initiallylimited ATM installations. ATM neverreally hit its stride in the professionalvideo environment. The issue wasnot entirely cost -related. In point -to -

ImprovingAN QoS

Pt -PtSDI,

SONET,T1/El, T3/Ed

ATMIP/MPLS

Tagged Ethernet(Small LAN)

Diffsery enabledLAN/WAN

Overprovisioned linksand routers, link metering

Enterprise -wide LAN/MAN/WAN

Best -effort Internet

rn

Figure 1.The QoS triangle shows varying levels of QoS based upon the technologyemployed. QoS is a trade-off between reliability and complexity. Figure courtesythe book "Video Systems in an IT Environment" (www.theAVlTbook.com).

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point applications, SDI was firmly en-trenched. In networking applications,Ethernet quickly dominated, eclips-ing ATM in all but a limited numberof applications.

Ethernet without QoS. Ethernetmay be used in professional video ap-plications without a QoS framework.In this case, the lowest cost and easi-est implementation in a professionalvideo environment is to simply over -provision your network. Overpro-visioning means to provide muchmore bandwidth than you would everexpect to be used. While overprovi-sioning would seem to logically takecare of any issues you might havewith moving video over a computernetwork, there are times when, evenwith a vastly underutilized network,video transfers will fail. For example,FTP transfers using generic FTP cli-ents are guaranteed to fail if the de-lay on the network is high enough,

regardless of the amount of availablebandwidth.

Determining the optimumQoS solution

Implementing QoS is a trade-off.Whether you choose to use SDI orATM, which have high QoS built-in,or whether you decide to use Ethernetnetworks and deploy a QoS frame-work that delivers guaranteed perfor-mance, the final choice will dependupon a number of factors.

As Figure 1 illustrates, you canthink of QoS as a pyramid. At thebottom of the pyramid is the best ef-fort Internet. At the top of the pyra-mid are technologies such as SDI.QoS improves as you go from thebottom of the pyramid to the top.Varying levels of complexity are usedto address QoS in the levels of thepyramid. However, it is interesting tonote that in the pyramid there is no

specific QoS framework at either thebottom or the top of the pyramid.In both cases, the QoS is implied. Atthe bottom, you get best effort. (Ifthe packet makes it, great. If not, ohwell.) At the top using SDI, the videois guaranteed to make it by virtue ofthe technology employed.

It is up to the facility engineeringteam to determine the appropriatelevel of QoS required and to balancethe trade-offs between ubiquity andthe near universal connectivity ofEthernet, and the implicit extremelyhigh QoS of SDI. As a final thought,it is likely that both technologieswill co -exist in major professionalvideo facilities. BE

Brad Gilmer is president of Gilmer &Associates and executive director of theAdvanced Media Workflow Association.

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PRODUCTION CLIPSDIGITAL HANDBOOK

SAN connectivityProactive management can decrease system costs.

ASAN is now a key compo-nent of most reasonablysized IT infrastructures,including those handling

video production. Today's SAN tech-nology has evolved from its humblebeginnings into a mission -criticalenterprise IT component. The firstSANs were introduced to handlesmall numbers of enterprise -scalesystems being connected to storagearrays a few cabinets away.

The basicsBefore we get too far in our discus-

sion, it is important to understandsome basic SAN concepts. SANs sup-port block -level access to data. Sup-port for file systems and metadatais contained at a higher level in theoperating system code or, sometimes,within a database or Java appliance.There are other types of shared stor-age that are file -oriented (as opposedto block -level); these are known asnetwork attached storage (NAS) orobject stores (ObS).

NAS storage often supports Com-mon Internet File System (CIFS) andNetwork File System (NFS). CIFS isa Windows -centric file system, whileNFS is usually reserved for UNIX-

based platforms.Both NAS and ObS use TCP/IP

for communication between the hostcomputers and the shared storagecontrollers. This IP traffic is usuallycarried over the LAN rather than adedicated SAN.

SAN traffic between an applica-tion and the storage array is signifi-cantly more sensitive to delayed orlost data than is other LAN traffic.To prevent disruptions, the SAN istypically designed to avoid over-loading. One common solution is

to construct the SAN so that everyone of its ports can send and receiveat full speed. Unfortunately, SAN

BY STFVF O'DONNELL

connections are expensive, and SANsare cost -constrained. SAN architectsmust balance cost and risk while rec-ognizing that a mistake can resultin outages.

The protocols of the SAN are: Fibre Channel (FC)

Also, FCIP and iSCSI have nomechanism to handle LAN overload-ing. As a result, they are prone to de-lays and frame loss. These solutionsare not suitable in larger environ-ments where engineered levels of per-formance and resilience are required.

The first SANs were introduced tohandle small numbers of enterprise-

scale systems being connected tostorage arrays a few cabinets away.

Fibre Connectivity (FICON) Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) Internet small computer systems in-terface (iSCSI)

These represent enterprise -scalederivatives of the peer -to -peer smallcomputer systems interface (SCSI) ofthe 1980s. The latter two, FCIP andiSCSI, are IP-encapsulated protocolsand are carried over a LAN.

Storage interfaceand its requirements

Neither SCSI nor its derivatives(FC, FCoE) include a transport layerprotocol to perform error correctionand retransmission functions. There-fore, they object strongly to data loss.Additionally, SCSI and its derivativesassume a direct peer -to -peer connec-tion between the initiator and thetarget, so end devices, and the appli-cations that use them, do not toleratelatency and delays well.

FC is implemented at the sameprotocol level as Ethernet, but unlikeEthernet, it is designed as a losslessprotocol with quite predictable la-tency characteristics. FC was designedto support the sensitive application -to -storage interface by maximizingthroughput and reliability.

Their main benefit is that they can beimplemented at low cost on an exist-ing LAN.

FCoE was created to enable net-work convergence. The result al-lows delay- and loss -sensitive dataflows to share the same physicalnetwork as normal LAN traffic. As aresult, FCoE is implemented at thesame protocol level as FC and Eth-ernet and uses smart switches to en-sure that the FCoE traffic is shapedto provide good application andstorage performance.

Enterprise -scaleSAN design

SANs are carefully designed toavoid frame loss, latency and delayby integrating nonblocking switchfabrics and a judicious fan -out ratiobetween the hierarchies of the con-nected host, edge -switch ports, theinterswitch links (ISL) to the coreswitches and the connections to thestorage array. SAN designs typicallyassume that all hosts may be commu-nicating at full line rate at the sametime, implying significantly over -pro-visioned SAN capacity

Physical layer over -provisioningis compounded when implementingcomplex, multitier, edge -core -edge


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switch designs for large-scale envi-ronments. While intended to providephysical reconfiguration flexibility toaccommodate growth, these designs

connections and storage array portsof 6:1 to 12:1, depending on the es-timated intensity of the storage ac-tivity. Low -utilization hosts can be

SANs are typically designed around afan -out ratio between host connections

and storage array ports of 6:1 to12:1, depending on the estimatedintensity of the storage activity.

actually introduce substantial addition-al cost, complexity and resultant risk.

SANs are typically designedaround a fan -out ratio between host

Host computers

Host

Hostrti

kg.Host

Host

Host

theoretically supported at the upperfan -out ratios, while highly utilizedhosts require much lower fan -out ra-tios. (See Figure 1.)

SAN design in the cloudGood SAN design involves balanc-

ing high -intensity hosts and low -in-tensity hosts on the same edge switchto maximize switch use. Choosingthe correct fan -out ratio is a difficultenough decision at the initial imple-mentation stage, but it becomes dif-ficult to maintain in a mature andgrowing SAN. It becomes time-con-suming to manage with a virtualizedworkload that will be automaticallyand transparently moving betweenphysical hosts and their associatedSAN connections in real time.

In a virtualized world, applica-tions are untethered from the un-derlying physical hardware, the samehardware that has physical network

Edge switches

SAN

Distribution switches Core switch

Multipleinter switchlinks (ISL)

switch

Multipleinter switch

SAN SAN links (ISL)switch switch

Storagecontroller

SANswitch

SAN

Multipleinter switchlinks (ISL)

Multipleinter switch SANlinks (ISL) switch

Storagecontroller

switch

SAN SANswitchswitch

SANswitch

Figure 1. SANs are typically designed with a fan -out ratio between 6:1 and 12:1, depending upon estimated level of thestorage activity.


connections to the SAN. For example, a system couldenable the migration of an entire running virtual ma-chine, application and all, from one physical host andphysical storage system to another seamlessly and withoutuser interruption.

Cloud computing offers many benefits to the enterprise,obscuring the physical complexity of servers, storage andnetworks from applications. It enables rapid deploymentand enhanced availability through outages. Cloud doesnot, however, offer a free lunch. An inadequate underlyingSAN infrastructure will quickly be exposed as more andmore workload is virtualized and automated tools movecritical business applications between nodes on increas-ingly larger clusters of servers and storage.

The cloud not only insulates and obscures the physicalcomplexity of the underlying hardware from applications,it has the potential to obscure the cause of an outage. This

Cloud computing offers manybenefits to the enterprise,

obscuring the physicalcomplexity of servers, storage

and networks from applications.

may increase the time it takes for engineers to resolve, andit may reduce the success of initial diagnostics. When us-ing cloud -based storage, it is not unusual for a fairly simplefault that can be repaired in a few minutes to take manyhours to diagnose and only after much technical hand-offbetween multiple support teams.

The choice is stark: Overengineer, pay the price andhope for the best, or adopt a more scientific approach andmanage the SAN proactively. BE

Steve O'Donnell is managing director EMEA and a senior analystat Enterprise Strategy Group.

Editor's note: This feature is based on a September 2009 ar-ticle, "Storage connectivity and why it is important," on TheHot Aisle, the official blog of Data Centre Solutions.

National BroulbanVisit our Web siteto read more aboutthe FCC's strategy.www.broadcastengineering. om

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DIGITAL TUTORIALSYSTEMS INTEGRATION

Managing IP networksRoute analytics software can help you

keep your networks in check.

IP network management focuseson keeping the network up andrunning smoothly and com-prises a number of aspects, in-

cluding the initial design and layoutof the network; selecting the equip-ment to install; setting up and con-figuring routers, firewalls and man-aged switches; selecting and installingsecurity software; managing users;setting policies; and so on. On largenetworks, these tasks are handled bya whole department, but even smallnetworks require some network man-agement to work efficiently and ef-fectively. As more audio, video andtransport streams begin to migrateover to the IP world for transport, itbecomes even more important forbroadcast engineers to understandand control these IP networks.

Getting startedIf you are new to networking or

are the kind person who would rathercopy files onto a CD or USB drive tomove files from one computer to an-other instead of using the network, itwould be best to take a class or pickup a book on network fundamentalsbefore getting started. There are manyresources available on the Web to helpyou get started, including BroadcastEngineering's own "IT Fundamentals"webinar series.

Route analyticsMonitoring a network's operation

is imperative, and several softwarepackages, known as route analytics,are available to do this. Using thistype of software allows the networkmanager to observe how the networkis working as a whole in real time.Routers send each other instructionsof how to route a particular IP packetto its destination. To find the shortest

BY RUSSFL I BROWN

path for an IP packet, the router mustknow if any of the routers near it willget the packet closer to its destination.By exchanging information betweenthem, routers are able to construct amap of how to get data from point "A"to point "B" via the shortest path.

Route analytics software listens tothe inter -router messages and createsa visual map of the entire network,which enables the network managerto actually see what is happening onthe network. Routers work at Layer 3,the network layer, of the OSI networkmodel, which is the same layer that theInternet operates on. Routers over the

Accountingmanagement

Faultmanagement

Configurationmanagement

Securitymanagement

Performancemanagement

Figure 1. Five areas are identifiedin the ISO's framework for networkmanagement.

years have become highly sophisticat-ed and can reach out to other routersto understand the entire network tomake better routing decisions.

Route analytics software also re-cords network traffic, so the networkmanager can look back and observewhat was happening on the networkwhen a fault occurs. Because it is con-tinuously monitoring the health ofthe network, it can alert the networkmanager to spikes in network trafficor even loss of any part of the net-work. These software packages alsoallow for simulations of the network,

allowing managers to experimentwith what -if scenarios and better planfor the future.

FCAPSFCAPS is the ISO Telecommunica-

tions Management Network modeland framework for network manage-ment. It breaks down the manage-ment of an IP network into five areas- fault, configuration, accounting,performance and security - whichare the five network managementfunctions, or elements, as defined byITU-T and the ISO. (See Figure 1.)

Fault management. This is wherefaults are detected, isolated and re-paired before any users are affected.Faults in the network can lead todowntime, so fault management is themost widely implemented of networkmanagement elements.

Route analyticssoftware allows thenetwork managerto observe howthe network is

working as a whole.

Configuration management. Keep-ing track of all the versions of softwareand the configuration of the softwareand hardware is the goal of this part ofnetwork management.

Accounting management. Measuringthe use of and the traffic on the net-work down to the level of individualusers is the responsibility of this part.

Performance management. This isa measurement of the overall perfor-mance of the network, including la-tency, packet loss, retransmission and


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throughput. This monitors the generalhealth of the network and how well itis serving its users.

Security management. This elementcontrols access to network resourcesto protect them from attack or theft.Only those users who are authorizedshould be able to access the network.

Route analytics software can coverseveral areas of FCAPS, includingfault, accounting and performancemanagement.

Network securityNetwork security also falls under

network management and is com-prised of both hardware and software.Firewalls are used to keep unwanteddata and users off the network. Most

A firewall is thebest way to prevent

unwanted usersfrom accessing a

company's intranetand its resources.

companies have intranets that con-nect to the Internet so their users canaccess it, but a firewall is the best wayto prevent unwanted users from ac-cessing a company's intranet and itsresources. If it's necessary for remoteemployees to log onto the network, avirtual private network (VPN) should

be used. Firewalls can also keep em-ployees from connecting to places onthe Internet such as FTP sites or mu-sic/movie download sites and can alsorecord the activity passing throughthem, so expansion can be plannedfor as needed. In addition, dedicatedcomputers can be set up as hardwirefirewalls, which can handle more datatraffic at higher speeds than software -only firewalls located on a server, andmany routers can act as firewalls, butthey must be configured to do so.

