Aldous Huxley’s classic novel “Brave New World” is a science fiction thriller set in a murky future with a highly ordered society. While Huxley and other sci-fi writers tended to focus on futuristic societies and novel personal interactions, they didn’t quite predict the mix of technology that we have today.

Yet the recent creation of artificial intelligence systems that can create new audiovisual content from just a written description is the brave new world that we face in the film and television industry. Like any other technology, it is used by people—some of whom are good, some are bad, and most are a mix in which it is hard to separate the difference.

People in the industry, from the smallest players to the biggest moguls, are watching AI and expecting big changes. One of the biggest is Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of Dreamworks and the former chairman of Walt Disney Studio, who recently participated in a Bloomberg-sponsored forum.

“I don’t know of an industry that will be more impacted than any aspect of media, entertainment and creation,” Katzenberg said. “In the good old days, you might need 500 artists and years to make a world-class animated movie. I don’t think it will take 10% of that three years from now.”

Multimedia Building Blocks
One application that can create graphics—or a whole family of graphics—from written content is called Lore Machine. Although it is predominantly for graphics and not moving images, it can create a graphical story based on a few sentences of description.

“Lore Machine is a web application that transforms story text into multimedia adventures,” said Thobey Campion, founder of the Los Angeles-based startup. “At the helm of Lore Machine, a writer can enter natural text like a novel, a screenplay, a resume, song lyrics or a blog post, and generate galleries of imagery, animation and audio all with persistent character, location and art styles. These multimedia building blocks can then be assembled into every audiovisual story format imaginable, including multimedia articles, graphic novels/manga, presentations, children’s books, RPG games and video.”

Campion said that Lore Machine is the first AI system to achieve multimedia generation at story scale, and that it can transform still imagery into 5- to 10-second videos.

Concern Over Ethics
Ethics are a major concern regarding AI in the film and television industry. In other words, how do we prevent an AI system from creating content using the likeness of well-known people, or using copyrighted content?

For example, with an AI system capable enough, it could create scenes from the latest Jack Reacher novel using an on-screen person that looks an awful lot like Tom Cruise. And that is just the tip of the iceberg that we can discuss in a respectable trade journal—let’s leave the 90% that’s below the surface unmentioned for the moment.

Lore Machine has safeguards in place to maintain originality and prevent ethical problems, Campion said.

“Lore Machine is BYOL: Bring Your Own Lore,” he said. “That means the first thing a user does is enter original text, which ensures original authorship. The ‘Preset Palace’ is filled with ethically trained image models that [prevent creation of certain content scenarios]. Over the course of the next several months, we are releasing some styles in partnership with artists that cost extra money. All of those proceeds go to the artists.”

Further, Lore Machine is not simply a one-click creation tool, Campion said.

“It’s a workflow that requires many decisions to get to your outputs, which in turn ensures sufficient transformation,” he said.

AI has already been visible to television viewers around the world, including in North America. However, it is entirely possible that you didn’t recognize that AI was at work.

“One visible way in which AI is being used in broadcasting, particularly during sports events, is through content enrichment features such as real-time statistics and graphic overlays,” said Alex Rouxel, senior project manager for data and AI at the European Broadcasting Union. “AI algorithms analyze the game in progress and provide instant statistics.”

Guiding What the Viewer Sees
Furthermore, broadcasters use AI behind the scenes in ways that ultimately guide what the viewer sees.

“AI is used in content recommendation systems that analyze viewing habits and metadata to personalize content suggestions for viewers,” Rouxel said. “This increases user engagement without being visible on the screen.”

It’s impossible to say where AI might take us several years from now, but Rouxel has some thoughts on broadcasters’ use of AI in the near future.

“Broadcasters are likely to increasingly use AI for automated video editing and enhancement, speeding up the production process by quickly sorting and editing footage,” he said. “Editing can be tailored to the audience on the social networks where the content is posted.”

This use of AI is treating it as though it is an assistant that will tirelessly work on projects that actual people could do. It is valuable work that frees up creative people to do more creative things, but it is not the sort of AI that might take creative work from creative people.

So is creative work by creative people safe from the challenge of AI?

“AI is going to bring on the greatest change in the history of the media industry,” said Roy Folkman, director of technical sales for CineSys.io, a Houston-based systems integrator specializing in digital media. “The only way we are going to be able to navigate the overwhelming changes brought on by AI is through thoughtful and respectful exchange of ideas.”

In an online presentation in March, Folkman made his point about changes in the film and television industries with a simple end title graphic that showed all the components of the film being created by AI. He went on to say that he and many others value human creativity, and that actual art created by actual humans will always have a place.

Channel 1.AI
Later this year, a project called Channel 1.ai will begin news broadcasts using AI-gathered information and delivered by AI-generated “talent.” Calling itself “a new personalized global news network, powered by generative AI,” Channel 1.ai has a demo that looks uncannily like a first-class news operation, using “talent” that mixes the right amount of attractiveness with the gravitas we expect from news anchors and reporters.

The lengthy Channel 1.ai demo shows off one of the benefits of AI: It can deliver the news with the same “on-camera talent” in any language. The demo has one of the anchors speaking in English, then what I assume is perfect Greek, Tamil and Filipino. Even Walter Cronkite couldn’t do that.

It could be possible for the entire world to consume the same news broadcast, in each country’s native language. I don’t know if that is wonderful or scary, but it is mind-blowing.

Channel 1.ai promises that its news will be sourced and delivered in accordance with accepted news reporting standards and verified by real journalists. However, what is to stop some organization with more nefarious goals from delivering bogus news polished up with a pleasant AI sheen? It’s all too easy to imagine dozens of competing AI newscasts in every language, with “on-camera talent” racing to pander to the lowest-common denominator.

To learn more about Channel 1.ai and form your own opinion, visit www.channel1.ai.

