North Carolina (NC) State University has transformed its live course production capabilities with a networked video infrastructure, based on the SMPTE ST 2110 standard for connectivity, around its campuses in Raleigh, N.C. Technology from Imagine Communications is at the heart of NC State DELTA (Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications) providing a quantum leap in capacity and operational efficiency.

DELTA already had dedicated fiber runs linking their centralized operations center located in Ricks Hall Annex with six other buildings on the main campus and two additional buildings located up to 10.5 kilometers (6.5 miles) away on their Centennial Campus. Fiber links were being used simply as single-mode, point-to-point connections, providing the capacity for just four video signals per classroom transmitted back to the operations center. In addition to replacing systems that were beyond end of life, it was important to DELTA to provide much greater capacity if it was to meet its commitment to the wider university community for high-quality educational media supporting distance learning in an efficient, effective and service-oriented environment. For the year 2018-2019, this included more than 130 live courses and greater than 7,000 hours of classroom recordings, to support almost 50,000 students enrolled in online and distance learning courses.

The new system uses just 16 fibers to provide extensive networked capability, leaving 20 strands from the original installation free for future expansion. By taking a networked IP approach, the new system gave the DELTA team the capability of 32 x 32 HD signals from each remote building. This is achieved thanks to bidirectional 100 gigabit ethernet capacity across the fiber network.

12th Man Productions, the sports broadcast and post facility for Texas A&M University, has moved to IP connectivity to provide a common production platform for all its sports venues. A cornerstone of the new installation is the Selenio™ Network Processor (SNP) from Imagine Communications.

The A&M campus in College Station, Texas, incorporates seven sports venues, spread across the site, which host as many as 110 events a year. As well as offering broadcast outputs from any event at any location, 12th Man Productions also provides in-stadium big screen entertainment and information. The football stadium, Kyle Field, was rebuilt in 2014, and as part of that project, a central studio was planned.

Today, fiber circuits connect every field back to the Kyle Field stadium, allowing resources to be allocated to any venue dynamically. Four control rooms allow two venues to broadcast live, while also producing big screen shows at two more venues. This calls for a large number of feeds in each direction, supporting monitors, multiple digital signage networks and big screen replays, as well as feeds for home and visiting teams. There is also a need to provide for official replay facilities in many sports. All signals are handled as uncompressed HD, minimizing latency by eliminating the delays of compression math, and allowing for live remote production even when venues are 10 kilometers from the control room.

Delivering a solution to the cancellations of CABSAT and NAB, Pebble Beach is setting up virtual stands to demonstrate its market leading automation and playout technology. Spend one-to-one time with experts, see demonstrations or find out about the latest in Pebble Beach's R&D from 31 March to 2 April for CABSAT and for NAB from 20-22 April 2020, with the aim of enabling the most important side of any trade show – open discussion.

To underline its strengths in moving users from legacy architectures to software-centric, fully virtualized solutions for multi-platform playout and graphics production, Pixel Power is launching major new versions of its core software technologies: Gallium Workflow Orchestration and StreamMaster Media Processing. Gallium 3.0 and StreamMaster 2.0 each add significant enhancements covering usability, operational efficiency and connectivity through widely recognised standards.

Through its functional-block architecture, the Gallium workflow orchestration platform allows system architects to build carefully tailored solutions to meet precise customer workflow requirements. Version 3.0 adds more than 50 enhancements with significant new functionality and usability improvements. That includes both live and file-based open and closed subtitling; audio watermarking; live, scheduled and delayed recording and scripted configurable triggering of external systems. In line with Pixel Power’s policy of supporting open systems in a flexible way, these triggers can use REST, UDP and XML based integrations.

Pixel Power’s media processing platform, StreamMaster, also sees a significant new version which adds capabilities that are driven by real-world requirements. StreamMaster 2.0 adds UHD support; uncompressed I/O over SMPTE ST-2110; OP47 and SMPTE 2031 subtitle insertion and flexible recording of the main output, input sources or clean feeds including playback whilst recording. As well as scalable multi-channel master control playout, Gallium and StreamMaster can readily be configured to produce fast turnaround live content for VOD distribution, for example for catch-up and time-delayed channels, while retaining the flexibility to change elements of the output such as advertising.