Every computer on the networkshould also have its own softwarefirewall, in addition to updated an-tivirus software, to keep an infectedcomputer from spreading a virus ormalware over an intranet. All of thesetasks fall under the IP network man-ager's domain.

IP address designDon't forget about IP addressing

within the network. Keeping the IPaddresses under control is very im-portant in any network, and this allstarts with planning the network andassigning the static address, as well asthe ranges for the dynamic address-es. Keeping a record of all assignedIP addresses is necessary, and manymanagers use a spreadsheet to keeptrack of them. There also are com-puter programs that will do this, andthey can assist in network planningand automatically configure subnetsas well as subnet masks.

Network configurationConfiguring the network equip-

ment and keeping a record or copyof it falls under this category. Otherthan the physical layout of the net-work, this is where the network is toldhow to perform the required func-tions. It is probably one of the leastunderstood parts of the network, butone of the most important.

As a network grows, keeping ac-curate records of the equipment andtheir configuration becomes increas-ingly important. If a router fails andmust be replaced, would you knowhow to set it? What if the last personto configure it left the company, andthere are no records? Having a copyof the setup file would be the bestsolution to this problem, because itcould be loaded in the replacementequipment, but a written recordshould always be kept as well.

ConclusionThis is only a rudimentary intro-

duction to an increasingly complexissue. As IP network managementbecomes more important, networkmanagers need to do all they can tokeep up on the issue, even if this re-quires some extra training. BE

Russell Brown is chief engineer atKMTP-TV in San Francisco and writer ofBroadcast Engineering's "Transition toDigital" e -newsletter.

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SHOWCASE Foodetinvork

spices up production facilitiesBY MICHAEL GROTTICELLI


Like any good recipe thatneeds adjustements overthe years to keep it fresh,the production and post fa-

cilities at Food Network in New YorkCity have upgraded from standard -definition digital to high definitionwith a sprinkling of new cameras, apinch of an HD production switcher,and a heaping of newly fabricated au-dio production and post rooms thatare fully surround -sound capable.The new facility can now accommo-date more production, and the stafffeels more at home.

Owned and operated -Dy ScrippsNetworks Interactive and locatedabove New York City's Chelsea Mar-ket, the facility now acccmmodatesmany mcre shows and expandedinternational agreements. to carryFood Network programmirg in othercountries. Over the past three years,it has grown to roughly 99 millionsubscribers across the United Statesalone. The facility operations nowreflect the network's chaNing lineupand expanded nature of the shows.To support this increased activity, theengineering staff has grown by three

people :foil a total of five), and theproduction staff has nearly doubledin size.

The faclity continues evolveunder :he supervision of Bill Jar-ett, vice president of engineering forScripps Productions in New York,who sail the network has taken a me-ticulous approach to implementingnew tezhnology when it makes sensewhile ma_ntaining existing work-flows to keep productivity high. Thebroadst has completely rebuilt theaudio, flex and production controlrooms and has become HD -compliant

The new surround -sound control roomfeatures a Solid State Logic digitalaudio ccnsole, extensive patch baysand networked connect ity to twoproduction studios in the facility.


SYSTEM DESIGNSHOWCASE

in its studio operations. System inte-grator Azzurro helped with the up-grade - working a frenetic scheduleto get it done in approximately fourweeks, while Jarett's engineeringteam did most of the design workinternally.

The traditional tape -based work-flow in New York is different fromother Scripps Networks sites locatedin Knoxville, TN, and Nashville, TN.Great American Country (GAC) inNashville, for example, is completelyfile -based (standard definition only).Jarett said that at this juncture itdoesn't make sense for Food Net-work to completely replace its VTRsbecause the crew iso records all of itscamera sources, which can sometimesamount to six or seven angles for oneshow. But it will happen in the longerterm. Currently, HDCAM tapes aresent via overnight delivery to Knox-ville - sometimes two weeks aheadof their airdate.

Adding a new ingredientAs if maintaining a heavy work-

load wasn't enough, the network hasadded more to Jarett's plate by re -

branding the Fine Living Networkas the Cooking Channel, which isscheduled to launch on May 31 withinstructional and entertainment pro-

gramming produced in the revampedNYC studios. The network reformat-ted more than 400 hours of existingFood Network programming for thenew channel, and about 75 hours ofnew material will be shot and postedby the end of the year.

Producers often suggest new waysof producing their shows, which

sometimes means new technologybeing added or taken away as needed.The Internet and social media arenow routinely embraced. Food Net-work started incorporating the In-ternet into some of its shows in 2002.The building also includes a largeworkstation area for the company'sInternet group.

The new sound and music recording room (with adjacent voice-over booth at topcenter) includes a Digidesign Pro Tools setup, where original music and soundeffects are composed and mixed.

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38 broadcastengineering.com i May 2010

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Building on the foundationThe continuing HD upgrade cul-

minated in 2008. That's when the net-work completed the future -lookinginstallation of HD -SDI cabling anda flexible signal routing infrastruc-ture that was HD -ready. A Grass Val-ley Concerto router was swapped outwith a Concerto Plus, which can nowhandle SD and HD signals.

All show production is live to tapeand then posted for several monthsbefore it goes to air from master con-trol facilities at the Scripps NetworksMedia Logistics Center in Knoxville.Food Network's website is managedfrom the operations facility in Knox-ville, although the NYC facilities housea large team of Internet support.

In Knoxville, the shows are also

The refurbished HD control room features an innovative use of NEC LCD monitors at thefront wall (six screens hung vertically) and two at the back row to allow producers a betterview on what's happening in the studio during show tapings.

duplicated and stored in a vast tapelibrary on DigitailBetacam and HD-

CAM cassettes at two separate tapestorage facilities in Knoxville andNew Jersey, and also on a digital near -line StorageTek system in Knoxville.Uplink transmission and mastercontrol facilities for all of the broad-caster's networks are also housed atthe Knoxville facility. Master controlfunctions are performed in Knoxville,but are backed up by Crawford Com-munications in Atlanta, GA, so thatthe network never goes off the air.

The New York facility currentlyonly utilizes one outbound circuit,tied to HD at Azzurro's video switch-ing center in New York City, which canbe connected to the Scripps NetworksMedia Logistics Center via satellite orused for satellite media tours. DS3 andT1 used for broadcast media files anddata also interconnect multiple NYCand Knoxville -based operations.

HD post is themain ingredient

At Food Network, virtually ev-ery show is completed in post. Onceshows are recorded (live to HDCAMvideotape) in one of the two in-houseproduction studios (as well as in astate-of-the-art kitchen wired forcameras and special lighting), they

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are edited in one of several edit suiteswith Avid Symphony Nitris and Me-dia Composer DX Nitris workstationsin post -production, connected to a64TB Avid ISIS storage array (soon tobe expanded to 128TB to accommo-date 12 edit rooms).

The network added an Apple Xsan(64TB) and will be adding a Final CutServer system for graphic and pro-mo production. In the near future,the ISIS and Xsan will be merged,but today they operate almost com-pletely independently of one another.File sharing between the two is notthrough a direct connection.

Most of the graphics are insertedinto the shows while they are edited,and the audio is mixed afterward ina Digidesign digital audio mixingroom. Graphics are created usingmultiple software packages, includ-ing: Adobe After Effects, Photoshopand Illustrator software, as well as the

Cinema 4D and Maya packages. Foron -screen bugs and IDs, Avid Dekois used for SD and Miranda Vertigotemplates for HD.

New HD productionand control

The decision to complete the mi-gration to HD in the production stu-dios came to fruition in 2008. That'swhen the last of the facility's existingGrass Valley 5000 SD cameras (withFujinon HD lenses) were upgraded to6000 Worldcam HD cameras with asimple board swap. In addition to theupgraded cameras, the main produc-tion studio "A" also now features fourbroadcast service panels with newfiber -optics connections. A smallerstudio "B" has undergone some re-finements as well.

The main control room (which canbe used for either studio or both si-multaneously) now boasts a new Sony

8000G HD production switcher. Themost impressive upgrade, however, isthe virtual monitor wall, designed byJarett. The front wall of the room wascompletely redone to go from 35 var-ious -sized CRT monitors to a meresix NEC 46in HD LCD displays hungside by side in portrait style. Hungon special brackets that facilitate easymaintenance, each flat panel can betilted for better viewing from all sidesof the room. This unique arrange-ment of the panels allows the room'sEvertz VIPANIP-A multiviewersoftware to display a wide variety ofconfigurations that closely replicatethe sources displayed with the oldwall, in a relatively small space. (Mo-bile truck builders should take noticeof the space -saving design).

Five separate video feeds - alsogenerated by the multiviewer sys-tem and transferred via fiber - areused on some shows (like "Iron Chef

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America") to drive different sizedmonitors on -set. Two additional 40indisplays have been installed at the backrow, replacing smaller screens wherethe producers sit, to give them a betterview of the camera feeds and what's go-

ing on in the studio. Forecast Consolesdesigned new desks to accommodatethe extra monitors. The producers stillhave line of sight to the front monitorwall if required. An Evertz X -Link HDrouter has been installed as well.

Technology at workAdobe After Effects, Photoshop and Illustrator softwareApple Xsan storageAutodesk Maya 3D animation softwareAvid

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Panasonic Varicam and HDX900 camerasSolid State Logic C100 digital audio consoleSony MVS 8000G production switcher

Expanding waistlineTo accommodate the increased

workload of the Food Network andthe new Cooking Channel - andhaving outgrown its current environ-ments - the facility added more au-dio and video post rooms. Some showsare shot in an outside studio in eitherNew York City (Horvath Studios) orin Los Angeles. Outside shows are shothandheld with Panasonic Varicam andHDX900 cameras, as well as in a studioon pedestals and jibs.

Improved audiosurroundings

Most shows are currently recordedand posted in stereo, but the plan is tomove to 5.1 in the future. To supportthis move to multichannel sound, thefacility's existing audio control room,built in 2004 and tied to the mainproduction studio, was upgraded to asurround -sound audio control room.The Walters Storyk Design Group(WSDG) in New York helped retrofitthe room with specialized acousticceiling tiles, and hung speakers thatsurround the console operator andacoustic wall treatments to accom-modate surround -sound production.

An existing audio post -productionroom on the second floor, designed andbuilt by WSDG, features a Digidesign

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digital audio workstation. Here origi-nal music is composed and mixed. Themusic is then blended with voice andeffects to produce a finished promo orlong -form production. A temporaryaudio post -production room also uti-lizing a Digidesign digital audio work-station is housed on the third floor andwill eventually move to a new produc-tion area yet to be completed.

Ongoing upgradeGoing forward, the facility's over-

all system architecture must remainflexible because the shows themselvesare always being changed and updat-ed. The facility has to grow with thetimes, but must avoid technology thatwill soon become obsolete. That'swhy refinements will continue. In thefuture, an integrated, multiple system,file -based repository will be deployedto support unlimited file sharing be-tween systems. At some point, the fa-

cility's production workflows will alsobecome entirely file -based.

The network plans to convert to allfile -based, and Tom Killoy, senior vicepresident of operations in New York,has spearheaded the most recent col-laboration between the Knoxville-(HGTV, DIY Network, Fine LivingNetwork), Nashville- (Great Ameri-can Country), and NYC- (Food Net-work) based technology teams, in or-der to develop a consistent integratedfile -based technology strategy thatsupports all the brands.

"Predicting technological trendsyears in the future is difficult at best,"Jarett said. "What you try to accom-plish is matching your workflow withthe appropriate technology, keepingin mind the flexibility and upgrad-ability of the systems and the longev-ity of the manufacturers. The end re-sult should support both the produc-tivity and creativity of the users and

Scripps Productions NYCThomas Killoy, senior vice president ofoperationsBill Ja -ett, vice president of engineeringJoe Bruno, director of engir eering

Azzurro Systems IntegrationMarc Bressack, executive "ice presidentWillian McKnight, vice president/generalmanac erScott Buckholtz, director of engineeringSteve Regina, design engineer

Walter Storyk Design GroupJohn Storyk, principleNancy Flannery, CFOJoshua Morris, designer

the technological and corporate goalsof the company, while also maintain-ing cost effectiveness." BE

Michael Grotticelli regularly reports onthe professional video and broadcasttechnology industries.

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OP E GCEREMONY

WINTER OLYMPICSThe broadcaster produces a miracle on ice (and snow).

Io call the technical featthat CTV accomplishedin covering, mostly live,this year's Winter Games

impressive is an understatement. Inbuilding a 40,000sq-ft temporaryHD -SDI facility at the InternationalBroadcast Center (IBC) in Vancouver

BY MICHAEL GROTTICELLI

to support 11 television, radio andonline networks, what the networkdid was downright Olympian.

This was the first major Olympicsproduction for CTV, Canada's larg-est privately owned network, sincethe 1988 Winter Games in Calgary.(The network had a limited role at

the Winter Games in Lillehammerin 1994 and the Barcelona SummerGames in 1992.) The previous Cana-dian rights holder was the CanadianBroadcasting Corporation. This year,the network produced and broadcast4800 hours of coverage, includingthe opening and closing ceremonies


Canadian network CTV produced andbroadcast 4800 hours of coverageduring the the Vancouver WinterGames.

as well as men's hockey. (In previousOlympics, the host broadcaster andNBC usually handled the produc-tion, and the other broadcasters usedthat same feed.)

This year, the network was a found-ing member of the Olympic Broad-cast Media Consortium (OBMC),the official host broadcaster, in part-nership with multimedia providerRogers Media. Together, they pro-vided coverage in English, Frenchand other languages on multiple plat-forms from Vancouver to accommo-date Canadian viewers. The OBMC

was formed to support 11 televisionchannels and one radio network, withCTV's temporary facility sustainingall of them. Literally every second ofOlympic competition was availablelive on radio, TV or online during theGames. The network was responsiblefor more coverage than NBC or anyother broadcaster.

