HAMILTON, N.J.—As the industry moves rapidly towards pure softwarebased Integrated channel playout (ICP) systems, the term channel in a box (CiAB) may now need to be replaced with “channel in a cloud.”

Since the software architecture of the latest ICP systems lends itself to IP-driven virtualized master control, private data centers and public cloud deployments—running on commodity hardware—the industry is parting ways with the self-contained, dedicated hardware on which CiAB solutions have been based.

The term was originally coined because the functionality that used to require separate, heavy iron master control devices—for channel branding, playout and automation—was integrated within a single appliance. While integration enabled streamlined, automated operation, broadcasters could no longer mix and match the different third-party devices they wanted to use.

Now, with the freedom to design solutions entirely in software, top vendors are now on-boarding best-in-class, third-party software engines—such as graphics, closed captioning, loudness control, watermarking and Dolby encoding—within their integrated channel playout systems to expand their functionality and boost customer appeal.

Florical’s Acuitas Integrated Channel Playout systemFLEXIBLE DESIGN

“As an industry, we began by integrating third-party master control hardware systems, followed by collapsing everything into one box, and now we’ve come full circle to where we’re back to integrating third-party products again, only this time in software,” said Eric Openshaw, general manager of Pebble Beach Systems, in Denver. “We’re not graphics experts or captioning experts. But we know who is, and we can plug their applications into our box.”

“With the pluggable software architecture of our Orca and Dolphin CiABs, we’ve already integrated the Pixel Power graphics engine and Dolby E encoding, among other specialized third-party components, with plans to add more,” Openshaw added. “The result is that the customer is not locked in, a better quality product goes to air, and the system can keep pace with the latest trends and requirements.”

SOA ARCHITECTURE

“This industry is rapidly moving away from dedicated hardware to a softwarecentric IP workflow. And with our Acuitas ICP system, we’re taking things a step further by moving away from the limitations a closed one-brand/one-box environment poses,” said Shawn Maynard, vice president/general manager of Florical Systems in Gainesville, Fla.

“By forming collaborative partnerships with other top industry vendors, and leveraging Acuitas’ modular, software-oriented architecture, we can now embed popular, best-in-class, third-party software right alongside the broad array of integrated functionality our system already offers,” Maynard said.

At the 2016 NAB Show, Florical announced an option to integrate Vizrt realtime graphics and effects software into Acuitas, and by the 2017 NAB Show, Acuitas will add the Ross Xpression real-time motion graphics system. With this software-centric approach, any brand of software-based capabilities—such as graphics, effects, audio loudness control, watermarking and more—could be integrated within Acuitas and placed under its automated management and control.

CIAB, ONLY BETTER

Evertz’ Mediator-X media asset management system is part of the company’s integrated channel playout solution. According to Mike O’Connell, executive vice president for Burbank, Calif.-based Pixel Power, broadcasters are gravitating to virtualized playout platforms because there is greater operational flexibility and freedom to moving “outside the box.” “They want the operational efficiency that integrated channel playout systems provide, but they don’t want to give up the best-inbreed systems they’ve become accustomed to,” he said. “If their on-air look depends on our Clarity CG, broadcasters are often reluctant to forego that channel branding that’s so closely tied to their brand equity and revenue.”

Pixel Power is working with major automation vendors, including Pebble Beach, to incorporate its Clarity real-time DVE and 3D graphics engine into their CiABs, as well as within its own StreamMaster virtualized playout platform. A pure-software CIAB, StreamMaster offers live playout from generic local servers, on-premise data centers, or from the (Amazon) cloud, making it easier to support new IP–based workflows and distribution models.

MIGRATING TO IP

While broadcasters may want to transition to IP all at once, the reality is that most will need to support some or all of their existing SDI infrastructures for some time to come, according to Andy Warman, director of production and playout strategy and market development for Harmonic in San Jose, Calif.

“That’s why our Spectrum X integrated channel playout system is designed to support a hybrid SDI/IP infrastructure while evolving and adapting to the facility’s changing environment,” he said. “Facilities can mix SDI and IP systems—like multiviewers, routers and processing gear—and simulcast a mix of SDI and IP signals within the same workflow.”

