Broadcast IP

In recent years, the entertainment industry has expanded from traditional media such as television and radio to new media such as Internet streaming. Behind this is the spread of broadband environments that even end users like us can benefit from, thanks to the remarkable development of Internet technology in recent years. One of the core technologies used to realize this Internet environment is Ethernet/IP technology.

On the other hand, what kind of technology is used in the broadcasting industry, which is centered on television? For example, Internet technology based on IP technology is of course used in services such as the delivery of missed videos from broadcasters, which has become commonplace these days. IP network-based network/storage technology is also used in the editing process of recorded VTRs.

However, in the program production sites (studios, subs, etc.) that are indispensable for television broadcasting, the current situation is that the old technology using coaxial cables called SDI (Serial Digital Interface) is still used. It is true that SDI technology has been used for many years, and it is easy for broadcast engineers to use in terms of stability, usability, and know-how. On the other hand, when it became necessary to handle ultra-high-definition video such as 4K/8K, the limits of SDI technology up until now became apparent. Ethernet/IP technology has attracted attention as a way to overcome this limitation.

Road to IP

It's been a long time since the movement to replace SDI technology with IP started, but at first, I got the impression that there were only messages about the merits of IP, and that they weren't fruitful. In particular,

・Since Ethernet is a technology with remarkable speed improvements, 4K/8K bandwidth can be easily secured.

・Because it can be easily converted to light, it can easily be used for long distances.

　・汎用ネットワーク機器を使用できるので、導入コスト削減になる

・Production, editing, and distribution can be configured seamlessly on an IP network.

Such is the content. I'm not saying that these are all wrong, but the reality that we faced after that was that they weren't necessarily all good, but they were also difficult to convert to IP.

Macnica 's NVIDIA (formerly Mellanox) team entered the broadcasting industry around 2017, and it was around this time that they were faced with exactly these challenges. It was also around this time that broadcast stations, broadcast equipment manufacturers, network equipment manufacturers, and agencies aiming to convert broadcasting to IP began to gather together, and verification and demonstrations of IP conversion began to occur in various places. Macnica has also brought NVIDIA Mellanox's ultra-high-speed Ethernet switch products to numerous verification events of various sizes. In this way, we have accumulated a variety of know-how from the knowledge and verification results brought by each player, and have overcome the wall of ``difficulty in converting to IP.''

Beyond IP

Overcoming these hardships, even though it is not yet completely IP-based, the number of broadcasting station facilities using IP is increasing both in Japan and overseas, and IP-based systems are always being considered when upgrading facilities. It has evolved into a mature one to the level that goes up to the foundation.

After advancing one stage, the next thing is not just to simply switch from SDI to IP, but to enjoy more of the benefits of IP. Partly due to the impact of COVID-19, remote production/remote operations with minimal staffing is one example. I think these are the operation modes that are the easiest to enjoy the merits of systems based on IP/Internet technology and the easiest to put into practice.

Furthermore, as a vision for the future, we are beginning to see the point of moving broadcasting equipment to the cloud. One of the key technologies to realize this is the softwareization of broadcasting equipment. Up until now, broadcasting equipment has been dedicated equipment developed by equipment manufacturers. What is currently spreading little by little along with the shift to IP is "broadcasting equipment that implements functions with software on general-purpose server equipment."

NVIDIA Mellanox offers not only high-speed Ethernet switch products, but also ultra-high-speed NIC (Network Interface Card) and SDK solutions for realizing broadcasting equipment on servers. Next time, I will introduce a solution called Rivermax.

Please take a look next time

Author profile

Macnica　CLAVIS Company

Technology Management Department, Technology Department 3, Section 2

Hiroshi Funaki

 

 

Biography:

After working in communication equipment development at a certain domestic manufacturer, joined Macnica. After supporting semiconductors for communication equipment, he started working on NVIDIA (formerly Mellanox) products for about seven years. In recent years, he has been engaged in promotion and support mainly for the broadcasting industry.