Allan Morris, senior vice presidentof engineering, operations and IT at thenetwork, said that although planninghad occurred 18 months before, mostof the technical facilities were designed,configured and tested months beforethe start of the games in a 13,000sq-ftwarehouse in Toronto across the streetfrom the network's main broadcastand production facility. The varioussystems were laid out and connected toreplicate what they would be doing inVancouver for the Wmter Olympics. InOctober 2009, once it had been testedand the staff trained, the equipmentwas packed into 16 tractor -trailers andshipped off to Vancouver, where it tooksix weeks to reassemble in the IBC.Crews and talent began showing up inlate January.

Temporary broadcast -quality facilities,permanent results

Six studios and seven control roomswere built at the IBC. There were fivemain control rooms for the five mainOBMC members - CTV; V, a Frenchnetwork; The Sports Network (TSN);RDS, the French version of TSN; andSportsNet, Rogers Cable's sports chan-nel - and two studio and two controlrooms at the Whistler Resort, whichwas home to many of the down-hill events. These remote operationswere fully accessible from any controlroom at the IBC facility and could beclosely monitored for internal use via a180 -channel IPTV system.

Production personnel sitting at anydesktop in the IBC could see any net-work, any channel and any venue withthe click of a mouse. This includedtalking with venue production per-sonnel via intercom or VoIP phonewhile watching the images from the

camera as they came into the IBC.People could also look at the incom-ing IPTV signals on larger monitorsusing Amino boxes attached to tele-visions. This saved lots of time andgreatly increased efficiency.

Some consortium members alsohad control rooms off -site at theirrespective home facilities, so signalswere sent from Vancouver to the net-work's main production facility inToronto and then on to the distribu-tion platform of choice.

Tapeless production controlThe control rooms featured Ross

Video Synergy production switchers,Lawo signal audio consoles, HarrisInscriber G7 graphics (created with var-ious applications on Macintosh work-stations located adjacent to the controlrooms), an Inscriber Connectus cen-tralized graphics management system,an EVS (4 x 2) XT[2]+ replay system,Evertz MVP and VIP multiviewer soft-ware displayed on Panasonic flat -pan-el plasma HD displays and TVLogicmonitors in critical viewing areas.Evertz supplied nearly all signal -pro-cessing equipment. The control roomsalso used a large RTS digital intercomsystem (576 x 576), as well as HarrisVideotek and Tektronix test and mea-surement gear.

Forty-two Hitachi SK-HD1000HD cameras with Canon lenses, ontripods and handheld, were used inthe studio and at many venues. In thefield, operators used 15 Sony XDCAMHD camcorders with Canon lenses.

The primary workflow for broad-casting in HD was a tapeless environ-ment - there was one Sony HDCAMand one Betacam SX machine just incase - so that everything that camein never touched videotape. Sourcescoming in from fiber and satellitefeeds, on -site production trucks (sup-plied by Game Creek Video based inthe United States and Dome Produc-tions in Canada) and other sourceswere routed through the variouscontrol rooms. For complete redun-dancy, all events took two separatepaths using dual Evertz routers (one



Six studios and seven control rooms were built in Vancouver at the IBC, including fivemain control rooms, like the one pictured here, to support the five main OBMC members'live coverage.

with a large 576 x 576 matrix and6000 x 6000 audio matrix), videoservers and production switchers toprotect against system failure and en-sure that the network never went offthe air.

Comprehensivecentralized storage

Harris was a major supplier to theOBMC, providing integrated broadcastand production systems that allowedthe network's team to centrally receive,

The equipment racks used during the Winter Olympics were configured and tested insidea 13,000sq-ft warehouse in Toronto (across the street from CTV's main broadcast andproduction facility) months before, then packed up and sent to Vancouver.

manage and create program elementsand distribute them to multiple sta-tions across Canada. The equipmentpackage included NEXIO AMP ad-vanced media platforms with VelocityHD editors, which were used to buildvideo clips for all program platformsin both English and French. HarrisNetVX transmission systems usingMPEG-2 4:2:2 at 50Mb/s deliveredall content back to home base mastercontrols across the country.

The company's equipment alsosupported the consortium's onlinecoverage on CTVOlympics.ca andRDSolympiques.ca with a backup con-trol system for FTP file transfer. Thesystem consisted of NEXIO Remotesoftware, which monitors and con-trols channels on servers over a localarea network, and the NEXIO PlayListevent -sequencing application, whichenables clips to be selected from thedatabase and arranged in any order forframe -accurate transmission.

All broadcast material was re-corded to a large NEXIO AMP server(with dual 15TB arrays and 32 ingestports), and editors picked from it asnecessary. Two or more editors couldaccess the same clip simultaneously,which happened often during thegames. Each port had a logging sta-tion associated with it, and low -reso-lution (proxy) files were instantly cre-ated so that editors could begin work-ing as soon as the material came infrom a venue. A Dixon Sports systemhelped organize media clips based onthe sporting event and provided pre -made graphics templates that helpedmaintain a consistent look for eachsport. These clips were then madeavailable to desktops throughout thethe network's portion of the IBC viaa massive network that supported13 Velocity HD edit workstations.Each edit room was dedicated to aparticular sport, in both English andFrench. There was also a DigidesignPro Tools room for mixing 5.1 sur-round -sound elements.

To streamline the workflow andmake things happen faster, the net-work's engineers wrote custom code


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Panasonic flat -panel plasma HD displays andTVLogic monitors displaying Evertz MVP andVIP multiviewer software were strategically located throughout the CTV complex to helpmonitor the hundreds of feeds coming into the IBC in Vancouver.

and their own applications to facili-tate seamless file transfers betweenthe server, the Avid Nitris DX editsystems and a multinode Isilon IQX -Series server.

The Nitris systems were tied to acentralized 24TB Avid ISIS storage

system. All content going into theNEXIO was transferred to a 200TBIsilon digital file storage system forlonger -term storage and to serveas backup files. Leveraging the net-worked, file -based system in Van-couver, highlight reels for live events

All broadcast material was recorded to a large Harris Nexio AMP server (with dual 15TBarrays and 32 ingest ports), and editors working on Harris Velocity HD edit workstationsbuilt video clips in English and French for the various program distribution platforms.

could be turned around in a matter ofseconds if required. (During the clos-ing ceremonies, one sponsor wanteda clip from the Canada-U.S. hockeygame included in a 30 -second spot.The game had just ended that after-noon, but the crew was able to do itwith time to spare.)

Fast HD turnaround timesThe NEXIO servers provided 20

playout ports to send content to thevarious control rooms for inclusioninto the various consortium partners'main broadcast feeds as well as to anumber of off -site facilities operatedby consortium members.

All audio and video clips (andassociated metadata) were eventu-ally archived to the IQ X -Series sys-tem in Vancouver. They were thenmoved via file transfer to the net-work's Storagetek systems back inToronto on a daily basis.

Redundant 0C -48s at 2.45Gb/swere used to deliver all real-time andrecorded content, VoIP telephony,corporate business system applica-tions, IPTV, and various low-bit-rate/low-latency monitoring feeds.This ensured that content was neverlost and was available to anyone whoneeded it. As a further backup, thenetwork used one C -band transpon-der to deliver the outputs of the fivemain control rooms using MPEG-4at 10Mb/s. It was continually down -linked in Calgary, Toronto (two dif-ferent sites), Montreal and Halifax tobe used if required.

Unprecedentedtechnical complexity

Perhaps the most impressive part ofthe CTV's coverage was that the IBCfacility provided 24/7 content to all ofthe various channels simultaneously,in a file -based environment, in twodifferent languages, for three weeks.When the network compared its op-erations to other broadcasters in theIBC, there was little in common. Itsoperations were so critical that it re-quired two Leibert UPS units to feeddual AC power cords to every piece of


Design team

equipment at the IBC. Smaller UPSunits were used in all venues.

The complexity of feeding fiveclients in two languages was enor-mous, but somehow the crew pulledit off without a hitch. The systemnever hiccupped, and not a single clipwas lost. Many in Canada thoughtthis year's Winter Games were thebest they had ever seen. It was cer-tainly the country's most watchedWinter Olympics.

Morris said the key was that videowas everywhere it needed to be. Fromany desktop, producers could look atsingle or multiple feeds simultane-ously. In addition, the systems de-ployed were of such a large scale thatnew twists (and custom software ap-plications) on file -based architecturesbecame critically important. Alongthe way, they learned a few things thatwill serve them well going forward,both for future Olympics coverage inLondon in 2012 and for the network'sproduction facilities in Toronto.

A project of this magnitude wasonly possible because of the exper-tise and dedication of the engineeringteam members and support staff. BE

Michael Grotticelli regularly reports on theprofessional video and broadcasttechnology industries.

Allan Morris, senior vice president of engineering, operations and ITAlbert Faust, senior director, media technology systemsCurtis Skinner, director of engineering, CTV OlympicsDavid Dickson, director, media technology systemsRobert Miles, manager of audio engineering, CTV OlympicsMark Weeres, manager of video engineering, CTV OlympicsBrian Learoyd, director of mobile engineering, logistics and installation

Technology at workAvid

Nitris editorsISIS storage

Canon lensesEvertz

MVP and VIP multiviewer softwareModular gearRouting switchers

EVS XT[21+ HD replay servers

HarrisInscriber G7 graphicsInscriber Connectus graphics management systemNEXIO AMP serverNetVX video networking systemsVelocity HD editing platformsVideotek test and measurement gear

Hitachi SK-HD1000 HD camerasIsilon la X -Series storage systemsLawo MC56 and Zirkon audio consolesPanasonic flat -panel plasma HD displaysRoss Video Synergy production switchersRTS digital intercom systemSony XDCAM HD camcordersTektronix test and measurement gearTVLogic monitors

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BY SCOTT MAT CS I.Automatingnewsroomworkflow ..1'"`" FIVE DAY FORECAST..

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New technology, added de-livery channels and theincreasingly unpredictableviewing habits of consum-

ers are forcing today's news staffs tomake significant changes. Today, stationnews teams need to be vigilant 24/7. In

addition, they must not be dependentupon a linear storytelling model, andthey must be able to distribute contentacross multiple platforms. Likewise,the production technology they deployhas to do more than simply present thedaily television newscast.

Play to your strengthsAs newsroom staffs become less

technical and more creative in story-telling, stations are automating manyof the technical aspects of the cre-ative process - file format conver-sion, clip logging and management,


Automation systems such as the Grass Valley Ignite seamlesslyi itegrate with newsroom computer systems, integrating digitalr ews production and graphics autcmation in a single, easy-to-nanage MOS-based workflow.

and editing - so that focus for thejournalists remains on the story itself.

Production systems that make newsdepartments more productive shouldinclude a common user interfacethat provides access to all the mostcommonly -used features. This elimi-

nates the need to continually changescreens in order to carry out differ-ent tasks. This saves precious time ingetting the news to all three screens- living room television, computerscreen and mobile device - nearlysimultaneously.

Re-examine the processTo efficiently accomplish this, it

is important to employ a tightly in-tegrated production system. Suchsystems allow a single operator tohandle the production of an entiremulticamera newscast. This ap-proach requires careful preplanning.During the planning, you need toinvolve every department (manage-ment, journalists and production) ofthe station. This planning should becompleted well before installation.

It is important to also allow timefor extensive training - not onlyin what personnel will do, but alsoabout the way a production staffthinks about producing a newscast.

Do not look at the use of inte-grated production systems just as apotential means of reducing head-count. Rather, look for opportuni-ties to assign staff into areas wheretheir skills can be maximized forboth the individual and station.In addition, those trained in usingthe technology gain a new and im-portant skill, one that adds to theirprofessional value.

One key in the re-examinationprocess is to help the productionstaff understand that today's con-sumers expect content to be avail-able on multiple devices, acrossmultiple channels and on their per-sonal schedules. This means stationshave to implement a 24/7 news cycle- one that's not dependent on thelinear cycle of time- and manpow-er -availability that traditionally hasdriven news departments. Produc-tion automation can help achievethese goals.

The news staff also has to under-stand that content has to be opti-mized for the various platforms inorder for the story to be understoodclearly. For instance, framing for Weband mobile devices must be differentfrom that for television audiences.Any selected solution must be able tohandle such production issues in anintuitive and transparent way. Jour-nalists should not be encumberedwith complex technical processes.


FEATUREAUTOMATING NEWSROOM WORKFLOW

Deployed correctly, integratedproduction systems empower newsteams to be able to create more con-tent with the same amount of peopleand to reach more viewers acrossmore delivery platforms. Such solu-tions lessen the need for supportivetechnical staff and energize thoseinvolved in content creation. The

result should be enabling contentcreators to find new ways to tell sto-ries and to do so more efficiently.

One result of properly using au-tomated production tools is thatthey allow stations to stay relevantin today's highly competitive newsenvironment. They also improve theon -air look, reduce technical errors

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and sometimes enable a station tolaunch new newscasts where nonewere previously available. Such re-sults benefit viewers with more in-depth stories and station owners withadditional revenue.

Set the agendaThe most important step of any

integrated production system deploy-ment should happen long before thetechnology is installed at the station.Get as many departments involvedin the process as early as possible,and work out the technical details upfront. Make it clear that although themeans of producing and distributingcontent will change, the basic corevalues of producing quality contentwill not.

This is not a technology that can beforced upon a staff. They have to beeducated and helped to understandthe value of such a system. This takestime, but if done right, it makes thestaff feel they are part of the processin selecting a new way of producingthe news. It builds camaraderie andfacilitates more collaboration amongthe employees.

Keep the technicalprocesses invisible

To be valuable to the news creationprocess, such technology should in-clude familiar features that allowjournalists to apply their skills quick-ly. The platform should permit jour-nalists to work independently whileperforming highly technical tasks.In most cases, they don't even needto understand how some process-es happen. The technology shoulddo all of the heavy lifting, basedon presets that have been set by thestation engineers.