As I write this, no one can predict exactly how AI will affect the industry. It is certain that any limitations put on it by corporations or governments will be quickly either ignored or bypassed. Clearly, any government or well-funded entity can create something along the lines of Channel 1.ai. And not every government or well-funded entity has the best intentions toward our fellow earth dwellers.

As a content creator myself, I am curious about how generative AI can help me visualize the stories I have in my head. I already use AI-powered software to improve resolution, and make videos and photos better looking. (In fact, I used AI-driven software to improve the clarity of a couple of the photos associated with this article.) Generative AI, if I could get a handle on it, could let me tell a story that I could not otherwise tell using the basic tools I have.

The next five years look to be very exciting—or nerve-wracking for some—with respect to the use of completely AI-generated content. I am convinced that it will be an eye-opening experience for all of us. l

Bob Kovacs is a long-time television engineer, video creator and writer. You can find him on YouTube at youtube.com/bob%20kovacs.

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers is a highly respected organization that works to establish technical frameworks for the creation and distribution of films and television programs. Although it is not the only group involved in broadcast standards, some of its good works involve such critical signal distribution standards as the Serial Digital Interface (SDI), ST 2022 and ST 2110.

SDI, first defined in 1989, remains a popular and reliable method of transporting high-quality video signals from point-to-point within a facility or field production. (The current version of SDI is “SMPTE ST 2083.”) However, since 1989, our world has become increasingly data-oriented and it soon became obvious that transporting broadcast-quality video signals over IP networks was both necessary and advantageous. SMPTE’s first standard to marry SDI video with IT was the ST 2022 standard.

“When the need for uncompressed IP networks in live TV production arose, companies turned to the SMPTE ST 2022 family of standards, the online media-over-IP standard available at SMPTE, to build infrastructure,” said Thomas Bause Mason, SMPTE director of standards development. 

“SMPTE ST 2022 was designed for content contribution, and was not well-suited for live TV production. A better standard needed to be created that reflected the needs of live TV production.”

That standard is ST 2110. First published in 2017, it is catching on quickly. 

“When it comes to large-scale infrastructure, almost all new facilities built [that have] IP networks for production are using SMPTE ST 2110,” Mason said. “SMPTE ST 2110 was also greatly adopted by equipment manufacturers, and SMPTE ST 2110 products are widely available.”

Core Parts Are Done
The core parts of the SMPTE ST 2110 standards family are done and were published starting in 2017, Mason said. Since then, all documents in the family except for one (ST 2110-30) went through revisions to clarify their provisions and to fix minor issues, while considering compatibility with existing implementations. These revisions were published in 2023. (SMPTE recently announced that SMPTE Standards will now be available at smpte.org to members at no additional cost.)

Perhaps the biggest benefit of using ST 2110 is that it uses standard IP networks. This has many advantages, including a large body of IP specialists that can build and maintain such networks. Another big advantage is that high-speed networks suitable for live television use commercial-off-the-shelf products that are relatively common and inexpensive. 

SDI, as well as it works, is for television only. SMPTE ST 2110 uses what the rest of the world uses.

Manufacturers are wasting no time building products compatible with the ST 2110 standard.

“Imagine has introduced SMPTE ST 2110 technology into almost every product family in our line,” said John Mailhot, CTO for infrastructure at Imagine Communications. “We see ST 2110 as the basis of design for almost every large media project in our pipeline, and even small/medium facilities are seriously considering the redundancy and scalability advantages of an ST 2110 approach.”

Mailhot said that Imagine’s Selenio Network Processor uses SMPTE ST 2110 to carry up to eight uncompressed UHD signals in each direction over 100G network interfaces, alongside their related audio and ANC components. This consolidation reduces the amount of cable (fiber) and the associated construction and project management time significantly.

“The ability to pick-and-choose from a marketplace of QSFP [quad small form factor pluggable] optical power options ensures that 100G [and 400G] IP connections can reach even the farthest corners of large facilities or even campuses,” he said. “In university settings, we are able to run 100G network connections between sports facilities on opposite corners of large campuses, building consolidated production environments that would have been much more expensive and difficult using traditional SDI approaches.”

Launching Products
Blackmagic Design launched two products last year using the SMPTE ST 2110 standard: the 2110 IP Converter and the DeckLink IP. The 2110 IP Converter 3x3G is a rackmount converter that converts 3G-SDI devices to 2110 IP broadcast systems, and the DeckLink IP is a family of three PCIe cards that capture and playback 10-bit uncompressed, broadcast-quality video directly into ST 2110 IP-based broadcast systems.

“Blackmagic Design views ST 2110 as an important tool for the industry,” said Dave Hoffman, business development manager for Blackmagic Design. “From a simplicity and flexibility standpoint, ST 2110 creates a universal language we can all speak and work in.”

Hoffman pointed out the features that make the company’s 2110 IP converter the right fit for many applications.

“Unlike using an array of miniconverters, the Blackmagic 2110 IP Converter 3x3G is rack-mountable and includes a front panel with an LCD, so users can walk up and change settings at any time,” he said. “The front-panel LCD also has the benefit of allowing live video monitoring of all input and output channels. Plus, the LCD includes network diagnostic tools to assist in troubleshooting issues in complex 2110 IP broadcast systems.”

Matrox Video offers both point-of-use ST 2110 converters as well as ST 2110 network adapters for OEM applications.

“ST 2110 is important for broadcasters, venue and stadium operators, and other media companies seeking to move to IT-based production workflows,” said Francesco Scartozzi, vice president of sales and business development for Matrox Video. “As an open SMPTE standard, like SDI, customers can choose best-of-breed products from their preferred vendor and maintain compatibility. ST 2110 production workflows use general-purpose networking equipment, which means users can easily upgrade an ST 2110 network from 10GigE to 25GigE, and even (in the future) to 100GigE without changing the whole infrastructure.”

