Video: Intro to 4K Video & HDR

With all the talk of IP, you’d be wrong to think SDI is dead. 12G for 4K is alive and well in many places, so there’s plenty of appetite to understand how it works and how to diagnose problems.

In this double-header, Steve Holmes from Tektronix takes us through the ins and outs of HDR and also SDI for HDR at the SMPTE SF section.

Steve starts with his eye on the SMPTE standards for UHD SDI video looking at video resolutions and seeing that a UHD picture can be made up of 4 HD pictures which gives rise to two well-known formats ‘Quad split’ and ‘2SI’ (2 Sample Interleave).

Colour is the next focus and a discussion on the different colour spaces that UHD is delivered with (spoiler: they’re all in use), what these look like on the vectorscope and look at the different primaries. Finishing up with a roundup and a look at interlink timing, there’s a short break before hitting the next topic…HDR

High Dynamic Range is an important technology which is still gaining adoption and is often provided in 4K programmes. Steve defines the two places HDR is important; in the acquisition and the display of the video then provides a handy lookup table of terms such as HDR, WCG, PQ, HDR10, DMCVT and more.

Steve gives us a primer on what HDR is in terms of brightness ‘NITS’, how these relate to real life and how we talk about it with respect to the displays. We then look at HDR on the waveform monitor and look at features of waveform monitors which allow engineers to visualise and check HDR such as false colour.

The topic of gamma, EOTFs and colour spaces comes up next and is well-explained building on what came earlier. Before the final demo and Q&A, Steve talks about different ways to grade pictures when working in HDR.

A great intro to the topics at hand – just like Steve’s last one: Uncompressed Video over IP & PTP Timing

Watch now!

Speakers

Steve Holmes Steve Holmes
Former Senior Applications Engineer,
Tektronix

Video: Uncompressed Video over IP & PTP Timing

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.

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Speaker

Steve Holmes Steve Holmes
Senior Applications Engineer,
Tektronix

Video: Designing and Utilising SMPTE 2110 for Broadcast: Opportunities and Challenges

A meeting of experienced minds here at the Pittsburgh SMPTE section talking about the opportunities and challenges of ST-2110. Phil Myers from Lawo talks optimistically about the challenges that can and often have been solved in implementing 2110 whether that be network infrastructure or timing, giving a good primer on the whole topic as he starts the session.

Hugo Gaggioni from Sony, talks about NMOS, explaining what AMWA does and the difference between their IS-04,05 and 06 specifications.

Karl Kuhn from Tektronix then discusses packet pacing, PTP and network architectures. He then looks at how to monitor PTP and see it is working well.

With the panel session at the end, joined by Dan Turk from NEP, there is a free-ranging discussion covering some of the following topics:

  • Control of IP networks
  • The limits of IP
  • Multicast traffic
  • Network Architecture
  • True non-blocking switches
  • Break-even points of IP systems
  • Split essences & dropping blanking
  • Network planning for UHD
  • Handling loss of network on PTP implementations
    plus much more!

Watch now!

Speakers

Phil Myers Phil Myers
Senior Director, IP Systems,
Lawo
Karl Kuhn Karl Kuhn
Senior Field Video Applications Engineer,
Tektronix
Hugo Gaggioni Hugo Gaggioni
CTO, Broadcast and Production Systems Division
Sony
Dan Turk Dan Turk
Chief Engineer, Mobile Units
NEP

Video: Changing Trends in Broadcasting: Technology, Viewership, Engineering, Personnel

A panel of local experts discuss various topics around changing trends in broadcasting: • Are cable networks looking at 4K?
• QVC’s Simulcasts on Facebook Live
• What interest is there in IP standards?
• What new technologies interest local stations?
• Are manufacturers providing the solutions that broadcasters need?
• How are viewers consuming content now and
• How are broadcast techs learning new technologies?

Moderator:
Mark Mullen – Broadcast Facilities Engineer/Technical Director, Millersville University

Panelists:
– Greg Gialloreto – Director of Global Broadcast Architecture, QVC
– Karl Kuhn – Senior Video Systems Application Engineer, Tektronix
– Anthony Plosz – VP of Engineering & Operations, WCAU-TV

This June 2017 meeting of the Philadelphia Section of SMPTE was held at WCAU-TV in Bala Cynwyd, PA.

Watch now!

www.philasmpte.org