Video: JPEG XS and SMPTE ST 2110 for IPMX

Posted on by Russell Trafford-Jones

Both broadcast and professional AV are undergoing a transition to IP. For Pro-AV, the benefits are similar to those for Broadcast such as less cabling, cables are bi-directional and reduced space. But for Pro-AV, there is a big incentive to re-use CAT5e cabling unlike the typical SMPTE 2110 deployments which are on 10 gig cabling.

Jean-Baptiste Lorent from intoPIX explains how JPEG XS helps enable cable reuse and, at the same time, brings the advantages of open interoperability and IP to the Pro-AV market. JPEG-XS is a light compression codec which minimises latency. JPEG XS, explains Jean-Baptiste, started in 2016 with light compression format TICO which, working with the JPEG committee has become JPEG-XS. intoPIX have blinded tests showing that at a 10:1 compression ratio, there is no difference observable between the uncompressed source and the JPEG-XS encoder.

Whilst the practical benefits of JPEG-XS are discussed in this talk from Nevion, Laurent outlines that JPEG-XS has a low computational overhead, 0.1 milliseconds encode to decoder.

A very interesting feature is the embedded downscaling meaning if you sent an 8K image as JPEG-XS, a decoder need only decode a UHD or HD resolution version of it – without having to do a computationally expensive downconversion to the desired resolution after having decoded the whole thing 8K image. Jean-Baptiste suggests this would be ideal for devices such as multiviewers which typically show images at much lower than their native resolution.

Looking again at the idea of 1Gbe cable reuse, Jean-Baptiste looks at the data rates achievable with JPEG-XS. HD video under JPEG-XS is 150-390Mbps allowing 2 or more HDs per 1Gbe Cat 5e cable. Using Cat 6 or Cat 5e to run 10Gbe (up to around 40m) allows up to four 8K streams. So it’s practical to use existing infrastructure.

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Speakers

Jean-Baptiste Lorent Jean-Baptiste Lorent
Director Marketing & Sales,
intoPIX sa

Video: IP For Broadcast, Colour Theory, AI, VR, Remote Broadcast & More

Posted on by Russell Trafford-Jones


Today’s video has a wide array of salient topics from seven speakers at SMPTE Toronto’s meeting in February. Covering Uncompressed IP networking, colour theory & practice, real-time virtual studios and AI, those of us outside of Toronto can be thankful it was recorded.

Ryan Morris from Arista (starting 22m 20s) is the first guest speaker and kicks off with though-provoker: showing the uncompressed bandwidths of video, we see that even 8K video at 43Gb/s is much lower than the high-end network bandwidths available in 400Gbps switch ports available today with 800Gbps arriving within a couple of years. That being said, he gives us an introduction to two of the fundamental technologies enabling the uncompressed IP video production: Multicast and Software-Defined Networking (SDN).

Multicast, Ryan explains is the system of efficiently distributing data from one source to many receivers. It allows a sender to only send out one stream even if there are a thousand receivers on the network; the network will split the feed at the nearest common point to the decoder. This is all worked out using the Internet Group Message Protocol (IGMP) which is commonly found in two versions, 2 and 3. IGMP enables routers to find out which devices are interested in which senders and allows devices to register their interest. This is all expressed by the notion of joining or leaving a multicast group. Each multicast group is assigned an IP address reserved by international agreement for this purpose, for instance, 239.100.200.1 is one such address.

Ryan then explores some of the pros and cons of IGMP. Like most network protocols each element of the network makes its own decision based on standardised rules. Though this works well for autonomy, it means that there no knowledge of the whole system. It can’t take notice of link capacity, it doesn’t know the source bandwidth, you can guess where media will flow, but it’s not deterministic. Broadcasters need more assurance of traffic flows for proper capacity planning, planned maintenance and post-incident root cause analysis.

Reasons to consider SDN over IGMP

SDN is an answer to this problem. Replacing much of IGMP, SDN takes this micro-decision making away from the switch architecture and replaces it with decisions made looking at the whole picture. It also brings an in important abstraction layer back to broadcast networks; engineers are used to seeing X-Y panels and, in an emergency, it’s this simplicity which gets things back on air quickly and effectively. With SDN doing the thinking, it’s a lot more practical to program a panel with human names like ‘Camera 1’ and allow a take button to connect it to a destination.