There can be a series of presetsdeveloped by the station's interac-tive or engineering staff that allowsjournalists to create and then uploadthe completed content to a particu-lar software template that automati-cally publishes it to any desired for-mat. That might be a Web or smartphone stream. The feature would


FEATUREAUTOMATING NEWSROOM WORKFLOW

properly scale video frame grabsor resize video to fit a cell phonescreen. Such technical mechaniza-tions should be completely hiddenfrom journalists.

Once journalists approve a storyfor distribution, additional softwarecan be employed to package all of theelements related to a particular storyand send the video assets and the as-sociated metadata (as an XML file) toa predefined location, where contentis then automatically repurposed.

Tighten NRCS integrationTo be successful, the new produc-

tion system has to be tightly integratedto the station's NRCS, often via MOSprotocol. Journalists and producerswork on a single screen and still haveaccess to all of the needed image pro-cessing and publishing tools.

Likewise,thenewproduction systemshould provide a tight link between

the NRCS and the station's con-trol room. Again, it's about keep-ing control of the story in the handsof the people who care about thatstory most.

Any technology chosen should beexpandable and provide an easy pathfor stations to migrate slowly to fullyautomated production - protectingtheir original investment - whilebeing able to pick and choose whichshows will continue to be run manu-ally. The production system shouldseamlessly interface with otherthird -party video production sys-tems - such as graphics equipmentand video servers.

Improve the bottom lineAt the end of the day, automated

production systems are nothing morethan efficiency tools. It's up to the in-dividual station to figure out how theywant to improve their productivity to

meet the increasing demand for con-tent in all of its forms. Traditionallyrun stations need to make the transi-tion from TV broadcasters to becom-ing media content producers and dis-tributors, with all that that implies.

To remain successful networks,broadcast groups and individual sta-tions need to reduce their costs whileefficiently reaching all three screens(TV, Web and mobile). Without auto-mating the required content creationprocesses in some way, these busi-nesses will never be able to afford thestaff and technology necessary to getthe job done in a timely fashion.

That's the reality of today's broad-cast news department. It involvesmaking the best of a difficult situa-tion and employing survival tactics tomake the business model work. BE

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Building a RADIANT-MGR01

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RADI

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The following steps, when

done correctly, help

prepare content for

distribution formats.

hile the process forbuilding a file -basedworkflow is typicallythought of as nonlin-

ear, a series of steps should be followedin a linear manner to ensure successfulresults. The steps - ingestion, indexing,quality control (pretranscode), transcod-ing, quality control (post-transcode),publishing, distribution and notification -when done in the proper order, help to bet-ter prepare content for the various distributionformats, including online, video on demand andcable. Depending on the different transcoding pro-cesses that are being performed, this workflow can bea combination of both hardware -based and software -based technologies. Also, several other considerations tokeep in mind when selecting elements for your workfloware the turnaround time, the amount of files being managedand the amount of staff available to help with the process.Let's take a look at each of the steps involved so you can bet-ter understand their benefits.


CPU

RADIANT -W

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27

Quality control:pretranscode

RADIANT-MGRO1 RADIANT-MGRO1

Quality control:post-transcode Transcode

RADIANT-MGRO1 RADIANT-MGRO1

RADIANT-MGRO1


BUILDING A FILE -BASED WORKFLOW

radt",,n:GRIDContent Manager

_ ^ x

Mecha Bin jiMeiloo Uplond

Metadata and asset management are essential organizational elements of afile -based workflow. RadiantGrid's catalog management feature (pictured here)supports the searching, browsing and filtering of ingested assets.

Ingestio.One thing to always keep in mind

is that all content must be broughtinto the workflow either via satellitetransmission, a file from an editingworkstation, or physical media suchas a videotape, CD or DVD. When se-lecting software to handle a file -basedworkflow, it is best to select one thatcan handle the majority, if not all, ofthese ingestion formats. During theingestion, files are preprocessed into aform that is optimal for the transcod-ing stage. This can mean breakingdown or demuxing files into essenceformats. From this, mezzanine streamscan be made from the source media;these are optimal for transcoding.

IndexingWhile ingestion creates the assets

in the repository, indexing - thenext step - creates the metadatathat is attached to those assets. Viaindexing, all media -specific meta -data (i.e. file length, frame rate, co-dec, etc.) is pulled out. With meta -data being a big portion of the file -based communication process, thebest software solutions are thosethat offer a means to easily managethe data and allow for changes to be

easily made. Many software plat-forms offer catalog management,which allows for all items associatedwith a file (a thumbnail view, a pre-view version, the master) to be pack-aged and delivered along with meta -data throughout the workflow alongwith the ability to search by any ofthese connected items.

Quality controlpretranscode

Before starting the transcodingprocess, the file needs to be checkedto make sure that all elements of theingested file are correct, such as theframe size and the bit rate, or therewill be issues later on. There are twoways quality control can be per-formed. One is through an external orWeb -based program that can checkthe policies set for the project. A sec-ond option would be to use a softwareprogram that can be integrated intothe workflow. The amount of timeyou have for this process is going tohelp determine which option worksbest for a particular workflow.

TranscodingAll audio, image, closed -captioning

and subtitle processing happens in

the transcoding phase. Transcodingcan take place all within the softwareplatform or within a combinationof software and external hardware.Many transcoding software plat-forms now include audio and videoprocessing, which were typicallysolely found in hardware previously.Because the audio and video process-ing is now in the software, this allowsmultiple transcoding processes to goon simultaneously within the plat-form, which can speed up the pro-cess, particularly when working witha large number of files.

For those looking to use a com-bination of hardware and softwareprocessors, transwrapping (alsocalled transmuxing) is another op-tion. With transwrapping, thesource file is ingested, and the videoand audio are demuxed into the es-sence streams. This allows either thevideo or the audio to be processedwithin the platform; then both aremuxed back together, and the tran-swrapped file can be processed usinghardware processors.

Another feature to consider is theability to assemble one or more assetsinto the final product for distribu-tion. One common scenario wherethis feature would be used is to stitcha black slug, with a promotional in-terstitial, with the master asset (mov-ie, TV show, etc.), with a trailing in-terstitial, and finally with a trailingblack slug. Some developers also offermultitrack assembly; this can be usedas a basic nonlinear editor so that dif-ferent takes of the same project can beput together.

Along with the software and whatprocesses are handled within the plat-form, another factor to consider is theactual transcoding process being usedand how the content is being distrib-uted throughout the server. Somesoftware distributes transcodingtasks across the transcoding farm, ascapacity becomes available. Thougheffective, this can limit the speedat which a file can be converted. Asecond option is grid transcoding,which allows source content to be


BUIDING A FILE -BASED WORKFLOW

transcoded in parallel across all avail-able transcoding resources, and canspeed up the transcoding process.

Quality controlpost-transcode

While the transcode may have al-ready been completed, it doesn't al-ways guarantee a conforming file.Similar to the quality control pre-transcode, this stage is where thetranscoded file is validated. Like qual-ity control testing pretranscode, thiscan also be performed either by anexternal program or one within thesoftware platform.

PublishingThe publishing step is where the

transcoded files and metadata are tak-en into the repository and packagedfor delivery. Publishing doesn't touchthe actual media file, but it may putthe files into some special directory

structure or rename them so they areproperly noted for output.

DistributionThe second to last step of the process

is distribution, which takes the gener-ated files, the transcoded files and pos-sibly the metadata, and pushes themout to a file server somewhere. Then,the files could be posted to a website,sent to an online cable provider, madeavailable to an online music downloadvehicle such as iTunes for distributionand purchase, or to online video ser-vices such as Hulu.

NotificationEven though there is a lot of soft-

ware involved in a file -based work-flow, things never happen in a vac-uum. The final stage, which is no-tification, can either be handled byhumans or by an automated process.For example, this could mean simply

sending an e-mail, sending a messagevia a Web service or a notificationsystem within the software platformtelling the final user that the files arethere. The amount of people utilizingthe files and their general proximitywill determine the best solution.

Clearly, a file -based workflow is acombination of old practices and new.Software allows much of the processto now be automated, but there willalways be a human element requiredfor the workflow. An example is drop-ping a file out of one piece of softwareand loading up another piece of soft-ware, transcoding it and putting it inanother folder. Having a better un-derstanding of the various elementsinvolved in a file -based workflow willhelp you create better results for yourprojects and give you the ability tobetter manage your content. BE

Kirk Marple is president and chief softwarearchitect of RadiantGrid Technologies.

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BudgetInternetstreamingA Colorado broadcaster targetsApple devi.BY SID GUEL

s broadcasters oo or new ways to increase audience and revenue, send-ing video to mobile receivers looks attractive. Mobile device data trafficis growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 268 percent. Thesefactors encouraged one Colorado broadcaster to begin broadcasting alive media stream to the Internet and to smart phones. On Dec. 14,

2009, KCXP-LP (TV Aspen Network) became the first local TV sta-tion to broadcast 24/7 to the Apple iPhone.

The initial goal was to broadcast the station's OTA signal live,or semi -live, to the Internet and smart phones. Live streaming to the Internet has beenaround for several years and is an established technology. Broadcasting to a smartphone, however, is newer and more complex.


IT & DIGITAL WORKFLOW BOOT CAMPJune 22-23 at the New Yorker HotelBuild, manage and improve digital workflow throughout your facility!

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FEATUREBUDGET INTERNET STREAMING

The business modelSome broadcasters continue to

question the business model ofbroadcasting live to the Internet orto smart phones, and perhaps forgood reason. The revenue and au-dience gains are unclear. Even so,Marcos Rodriguez, the station'sowner and general manager, decidedto give the technology a try.

With less than $30,000, Rodriguezacquired the needed hardware andsoftware to create an H.264 IP trans-port stream for smart phone M3U8protocols and a variety of VC -1 fileformats for live Internet streaming.

The monthly ISP and CDN servicefees are currently around $1500. Evenif costs increase as more users begin ac-cessing the content, Rodriguez sees hisoverall investment as remarkably small.

The project teamRodriguez hired Wayne Brenengen

of Waymo Engineering to direct theproject. Additional IT consulting

TV AspenNetwork

(#,

InternetSilverlight

Adobe Flash/ -----!Microsoft Silverlight

1

Encoder

SD -SDI, analog

InternetFlash

support came from Devon Vaughnof the CDN company Liquid Broad-cast and Kathy McVey of the ISPEverwave (a TV Aspen Networksister company). Inlet Technologiesprovided hardware and software.The system's basic block diagram isshown in Figure 1.

The media output formatThe network delivers a variety of

resolution levels for smart phonesand live Internet streaming. The twomost common formats are Micro-soft's Silverlight Smooth and Adobe'sFlash. Each format has advantages,but the choice of which to use is leftto the viewer.

TV Aspen Network delivers twotypes of resolution levels of M3U8for smart phones. Because the iPhonenormally connects using a 3G -GSMcellular network, the signal must besupplied in a compatible transportformat. When the smart phone isconnected to the Internet via Wi-Fi,

3Mb/s dual -T1 connection

Smart phone

Figure 1.The KCXP-LP off -air signal is first encoded in three formats: Adobe Flash, MicrosoftSilverlight and M3U8 for smart phones. It is delivered to a local ISP and then a CDN, whichfeeds multiple carriers and the Internet.

a higher -resolution M3U8 stream isavailable for smart phone viewing.

Why Apple?The design team researched the

marketplace and chose Apple'siPhones and iPads over other smartphones and mobile broadcast tech-nologies for one significant reason:More than 60 percent of all Internetdata traffic going to smart phones isgoing to iPhones, iPod Touches andiPads.

The iPhone's M3U8 file format isunique in the sense that it is actuallya playlist of video segments that areabout 10 seconds long. The M3U8format requires video stream packetsto be cut up into segments that areplayed out in sequence on the iPhone.To the viewer, the sequential playlistof video segments appears as a con-tinuous video stream.

The encoderThe IP encoder handles SD-SDI

video and analog audio, convertingthe stream into multiple IP stream-ing formats. Being able to outputseveral formats simultaneously is aworkflow benefit.

The ISPSpecifying and configuring an ISP

network for live video streaming iscritical. The network relies on a dedi-cated dual -T1 link, which is separatefrom the station's business network.The configuration includes two Tilines and an exclusive T1 router tohandle the encode stream going to theCDN provider. This keeps other traf-fic off the network and avoids con-gestion. The network's cost is about$1000 per month.

The CDNThe CDN provider is in Fort

Collins, CO. While there were severalCDN companies available, the teamselected a local vendor for more per-sonal attention. The station sends a3Mb/s stream from Aspen to Denver.From Denver, the CDN contractswith other carriers to transport


FEATUREBUDGET INTERNET STREAMING

the stream to Dallas, where the livestream can be accessed by nationaland international users.

The biggest challengeThere are a number of issues that

must be addressed when broadcast-ing to any smart phone. They includebandwidth optimization, produc-tion workflow, the ISP and the CDN.Other issues that have to be consid-ered include the type of compressionto use and any resulting latency. Thebiggest challenge turned out to bebalancing data rate against optimalvideo imaging.

Other mobile platformsThere are other mobile platforms.

The Open Mobile Video Coalition(OMVC) just released a paper sup-porting the ATSC-M/H standard. Evenso, waiting for other mobile broadcasttechnologies and standards to roll out

was not feasible for the TV AspenNetwork. Team leaders thought othertechnologies were still being tested andhad an unclear future. In addition, theteam thought that the ATSC systemwas too expensive for its application.

Waiting for othermobile broadcasttechnologies and

standards wasnot feasible for TVAspen Network.

The end resultAt the end of this project, TV

Aspen Network had a spectacularvideo stream for website and smartphone M3U8 access. The 1.4Mb/sFlash stream can be viewed at media.tvaspen.mobilflashhilindex.html. The

Silverlight stream can be found at me-dia.tvaspen.mobi/smooth/index.html.For those with Apple devices, the linkcan be found at media.tvaspen.mobiliPhone/streaml. m3u8.

