Russell Trafford-Jones, Author at The Broadcast Knowledge

Video: Beyond SMPTE Time Code — the TLX Project

Posted on 1st July 2019 by Russell Trafford-Jones

SMPTE Timecode, created in the 1970s, has been a tremendous success – so is there reason to reinvent it? SMPTE says yes, and SMPTE Fellow Peter Symes explains why.

SMPTE Timecode is in constant use globally in the broadcast industry, but also in many other industries. The standard SMPTE ST12 is still much he same as the first version of the standard, but it has been updated over the years to deal with new frame rates and to adapt to new technology. However there are limits to what it can achieve without being re-defined and some of the original technologies and restrictions that originally guided the way it was created are outdated and superseded.

Peter Symes explains the TLX project which is in progress to create a successor to ‘SMPTE Timecode’. The new requirements pushing the TLX project forward are moving away from ST 12’s audio-based format, supporting any frame rate, having no 24-hour duration limit and work with the legacy timecode.

TLX stands for Time Label Extensible and is delivering on its promise of an extensible standard – as so many are nowadays – and already has ways of working with ST 2059 (PTP synchronisation) and ST 2110 (for uncompressed video over IP).

Watch now, and find out more!

Speaker

Peter Symes
SMPTE Fellow

Video: Uncompressed Video over IP & PTP Timing

Posted on 28th June 2019 by Russell Trafford-Jones

PTP and uncompressed video go hand in hand so this primer on ST 2022 and ST 2110 followed by a PTP deep dive is a great way to gain your footing in the uncompressed world.

In the longest video yet on The Broadcast Knowledge, Steve Holmes on behalf of Tektronix delivers two talks and a practical demo for the SMPTE San Francisco section where he introduces the reasons for and solutions to uncompressed video and goes through the key standards and technologies from ST 2022, those being -6 video and -7 seamless switching plus the major parts of ST 2110, those being timing, video, audio and metadata.

After that, at the 47 minute mark, Steve introduces the need for PTP by reference to black and burst, and goes on to explain how SMPTE’s ST2059 brings PTP into the broadcast domain and helps us synchronise uncompressed essences. He covered how PTP actually works, boundary clocks, Grandmaster/Master/Slave clocks and everything else you need to understand the system,

This video finishes with plenty of questions plus a look at the GUI of measurement equipment showing PTP in real life.

Watch now!
Speaker

Steve Holmes
Senior Applications Engineer,
Tektronix

Video: Broadcast Channel Origination as a Service: from Concept to Operational Implementation

Posted on 27th June 2019 by Russell Trafford-Jones

Playout out entire channels from the cloud helps to decrease the number of ingress and egress points to/from the cloud is a general way of maximising the value of cloud workflows.

This talk from the 2018 SMPTE conference is a case study of putting PBS channel origination in the cloud. John McCoskey starts by explaining the motivations and context prompting this move to the cloud – not least of these was Discovery’s move putting nearly all its channels in the cloud globally.

Ron Clifton then takes us through the typical system diagram for a channel both the traditional system and how that changes when implemented in the cloud. He discusses the technical abilities of what they have built including additional benefits and then goes on to discuss the PoC.

An interesting slide is Ron’s comparison of Cloud Connectivity Options where he compares the pros and cons (cost, jitter, security etc.) of the various types of connectivity into the cloud. This shows the trade offs – effectively business decisions – that need to be made when deploying.

The Q&A covers reliability of public cloud internal networks, frame accurate switching, latency, ASTC gateway locations, geo-diversity, systems monitoring and others.

Watch now!

Speakers

	John McCoskey Former Industry Lead Executive, Eagle Hill Consulting
	Ron Clifton President & Founder, CliftonGroup

Video: What is Happening with IMF?

Posted on 26th June 2019 by Russell Trafford-Jones

IMF is an interchange format designed for post-production/studios versioning requirements. It reduces storage required for multi-version projects but also provides for a standard way of exchanging metadata between companies.

Annie Chang covers the history briefly of IMF showing what it was aiming to achieve. IMF has been standardised through SMPTE as ST 2067 and has gained traction within the industry hence the continued interest in extending the standard. As with all modern standards, this has been created to be extensible, so Annie gives details on what is being added to it and where these endeavours have got to.