As a software-centric product, Spectrum X supports IP-based integrated channel playout, compliant with the SMPTE 2022-6 standard for switching uncompressed video over IP. The company also plans to incorporate SMPTE 2110—for uncompressed video and audio over IP—once it’s ratified. For transport steam-based workflows, Harmonic’s Spectrum XE offers similar functionality using MPEG-2 transport streams for switching and delivering compressed video over IP.

FLEXIBLE CONFIGURATIONS

By virtue of its flexible, cloud-native design, “Versio is a 100 percent software-and IP-based integrated playout channel technology that can take on any deployment configuration broadcasters may need,” said Steve Smith, CTO/Cloud for Imagine Communications.

“The direction we’re aggressively taking is focused on data centers, cloud deployments or a hybrid of the two. That’s what most of our customers want to talk about right now, not the dedicated hardware box,” Smith said. “However, if a broadcaster isn’t ready for IP-based workflows yet, Versio can also be deployed as a traditional CiAB hardware-based appliance that provides a disruption-free IP transition.”

Versio has already been deployed in virtualized master control centers run by major broadcast organizations, including Disney/ABC Television Group in New York, N.Y., as well as several media companies in the Middle East.

VIRTUALIZATION

According to Neil Maycock, executive vice president and general manager of Media Software Solutions at U.K.-based Snell Advanced Media, SAM is working with major broadcasters to deploy integrated channel playout systems in virtualized, data center environments.

ICE SDC (Software Defined Channel) enables a virtualized channel running on generic computing systems, making it wellsuited to cloud and data center settings.

“Broadcasters today are looking for greater flexibility and scalability, especially with respect to ramping up new revenue-producing services,” Maycock said. “It’s very attractive to have elastic capacity in their data center so they can quickly launch virtualized channels, especially if the programming is just intended to run for a short duration. They’re also using their virtualized ICE systems for disaster recovery and back-up.

“Virtualizing their master control allows broadcasters the power and agility to compete more effectively in this dynamic media landscape,” he added. While ICE SDC is a pure software version of SAM’s flagship ICE system, both configurations offer “five nines” of reliability and an extensive toolset for multichannel, multiregion and multiplatform operations.

SEAMLESS OPERATION

Evertz is focused on delivering solutions that are easy to use regardless of which underlying SDI, IP, hardware or software technology is employed, according to Dan Turow, vice president of file-based solutions for the Burlington, Ont.-based company.

“Advanced orchestration and system control software is absolutely key in today’s operational environment,” he said. “If you need to get a source to a destination, you don’t want to have to worry about specific multicast IP addresses. Your control layer should be designed to simplify things, abstract that complexity away and deliver intuitive ways of performing the tasks that need to get done.”

In addition to CiAB appliances, Evertz also offers an integrated channel playout solution comprised of three Evertz components: Mediator-X media asset management, PlayTime automation, and Overture-RT-Live integrated playout solution. Mediator-X also handles content prep, QC, versioning, transcoding and other advanced workflows for delivering content to non-linear platforms. And Mediator integrates with a number of third-party software solutions, such as AutoQC and transcoding tools, to deliver workflows that specific customers need.

PRICE/PERFORMANCE

When Dallas-based RUSHWORKS first developed its A-LIST BROADCAST automation system for traditional and Internet broadcasting, the target market was the 4,000+ low-power TV stations that were priced out of the high-end ICP and broadcast automation market. But today, RUSHWORKS President Rush Beesley says that A-LIST sales are very strong, with the customer base expanding to include full-power single and multi-channel DTV stations, cable stations, church networks, and government channels. “With the cost-efficiencies of point-to-point IP network delivery, we’re now seeing multistation groups using A-LIST to centralize their master control and playout operations,” he said.

A-LIST Station-In-A-Box integrates key functionality, such as matrix routing switchers, NAS servers, traffic and billing software, and playlist tools for scheduled and on-demand playout. The system handles a mix of MPEG-2, H.264, AVI, MOV and MXF clips within its playlist, and HD/SD media formats are automatically transcoded based on the resolution output setting.

RACING TO THE C3 WINDOW

Grass Valley has expanded its iTX integrated channel playout line with iTX On-Demand, which enables the linear broadcast chain to handle the new responsibilities of delivering content to platforms such as VOD and social media, globally.