Mediaproxy, the leading provider of software-based IP broadcast solutions, will highlight recent upgrades to its industry leading LogServer logging, monitoring, and analysis system on Booth SU8502 at NAB Show 2020, taking place in Las Vegas from April 18-22.

With a growing change in direction by broadcasters away from SDI towards new uncompressed IP standards, Mediaproxy has established the way forward with its on-going engineering to support the wider gamut of the SMPTE 2110 standard. This not only includes 2110-20/30/40, but also the new compressed video essence standard of 2110-22 for 4K HDR sources and beyond.

LogServer already seamlessly supports SMPTE ST 2022-6 for both logging and the Monwall multi-panel live streaming multiviewer, which has been successfully deployed at scale, even in virtualized environments, to service the growing use of uncompressed IP formats.

Dejero, an innovator in cloud-managed solutions that provides Emmy® award winning video transport and Internet connectivity while mobile or in remote locations, is returning to NAB with an exciting display of technologies that include enhancements to its renowned contribution, distribution, and connectivity solutions.

Shining a spotlight on the capabilities of their latest EnGo mobile transmitter, WayPoint receiver’s support of SMPTE ST 2110, the importance of first- and last-mile connectivity, and cloud-based content distribution, Dejero’s NAB booth is guaranteed to appeal to a wide spectrum of broadcasters and media organizations.

Second Emmy Award Win

In January 2020, it was announced that Dejero had been awarded a second prestigious Technology and Engineering Emmy® Award and will be honored as recipients at a ceremony taking place at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 19th, during NAB 2020. The award, in the category of Video over Bonded Cellular Internet (VoCIP) technology, recognizes Dejero’s innovation in the industry, and is attributed to the development of its patented Smart Blending Technology and unique Hybrid Encoding Technology. The technologies work in concert to form a tightly integrated system that responds in real-time to changes in network quality and video content complexity. This has helped transform how broadcasters contribute live content from the field using cellular networks, providing newsgathering crews with greater flexibility in terms of the location from where they can transmit a live shot, at a fraction of the cost of conventional uplink technology.

Last year, Dejero was awarded its first Technology and Engineering Emmy® Award for 'excellence in engineering creativity', honoring a decade of achievements in the field of live transmission driven by its vision of reliable connectivity anywhere.

New EnGo 260 mobile transmitter makes NAB debut

The latest version of Dejero's renowned EnGo mobile transmitter will be on display at NAB for the first time. Featuring Dejero's Emmy® Award-winning Smart Blending and Hybrid Encoding technologies, the 5G-ready EnGo 260 weighs 30% less than its predecessor, features a screen that is 85% larger, and now includes a 3-hour internal rechargeable battery and global modems for simplified international travel. Built with aircraft aluminum construction and polycarbonate ABS bumpers, the professional-grade EnGo is designed for durability to withstand on-the-go daily use by news, sports, and live production crews.

Compact CuePoint low-latency return video

At NAB, Dejero will be unveiling a new, smaller form-factor CuePoint server for use in field environments where it can be easily racked into mobile carts or vehicles. This follows the launch of the 1RU CuePoint 100 at last year's NAB. The low-latency return feed servers simplify talent cueing, production and confidence monitoring, and real-time teleprompting in the field. With as little as 250 milliseconds of latency, CuePoint servers keep teams at the broadcast facility and remote location synchronized, by sending video and audio, alongside teleprompting feeds, to production teams in the field to facilitate the creation of compelling live content. Up to eight return video and teleprompting feeds from the broadcast facility can be seen in the field by the talent on a tablet or dedicated monitor above or below the camera, or on multiple mobile devices by camera operators, field directors, and technicians.

WayPoint support for SMPTE ST 2110

The Dejero WayPoint 204 receiver makes the IP transition easier for broadcasters embracing the SMPTE ST 2110 suite of standards. As the first Dejero product to support SMPTE ST 2110 standards for professional media industries, WayPoint 204 reconstructs video transported over multiple IP connections from Dejero transmitters, decodes HEVC or AVC, delivers four channels of balanced IFB, and provides four outputs supporting SMPTE ST 2110. For broadcasters using SDI workflows, Dejero will be debuting a new, smaller form-factor of the WayPoint at NAB for use in field environments, where it can be easily racked in mobile carts or vehicles.