Scartozzi said that another advantage ST 2110 offers is its ability to process video, audio and auxiliary data streams separately, depending on the capacity of the network. For example, with the right network connection, one Matrox ST 2110 NIC can support up to four 25 Gbps links and can process up to 32 channels of HD with full redundancy enabled.

“Matrox Video is an expert in ST 2110 and supported the standard before its SMPTE ratification,” he said. “We provide components to OEMs, who then build end-user products for media production, and are being used in ST 2110 productions worldwide today. The knowledge and expertise we gained during the development of ST 2110 OEM network cards has been poured into Matrox ConvertIP, which converts 3G/12G SDI to/from ST 2110. This lets broadcasters work with baseband signals inside their IP video network, and display ST 2110 on SDI/HDMI monitors.”

Manufacturer Agnostic
Chris Scheck, head of marketing content at Lawo, pointed out that an advantage of ST 2110 is that it is manufacturer-agnostic. That means customers can pick the best gear for their operations and production workflow, and avoid being locked into any particular manufacturer’s equipment universe. 

A recent addition to Lawo’s IP-native product portfolio is .edge, its hyper-density SDI/IP conversion and routing platform with up to 192 SDI connectors on 2RU.

“We recently introduced HOME Apps for server-based multiviewer generation, up/down/cross conversion, stream transcoding and graphics insertion,” Scheck said. “A lot more HOME Apps are on the roadmap, some of which will be introduced over the coming months.”

Scheck said that both these product lines feature JPEG XS compression and decompression for lossless, yet bandwidth-saving stream transport. On top of that, Lawo’s HOME Apps support NDI, SRT, H.26x, and will support more formats/protocols as soon as they become relevant.

PAC-12’s New 2110 Facility
ST 2110 is making strides in the real world of big-time sports production as well. The Pac-12 Network, a major collegiate sports producer on the west coast, recently fired up a 42,000 square-foot broadcast and production facility that it will use for production of more than 850 live events each year.

The Pac-12 Network system, designed and installed by Advanced Systems Group, uses a hub-and-spoke design where content acquired at the sports venues is backhauled to control rooms in San Francisco. This model reduces onsite staff and minimizes reliance on costly mobile trucks. 

Pac-12 also exploited the universities’ existing Internet 2 IP backbone for A/V transport and centralized production, creating the largest private IP network in the U.S. dedicated to sports. Pac-12 selected the Imagine Magellan control system for IP routing, control and monitoring, and Arista high-speed Ethernet switches. Imagine’s Magellan formed the ST 2110 orchestration backbone of the facility, while Arista’s switching and routing is the core transport component. 

There were many other vendors involved in the Pac-12 build, including Calrec Artemis audio consoles, Grass Valley K-Frame video switchers, Ross XPression graphics, Evertz Dreamcatcher replay systems, just to name a few. The audio in the Pac-12 Netword system is AES67, a standard for audio-over-IP that’s part of the ST 2110 protocol. Interoperability between the two is paramount, and requires careful network orchestration so that the two transports are handled separately and all I/O’s align properly.

“Implementing audio redundancy within an IP infrastructure is not a trivial undertaking,” said Dave Van Hoy, president of Advanced Systems Group. “We got caught in a couple of places where those became very interesting challenges. Everything worked out, with many thanks to the impressive cooperation of the Calrec, ASG and Imagine teams. It was definitely a learning lesson.” 

Identifying What's 2110-Compliant
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) is a non-profit organization founded by leading manufacturers to promote the adoption of standards as the industry transitions toward an IP future. AIMS has catalogued nearly 300 products related to SMPTE ST 2110 from 45 manufacturers (available at ).

“Originally a specialized solution for high-end or spatially constrained projects, SMPTE ST 2110 has evolved into the primary choice for designers building reliable, scalable IP-based systems,” said Andrew Starks, marketing working group chair for AIMS. “There is a tremendous innovation happening within the SMPTE ST 2110 community.”

Does this mean that the industry is rolling toward a future that is all IP and does not use SDI?

“SDI’s affordability, industry-wide familiarity, and proven reliability ensure its continued relevance,” Starks said. “Presently, most SMPTE ST 2110 systems incorporate some level of SDI integration, acknowledging its practicality and the need to support legacy equipment.

“This reality underscores the importance of interoperability between SDI and SMPTE ST 2110,” Starks added. “Such interoperability influenced key aspects of ST 2110’s design, notably in the handling of ancillary data (ST 2110-40). As SMPTE ST 2110 equipment becomes more affordable, and as the industry gains more tools and expertise in managing IP media networks, we anticipate a shift towards predominantly IP-based systems.”

The economy, familiarity and ever-growing capacity of IP networks make them a natural medium for carrying television signals. As SMPTE ST 2110 takes hold and more products are exposed to more people, expect to see ST 2110 forming the backbone of an increasing number of facilities.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Almost immediately after professional 4K video products started showing up in the industry, there was talk of a video format beyond 4K: 8K. Just as 4K doubled the number of pixels in each direction from an HD image—1,920 pixels became 3,840 and 1,080 pixels became 2,160—8K video doubles the pixels from the 4K count.

That results in a lot of pixels (7,680x4,320) and a mind-boggling video standard in which each frame is a 32-megapixel image. To put that into perspective, the nice-quality still-image camera that I bought less than a year ago has a 21-megapixel sensor, and it is well-regarded for its 4K video and still-image quality.

The same industry forces that produced inexpensive 4K video professional products are also behind the slow-but-steady growth of 8K products. These forces include the rapid decrease in size yet rapid increase in capacity and capability of memory devices and computers, and the ability for manufacturers to pack more and more features into the same size semiconductors.

It begs the question: Is a 16K video format just around the corner, with frame sizes of 128-megapixels? For the moment, the focus is on 8K.

SHOWCASE PRODUCTIONS

U.S. broadcasters have already used 8K cameras in their productions, including in Super Bowl LIII where CBS deployed several 8K cameras in the end zone in what the network called a “highly-constructed engineering solution.” These were used to provide hyper-detailed views of any activity in the end zone.