“Rather than waiting for the linear broadcast to end to start creating the DAI-capable C3, C7 and D4 Catch-up TV masters, which many broadcasters do in a separate workflow, iTX On-Demand makes it easier and more efficient to use the same media assets, metadata and channel branding you’re already using for the linear broadcast to repurpose those versions,” said Scott Rose, senior director of product management for Grass Valley.

“With iTX On-Demand, the C3 master can be in the works several hours before air-time for pre-recorded content—in a nonlinear fashion that’s faster than real-time—so that content is ready to go out concurrently from the linear broadcast chain,” Rose said. “The growth in broadcasting is now tied to delivering additional content to more platforms. Our iTX products enable broadcasters to scale up to handle this higher volume without adding overhead. By not paying attention to this time-critical market demand, you can potentially lose revenue and viewers you won’t get back.”

FASTER CHANNEL SET-UP

PlayBox Technology recently debuted AirBox Neo, which offers greater channel playout and branding functionality, and the ability to integrate easily with 4K UHD environments. AirBox Neo is a family of modules that can be configured as a CiAB, based on enterprise-class servers. It enables quicker setup, smaller footprint, and faster ROI.

According to Van Duke, USA Sales Manager for PlayBox Technology, USA, in West Palm Beach, Fla., “we’re now seeing a new industry trend—growing interest in cloudbased deployments,” Duke said. PlayBox Technology also offers CloudAir, which is structured as a software-as-a service solution enabling playout, branding, back up and disaster recovery via the cloud.

With CloudAir, Duke said, “We’re reducing the time it takes to put a new live 24/7 channel on the air from months or weeks down to just a matter of hours.”

HERTFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND—It’s a new year and a new set of updates for PlayBox Technology’s suite of Channel in a Box product range. The AirBox Neo, TitleBox Neo, Capture Box Neo and SafeBox Neo will all include UHD compatibility, a high-efficiency user interface, and new feature enhancements .

The AirBox Neo playout server now supports UHD, HD and SD in a single server. Among its new features include a streaming input that supports HTTP, HTTP Secure, UDP, RTMP, MMS, MMSH and YouTube. There are also improvements to RTMP streaming output to allow for web streaming. It also comes with a virtual output, third-party product support for Ross NK series routers and the Horita TR-100 timecode reader, multiple DeckLink cards for multichannel ad insertion, and enhancements have been made to the clip trimmer and audio level control.

The new TitleBox Neo on-air graphics and character generator—in addition to adding support for UHD projects—has added an API plug-in for interfacing with third-party software devices. The ability to handle ODBC data providers and RSS feeds has also been increased.

PlayBox’s CaptureBox Neo multichannel ingest server allows HD or SD content to be captured from up to four video sources simultaneously. All four can be monitored on a single screen and controlled through a streamlined user interface with enhanced multichannel control and operability. It can also monitor audio levels and makes ingested content available for playback seconds after ingest begins. Capture lists are also able to be imported from third-party traffic systems.

Then there is the SafeBox Neo content and playlist replicator, which replicates remote content to local playout server folders for safe transmission. The SafeBox Neo comes with a new graphic interface as well as faster processing for moving primary or copied content to the playout and central storage servers. File management has also received an upgrade, with the ability to automatically and manually delete files, or assign protection to prevent removal.

PlayBox Technology is a provider of broadcast television playout and channel branding.

BARCELONA, SPAIN—VSN has unveiled its VSNONE TV system, a channel-in-a-box technology that combines traditional playout and master control system. This system unifies graphics, servers and switchers, routing, audio, and channel branding in a software application that operates on an IT hardware structure.

VSNONE TV servers offer control over the automation process, the media storage, the graphic engine, ingest lines, clip playout, Time Shift, DVB IP/ASI TS encoding tool, DVB subtitling and image capturing. It also offers quality control of the broadcast line thanks to an integrated transcoder. The system allows anywhere from one ingest channel with a SD playout channel to several HD channels and IP broadcast.

VSN is a technology company that specializes in advanced technologies for the broadcast and media industries.