Next is Peter Armstrong from THP who talks about colour in television (starting 40m 40s). Starting back with NTSC, Peter shows the different colour spaces available from analogue through to SD then HD with Rec 709 and now to 3 newer spaces. For archiving, there is an XYZ colour space for archival which can represent any colour humans can see. For digital cinema there is DCI-P3 and with UHD comes BT 2020. These latter colour spaces provide for display of many more colours adding to the idea of ‘better pixels’ – improving images through improving the pixels rather than just adding more.

Another ‘better pixels’ idea is HDR. Whilst BT 2020 is about Wide Colour Gamut (WCG), HDR increases the dynamic range so that the brightness of each pixel can represent a brightness between 0 and 1000 NITs, say instead of the current standard of 0 to 100. Peter outlines the HLG and PQ standards for delivering HDR. If you’re interested in a deeper dive, check out our library of articles and videos such as this talk from Amazon Prime Video. or this from SARNOFF’s Norm Hurst.

ScreenAlign device from DSC Labs

SMPTE fellow and founder of DSC Laboratories, David Corley (56m 50s), continues the colour theme taking us on an enjoyable history of colour charting over the past 60 years up to the modern day. David explains how he created a colour chart in the beginning when labs were struggling to get colours correct for their non-black and white film stock. We see how that has developed over the years being standardised in SMPTE. Recently, he explains, they have a new test card for digital workflows where the camera shoots a special test card which you also have in a digital format. In your editing suite, if you overlay that file on the video, you can colour correct the video to match. Furthermore, DSC have developed a physical overlay for your monitor which self-illuminates meaning when you put it in front of your monitor, you can adjust the colour of the display to match what you see on the chart in front.

Gloria Lee (78m 8s) works for Graymeta, a company whose products are based on AI and machine learning. She sets the scene explaining how broadly our lives are already supported by AI but in broadcast highlights the benefits as automating repetitive tasks, increasing monetisation possibilities, allowing real-time facial recognition and creating additional marketing opportunities. Gloria concludes giving examples of each.

Cliff Lavalée talks about ‘content creation with gaming tools’ (91m 10s) explaining the virtual studio they have created at Groupe Média TFO. He explains the cameras the tracking and telemetry (zoom etc.) needed to ensure that 3 cameras can be moved around in real-time allowing the graphics to follow with the correct perspective shifts. Cliff talks about the pros and cons of the space. With hardware limiting the software capabilities and the need for everything to stick to 60fps, he finds that the benefits which include cost, design freedom and real-time rendering create an over-all positive. This section finishes with a talk from one of the 3D interactive set designers who talks us through the work he’s done in the studio.

Mary Ellen Carlyle concludes the evening talking about remote production and esports. She sets the scene pointing to a ‘shifting landscape’ with people moving away from linear TV to online streaming. Mary discusses the streaming market as a whole talking about Disney+ and other competitors currently jostling for position. Re-prising Gloria’s position on AI, Mary next looks further into the future for AI floating the idea of AI directing of football matches, creating highlights packages, generating stats about the game, spotting ad insertion opportunities and more.

Famously, Netlflix has said that Fortnite is one of its main competitors. And indeed, esports is a major industry unto itself so whether watching or playing games, there is plenty of opportunity to displace Netflix. Deloitte Insights claim 40% of gamers watch esports events at least once a week and in terms of media rights, these are already in the 10s and 100s of millions and are likely to continue to grow. Mary concludes by looking at the sports rights changing hands over the next few years. The thrust being that there are several high profile rights auctions coming up and there is likely to be fervent competition which will increase prices. Some are likely to be taken, at least in part, by tech giants. We have already seen Amazon acquiring rights to some major sports rights.

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Speakers

Ryan Morris Ryan Morris
Systems Engineer,
Arista
Gloria Lee Gloria Lee
VP, Business Development
Graymeta Inc.
Mary Ellen Carlyle Mary Ellen Carlyle
SVP & General Manager,
Dome Productions
Cliff Lavalée Cliff Lavalée
Director of LUV studio services,
Groupe Média TFO
Peter Armstrong Peter Armstrong
Video Production & Post Production Manager,
THP
David Corley David Corley
Presiedent,
DSC Labs

Video: Securing Your Network with Firewall Tech

Posted on by Russell Trafford-Jones

As true for corporate networks as for broadcast networks, security needs to underpin everything we do to ensure the smooth running of service, that ransomware is kept out and that our data is kept in. This doesn’t mean every device has to have every security feature turned up to 11, it means that security – and which threats need to be protected against – have been thought through at the system level.