One organization actively moving forward with 8K is NHK, which is preparing to shoot the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and 2020 Paralympic Games in the new format. NHK is also planning to have 8K technology on public display in a few locations around Japan; however, this is still all in the planning stage.

Still, the network has big plans to roll out 8K and is actively sourcing gear for 8K production.

“Some of the gear we have is prototype equipment that we developed in collaboration with manufacturers, but much of the 8K gear is actual production equipment,” said Jun Ochiai, chief of 8K Production for NHK’s production department. “8K lenses, cameras, recorders and switchers all have production models available. At the same time, we sometimes carefully examine and use 4K lenses in our 8K productions.”

NHK refers to its 8K system as “Super Hi-Vision,” which echoes back to the “Hi-Vision” name that the network gave its first HD broadcasts.

One of the suppliers for 8K gear is Ikegami, which is now on its fourth generation of production 8K cameras. Ikegami has collaborated with NHK on the development of 8K technology for more than 10 years.

HAS A REAL FUTURE

Toshihisa Mitsuoka, president and CEO of Ikegami Electronics U.S.A., said that 8K has a real future, and is not simply a pretty technology demo format. Satellite broadcasting of 4K/8K Super Hi-Vision (SHV) was launched on Dec. 1, 2018, with an eventual goal to have SHV services delivered by terrestrial broadcasting, according to Mitsuoka.

“Given the legacy features of the current terrestrial digital broadcasting system, NHK is investigating a new broadcasting system that can provide SHV broadcasting for fixed reception and Hi- Vision broadcasting for mobile reception on a single [OTA] channel,” Mitsuoka said.

As you might imagine, there are many technical challenges to be overcome with a system that visualizes, encodes and transports 30 32-megapixel images every second. Mitsuoka listed some of them:

8K sensor: The sensor is the single most important component in a camera, and it is no exception here. For Ikegami’s 8K cameras, NHK did the heavy lifting in pushing the development of a 33-megapixel 8K sensor. (The extra one-megapixel allows for over-scanning, rescaling and image stabilization.)

Transmission bandwidth: Extended bandwidth is needed to send the 8K image from head to the camera control unit. A 40G transmission system was developed for the SHK-810, cutting-edge technology at the time of development.

Critical focus: Focusing an 8K camera is extremely critical. Several special features were developed for the SHK-810, including a critical focus colored-edge enhancement for the viewfinder and CCU monitor output, a zoom feature with location selection for the viewfinder and CCU monitor output and a remote focus trim at the operator’s control panel.

Complete system camera: Ikegami needed to build in all the familiar features and controls so that the SHK-810 and its CCU could be integrated and used without retraining operators and disrupting workflow.

Ikegami’s SHK-810 camera has been used at many big international events since 2016, including all the Olympic Games from 2016 onward, World Cup soccer matches and the Super Bowl.

In addition to NHK’s SHV satellite service, at least one other overseas operator plans an 8K streaming service. Spain-based streaming provider Rakuten TV expects to fire up an 8K service by the end of 2019. At least initially, the content will be movies that have been encoded into an 8K format.

RAI, the national television network in Italy, plans to start an 8K service in 2020, making it the first European broadcaster to announce such a service. RAI’s goal is to have the system up and running in time for the 2020 Olympic Games. The broadcaster already has a 4K channel that it uses to transmit soccer matches, documentaries and the annual Christmas Mass from the Vatican.

OTHER MANUFACTURERS

Besides Ikegami, other manufacturers are producing 8K gear. Some of these include Sony, Samsung and LG, the latter two of which have existing 8K consumer and professional displays. Other companies committed to launching 8K consumer displays are Changhong, Hisense, Sharp, Skyworth and TCL, some of which will have 4K-to-8K upscaling technology. In addition to building 8K cameras and other production gear, Sony will launch consumer 8K displays later this year. Since 8K displays boast such fine detail, they are available in sizes up to 98 inches (250cm).

To help smooth the launch of 8K products and content, the 8K Association trade group was recently formed with the goals of encouraging OTT 8K content, developing standards and educating consumers and professionals about the new format.

It’s clear that there is interest in and movement toward 8K products for broadcasters and consumers. Just like the situation with 4K, consumers adopted the new display technology before there was really an infrastructure to deliver the content—and content was scarce. Now that 4K is entrenched with streaming services and there are plans for OTA delivery (with ATSC 3.0), consumers are perhaps primed for an even higher-resolution platform.

When 4K products were announced and prototypes shown, they seemed exotic and futuristic—something that would be nice but obviously well off in the future. Now that 4K is in millions of homes (and 4K TV sets selling for well less than $300), 8K is looking more and more like a sure thing. How long will it be before Costco has a few models for Black Friday specials?

ALEXANDRIA, VA.—Before inexpensive processors and memory revolutionized how video is shot, recorded and edited, production switchers had a rigidly limited scope: All they did was switch and key images. You could select among video sources, do simple effects (such as wipes and dissolves) between them, and you could key in a title or perform a chroma key—that was pretty much it.

Grass Valley Korona K-Frame V-series production switcher

In todayʼs digital era, production switchers are far more complex and capable. Not only does a modern switcher do everything the old ones did, current models store and recall graphics and video clips, control external devices such as cameras and recorders, as well as perform complex real-time 3D effects unimagined in the analog era.

Can this trend continue? For one thing, production switchers are operated in real time by real people under a lot of pressure to be accurate and error-free. Is there a danger that these operators will be overloaded by the switchersʼ growing capabilities?

“Every time we think we have maxed out our operators, we are proven wrong,ˮ said Greg Huttie, vice president for production switchers at Grass Valley. “We ask our users from all segments of TV production what they find hard and what they find easy so we can address those functions more effectively to either simplify processes or expand on the opportunities.ˮ

MAKING IT SIMPLE

Making the difficult simple for the user is apparently the credo of production switcher manufacturers.