Primestream Workflow Manager module within the FORK asset management and automation system helps users visualize the steps in a given process.
SAN FRANCISCO—From the beginning, station automation and master control technology has been tasked with taking a series of complex steps and whittling them down to a relatively simple task: making the process of running a station more efficient.

Easily said, tough to accomplish.

“From a workflow standpoint, you have recordings from feeds and files from different sources—and most of the work is juggling these different sources and moving them into a system for playout,” said Fred Fourcher, CEO of Bitcentral, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based provider of broadcast automation systems. “One of the key things in a workflow is [a system’s ability] to handle multiple formats and resolutions, whether you’re dealing with a progressive, interlaced, MXF file or any flavor in between. The key is to be able to play them out and do it elegantly.”

Simpler said than done.

MAKING COMPLEX SIMPLE

In the years since, as station automation became a staple in nearly every broadcast facility, the technology has grown. And with that growth, comes some problems of its own.

“One of the challenges that has arisen with automated production control is that these systems can now do so much; that what was designed to simplify has itself become complex,” said Scott Bowditch, marketing product manager for Ross’ Over-Drive automation system.

As more stations began to automate their environments, many actually began losing track of material and workflow improvements. “With the addition of automation, [stations] were losing track of some of these processes,” said Warren Arenstein, senior vice president of business development at Primestream in Miami. “When bottlenecks arose, stations weren’t able to get on top of them as quickly as necessary.”

So what to do, when you have nearly constant growth on one hand and the desire to improve workflow on the other?

Ross is one company that has addressed the complexity issue by integrating a Dashboard control system within OverDrive. Users can build custom GUI control surfaces, which have proven particularly useful in breaking news environments. Likewise, the company’s Workflow Manager helps users visualize the steps in a given automation process. From the different color indicators—if there is indication that system is overloaded—it can be automated to send out an alert.

For Florical, the goal is to eliminate redundant and consistent tasks that don’t require a human decision, according to Shawn Maynard, vice president and general manager of the Gainesville Fla.-based broadcast automation provider. “If you have a TV group that has 50 stations that are bringing in content individually—and the same person is doing the same work in multiple locations—then technology makes it easier to acquire and prep in one location,” he said.

Particularly for a group of TV stations, it makes sense to manage as much as possible centrally and not have too many people managing something that can be prepped once and distributed to all, added Bitcentral’s Fourcher. “That model for management is what we support in central control,” he said. “If you’ve got 30 stations with syndicated programming, you should only prep it once; you don’t need to prep it 20 to 30 times. That’s the goal.

“Our view is that broadcasters should follow the model of ‘prep once, cache at the local station, let it play out,’” he added, while allowing stations to take control of their master control when news breaks.

POOLING RESOURCES

Minnesota PBS station KSMQ-TV recently revamped its automation solution with an NVerzion CLASS system. (L to R) KSMQ Chief Engineer Paul Fisher, Operations Manager Tim Gassmann and Operations Director Michele Hoeper
For Aveco, the automation solution involves jumping in the pool. “For many years we’ve had an advanced workflow scripting capability that has an underpinning of facility management, so that everything is in an ‘equipment pool,’ including combining master control and production automation in the same system,” said Jim O’Brien, vice president of global sales for Aveco in Miami Beach, Fla.

“The improved production value from master control and production automation has been to provide workflow improvements,” he said. “It’s not so much about reducing staff but achieving a more predictable and higher quality on-air product,” he said, pointing to the system’s four-channel video server and 32 layers of real-time graphics.

Aveco’s automation platform has been engineered to potentially include any piece of equipment from the production automation side, including production switchers, video servers and audio boards.

Primestream is addressing the workflow issue with a new Workflow Manager module within the FORK asset management and automation system, which helps visualize the steps in a given process. Customers are also asking for ways to improve remote workflows. The USC Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism uses Primestream Xchange to allow students and teachers to interact over student-created content over a Web interface. “They can look at it online, make subclips, markers and annotate the video, and receive feedback from teachers online,” Arenstein said.

It was the promise of an improved workflow that led Minnesota PBS station KSMQ to adopt NVerzion’s Component Level Automation System Solutions (CLASS) to oversee master control and playout operations as well as speed up station operations. KSMQ uses components that include NControl on-air playlists and NTime event scheduling modules.