Such importance has security in broadcast facilities, that we see it as the foundational layer of the EBU’s Technology Pyramid. We see SMPTE ST 2110 at the top and whilst this is seen as the ‘business end’, it’s not practical without all that underpins it; the system timing, the NMOS protocols and the security practices.

In this video, Ray Scites explains the threats to networks and challenges the audience to take them seriously showing how mitigations can be implemented. He explains some of the common attacks on networks, both technical and human. Human attacks are phishing attacks which effectively simply ask for the details. Starting with asking for seemingly innocuous information like “Is Donald available today?” and building on knowing that someone is away to put on pressure to hand over information “Donald told me this needs doing right now or the $1,000 deposit will be lost.” With enough small information providing the context, people can be tricked into thinking that an attacker is legitimately doing business and their requests complied with.

To supplement the human element, vulnerabilities can be used. Ray highlights that it’s not just Windows 10 that needs updates, the CVE list of vulnerabilities shows that just this year over 40 security issues with Netgear devices have been publicly reported; all elements in the network need to be kept up to date.

Ray looks at the levels of firewall available from the basic features such as port blocking and forwarding to advanced, like intrusion detection and deep-packet-inspection. The latter technology being where packets are not just forwarded, but read to determine their payload and make firewall decisions based upon the contents. He then explains how port forwarding and NAT (Network Address Translation) work in firewalls.

The cloud offloads all the functionality, but none of the liability.

Ray Scites
An important takeaway from this video is that moving infrastructure and/or data to the cloud can be a great move for your company’s workflow, IT overheads and costs but it doesn’t solve all your security issues. Your responsibility is still to implement secure practices both in the office and in the cloud. Whilst the job may be easier now as it may be someone else’s responsibility to update OSes or other software, you are still the one responsible for data breaches and for ensuring that your security coverage is complete.

Ray finishes by showing a brute-force password attack in real time and answering questions covering how to implement security around hardware devices which had no security features, using remote PC terminals to maintain security and whether attacks are on the increase.

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Speaker

Ray Scites Ray Scites
KNL Consulting Services

Video: Will Direct LED Replace Projection?

Posted on by Russell Trafford-Jones

LCD displays have got to the size and sophistication that they can now be installed instead of projectors in cinemas and smaller theatres. This means a choice is now opening up in what equipment to put into high-end home cinemas, shops and more. Whilst there are good reasons to use LCD displays, called ‘Direct LED” in this talk, there are many pros and cons to be navigated.

Michael Heiss joins us in his usual understated style from ISE starting by outlining the key questions to be asking early in any engagement such as the required screen size, resolution, and aspect ratio. Whilst these are basic, there are further questions such as whether there is a brightness requirement, a need for HDR and of course, what the budget is. Answering these questions will help understand if projection is still the better direction to be going.

If you’re building a direct LED screen, the resolution of that screen will be dictated by the pixel pitch of the modules and the number of modules. For a fine pitch, you may just need a 4×4 array of modules. For a wider pitch, perhaps 8×8 to deliver the same HD resolution. This means your choice of screen sizes will be limited as opposed to projection where the resolution is derived from the projector itself and by adjusting its position you can get any screen size you choose, shape of the room permitting. With the cost of the screen being dependent on both the pitch and the number of modules, Michael advises anyone to go to the manufacturer and get them to specify combinations that could work for your project instead of trying to working out for yourself.

Audio is a big issue for larger screens in a film setting as traditionally speakers have been mounted behind the screens in cinemas. The move to LCD screens prevents speakers being behind the screen, but for large settings, people need to hear audio coming from the area of the screen where the characters are talking. Michael explains that the current practice in a cinema near him is to fill in this dead area of audio with sound from the sides bouncing off the screen. This requires a lot of signal processing and specialist knowledge which is not readily accessible and increases the cost of installation.

Direct LED works well for screens outside due to their brightness, for the smaller single-piece screens the simplicity is ideal for retail and it’s very neat. Bringing in the modular design can also work well but there is more complexity in having a frame to align all the modules, you also then need to ensure you have access to the modules when you need to swap them either from the front or the back. This can have an impact on home cinema design, too, as many screens will be flat against a wall.

With price still being in favour of projectors, it’s clear that there’s room in the market for both types of product. As manufacturers such as Samsung continue to experiment and push forward better and cheaper displays, it’s likely the cost element will continue to be eroded opening up Direct LED to many more people.

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Speakers

Michael Heiss Michael Heiss
Principal Consultant
M. Heiss Consulting