“As long as the equipment used is intuitive and allows technical directors and operators to simplify their workflow, it is possible to add a number of features and capabilities into switchers,ˮ said John Carter, senior product manager for Snell Advanced Media (SAM). “This enhanced capability is in addition to features like pre-sets, such as effects or macros. Adding more functionality in the future doesn’t add problems for operators and broadcasters because there is always the option to program this into a switcher as required. We will see more features built into production switchers, and this is a positive step promoting constant development and fresh product improvements.ˮ

In addition to being at the heart of most live video production operations and the connectivity to video devices that requires, production switchers now all have IP connectivity, which brings yet additional network capability to switchers.

One example of this is Broadcast Pixʼs switchers and the companyʼs BPNet, an IP-based system that can be used to transfer visual material (stills and video clips) as well as control other devices.

“A lot of times the workflow doesn’t work because systems from different manufacturers don’t communicate well,ˮ said Tony Mastantuono, product manager for Broadcast Pix in Chelmsford, Mass. “BPNet is our IP-based ecosystem that lets you manage clips, graphics, data and other assets securely through the cloud using a Web browser. BPNet handles all the transcoding automatically, so it eliminates all the formatting and FTP issues that get in the way of your creativity.”

REACHED THE LIMIT?

So have we reached the limit of what we can expect an operator to handle when sitting at a switcher control panel for a demanding production?

NewTek TriCaster TC1 streaming switcher

“The more tools we can bundle into one of our systems benefits everyone and simplifies workflows,ˮ Mastantuono said. “I don’t think we’ve reached the limit to what we can integrate into our integrated production switchers—after all, customers keep asking us for more. For example, motion graphics have traditionally required a dedicated system. We’ve included NewBlueFX, a multi-layer 3D motion graphics CG, with our BPswitch integrated production switchers.ˮ

Many broadcasters have newsroom automation systems that include switchers that allow management of cameras, all controlled with a button push from the technical director sitting at the production switcher. One button press will move a camera into position for the chroma-keyed weather report, including movement of the camera pedestal as well as pan, tilt, zoom and focus. Ross Video is one of several switcher companies that specializes in complete news studio systems that include this sort of capability.

Of course, today a “broadcasterˮ can be an organization that streams video via the Web. NewTek has carved out a niche as a provider of production switchers that excel at Web streaming. Brian Olson, vice president of product management for the San Antonio-based company, said that webcasters and broadcasters want the same thing in their productions.

“Streaming is just a change in the way content is delivered, not necessarily a change to the way video is produced,ˮ Olson said. “That said, streaming has opened up video production to a broader range of users who sometimes have less sophisticated productions and use a smaller subset of functionality. Online game streamers have tapped into the APIs of the streaming platforms to pull data and display it on-screen. That is one specific instance where streaming uses different features. NewTekʼs NDI has also made it really easy to pull the desktops from gaming computers and game consoles to make them available as video sources for a streaming production.ˮ

4K, UHD & HDR

Switcher vendors are delivering systems for 4K production, and some even have models for UHD high dynamic range production. Carter noted that SAM’s Kahuna switcher has seen a dramatic uptake, with live deployments by remote/OB companies worldwide due to the way it switches and produces UHD, all while simultaneously producing HD.

“UHD sports productions, such as Formula 1and the English Premier League are produced weekly using Kahuna, with technical directors repeatedly telling us that it is just like switching HD,” Carter said. “The next stage beyond UHD is HDR, which delivers an even richer viewing experience. Kahuna now can ship with FormatFusion4, which has the added benefit of switching in HDR and wide color gamut in either UHD or 1080p.ˮ

Most product categories in this industry have evolved with new products doing things that could not have been imagined 30 years ago, and production switchers may be leading the pack in that regard. If the prospect of getting a new switcher that has an ever-growing list of capabilities is a little daunting, consider that switchers today generally cost less than they did a couple decades ago.

Getting more for your money has to be a good thing.

ALEXANDRIA, VA.—Ten years ago, I worked for Sprint Nextel as an engineer on the 2 GHz relocation project (aka the “BAS Relocation”). At that time, broadcasters didn’t have much choice to get signals from remote feeds back to the studio: It was either ENG microwave or satellite trucks.

I stayed with the project until 2010, and although a couple of alternatives were percolating in the background, it wasn’t until a year or two later that they exploded into the minds of broadcasters. It first hit the streets in the form of backpack cellular radios that used multiple 3G cell phone connections to transport signals back to the studio.

A Sky Italia crew uses a Comrex LiveShot system just before Election Day 2016 from Times Square in New York. As telcos such as AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile acquired more spectrum and implemented 4G technology, digital bandwidth that could be used for broadcast-quality video increased rapidly. With two 4G connections paired at the camera, it’s perfectly reasonable to get a transmission channel of 20 Mbps or greater—easily enough for a high-quality link, especially when using H.264 encoding.

Compared to microwave trucks (virtually all of which had been upgraded to digital as a result of the 2 GHz relocation project), bonded cellular has a big advantage: It has high-bandwidth return capability for cuing and IFB built into the system. The big disadvantage of bonded cellular is that the digital link can vary widely from lousy to great—you might be sure you’ll get 20 Mbps, but find out that it won’t go higher than 3 Mbps. As telcos continue to improve their systems and build additional 4G sites, getting higher speeds in the future is almost certain.

Although current 4G technology would seem perfect for occasional broadcast remotes, a 5G standard is in development. It promises to have more efficient spectrum usage and to serve more users with faster data speeds from each cell site.