New GateWay 200 series for reliable general-purpose connectivity in the field

A new fanless networking appliance for nomadic and mobile connectivity, Dejero GateWay 200 provides fast, reliable, and secure access to the public Internet, private networks, and SaaS providers while in nomadic or mobile situations. Recently added features include increased reliability on any type of IP connection and faster file transfer methods. Dejero will also show how the GateWay can be used for backup connectivity as part of a disaster recovery plan, and other use cases that solve first- and last-mile connectivity challenges of broadcasters and media organizations.

IronRoute for Media - cloud-based content distribution

The IronRoute for Media solution is tailored to the needs of broadcasters and media organizations by combining the link diversity, service quality, and centralized management benefits of software-defined blended connectivity, with the flexibility and scalability benefits of a cloud-based workflow for cost-effective global distribution over IP networks. IronRoute blends broadband and cellular (3G/4G/5G) alongside satellite connectivity from Intelsat’s global network. The cloud-based solution also simplifies the simultaneous distribution of live and file-based content to multiple locations anywhere in the world, whether it be network affiliates, station groups, or to other broadcasters and media organizations in point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, and multipoint-to-multipoint scenarios.

To see these new developments and find out about more exciting announcements that will be made at the show, visit Dejero at booth C1307.

www.dejero.com

Crystal Vision has released three IP gateways which work with ST 2110 video as well as ST 2022, increasing their usefulness in broadcast systems. IP inputs and outputs are individually selectable between ST 2022 and ST 2110, allowing use with both protocols at the same time if required. Designed for transporting uncompressed video over 10GbE IP networks, Crystal Vision's IP gateways are software apps that run on the MARBLE-V1 media processor hardware and offer an extensive set of features that make it easy to get and keep IP systems working.

CBC/Radio-Canada has chosen LiveU as a technology supplier, adding LU600 HEVC field units, servers and supporting equipment to its operations. The development of a new state-of-the-art broadcast center in Montreal and the national public broadcaster’s mission to adhere to the SMPTE ST 2110 Standard prompted LiveU to partner with CBC/Radio-Canada to develop an IP-based solution. CBC/Radio-Canada facilities in Toronto and Montreal will carry LiveU gear and support broadcast, digital, and radio operations. LiveU Canadian Reseller Partner, DXM Technologies will support CBC/Radio-Canada on the ground.

PHABRIX, a worldwide leader in test and measurement solutions will demonstrate its full range of hybrid IP/SDI, 4K/UHD and HDR/WCG instruments at NAB New York 2019, on booth N4508.

At IBC2019, stand 8.B37, Embrionix will unveil a miniaturized J2K IP processing emSFP™ equipped with two J2K encoders and two J2K decoders. The new emSFP allows users to create a direct path from J2K to SMPTE ST 2110 for contribution feeds. By eliminating the need to convert incoming signals first to SDI and then to SMPTE ST 2110, the gateway empowers users to streamline signal flow in remote production applications while saving on power, space, and equipment costs.

Pixel Power has today announced it will be adding uncompressed IP playout capability, based on the SMPTE ST 2110 family of standards, to its already well established StreamMaster playout technology. The development comes as a natural progression of incorporating new standards within its software defined technology platforms: StreamMaster Media Processing and Gallium Workflow Orchestration. Like all StreamMaster and Gallium functionality, SMTPE ST 2110 will be supported as software solutions whether on-premise or virtualized in a data centre.

CueScript, the leading developer of professional prompting solutions, will bring the industry’s first patent-pending SMPTE 2110-enabled prompting monitor, the CSMV2, to Europe for the first time at IBC2019 on Stand 12.F41.

The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) today released a significant update to the AIMS roadmap for a standards-based approach to applying IP technologies in broadcast operations. The latest roadmap includes an important addition: JT-NM TR-1001-1, also known as the JT-NM Tech Stack Part 1. Developed by the Joint Task Force on Networked Media (JT-NM) to automate installation and eliminate complexity, JT-NM TR-1001-1 provides specifications and guidance designed to make SMPTE ST 2110-based systems easier to deploy and operate, leading to greater efficiencies for broadcasters.