The bottom lineThere are large companies work-

ing to develop new technology stan-dards for broadcasting to mobiledevices. Public acceptance of thistechnology, however, is not yet clear.The Apple smart phone and Internetstreaming applications are off -the -shelf technologies that exist today.There are numerous CDN and en-coding companies that can providecost-effective solutions for smallerstations. As TV Aspen Network isdiscovering, new ideas can workwith proper planning - even if itrequires breaking new ground. BE

Sid Guel is the president and founder ofBroadcast Automation Consulting.

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How social media

is redefining

broadcasting

62 broadcastengin?er,ng.corn I May 2020

With the convergenceof broadband, broad-casting and infor-mation technology,

differen7 networks now support allforms ic.' communication and media,such as voice, video, computing andgames. Connectivity and communi-cation bols and devices are increas-ingly aN.ailable and affordable for alarge aLdience; as a result, controlof communication media is shiftingaway from the domain of the mediaand communication companies andtoward :he more open Internet com-munication platform. All this hasplaced production of media such asimages, words, video and audio inthe hands of a significant fraction ofthe world's population. It's a funda-mental shift in human communica-tion behavior toward participatingand sharing - the great switch frompush to pull.


FEATUREHOW SOCIAL MEDIA IS REDEFINING BROADCASTING

introductionMost of the media over the last de-

cade was produced by professionalsand transmitted from a tower, distrib-uted over a cable system, or beameddirectly from satellite. It was a worldin which conversations took placewith just one other person, or with agroup, by broadcasting the same mes-sage to everyone in the group. Thosedays are over, never to return.

information via the Internet.More and more people are be-

coming connected. The majority ofhouseholds in developed countrieshave Internet access, and the numberof Internet users in emerging econo-mies is growing rapidly. At the sametime, data connectivity speeds haveincreased significantly, while the costsof connectivity and storage have de-clined drastically. With better, cheaper

The media landscape as we knewit, where large organizations were

controlling channels, is increasinglyslipping away. This trend is related to thewidespread social media phenomenon.

The media landscape as we knewit, where large organizations werecontrolling the channels, is increas-ingly slipping away. This trend is re-lated to the widespread social mediaphenomenon, which is a reflectionin two long-term underlying trendsin communication:

A shift in the control of commu-nication media, from the proprietarydomain of the traditional providers tothe open Internet; and A shift in communication pat-terns, from one-to-one and one -to -many to many -to -many, collaborativecommunication. This entails sharingvideos, photos and other multimediacontents that substantially enrich theuser experience.

Shift in communicationmedia control

The shift in the control of commu-nication media is the result of com-munication becoming increasinglydigital. All media gets digitized, andthe Internet increasingly becomesthe mode of carriage for all media.Phone calls, magazines, movies andthe like are all migrating to the Inter-net. Media is increasingly becomingubiquitous and a means of coordinat-ing information, whether it's news,opinions, thoughts, audio, images orvideo, because everyone can share

technologies and multimedia tools,availability of Web 2.0 software, andgreater use of broadband and wirelessnetworks, social media are becomingever -more viable platforms for com-munication and media services, andconsumers are responding eagerly.

Shift in communicationpatterns

Traditional broadcasting and inter-personal communication, usually viathe telephone, do not provide collab-

Collaborative Gated communities suc i as:

Cyworld SK Telecom Verizon FiOS Raketu Mixi

orative group capabilities. The avail-ability and convergence of mobilecommunication and the Internet arenow creating a platform that enablesgroup communication encompassingmany participants through sharedspaces in virtually any geographic lo-cation. The Internet is the first medi-um in history that has native supportfor groups and conversation at thesame time and gives us the many -to -many pattern.

Media has become a mass of con-versations, based on two-way commu-nication, not on traditional one-wayinformation push models. And theviral distribution of information is fastand on a large scale. In addition, themembers of the former audience cannow also be producers, not only con-sumers, because the same equipment- computers, phones and the like -enables everyone to both consume andproduce. This is a huge change in themedia landscape we are used to, and afundamental shift in the way we com-municate and organize media.

The emerging medialandscape

The combination of shifts in com-munications control and patterns isredefining the competitive landscape,

Shared social space such as:

Facebook YouTube Twitter MySpace Digg

00oti

Traditional broadcasting b Open and free such as:such as:

Hulu Terrestrial broadcaste-s BBC !PlayerTelecom operators Joost IPTV providers Apple TV Satellite broadcasters Babelgum

One-to-one,one -to -many

Cable companies

Provider -controlled Communication environment Open

Internet

Figure 1. The future media landscape is shaped by shifts in communication controland patterns.



giving rise to new business models. (SeeFigure 1.) In contrast with traditionalmodels, emerging models are based onopen platforms that support many -to -many and collaborative patterns.

Traditional broadcastingThe traditional broadcasting

space, characterized by one-way in-formation push models, has been thedomain of broadcasters and cableoperators. It is the largest segmentin terms of revenue and subscribers,but is showing signs of slow growth,or even decline, as other models takehold. While these providers claim thelargest number of subscribers, theusers of open Internet platforms aregrowing at significantly faster rates.

Many telecom operators are alsofocusing on offering TV and videoservices. Most of them are invest-ing in IPTV, where video content istransmitted using the Internet Pro-tocol (IP) over the closed networkof an IPTV provider who has con-figured it so that viewers can receiveonly the provider's TV channels.Until now, many operators have fo-cused on offering the same TV chan-nels and the same type of contentas their competitors offer. But sometelecom companies have taken it fur-ther, for example by competing onexclusive content, or offering easeof use by providing features such asan electronic program guide (EPG),which allows individual users in thehousehold to set up a personalizedTV guide with favorite programsand settings.

Currently, most IPTV services arebased on subscriptions and video -on -demand (VOD) charge, thoughmany telcos realize that advertis-ing might become an increasinglyimportant source of revenue. Still,many operators see offering TV andvideo services mainly as a necessityto combat the trend of losing sub-scribers to cable companies, whichare increasingly offering VoIP aspart of triple -play bundles. In 2009,IBM's Institute for Business Value(IBV) conducted a global Telecom

Executives Survey. One of the ques-tions referred to the company's rev-enue expectations from traditionaland nontraditional services andpackages, and the revenue expecta-tions from IPTV are relatively low.

Parties in this domain provide theseservices for free or at low cost and assuch threaten the profitable servicesof traditional providers. Revenue ispreliminarily based on advertising.Advertising is becoming increasingly

Revenue contribution: =Above 10% ME Below 10%

33% 30% 27% 9fi°/

100

80

60

67% 70% 74°4

40

20

0Traditional A Tiered broadbandper minute based on

voice speed/quality

Mixed pricebundles including"all -you -can -eat"

4%

86%

J.

10% 4%

36°

Analytics to reducechum, improvecross/upsell

Triple/quad play

lPTV(subNcriptions

and advertising)

Internetcommunications(e.g. VoIP, IM,

social networks)

Figure 2. Relative contributions of models/services to revenues over the next fiveto 10 years. Revenue expectations from IPTV are relatively low.

(See Figure 2.) The prioritized IPTVinvestments suggest they are in par-ticular critical in the defence of tra-ditional telco services.

Open and freeThis model offers alternatives to

traditional broadcasting platformssuch as cable and satellite, but in par-ticular challenges IPTV. Parties in thisspace include Internet TV providerslike Hulu, Babelgum and Joost. Varia-tions of Internet TV include BBC'siPlayer and Apple TV.

important to fund content, as con-sumers do not expect to pay for allcontent. The results of the IBV's 2009Digital Consumer Survey indicatedthat in all the countries involved, themajority of those surveyed were will-ing to view advertising before or aftera good -quality, free video broadcast.(See Figure 3.)

Internet TV has the same look andfeel as IPTV but is delivered over thepublic Internet; in fact, it's deliveredover the top (OTT) of existing tele-com networks, getting a free ride. As

100

80

Would watch advertising before or after quality, free contentWould pay to avoid advertising 83%

69% 70%

62% 64%

60

Cr)

0_ 4031%

38% 36%30%

2017% I

Australia Germany India Japan UK

Figure 3. Global users interested in online video ad -supported vs. paid contentonline



such, Internet TV is not a controlledenvironment and cannot guaranteequality of services. Obviously, Inter-net TV is still in the embryonic phase,and many players are attempting tocreate a market for themselves. Inparticular, when Internet TV movesto the TV screen, it can pose a bigthreat to IPTV.

It is all about getting Internetvideo onto the TV screen. TheApple TV initiative, mentioned ear-lier, illustrates this. Apple TV makesit possible to stream videos, music,podcasts and the like from any com-puter with iTunes to a widescreen

participation and personalization,usually by developing applicationstores and based on the businessmodels depicted in Figure 4. Thethree types of business models re-fer to the alternative approaches forapplication stores:

Applications defined, developedand hosted/managed by the telecomoperator. This includes TV and Web2.0 convergence (including forumsand real-time messaging), social TV(including recommendations/com-munication among consumers), me-dia management and sharing (e.g.sharing family photos and videos).

Community of developers,pro -consumers """'"* Open community

AppStore/revenue-sharing model

Applications developed bypartners but hosted

by the service provider

Applications developedand hosted by theservice provider

Commercial partiesapplications, e.g. major

brand TV presence

Scope of technical/partnering capabilities

Service provider applications such as mediamanagement and sharing, social TV,

TV chat, family calendaring, etc.

Figure 4. Alternative approaches for application stores

high -definition TV set. Increasingly,consumer electronics manufacturersare working on developments to en-able Internet access in televisions. Itis only a question of time until Inter-net access is a standard feature.

Gated communitiesThis model is the domain of tra-

ditional providers; it is still a "walledgarden" approach, but one that fa-cilitates many -to -many communica-tion and collaboration services thatwill appeal to users with a prefer-ence for the more secure and reliablecommunication environments.

Some telecom operators havestarted initiatives to move to thisspace, taking optimum advantageof the possibilities that IPTV of-fers with regard to interactivity,

This model enables the concept ofthe pro -consumer.

Verizon is an example of a U.S. ser-vice provider moving to this space. Ithas developed TV -based widgets forFacebook, Twitter and other featuresin an attempt to make its FiOS IPTV amore fully -integrated TV and onlinecontent experience. Verizon has alsobeen testing the ability to stream on-line videos from YouTube. Moreover,the company has opened its widgetplatform application programminginterface to outside developers, andits "Widget Bazaar," offering down-loads of some of the applicationsthat result from the move to the opencommunity development space.

Now the question remains wheth-er telecom operators are seen as thelogical providers for consumers toturn to for online video services andother entertainment content. TheIBV 2009 Global Telecom ConsumerSurvey found that the majority ofconsumers are more likely to turn toInternet information providers likeGoogle for online video services andother entertainment content, withpay TV (cable and satellite) provid-ers as second, and telcos as third.(See Figure 5.) So far, the telcos seemto have been unable to establish

Increasingly, consumer electronicsmanufacturers are working on

developments to enable Internet accessin televisions. It is only a matter of time

until Internet access is a standard feature.

Applications defined and developedby a business partner, but hosted/managed by the telecom operator.This includes commercial partnerapplications, such as major brandTV presence (direct access to loyaltycards, promotions, how-to videos).

Applications developed by the opencommunity, using AppStores a laApple iPhone and based on a revenuesharing model. Applications are pro-vided bythecommunityofdevelopers.

themselves in the minds of consum-ers as key players in content and en-tertainment service.

Shared social spaceThe shared social space is the do-

main of players such as Facebook,YouTube, Digg and Twitter. Provid-ers in this space encourage participa-tion and contributions from every-one who is interested. They supportcollaboration and feedback over the



open Internet in the form of blogs,forums, wilds, voting, social networksand other social tools. Widespreadavailability and connectivity, as wellas communication tools/devices, en-able people to create and broadcasttheir own content, including images,words, video and audio.

These platforms put the power ofmedia in the hands of the people,transforming content consumers intocontent producers. And it continuesto expand through bookmarking,crowdsourcing, video sharing, socialwidgets and the like. Increased in-volvement from consumers improvesinformation of any kind.

We are increasingly in a landscapewhere media is global, social, ubiqui-tous and cheap. The days when mostof the media that was available forpublic assumption was produced byprofessionals are over. Former con-sumers are now producers. And thenetwork of relationships within theshared social space guarantees thatthey can talk directly with each oth-er. They are no longer disconnectedfrom each other.

As there are more amateurs than- professionals and the network grows,

the power of media is quickly shiftingvy from the editors, the publishers

anG' even governments, as was clearlyillustNed in the tumultuous daysafter th ',franian presidential electionin 2000 The Iranian government

was able to boycott the media elite,but not the news coming from socialmedia such as Facebook, Twitter andYouTube. The media was producedlocally, by amateurs and at such anincredible abundance that there wasno way of stopping it. The news rip-pled like wildfire.

Broadband and broadcastconvergence

Convergence of broadband andbroadcast is taking place, not indevices, which appear to be prolif-erating, but in the network, whereInternet protocols and Web technol-ogies are increasingly prevalent. TheInternet is becoming the dominant

services will grow as Internet datatraffic and mobile broadband con-sumptions soars. The success of siteslike YouTube, Facebook and Twitterbrings to light the social aspect ofvideo, which serves as a centerpiecefor social interaction and as a meansof expression.

Today, with the strong presence ofthe Internet, broadband and socialsoftware, the traditional roles of themedia elite are being challenged. Allthe aggregation, filtering, distribu-tion roles and the business modelsare changing. And social media arebecoming part of all media streams.The change is well stated by RupertMurdoch of News Corp.: "The new

"The new generation have a differentset of expectations about the kind ofcontent they will get, where they willget it from, and who they will get it

from. They want to control their media,instead of being controlled by it."

broadcasting platform of our civili-zation. Already 25 percent of humansare communicating and accessinginformation on the Web. Everydaymore people are connected, bothvia the fixed and the mobile Inter-net. The use of video and other data

80 768%

70 65%

60

50

40

30

20

10

0Internet

informationprovider

(e.g. Google)

42%

30%

Pay TVFrovider

(el. cable)

35%

29% 29%

Telecomprovider

42%

Socialnetworking

sites

NM All agesUnder 25

29%25%

Devicemanufacturer

(e.g. Nokia)

23%26%

Contentaggregator(e.g. Apple

iTunes)

Figure 5. A list of the pro'iders that consumers plan to turn to for online video andother entertainment content over the next five to seven years

generation have a different set of ex-pectations about the kind of contentthey will get, including when andhow they will get it, where they willget it from, and who they will get itfrom. They want control over theirmedia, instead of being controlledby it."