“We’re really excited to see the rollout of the fifth generation wireless technologies because we’ve been closely involved since the days of 2G and it is amazing to see the bandwidth and technology advancements,” said Avi Cohen, COO and cofounder of Hackensack, N.J.-based LiveU. “But it’s important to remember that these are built for consumers and we are optimizing these networks for professional video applications. We’ve heard this same story through the years—that 3G is going to be fast enough, LTE is going to give us plenty of speed for video, and so on. But as cellular networks get better, the demand for more bandwidth and reliability continues to grow because we keep filling the capacity.”

REDUCED SIZE

As the demand for bandwidth has gone up, the pressure to reduce the size of the cellular encoder/radio has increased as well. LiveU’s LU200 series of cameramount encoders is small, but Cohen sees the future as smaller still.

“In more recent years, the need to be even more agile has meant increasing movement towards the device in your pocket; the iPhone, Galaxy or Pixel likely has the best camera you’ve ever owned and can get you more places than a traditional ENG camera,” Cohen said. “This could be the direction that you may see ENG continue to head, and in that regard we’re ready with our LiveU Smart App that enables the user to bond Wi-fi and cellular, and stream directly from the phone’s camera to the receive server, just the way the rest of the LU backpacks do.”

Most bonded cellular products today rely on H.264 encoding, which is well established and efficient. However, the next generation of television encoding—HEVC/H.265—is more efficient and therefore requires less bandwidth for the same quality of delivered video. What does that mean for bonded cellular systems?

“We’ve been keenly following the developments in the world of HEVC/H.265 encoders, and we find the offerings to be wanting,” said Chris Crump, senior director of sales and marketing for Comrex in Devens, Mass. “Although the H.265 spec offers some great technological promise, we’ve found that the currently available encoders are still inferior to the encoding capability of our H.264 encoder/decoder. As we’ve been telling our customers for some time now, we don’t want to add HEVC because it’s the ‘next big thing.’ We’ve got our ear to the ground, though, waiting for the right horse to show up.”

NOT A SURE THING

Anyone with a cellphone knows that a good connection is not always a sure thing, so manufacturers like Ontario, Canada-based Dejero created the Live+ Booster to work around that reality. Live+ Booster is a vehicle-mounted unit with an array of up to 12 high-gain antennas to improve performance. Paired with Dejero’s Live+ Go- Box or 20/20 transmitter, the Live+ Booster is an alternative to satellite or microwave systems that may be blocked by weather or line-of-sight obstructions.

JVC ProHD Bridge is a family of products for ENG links. JVC recently launched a vehicle-mounted system that incorporates diversity antennas to establish a high-reliability channel with bonded cellular. The ProHD Bridge puts the H.264 encoder in the camera, then has a 5 GHz camera-mount transmitter to relay the signal to the vehicle, which then sends the signal off to the studio.

An interesting twist in JVC’s system is that it can also provide a wide-ranging Wi-fi hotspot that can be used for any Internet-based application. ProHD Bridge consists of several products that can be mixed and added as needed.

Irvine, Calif.-based VidOvation’s DMNG PRO180 bonded cellular transmission system can support eight telco modems, has an internal high-efficiency custom antenna array and built-in Wi-fi modem, and features two H.264 video encoders for failsafe operation. The system has been getting lots of production use lately on the A&E series “Live PD.”

Consumer 4K displays have been flying off the shelf this year, and both 4K and high dynamic range have been widely discussed and demo-ed in the industry. Bonded cellular manufacturers have been keeping a close eye on these trends.

“If there is a demand for it now, we can certainly deliver such product very quickly,” said Paul Shen, CEO of TVU Networks in Mountain View, Calif. “There is sufficient bandwidth and stability with TVU mobile uplink solutions to support 4K and HDR video, and the processing power is also there to process those signals.”

What’s in a Name?

The cellular industry—in the form of the big telcos—is not a great friend of broadcasters. For decades, broadcasters controlled a huge swath of spectrum that turned out to be ideal for telcos to press into cellphone service—lobbying, advertising and probably some old-fashioned arm twisting was involved in forcing broadcasters off that spectrum. To be fair, the telcos did pay a lot of money for it, but much of that money went to Uncle Sam and not the broadcasters.

There are several books that could be written about this, but the point is that some broadcasters grumble at the use of products and services that are sold under the name “bonded cellular,” since cellular has been... well, “the enemy.” A few people in this industry probably want to avoid the use of the word “cellular,” and certainly don’t want to be seen bonding with it.

So if it’s not “bonded cellular,” what do we call it? A couple suggestions could be “IP ENG” and “License-Free Remote.” I like the term “Pocket Remote,” since the time is probably not far off when a respectable news remote could be done with a single cellphone.

And “bonded” is quickly becoming passé, as wireless network speeds ramp up. 4G wireless networks are now common, and they theoretically have speeds as high as 100 Mbps. In practice, I routinely get 4G speeds of 15–20 Mbps at my home and once scored 42 Mbps on the road (in Seattle). With the advent of 5G, which promises greater spectral efficiency than 4G and theoretical wireless speeds up to 1 Gbps, the need for bonding multiple channels for a single feed evaporates. (There is no current deployment of 5G, but much work is being done on a standard.)

Even 15 Mbps with H.264 encoding results in a pretty good HD signal back at the studio, and some video industry manufacturers are building gear to make such bandwidth as reliable as possible.

So if it isn’t “bonded cellular,” it certainly won’t be simply “cellular.” My two favorites are “IP ENG” and “Pocket Remote.”

What are yours? Drop us a line at tvtech@nbmedia.com.

Bob Kovacs

THE END OF TRUCKS?

What will become of the thousands of microwave remote trucks operated by broadcasters across the country? Do bonded cellular systems do everything a microwave truck can do, without the need to get an FCC license for microwave operations?

Not exactly.

“Microwave has its niche where cellular coverage has not been deployed or in rare situations of a severely congested environment—although those situations are becoming less common, as the cellular infrastructure continues to improve,” Shen said. “On the other hand, TVU mobile uplink solutions are capable of using cellular, microwave and satellite simultaneously. You can consider that TVU mobile uplink solution is the superset of all those technologies.

