29/09/2017 WHITE PAPER – Interoperability of broadcast devices in COTS IP networks
As the SDI epoch draws to a close after dominating the broadcasting world for a generation; the limitations of fixed point-to-point SDI topologies that have long constrained infrastructure designs are consigned to room 101 and a brave new world of software defined IP architectures comes into view. The rise of SDN IP networks as a viable replacement to SDI infrastructure will reshape production & broadcast and further blur the lines between the physical and the cloud. This evolution is facilitated by new standards which define how to transport production quality audio & video signals in IP networks with a level of reliability and accuracy that far exceeds SDI. But IP is not a replacement for SDI, rather software defined video networking represents a higher order topology and thus SDI can not only transit its fabric but can also co-exist as islands of legacy in a sea of IP.
The bulk of this paper examines the standards we observed in the 2017 Broadcast Asia IP Inter-Op Lab and provides a technical introduction to some of the key concepts. The latter part of the document looks at some the architecture of the Inter-Op Lab and how the new media over IP standards can play a key role in helping broadcasters bridge into decentralized cloud centric architectures.
The Inter-Op Lab was established by Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB), presented with Broadcast Asia 2017 designed and built by Ideal Systems. It was supported by ABU, SMPTE and the IABM bodies and a number of equipment manufacturers listed at the end of this paper.
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