Media and communication com-panies will be subject to the disrup-tive force of openness and changinghuman communication behavior.They must take bold steps to remainan integral part of a changing land-scape. The combination of an oldmedia mind -set with the new mediaconsumer will ultimately result indisintermediation; companies have toadapt quickly to survive. The journeywill not be without risks, but the op-tion of doing nothing is a luxury fewcan afford. BE

Bob van den Dam is a globaltelecommunications industry leader atthe IBM Institute for Business Value.


APPLIED TECHNOLOGYNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

Stagetec's 3G audioembedderidemembedder

The new router card supports all SDI standards.BY RUSTY WAITE

Walk into any TV pro-duction or broad-cast facility today,and you're guaran-

teed to run across embedded audio.Whether for transmission, routingor archiving, it's pretty much thenorm to embed audio within thevideo signal. The main reasons forembedding audio, besides a reduc-tion in cabling, are:

Vastly simplified cabling as the videoand up to 16 channels of audio travelon one coax.

The need for audio and video toalways be in sync, especially in thedigital domain.

The fact that separate audio andvideo routers are not needed when theprogram is ready for transmission.

But that solves only the transportand storage of completed program-ming. To work with the audio dur-ing the production process, the audiochannels need to be separated fromthe video. Enter the embedding/de-embedding process.

Stagetec's NEXUS digital au-dio router system has a distributedmodular structure, intuitive con-trols and reliability. It offers a fullcontingent of audio and commu-nication interfaces and is typicallyfound in master control rooms,broadcast facilities, OB trucks andlive performance centers.

The XHDI-02 card is the second -generation HDI interface for the rout-er system. It is an audio embedder/de-embedder card for video signalscompliant with SMPTE 259M (SD),SMPTE 292M (HD) and SMPTE424M/425M (3G). There are a total of16 I/O audio channels at 24 bits con-forming to SMPTE 272M -AC (SD) orSMPTE 299M (HD/3G) standards.

The Stagetec XHDI-02 embedder/de-embedder card supports a number of audit)and video standards and interfaces with the company's NEXUS routers.

The primary functions of the cardare:

De -embedding. Any audio sig-nal can be extracted from the vid-eo stream and be routed on theaudio network. Embedding. Any audio signals onthe audio router system can be em-bedded into the video stream. Thegroups and channels to be writtenare freely selectable. Audio datafrom other blocks originally con-tained in the video stream are re-tained. Channels from the samegroup can be reapplied. Replacing. With regards to the nu-merous data structures possible inthe SMPTE specifications, the cardallows new audio to be written toexisting data structures. This willembed only the pure audio data.

This mode provides a high decree ofcompatibility even for non standardstreams, for example, if on' 7 two au-dio channels are defined for a group. Deletion. Audio groups, already con-tained in the video sig-ial or markedfor deletion are entirely deletedor overwritten.

De -embedded audio is availablefor routing across the whole routernetwork. It can be routed channelby channel to any combination ofaudio outputs (MADI, AES, analog,TDIF, etc.) and 'o any other XHDIcard for embedding. De -embed-ded audio from an XHDI can berouted to an XDSP audio process-ing card for EQ, filtering, mixing,etc., and then. returned to the cardfor re -embedding.

The card ,ccepts synchronous and



asynchronous HD/3G video signals.Sample rate converters (SRCs) onthe card will match the audio rout-er system's clock if different. Thecard also has a special function inHD/3G mode in that it time -aligns

is onboard DSP that is available forprocessing (gain, noise -shaping) onall audio channels.

There's a direct link from the cardto the Dolby E Encoder (XDEE) andDecoder (XDED) cards within the

The card accepts synchronous andasynchronous HD/3G video signals and is

available with BNC or fiber-optic ports.

the audio blocks in embedding/de-embedding modes. For greater flex-ibility, the card is available in BNCor fiber-optic (LC, single -mode)versions.

The card offers video pass throughwith a video delay of zero to 15frames for SD and zero to eightframes for HD/3G if needed. There

audio router system to embed andde -embed asynchronous audio andnonaudio signals. The card has beentested by Dolby Labs and has receiveditscertification.

A two -channel metadata em-bedder/de-embedder is compliantwith SMPTE 2020-1 and 2020-2standards. The metadata signals are

routable through the network. Thereis an adjustable audio delay of Omsto 170ms at 48kHz for the transmis-sion channel.

The NEXUS system is extremelyreliable and flexible because of its dis-tributed architecture. The XHDI-02card is a complement to the full ar-ray of interfaces available to the digi-tal router system. It has already beeninstalled in multiple facilities aroundthe world, including ESPN headquar-ters in Bristol, CT. BE

Rusty Waite is president of NorthAmerican operation at SalzbrennerStagetec Mediagroup.

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GraniteSTOR abcSANSmallTree's iSCSI-based shared storage technology

provides functionality and scalability.

In industries working with largefiles, storage is critical to maxi-mizing workflow and productiv-ity - thus, the growth of stor-

age technology over the past decade.However, with this growth, two issueshave arisen. The first is a combinationof applications requiring differentstorage elements to work, preventinga one -size -fits -all solution, and thesecond issue is scalability limitations.

The lack of a one -size -fits -all stor-age technology to date has handcuffedorganizations that need to use multi-ple applications to complete projects.While Final Cut Pro will work withany storage technology, Avidrequires the use of its owndedicated storage technol-ogy, and Pro Tools requiresdirect attached storage.This forces organizationsto consider implementingmultiple storage technologyequipment throughout theirfacility in order to successfully meetthe requirements of specific projects.Obviously, this can be cost prohibi-tive for small to midsize productionand post -production facilities.

Scalability has also become an issuefacilities must consider when exam-ining storage technology. With two tothree editors, it's not a serious prob-lem to have a FireWire drive on everydesk. If you've got 10 editors or more,however, using FireWire drives on ev-ery desk can be problematic, with toomany drives to track projects and thelikelihood of disk failure causing seri-ous problems.

Under the hoodGraniteSTOR abcSAN, iSCSI-

based shared storage technologyfrom Small Tree, was built to provideeconomical, functional and easy -to -

BY STFVF MODICA

manage shared and direct storagefor facilities that require flexibilityand scalability. It provides robust(greater than 600MB/s), consistentperformance over Ethernet net-works while offering optimal cost -

efficiency. The full -featured solutionoffers an intuitive GUI with single -

pane class management for userswho wish to manage RAID sets, vol-umes, targets and shares from onescreen. Deployable as either a NASor a SAN, it is available in a 12 -drive( 12TB or 24TB) configuration.

The shared storage technologycan act as both a server or a direct

GraniteSTOR abcSAN is deployable as either a NAS ora SAN solution and is available in 6TB, 12TB or 24TBconfigurations.

attached device. So, if users set it upwith half of their storage exposed asiSCSI targets, it can work as a timemachine system, acting as a server sopeople can back up to it or as a ProTools system. At the same time, theother half of the system is serving outbandwidth and storage so that userscan run Final Cut Pro. With Mac OS10.5 and through some of the im-provements in the network stack, thetechnology provides 100MB/s overEthernet back to the client.

As NAS running over Ethernet, thetechnology is more scalable than Xsanbecause if the NAS server is full, us-ers simply add more servers and putthem on the network so that all of theusers can see them. Files can be trans-ferred easily between servers, andeach server brings more bandwidth,more CPU and more memory to the

storage equation. The only piece ofthe entire storage infrastructure thatneeds to scale is the Ethernet switch.This is by far the most inexpensivething to scale, and large switches areeasy to come by. Now with Xsan, youcan have only one metadata server.Once users have hit a certain num-ber of nodes hammering away on themetadata server, it's not going to pro-vide optimal speed, and users can'tmake it any bigger.

Linux leads the wayThe technology is based on embed-

ded Linux, which is efficient, espe-cially in the 2.6.27 and abovekernels. Small Tree found thatLinux will outperform a Macserver because a lot of peopleare using it and making opensource improvements. So,when users combine Linuxwith inexpensive hardware,fast Intel processors, fast Intel

networking cards and a nice GUI toconfigure it all, they're leveraging ef-ficient and inexpensive technology.

Moving 110MB/s over an EthernetGigabit link, Small Tree's iSCSI soft-ware was built to be lean and mean.It's easy to use; editors simply clickand type in the IP address of theirRAID, and off they go. It'll be thereautomatically when they log in, andit'll mount when they reboot.

The 12 -drive configuration offersinexpensive access to RAID 5. Whileonly last year people were buying10Gb to do uncompressed HD, bysaturating the two Gigabit links onthe abcSAN 12 -drive, 10 to 15 clientscan work simultaneously with no dif-ficulties. Additionally, clients can nowedit HD over Gigabit Ethernet. BE

Steve Modica is CTO for Small Tree.


BROADCAST ENGINEERING:B.E. IN r HE rkNOW!

Engineering

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TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSITIONNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

Remote monitoringLearn solutions for remotely diagnosing problems

in your broadcast facility.

cable company says yoursignal is horrible and thatis why it looks like a 1950sstation when its customers

tune in. What do you do? It is tempt-ing to say, "It looks good leaving here:'I remember experienced engineers atone station I worked at long ago sayingthe problem is "west of Denver," whichI was told was a remnant of the timewhen microwave circuits converged inATT long line offices in major hubs,making it possible to isolate to a region,but often not a specific location. In the

BY JOHN LUFF

limitations, particularly if the pub-lic network is used to transport thedata. Latency, the delay betweenwhen the event/sample happens andwhen the report of that arrives atthe remote monitoring point, is themost serious issue with monitoringover a WAN, particularly the publicnetwork. When the Internet is busy,particularly in peak times after schoolhours, generally latency increases,and throughput on any last -mile linkdecreases. So long as the latency re-mains low and throughput remains

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Harris' CCS Navigator offers device configuration and various levels of control andmonitoring for broadcast networks by using a binary open source protocol that providesreal-time parametric adjustment and enhanced alarm management and correlation.

world where mountains of data can begathered in seconds from seeminglyimpossible locations (falcon cams cometo mind), is it not possible to remotelymonitor and diagnose problems? Ofcourse it is, given the right tools, suf-ficient bandwidth, a clear definition ofthe data or pictures you want to keeptrack of and how much it is worth.

Limitations of monitoringRemote monitoring comes with

high enough to allow quality (nopun intended) monitoring, there isno problem using a public circuit.Security is a separate concern, butassuming you use a secure VPN tocarry the traffic, you will likely be safefrom digital prowlers. However, videomonitoring is a bandwidth hog, anda few missed frames here and therecan be a major operational headache.For instance, how do you determinethat the video being monitored is not

dropping frames when the monitor-ing circuit is failing? Second, in ef-forts to reduce bandwidth and makeservice possible on links with packetjitter (variations in latency), we of-ten choose lower -bandwidth codecs,which usually require longer to codethe content. This makes monitor-ing a live feed more difficult, akin towatching a satellite feed of the signaland perhaps much worse latency thana satellite's one-fourth of a second.There are some low latency optionsthat can be strategically important incases like remotely monitoring mastercontrol output in a centrali7Pd opera-tions approach.

Where the monitor circuit is onlyintended to show a representation ofthe content and quality can be lower,it is easier to get low latency. Usingfewer samples (CIF, Q -CIF), reduc-ing audio bit depth below 16 bits persample and using long -GOP cod-ing reduce bandwidth. Insidiously,using long GOP actually increaseslatency. As we move inexorably to-ward all HD content in distributionand delivery to everything except cellphones, picking the right codec andhaving sufficient bandwidth are be-coming more complicated.

Monitoring solutionsThere are monitoring options that

can utilize features added to other-wise ordinary products, like distri-bution amplifiers. The features caninclude the obvious parameters likepresence and absence of sound andpicture, captions, and levels. These re-mote monitoring probes often returnthumbnails of the video at a low bitrate and simple alarms.

A more powerful strategy is tocombine the basic monitoring func-tions with an extended capability that


TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSITIONNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

takes signals requiring more thoroughevaluation, as in the case of an alarmcondition, and switch the signal to astreaming media encoder or devicewith more complete analysis capabil-ity. Remote monitoring might thus beattached to a routing switcher givingaccess to many different points in thesystem. This requires good knowledge

both the overview and the tools nec-essary to fully understand a failure.

A clever use of good technology isto connect a modest multi -image sys-tem to a streaming encoder to bringback many signals all at once. Qualitywill be lower than individual signals,but if you have control over the multi -image system, you can switch it into a

As we move inexorably toward all HDcontent in distribution and delivery toeverything except cell phones, pickingthe right codec and having sufficient

bandwidth are becoming more complicated.

of the system being remotely moni-tored as well as a remote control capa-bility. This monitoring by exceptionhas been appropriately termed "leanback, lean forward" by one manu-facturer. When the alarms go off, theoperator looks at a generalized screenshowing status on many devices.When a failure occurs, the device ofinterest is brought forward, and theoperator leans in to see the detail andwork the solution to the problem.When the monitoring and control aretightly integrated with a sophisticatedmulti -image display system, this canbe particularly effective at providing

single channel mode when appropri-ate. The ability to get an overview of aremote system is particularly valuablein centralized operations.

There are less expensive optionswith stand-alone modules that peekat signals and report the results overlow bandwidth. This is great for look-ing at your signal at a distant cableheadend, or the other end of an STL,and can use dial up or Internet con-nection when it is available.