“I would be surprised to see anyone today deploying any specific technology without considering leveraging all different transmission mediums, simultaneously. One example is the World Ski Championship in 2015. It had very good cellular coverage throughout the ski slope, except at the very top of the mountain. So, TVU deployed a MIMO-microwave site on top of the mountain. TVU transmitters with integrated MIMO modules continuously delivered full HD-quality live video, while the camera crew skied down from top of the mountain.”

Bonded cellular, a product category that had not yet been invented 10 years ago and had just a handful of customers five years ago, is now a major path for broadcast remotes. Broadcasters have a wary relationship with telco companies (see the sidebar), but reliable remote connections using bonded cellular products could change some attitudes among broadcasters.

As more cell sites are rolled out and broadcaster-friendly bandwidth becomes more available and reliable, routine ENG remotes will increasingly move to bonded cellular links. After all, what once needed a truck will now almost fit in a couple of pockets.

WASHINGTON—The 2016 Government Video Expo & National Drone Show was held Dec. 6-8, with the first day (Dec. 6) set aside exclusively for the DC Post Production Conference, a series of training in various video specialties. The exhibition floor opened up on Wednesday, Dec. 7, and the show did not disappoint.

Attendees quickly filled the exhibition hall once the show opened.

With attendee registrations up some 20 percent this year, the exhibition floor quickly filled with people from inside and outside government looking for ideas and a first-hand look at popular industry products.

One such looker was Amy Carter from the St. Mary’s County (Md.) Government Video Channel, who stopped at the Panasonic booth to examine the cameras. Although she said that St. Mary’s County is not ready to commit to an all 4K studio, she is expected to know what’s out there and be ready to move on new gear when funds become available.

“I’m here to look around and see what to dream about,” she said. “We’re a taxpayer-funded organization, so funds are always scarce, but you always have to be ready to think about the future.”

After being at the Expo for only a short time, Carter looked around with some surprise.

“I’m a little overwhelmed,” she said.

INDUSTRY TRAINING

Industry training was a draw for some in the area. One who found it worthwhile was Kelsey Brannan, a video specialist with the U.S. State Department.

“I was here for the Post Production Conference,” she said, “as well as seeing some of the vendors here at the Expo. I’m also interested in the drones because I want to get one for myself to get some nice aerial shots.”

Brannan attended the “Mastering Adobe Premiere Pro” session during the DC Post Production Conference, which was spread over all three days of the Expo. She also visited the Ikan and DeWolfe Music booths, and said she was looking at a variety of disk drive solutions on the show floor.

The National Drone Show is major part of the Expo, and it drew attentive crowds at both the drone flying cage and the Drone Show Theater. Presentations were given at both locations, and the Drone Show Theater also featured the winning films in the DC Drone Film Festival.

GV Expo partners with the Federal Government Distance Learning Association, which gives out its annual awards for excellence at the event. Among several awards handed out, the FGDLA gave its Hall of Fame Award to Kenneth Pisel, satellite program manager for the Joint Forces Staff College at National Defense University.

David Brigham (center) and Michael Polizzi (right) from Epsilon Systems, take a closer look at the Blackmagic Design Studio Camera.

A long list of vendors showed a wide variety of products on the show floor. Some of the overarching product trends include 4K video, leaps in wireless communications to support emergency video, increased storage density particularly for archiving, and the explosion of video production tools enabled by both smaller cameras and LED lighting devices.

Major camera vendors such as Panasonic, Blackmagic Design, JVC and Canon had their own busy booths, where they showed the latest in 4K cameras. Sony and Hitachi also had a presence within the large CEI booth.

David Brigham, a videographer with Epsilon Systems, researched cameras at Blackmagic Design’s booth. His company works on a variety of projects, including training videos for the U.S. Navy, and he described his specific needs for cameras—some of which buck the trend in ever-greater connectivity options.

“We need something that does not have Wi-Fi,” Brigham said, noting that signal security is a top priority on Navy jobs.

360-DEGREE CAMERA

There were other companies with interesting cameras, too. Teradek showed off its new “Sphere” 2D 360-degree live camera streaming system, which is controlled by a tablet or touchscreen, allowing the user to pan and tilt the camera completely around to give the ultimate panorama view. Jon Landman, Teradek’s sales vice president, said that three 4K versions of the system will be used at the upcoming presidential inauguration, giving viewers multiple 360-degree views of the proceedings.

Brian Slanger from Zoom It Films checks out a camera fitted with Teradek’s Cube and Beam TX wireless video system.

Amazing versatility in camera-support equipment is a recent industry trend displayed at the show. For example, Alzo Video showed its “Smoothy,” a camera slider that can be oriented in either a straight line or in a radius curve. New for the Smoothy is a motor that moves along the track and reverses automatically when it encounters a movable magnet.

Most people in the video industry will tell you that getting good audio can be harder than getting good video. Advancements in audio, such as the Sennheiser SpeechLine Ceiling Microphone Array, drew interested visitors to the Sennheiser booth. Consisting of 29 microphone elements and advanced aural processing in a 24x24-inch panel, the SL Ceiling Mic uses beamforming technology to focus the sound on a speaker in a room up to 600 square feet in size.

Another trend in technology is wireless systems to transport video from the street to command centers and studios. (One of these was discussed at length in the keynote talk delivered by Timothy Herlocker, director of the New York City Fire Departmentʼs Emergency Operations Center.) Vendors such as JVC and Teradek showed their solutions for wireless connectivity, including JVC’s system to provide temporary high-speed Wi-Fi at the scene of an emergency.

CROWD-DRAWING KEYNOTES

The GV Expo and the National Drone show both had an interesting slate of speakers that addressed sometimes overflow crowds in the Government Video Theater. Presentations kicked off with the always-popular TIVA (Television, Internet & Video Association of DC) offering, whose session this year discussed the “Rise of the Drones.” It was a perfect way to start the show.