From the station’s point of view, there was a budget number to reach and a de sire to do a certain number of automation-related things, according to Mike Schmidt with Heartland Video Systems, the Plymouth, Wis.-based SI for the project. CLASS allows KSMQ to control a variety of third-party equipment, including servers, universal distribution system, VTRs and trafficking system. CLASS helps guarantee the integrity of KSMQ’s on-air presentation by eliminating any single point of failure within the station’s file-based workflow, Schmidt said.

THE EFFECT OF IP ON AUTOMATION

The next step for automation? Diving headlong into the world of IP.

“The next question is determining how master control will interact when it comes to playing out IP,” said Florical’s Maynard. “IP is strong in the production workflow—from cameras to control room to routers—and stations are seeing the opportunities for using off-the-shelf equipment and to increase accessibility to be able to move high-quality video over a WAN.”

What’s tricky for automation in IP is handling ancillary data within automation. “There’s closed captioning data and embedded Nielsen data within an on-air play-out stream that still needs to be considered,” Maynard said.

“But I think that is the future. We are getting away from the baseband environment and moving to IP, and I certainly see master control being in an all-IP environment. It’s the revolution that will keep our industry moving forward.”

Media management technologies supporting content creation and delivery have seen dramatic changes over the past five years, the most obvious being the migration from dedicated purpose-built hardware to flexible software-based systems. IT continues to play a key role in facilitating this change, a fact we expect to persistently increase as the needs for new services grow and the time to deploy those services shrinks.

Hardware-based systems, once primary components in many media systems, are fading, giving way to the convergence of IT-based components on network-centric architectures. The convergence is leading to faster times to market and less-costly efforts to adjust when changes in or new services are needed.

One reason for the move away from hardware-based systems is development time. In the past, developing a new product could take years from concept to first release. If the products were built on new technologies, it would take enormous efforts to develop, test and release those systems to the industry. When those products required integration with third-party components, it could easily take another year or more for entire systems to reach maturity and be accepted by mainstream users. By that time, the industry’s need for the product could have changed substantially or even been replaced by a competing technology offering a better solution for less cost.

THE PARADIGM SHIFT
As solutions shift from purpose-built dedicated hardware to hybridized server and software-oriented systems, new and more programming services begin to emerge. This capability to add services or create new revenue streams was boosted by changing the way manufacturers approached the technologies necessary to assemble, test or reconfigure file-based workflows for program generation and distribution.

In today’s rapidly changing marketplace, businesses can no longer afford to wait six to nine months to spin up a new service. Stakeholders often address new business plans that necessitate bringing on a new service in a matter of weeks, not months. The effort to bring up new competitive services can no longer be driven by hardware development cycles or burdened by unpredictable capital cost or budget restrictions. Systems are becoming more flexible and less costly to deploy; and have less impact on operations if the service needs to be modified or even shut off after an unsuccessful run.

Furthermore, these systems now offer resource independence; that is, servers no longer need to be dedicated as a single resource to a single solution—they are now capable of serving multiple functions that can adjust based upon demand or need.

Media management, content creation and program distribution now depend upon a new dimension called “software-defined” networking, storage or services. The emergence of this approach reduces the time to market and in turn changes the landscape of technological development forever. And these systems can be deployed in the cloud, data center or enterprise.

To support this paradigm shift, product requirements and system architectures now heavily leverage IT functionality; which is why IP, Ethernet and networking in general is found in nearly every aspect of the video media industry today. Systems that once consisted of dedicated purpose-built boxes are now enabled on commodity (or common) off-the-shelf (COTS) components.

Systems that once utilized a few PCs to interface hardware among systems or were employed strictly as administrative tools, now utilize multiple servers as core components to orchestrate and manage multiple tasks simultaneously. Servers have essentially taken the place of the hardware-based devices, allowing for increased flexibility and service modifications without a forklift change or a major new capital procurement process.

DEFINING FLEXIBILITY THROUGH SOFTWARE

Fig. 1: The discrete components found in legacy video server playout systems (A) are now integrated into the Channel in a Box system shown in (B). Future IP-only systems are virtualized (C) with various services distributed ‘as needed’ and managed over the network (D). The practice of deploying multiple servers for a set of specific subsystems such as a transcode farm, encoding farm or archive management system, is only about a decade old. Dedicated server concepts continue in many of today’s system architectures; but that perspective is likely to change in the next evolution of IT-based technology for media.