Don't forget that today we mighthave no picture at all when lookingat the output of a compressed link oroff -air receiver, yet the data may be

arriving just fine. MPEG transportstream analysis is another tool thatcan be crucial to troubleshooting adevice you can't get in front of. Syntaxand statistics lead to effective under-standing of issues with compressedlinks. When combined with informa-tion about the transport medium it-self, for instance remote ATSC signalanalysis, you can get a complete setof tools that allow a technician withgood understanding of the symptomsto properly diagnose problems with-out leaving home.

Lastly, SNMP offers non -picture re-lated data that fills in a complete pic-ture. Knowing the status of fans, pow-er supplies, disk systems and even theair-conditioning system in the remotefacility helps you understand a com-plex and confusing picture of a systemyou can't put your hands on. BE

John Luff is a broadcast technologyconsultant.

ElSend questions and comments to:[email protected]

National Broadband Plan'Visit our Web siteto read more aboutthe FCC's strategy.

www.broadcastengineering.com

Curious? See you at infocomm, Booth C5978RIIIRIEDEL

The Communications People

1201RIEDEL

MEDITMET

MEDIORNETRe -defining Fibre -Optic networks

Riedel Commuiications Inc. 1721 Victory Blvd Glendale, CA 91201 USA www.nedel.net


NEW PRODUCTSNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

Altera 28nm FPGA

FPGA features embedded HardCopyBlocks that leverage HardCopy ASICcapabilities to harden standard or logic -intensive functions such as interface pro-tocols, application -specific functions andproprietary custom IP; offers faster timeto market for designs while reducing costand power; integrates 28Gb/s transceiversto enable the implementation of next -generation designs on a single chip with-out the need for external components;partial configuration allows designers toreconfigure part of the FPGA while othersections remain running.

408-544-7000; www.altera.com

Chrosziel DSW 500 Adaptor

11"1111111--40-411.111111,

Direct swing -away system provides a piv-oting radius of 100mm for comfortablelens change; can be used with all Chro-sziel Sunshades and MatteBoxes, partic-ularly with select Min HD/SD format,1/3in HD format and compact 35mm/full -format chip MatteBoxes, as well asproducts using the 15mm standard.

+49 89 90 10 910; www.chrosziel.com

Electrorack HydroCool-IT

Passive, water-cooled, rear -door heat ex-changer is designed to cool up to 30kWper rack; relies on servers to push airthrough the low -resistance coil; rear -doordesign allows the unit to retrofit to exist-ing installations and typically doesn't re-quire rearrangement of enclosures, withtransition frames attaching directly to theenclosure housing the door that containsthe heat exchanger; works in conjunctionwith a dedicated chiller or a coolant dis-tribution unit (CDU) that connects to themain building chilled water loop; CDUcreates an isolated secondary cooling loopminimizing liquid volume and control-ling water pressure and flow; providesintelligent monitoring; interfaces withbuilding management systems and Webmanagement tools for high reliability.

800-433-6745; www.electrorack.com

ComNet FVT/FVR 10D1E series

Fiber-optic transmitters and receiv-ers support 10 -bit, digitally encoded,RS -250C, short -haul -quality video, se-rial data and 10/100 Ethernet on a singleoptical fiber; offers users a solution forcurrent requirements where high -qualityvideo is needed; provides for future ex-pansion and upgrades that will necessi-tate the use of Ethernet.

203-796-5300; www.comnet.net

ARG ElectroDesign

Gekko Technology kisslite3200K and 5600K white light source isa lightweight, portable LED ring lightsystem; works with handheld cameras,mounted on a stabilization system or ona crane or dolly; provides high -qualityfill without compromising the dominantor ambient light source; dual- or triple -filter staging are available if required; canmount directly on most lenses as well as15mm and 19mm bars.

+44 8448 005326www.gekkotechnology.com

Axon Digital Design SynView

Multiviewers can handle multiple indi-vidual selectable UMD and tally overlays,as well as multiple audio metering andmetadata overlay; are modular and ex-pandable per four inuts; current productportfolio contains multiviewers up to 32channels of 3Gb/s-HD-SDI or HD -SDIin 2RU.

301-854-6557; www.axon.tv

Media Combiner 1900EX

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Broadcast network adapter is designed for the transmission of real-time video-over-IPsources, as well as DVB-ASI and 2Mb/s G.703 signals over carrier Ethernet and privatemicrowave circuits in ring and meshed topologies; 32Gb nonblocking Ethernet switchwith fast redundant -ring technology enables users to attain redundancy switchingspeeds of less than 5ms per link with no risk of generating broadcast storms; featuresQos, CoS, factory configuration of dedicated ring and IGMP ports, and enhanced Layer2 features for easy installation and operation.

203-376-3372; www.arg.co.uk

Bridge Technologies VideoBRIDGE v4.5

Software update introduces new fault tracking capabilities and increased alarm filteringcapabilities in the VBC; increases clarity of data presentation for easy monitoring oflarge volumes of data in multichannel installations with more graphical representationsof events in time; features ultrafast searching using a comprehensive range of criteria,enhanced large thumbnail view for instant visual feedback of service output in moni-toring overview displays, graphical alarm view for instant, overview of alarms for upto 120 channels per screen with thumbnails and up to 300 in stream view, and alarmscheduling in the VBC, which provides the ability to "wash" alarm events where channelsharing and content switching provoke alarms.

+47 22 38 51 00; www.bridgetech.tv

Media 100 Media 100 Suite Version 1.5

Editing system upgrade includes the ability to create, save and export presets; offersimproved media management capabilities, AVCHD import using ClipWrap, faster andmore powerful multidip editing feature, Panasonic P2 frame rate support, and support forApple's ProRes 4444, LT and Proxy codecs, as well as for Intel and PowerPC-based Macs.

800-922-3220; www.media100.com



Gennum GN2010/GN2012

Clock and data recovery (CDR) family in-cludes three variants; GN2010E includesan EML driver; GN2010D includes aDML driver; both combine a dual 10GbCDR with a limiting amplifier and laserdriver as well as integrate the APC loop,reducing the need for external compo-nents; GN2012 is a dual 10G CDR withlimiting amplifier; all three provide retimesupport for 8Gb Fibre Channel, allowinga single device to support Fibre Channel,10Gb Ethernet and 0C-192 SONET; en-able a sub -1W, CDR -based, 10GigE SFP+module and a SONET-compliant SFP+module; use a 3.3V power supply; do notrequire a reference clock.

905-632-2996; www.gennum.com

MAXON CINEBENCH 11.5

Updated advanced hardware testingsuite assesses a computer's performancecapabilities; based on same technologyas CINEMA 4D; includes the ability tomore accurately test the industry's latesthardware, including systems with up to64 processor threads, and a more stream-lined interface; testing environment betterreflects the expectations on today's pro-duction demands; offers a tangible bench-mark that incorporates a user's commontasks within CINEMA 4D to measure theperformance of a system's processor andgraphics card under real -world circum-stances; available free via download; canbe used on Windows and Mac platforms.

805-376-3333; www.maxon.net

never.no Interactivity Suite

Array of software applications allows usersto influence a broadcast in real time andinteract with each other; enables mediaowners and advertisers to track consumersfrom medium to medium, communicat-ing individually with them and tailoringand optimizing each individual's contentand sponsor environment; includes In-teractivity Desk, which is a software toolfor on -air and off -air editorial control ofinteractive and participation formats inall media; reads various forms of viewercontribution data; enables the editor tomoderate, edit and sort it before submis-sion to the broadcast systems, blogs, Web,STB or IPTV middleware; suite also fea-tures Dynamic Content Scheduler, a Win-dows -based GUI for configuring, deploy-ing and scheduling interactive, automatedTV graphics.

917-680-4881; www.never.no

NextComputing Radius

IOWTurnkey solution combines the PC con-tent output and real-time Adobe Flashrendering capabilities of VidiGo Graphicswith NextComputing's all -in -one por-table workstation; features the necessaryhorsepower to perform live rendering ofFlash animations to HD -SDI output andan integrated display.

603-886-3874www.nextcomputing.com

()Connor CFF-1

Cine Follow Focus features a multifunc-tional, modular design that eliminates thehassle of juggling separate bridge platesas well as a single, easy -to -use snap -onbridge that clamps onto 15mm or 19mmstudio rod systems; integrates seamlesslywith existing accessories; swing arm canbe mounted on either side of the bridge;bridge can slide independently of the sup-port bridge dovetail, increasing mountingoptions for specialty setups; horizontalsliding adjustment mechanism enablesthe operator to locate the focus drivergear so the line of sight to the lens witnessmark is always clear.

818-847-8666; www.ocon.com

Omneon MediaTools

Utility suite is designed to provide simple,cost-effective, powerful functionality; in-cludes ClipTool Pro, a Windows -basedsoftware application that features aneasy -to -use GUI to monitor and controlplayout and record functionality for anOmneon Spectrum media server; pro-vides control for ingest, quality assuranceand playout operations with VTR -likecontrol panel.

408-585-5000; www.omneon.com

Boris FX Boris Job Slate

Apple Final Cut plug-in automatically cre-ates commercial slates based on XML filesreceived from the Ad -ID advertising iden-tification and management system; savesproduction time and reduces operatorerror by eliminating the need for manualtext entry with a standard text tool; fea-tures indude customizable text, custombackdrops, global adjustment of size andposition of text, and a watch folder to as-sist in locating XML files.

888-712-6747; www.borisfx.com

Radiall NSX series

Multipin rack and panel connector seriesincludes size 10 contact to complementlegacy size eight and size five range; of-fers greater density; available in standardcrimp termination and solder tails forprinted circuit card applications; new lay-out possibilities are coded as 13T13 with13 -contact size 10, 18T18 with 18 -contactsize 10 and 15T6Q2 with two -contact sizeeight, seven -contact size 16 and six -con-tact size 10; size 10 contact can be eitherconcentric twinax or triax type; size eightcan be coax, concentric twinax, triax orquadrax; size 16 contact is power.

480-682-9400; www.radiall.com

Schneider Optics Century 5 -Fitter Kit

Filter kit combines an easy -to -use filterholder and five Century 4in by 4in filters;holder attaches to the lens via an inter-changeable adapter ring, which screwsonto the threads at the lens front, andclips securely into place using a smooth,quick -release, spring -loaded mechanism;holder can be rotated to any angle, retaintwo filters and is compatible with DV andfilm cameras; filters slide into twin slotson the top and bottom of the system.

800-228-1254www.schneideroptics.com



Sencore TSM1770

liall1111M1111Transport stream monitor enables engi-neers to monitor compressed audio, videoand data services on any satellite network;supports ASI, SMPTE 310M, 8-VSB, QAMand Ethernet physical inputs; reportstransport stream status on the physicallayer, protocol and AV levels; monitorsquality of service parameters; delivers theresults in a straightforward way.

800-736-2673; www.sencore.com

Marshall Electronics V-LCD5O-HDMI

Lightweight, 5in, 800 x 480, camera -top/portable field monitor with HDMI offersstandard features, including a wide varietyof formats and markers, four user -config-urable, front -panel function buttons, RGBcheck field/field detect, RGB gain and biascontrol, false color and peaking filters, im-age flip, freeze frame, and HDMI auto colorspace and ratio detect; can be battery pow-ered in the field using four AA batteries orthe included power supply; bottom 1/4in-20 mount allows the unit to be mounted tomost DSLRs, cranes and jibs.

800-800-6608; www.lcdracks.com

V4x Social TV Apps VidessenceTools to deliver compelling interactive,video -rich media applications for mobile,Web and connected TV; can be used tocreate and schedule unique, interactivevideo sequences that can boost view-ing and community engagement whilegenerating revenues; revenue -generatingapps include contests, pools, quizzes orsweepstakes through opt -in forms, in -apppurchases and e -commerce links; offerthe ability to launch video boutiques withvideo sequences or live streaming includ-ing banner and companion ads, as well associal interaction among shoppers; allowviewers to fully participate in programswith various interactive widgets.

646-402-5941; www.v4x.com

Adtec Digital DTVGuide

Cloud -based, dynamic PSIP schedulingand delivery service offers multiformat,electronic program scheduling and de-livery service over the Internet with noequipment to set up and maintain and nocost for access to the programming data;integrates seamlessly with Adtec DTA3050series multiplexer as well as third -partyPSIP and SI generators capable of XMLformat consumption; enables users tocreate and upload their own program list-ings or take advantage of more than 100North American network programmersthat provide data to Adtec's servers on adaily basis.

615-256-6619; www.adtecinc.com

Roland Systems Group V -Mixer software v2.1/1.1

Software update v2.1 for M-400 and v1.1 for M-380 adds S -4000M functionality, as wellas user -requested features; features include enabling distribution of multiple I/O unitsaround a location, venue or stage for flexible V -Mixing system configurations, selectingwhether to mute aux sends and/or direct outs when input channels are muted, adjust-ment of gate and compressor parameters using EQ area control knobs, access to threeuser fader layers and patchbay assignment icons that have been changed to show signalflow direction; available as a free Web update.

800-360-2580; www.rolandsystemsgroup.com

ProConsultant Informatique LOUISE 5.0

Business management system provides an intelligent, robust business -oriented archi-tecture for simultaneously managing and scheduling program assets across multiplelinear and nonlinear outlets, including VOD, mobile and other services; includes new,updated and customizable GUIs with modules for streamlining nonlinear production;incorporates essential program information in its centralized database, including rights,contracts, scheduling and all associated metadata through its lifecycle; allows secondaryevent scheduling; serves as a control and information hub for data exchange.

+33 3 87 37 7878; www.proconsultant.net

ExceLED 25

25W LED fixture provides a concentratedbeam of light with even coverage of con-sistent 3200K light; additional controland effects can be achieved with the gelframe and barn door accessory options;features 40,000 -hour life through preci-sion heat sink design and optimum LEDdriving; provided standard with powercord and choice of C -clamp or standadapter; adjustable mounting yoke al-lows rotation and can be locked in place;units may be ordered in dim and non -dim configurations.