The podium in the Government Video Theater stayed busy for the next two days with interesting presentations from Renard Jenkins, vice president of operations for PBS; Robert Kennedy, president and co-CEO of C-SPAN; Gail McCabe, war correspondent and executive director of CreativeMediaMatters; Herlocker; Rodney Grubbs, imaging expert for NASA; and Lisa Ellman, drone law expert with Hogan Lovells. Interspersed between these presentations were talks on drones from a variety of experts, notably Fred Bivetto, dean of the School of Unmanned Technology.

POSITIVE REACTION

Reaction to the show from attendees and exhibitors was overwhelmingly positive.

“We get a lot of good visitors here at the show,” said Drew Henderson, CEO of Alzo Video, a Bethel, Conn.-based manufacturer of camera support equipment.

Laurence Means (left) of Citimarketing Group gets product information from Brendan Kilroy of Erector Sets.

One attendee raved about how he looked forward to the show so that he could see and touch the equipment, something that was happening a lot on the floor.

There was plenty to see and do during the two days that the GV Expo exhibition floor was open. With a new president being inaugurated in a few weeks, there is some uncertainty in the air in Washington. However, the Government Video Expo & National Drone show was about as close to a sure thing for the attendees and exhibitors.

Note that next year, the Government Video Expo & National Drone Show will be a little earlier than usual. Although it has traditionally been held during the first week in December, in 2017 the show will be at the very end of November.

WASHINGTON—The second and last day of the Government Video Expo & National Drone Show saw attendees return to the hall for a slate of presentations, product demos and the Expo’s highly anticipated free raffle. At the NewBay booth, Valerie Smith guarded the drum of raffle entries to be sure there was no “ballot stuffing” incidents.

Rodney Grubbs, an imagery specialist with NASA, gives a keynote talk on the role of 4K video in upcoming Mars missions.

Close by was the Government Video Theater, where there were two interesting keynotes this day from Timothy Herlocker and Rodney Grubbs. Herlocker, the director of New York City’s emergency operations center, discussed how live video fits into the City’s tactical operations, making it safer for both first responders and citizens. Grubbs, an imaging expert with NASA, gave a presentation on how 4K video and developing technologies such as high dynamic range will be an important feature of upcoming Mars missions.

Across the hall at the Drone Show Theater were presentations on using drones to generate revenue, as well as a talk on emerging applications and opportunities for drones. Between sessions at the Drone Show Theater was a continuous showing of award-winning drone films—some pretty amazing stuff.

Of course, many attendees were drawn to vendors’ booths to examine and silently lust for the latest gear. David Brigham, a videographer with Epsilon Systems, spent time researching cameras at Blackmagic Design’s booth. His company works on a variety of projects, including training videos for the U.S. Navy, and he described his specific needs for cameras.

Valerie Smith slides an attendee’s raffle entry into the drum at the NewBay Media booth.

“We need something that does not have Wi-Fi,” Brigham said, noting that signal security is a top priority on Navy jobs.

The ability to work quickly is also paramount.

“We have to have a small footprint to get in and get out fast,” he said.

A couple aisles away, Teradek showed off its new 2D 360-degree live streaming system, called Sphere. Jon Landman, Teradek’s sales vice president, said that three 4K versions of the system will be used at the upcoming presidential inauguration, giving viewers multiple 360-degree views of the proceedings.

There was plenty of action at the drone cage, where presenters discussed a variety of techniques to improve and manage drone video. One presentation was by Lou Siracusano of VideoBank, which makes software to archive and process real-time drone video streams. John Riehl, VideoBank’s executive vice president, said that the company’s Virtual Meeting Room software is in the process of being certified by the Criminal Justice Information System so that it can be used to store and process evidence for legal proceedings.

LAS VEGAS—TV Technology asked a cross-section of NAB Show-goers a series of five questions regarding what they considered the main themes, evidence of those, whether or not these initiatives will take hold, and what promising technologies from past NAB Shows did not see daylight. (A complete list of quotes from respondents and links to their full 5Qs is at “NAB 2016 in 21 Quotes.”)

Bob Kovacs, writer, editor, reporter and video producer:
Q1.How many NAB Shows have you attended?
B.K. I first attended the NAB in 1984, but missed a couple years. I’ll guess and say this is my 30th NAB. More than half of those, I worked as a journalist for IMAS/NewBay.

Q2.What, in your opinion, were the main themes of the show this year?
B.K. The two main themes I’ve noticed are ATSC 3.0 and 4K/8K video. However, anyone who went down to the five-digit booths in the Central Hall had to be knocked out by the insane assortment of video production equipment. In addition to pricey, high-end broadcast and production products, there was an explosion of low-cost great quality cameras, tripods, lights, recorders, lenses and camera support equipment. (Not the least of which is UAVs.) So at the high end, there’s ATSC 3.0 and 4K/8K cinema production, but there’s also a tremendous democratization of video gear for people who work on a shoestring.

Q3.What were some examples of these themes?
B.K. There were plenty of ATSC 3.0 demos around the halls and nearly all transmitter manufacturers are showing ATSC 3.0-compatible products. Camera companies at the high end (Red) and low end (GoPro) had 4K cameras that are highly popular, judging by the crowds around their booths.

Q4.Do you foresee any or all of these technologies or initiatives taking hold?
B.K. The only one of these that hasn’t taken hold is 8K. (Although the apartment-sized 8K display at the Planar booth was a “must-see.” It was astonishing.)

Q5.What technology that impressed you most at a past show didn’t see the light of day?
B.K. HiVision, the Japanese analog HD system that was first shown in the mid-1980s, looked like a dead certainty for high-end applications. However, there was never any interest in the U.S. Parts of it ended up as digital HD, but far different from what was shown so many years ago