For example, the early video server (circa mid-’90s) was assembled in similar fashion to how component stereos were outfitted in the ’70s (see Fig. 1-A). Today the video server’s entire functionality is integrated directly into the same physical chassis as the broadcast playout channel chain (see Fig. 1-B).

These “integrated playout systems” now include file-based transcode, software decode and IP playout featuring various codecs, graphics and audio overlay, short-term storage, automation and internal SDI conversion. Some or all of these services are wrapped into a single channel and deployed on a dedicated server—and they are entirely software-enabled—meaning users don’t need to buy another box or wire another component to gain current or future features.

Channel-in-a-Box (CIAB) playout systems operate fundamentally like their discrete legacy systems, but with more functionality. But the difference is that manufacturers now assemble discrete sets of software routines—once allocated to dedicated boxes—into a single, powerful computer-based server running as IT.

The CIAB model is likely to remain the traditional broadcaster’s operational mode for the relative near term. However, for those service providers who address dozens of channels, provide for thousands of streams or routinely need to change program delivery methods, this CIAB model is unlikely to be their ideal solution.

Even with the CIAB model fairly well established, the handling of multi-hundred streams requires a different set of parameters. Traditionally—like in the data center domain—when a new application was to be presented, the IT department would deploy a new server, expand or add new storage and add another pair of network switches. This is a costly, time-consuming task that often prohibits experimentation by the programmer.

Even today, conventional broadcast plants are built out using a hundred or more COTS servers, dozens of network switches and multiple sets of individual storage systems. They, like the legacy broadcast facility, required a main (and backup) central core network switch, redundant firewalls, aggregation switches and other network components.

Cabling is hardly ever reduced because the systems now need dual home runs to multiple sets of 24–48 port switches. The

dangers come when equipment, power and cooling overrun the physical space available to contain those components. Once that happens, the scaling model becomes severely constrained and the number of expandable services is reduced.

VIRTUALIZED ENVIRONMENTS
Another significant change is on the horizon. As the media industry moves forward, systems will be configured using virtualized environments. Virtualization enables new services to be spun up, placed online and manipulated. If (or when) the services are no longer needed, they are simply shut off and reconfigured for another service or application. Conceptually, Fig. 1-C depicts an all-IP-based virtualized environment providing various services on an as-needed basis; operating entirely over a network in Fig. 1-D.

The management framework that allows these software-based infrastructures to operate is orchestrated as though it were addressing an entire platform on a global level. This framework, like its data center counterpart, is referred to as a “converged infrastructure”; also known as a “converged system” or “unified computing system” (UCS).

AUTOMATION AND OPTIMIZATION
Relatively new technologies, changing business trends and continually adjusting service demands are shaping media services to look more like the information technology world than the traditional broadcast world.

Virtualization is simplifying networks, allowing us to take advantage of the expanding 10 Gig and 40 Gig pipes. Automation is reducing the manual intervention needed to facilitate new services. Solid-state storage is relieving many storage performance bottlenecks. Optimization of the LAN/WAN, coupled with enhancements in caching and improvements in data transmission all contribute to improvements in these technology areas. And cloud services are allowing the enterprise to store data or add or burst up services with improved accessibility, offering greater flexibility and easier scaling with a capital cost.

The end result is that businesses should be able to streamline management functions, deploy new services faster and reduce operational costs. With integrated systems composed of fewer components, troubleshooting connections or problem areas become less complicated. Components can be managed by a single operator console, instead of a variety of incompatible management systems.

Convergence is the answer to the future of multiple services such as OTT, multiscreen and directed program content delivery for wired or mobile users. These concepts can, and most likely will over time, be deployed universally—even for the traditional broadcast programming service provider. It is relatively easy to see the broadcast central equipment room being shaped into a virtualized central data center.

Karl Paulsen, CPBE and SMPTE Fellow, is the CTO at Diversified Systems. Read more about other storage topics in his book “Moving Media Storage Technologies.” Contact Karl at kpaulsen@divsystems.com.