626-579-0943; www.videssence.tv

16x9 Noga Griffin Arm

Articulating arm can hold 101bs at fullextension; features variable -friction loadadjustment and a flip level with safetycatch that releases with one turn of thearm's three joints at once; overall lengthis 22in and is made up of two equal-length arms and three articulating joints;can be mounted on a light stand or any-where else with a grip clamp; each armhas a 5/8in pin threaded at the ends in1/4in-20 and 3/8in-16, respectively, foradditional mounting options.

661-295-3313; www.16x9inc.com



Front Porch Digital DIVAsolo v4 ERI

Updated content migration system com-bines a SAMMA Solo encoding appli-ance with DIVArchive CSM solution andDIVAdfrector MAM; features Apple FinalCut and Avid Interplay integration, directVTR control, automatic shot list genera-tion, key frame extraction, dynamic meta -data collection, full desktop Web browseraccess to all migrated assets and an LTO-based data tape robotic system; incorpo-rates new features of DWAdirector v4.1,including a simplified browser interface,support for identification and retrievalof clips with noncontiguous time code,partial restore format auto -detection, andenhanced and simplified management ofremote proxies.

303-440-7930; www.fpdigital.com

EditShare XStream v6.0

Update to shared -storage solution in -dudes optimizations for DPX workflows,user groups for simplified administration,managed and unmanaged space capabili-ties, media space renaming feature, sup-port for the latest versions of Netatalk andSamba, a new GUI, integration of solid-state drives, and support for dual -port10GigE cards.

617-782-0479; www.editshare.com

CS300 Digital N rvana MonitorlQ 2.0 BMS

Broadband, 3-1/8in, four -port, motor-ized coaxial switch is designed for anyVHF or UHF broadcast application from54MHz to 862MHz; features a coplanardesign that simplifies interconnectingtransmission -line requirements and al-lows for more compact equipment con-figurations with fewer expensive elbows;switch rotation is performed by a preciseGeneva Drive mechanism that maintainsoptimum transmission system perfor-mance by ensuring a precise 90 -degreerotation during each activation; availablewith 110VAC or 240VAC drive motor andcontrol voltages of 12VDC or 24VDC.

877-374-5463; www.eriinc.com

AmberFin iCR Smart Ingest

System combines high -quality SD/HDingest with automatic assisted QC in asingle system; allows tape content to beefficiently and reliably used in workflowsbased on central storage solutions, in-duding SAN- and NAS-based architec-tures; performs a wide range of automat-ic quality tests on video, audio and timecode and generates easy -to -read reportsthat detail the nature and position ofan error with a thumbnail of the framewhere it occurred.

+441256 317500; www.amberfin.com

Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems M7CL v3.01 software

Digital audio console software update indudes a channel select/send on -fader option,as well as a conversion button on the system setup dialog box; features include recall safeparameters (input patch, output patch, direct out patch and insert out patch) and VCMeffects (Comp 276/276s, Comp 260/260s, Open Deck, EQ601); omni Channels 1-8 canbe used for talkback.

714-522-9011; www.yamahaca.com

HaiVision Network Video Makito AIR

Compact, ruggedized version of commercial, off -the -shelf MAKITO system deliversHD H.264 encoding at up to 1080p60 resolution; supports core feature set of MAKITO,such as HD encoding performance of less than 55ms, as well as real-time metadata; canincorporate key length value and cursor on target metadata into the MPEG streams ac-cording to standards set by MISB.

847-362-6800; www.haivisioh.com

Monitors and records broadcast TV pro-gramming; can be customized to recordbased on time block, channel or episodein addition to nonstop recording for com-pliance logging purposes; combines func-tionality of content recording, contentsearch, retrieve and repurposing, Webpublishing, signal monitoring, airchecklogging, archiving, ad verification andtracking, and competitive analysis ina scalable, networked appliance with aWeb -based user interface; features theability to search any text within a facil-ity's as-run/traffic logs and go directly tothe video at that time, ingest overnightratings and provide a hyperlink into thevideo for each of the data points; inte-grates with Statmon Technologies' AXESSmanagement platform; HD -SDI versionenables the ingest of four HD -SDI inputsand supports PAL/NTSC, ATSC, QAM,DVB-T, DVB-C, DVB-S and HD -SDI;maintains embedded metadata that is notbroadcast with the recording.

510-226-9000www.digital-nirvana.com

Gefen CAT5-1600HD/CAT5-5600HD

KVM extension solutions extend high -resolution displays using DVI and USB2.0 peripherals up to 200ft; CAT5-1600-HD extends one display with up to, fourperipherals using one dedicated cable(Cat 5/6) for peripherals and one Cat 6acable for the display; CAT5-5600HD ex-tends two displays with up to four periph-erals using one dedicated cable (Cat 5/6)for peripherals and two Cat 6a cables forboth displays; computer cables are con-nected directly to the sender unit, whileworkspace devices are connected directlyto the receiver unit; sender and receiverunits are linked by two or three cableswith no image degradation or loss.

800-545-6900; www.gefen.com



Aberdeen AberSAN

High -bandwidth, scalable storage appli-ance brings the simplification of a NASserver to the SAN environment by com-bining Fibre Channel and iSCSI block -level connections with multiuser networksharing; removes storage and partitionsize limitations to deliver ease of use andflexibility while featuring more efficientcrossplatform collaborative editing andshard media storage; enables users to des-ignate their virtual volumes as multiuserwrite (file or block level) for an optimalcombination of performance and work-flow and removing many of the configu-ration complexities common in iSCSI andFibre SANs that do not allow shared drivevolumes; incorporates ZFS file system; isscalable from 8TB to 96TB.

800-552-6868www.aberdeeninc.com

SSL DV Gravity LiveEdit

B.

Real-time, nonlinear editing system de-livers the power to modify a program'scontent while keeping within pre-exist-ing time schedules for live and near -livebroadcasting applications; provides userswith fast, simple editing capabilities tomanipulate a live stream as it is repur-posed and rebroadcast; enables recordingstreams to be appended, inserted, over-laid and replaced into the timeline at anypoint, as well as the independent editingof audio and video streams to create splitaudio "L" cuts; includes a real-time time-line and user -adjustable time delay.

212-315-1111www.solid-state-logic.com

TV One LM-404EID MultiDyne

High-performance, HD, multiformat,quad -color LCD monitor provides four4.3in, 16:9 displays, high brightness, wideviewing angle, excellent contrast ratio andHD color; features inputs for SD/HD-SDIwith an active loop through, analog RGB-HV, YPbPr, component video, compositevideo and YC inputs; supports and auto-matically detects NTSC and PAL stan-dards; front -panel talleys can be activatedexternally via DB9 connector; includesadjustable rack mount and on -screen dis-play menu that contains all the necessarycontrols to adjust contrast, brightness,sharpness, color level (RGB) and otherparameters necessary for optimum moni-tor performance.

800-721-4044; www.tvone.com

Softel ScheduleSmartCaptioning/subtitling control system usesalgorithms to determine the optimumpoint in the workflow at which to bindcaptions, subtitles and other ancillarydata to content; introduces flexibility incaptioning and subtitling workflows byautomatically assessing whether there istime to ingest data to media servers or onthe DAM system; if the system determinesthat early or late binding is not possible,live systems are directed to perform thebinding at airtime; automates selection ofthe correct encoding method to add cap-tions and subtitles directly to file -basedmedia assets or to handle live binding.

203-354-4602; www.softelgroup.com

Streambox Avenir

Hardware -based encoder offers 3G/4G wireless network bonding for high -quality HDor SD in a portable form factor to enable live or file -based video acquisition over avariety of low -data -rate networks; uses ACT -L3 codec to capture and encode HD con-tent in 1090i or 720p, at rates up to 20Mb/s, and SD content in NTSC or PAL from64kb/s to 8Mb/s; features compact, lightweight, rugged chassis with a range of poweroptions including AC and DC connectors, as well as a Li -Poly battery system; users canconnect via their choice of network connections ranging from dual Ethernet to WiFiplatforms, including bonded 3G/4G mobile broadband devices, browser -capable PDAsand low -bandwidth, portable satellite devices such as BGAN; includes a set of fieldediting tools.

LiGHTCuBE

Fiber-optic field transport system housesany product in the MultiDyne line in aportable, 14in cube design; can be con-figured for as many as 80 HD -SDI, SDIor composite video paths, with 225 AESor analog audio channels; supports DVI,RGB and HDMI; can be AC and bat-tery powered; features an HD monitorand signal generator on either end of theproducts, which enables users to send thetest pattern down the line or to send thesignal from the studio end directly to theLiGHTCuBE to monitor the camera out-put and the signals arriving at the shoot.

-332-6779; www.multidyne.com

Sonnet Technologies Fusion D800P2

Midlevel, software -configured RAID stor-age system contains eight hard drives thatcan be configured in RAID 0, RAID 1and RAID 10 sets, as well as JBOD; dual -port multipliers offer high-performancedata transfers up to 390MB/s write and475MB/s read; includes two 2m lockingeSATA data cables for the controller con-nections; features built-in handles, smalldesktop form factor, Vantec Stealth fanand hot-swappable drive trays.

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T-VIPS TVG415/430/450

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78 broadcastengineering.corn I May 2010

973-376-8282; www.t-vips.com

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AD INDEX

AJA Video

Apantac LLC

Blackmagic Design

Calrec Audio Ltd

Canare Cable Inc. 38,

Clear -Corn Communication Systems

Dell Inc.

Dolby Laboratories Inc.

Page

47

57

5

41

40, 42

49

15

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Advertiser WebsiteHotline Address

800-251-4224 aja.com

503-616-3711 apantac.com

408-954-0600 blackmagic-design.com

+44(0)1422842159 calrec.com

973-837-0070 canare.com

510-496-6600 clearcom.com

1-866-306-3355 dell.com/smb/imagine

dolby.com

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EOMDEPARTMENT

Where's the disconnect?Mobile DTV has the potential to be stillborn.

" ollowing a lengthy standard-ization process and com-prehensive testing regimen,the long-awaited A/153, the

ATSC's DTV standard for mobiletelevision, was finally adopted on Oct.15, 2009. Several months later, com-panies showed various implementa-tions of handheld reception devices,essentially in prototype form, at theConsumer Electronics Show.

More recently at the CTIA show,the wireless and cellular industries'equivalent to CES and NAB, LGshowed prototypes of several soon-

to -be -available cell phones that in-clude an imbedded mobile DTV re-ception capability. Simplifying thedesign of such mobile devices, LG,which was both integral in the devel-opment of the mobile DTV transmis-sion standard and influential in its fi-nal adoption, also showed single -chipreception technology. LG's completereceiver on a chip incorporates a fullyfunctional tuner/decoder on a 7mmsquare substrate and is designed forintegration into cell phones. Simplyadd an antenna, power and a display,and you're in business. The LG2161R,incorporating both the radio frequen-cy tuner and the mobile DTV demod-ulator for reception and display ofthe mobile DTV signals, is currentlyin pilot production and will move tomass production this summer.

Consumers will soon have a varietyof mobile DTV reception options, andthe holiday shopping season shouldprovide a great opportunity for themarketing and promotion of mobileDTV. Some educational activity will beneeded so that consumers understandthe difference between mobile DTVand the various mobile television sub-scription services, such as Qualcomm'sFlo TV. Another wild card is Apple.The company clearly has focused onTV programming distribution, and its

BY ANTHONY R. GARGANO

recent launch of the iPad has the po-tential to completely change the pub-lishing industry's distribution modeljust as the iTunes store revolutionizedmusic industry distribution. Alreadynumerous magazines and newspa-pers ranging from the The Wall StreetJournal to your local daily have an-nounced plans for electronic subscrip-tions custom delivered for the iPad.Following publishing, it appears thebroadcast industry will be movingnext into Apple's crosshairs.

Despite the plethora of services be-ing offered by all of this competition,mobile DTV still finds a potentiallystrong place in the market accord-ing to several recent polls and marketstudies. One study by the market re-searcher Frank N. Magid Associatesreported that local news content isthe key driver for mobile DTV. Here'san excerpt from the report:

CONTENT

When mobile DTV is available, whatkinds of programs will consumers wantto see?

News is the clear leader for mobileDTV content Nine in 10 respondents(88 percent) said they would watchat least one of several news catego-ries measured. Most notably, interestin mobile news programming amongyoung adult Millennials (18-29 yearsold) is quite strong compared to theirrelatively weak local news viewing onstandard television sets.

Among the news categories tested,breaking news (76 percent), emergen-cy reports (75 percent) and weather(74 percent) topped the list, and theytend to be localized in focus. Othertypes of news programs trailed but stillhad large support in the 50-59 percentrange. Entertainment programs ranklower but still appeal to two-thirds ofdevice owners.

Mobile DTV is represented byan industry trade group, the OpenMobile Video Coalition (OMVC),

which characterizes mobile DTV as the"power of local TV on the go?' Thereare several other studies that indicate ahigh level of consumer interest in mo-bile DTV driven by desires to watch lo-cal news, sports and weather.

A robust proof of technical perfor-mance, confirmed consumer interestand numerous soon -to -be -availablereception and display devices are con-verging into potential market successfor mobile DTV. On the fiscal side,OMVC touts mobile DTV as rep-resenting a significant new revenuestream for the broadcasting industry.And, several industry analysts havegone so far as to trumpet mobile DTVas the fiscal savior for local broadcast.

The disconnectSo, where's the disconnect? How

about multiple disconnects! Certain-ly, there's no need to reiterate to thisreadership the myriad of announce-ments concerning the reductions oflocal news staff, the merging of localnews operations and newscasts undernews LMAs, and the elimination ofsome newscasts entirely. Then there'sthe FCC's spectrum grab - wantingto take (at this writing) an additional120MHz of spectrum space frombroadcasters.

So, we have a nascent marketwhose potential for growth is tied tothe availability of locally generatednews content delivered via a slice ofRF spectrum. The folks who gener-ate that local content are reducing oreliminating their capability to do so.Simultaneously, the delivery pipe forthat content is coming under threat.This all amounts to disconnect,spelled D -I -S -C -O -N -N -E -C -T. BE

Anthony R. Gargano is a consultant andformer industry executive.

ISend questions and comments to:[email protected]


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