The IPMX Product Testing and Certification Event represented the first opportunity for manufacturers to formally certify products against the IPMX set of open specifications for professional media over IP. Following rigorous testing, solutions from Bridge Technologies, Matrox, Adeas / Nextera, Panasonic, Cobalt, intoPIX, plexusAV, Megapixel, Novastar, and Evertz successfully passed certification. These products are now certified and will carry the IPMX branding, signaling verified compliance with published transport, control, and interoperability requirements.

“We couldn’t be more excited to be unveiling the first IPMX-compliant products at ISE 2026,” said Sam Recine, IPMX Pro AV Working Group Chair at AIMS. “The certification of these solutions represents a major milestone in IPMX’s transition from specification to a certifiable and deployable technology, validating years of collaborative technical work and confirming that IPMX is ready to move from development into active deployment.”

“AIMS extends its sincere thanks to Packetstorm and Meinberg for their critical technical contributions, test infrastructure, and timing and network expertise that were essential to the success of IPMX interoperability and certification efforts,” added Recine. “We also recognize the EBU for hosting the event and for providing independent administration of the test process, ensuring a rigorous and neutral certification environment.”

IPMX is a set of open standards and specifications designed to extend SMPTE ST 2110–based media transport and AMWA NMOS–based control into a broader range of markets, including professional AV, live events, corporate media, education, and beyond.

In addition to uncompressed workflows, IPMX introduces support for compressed video, simplified system timing, HDCP, and defined system profiles to make deployment more practical, scalable, and cost-effective for Pro AV environments. The certification program is designed to ensure predictable behavior, reliable interoperability, and adherence to the published IPMX test plans and specifications.

Further technical information on IPMX is available at ipmx.io/technical-information, while the published IPMX test plan can be found at vsf.tv/technical-recommendations. More information about AIMS and its work is available at www.aimsalliance.org.

“VidTrans 2025 will feature expert presentations on timely technical topics, with an emphasis on the security for live events and dynamic facilities for live workflows,” said Michael Bany, vice president of broadcast technology at Fox Corporation. “Security and adapting to changing requirements of live workflows are keys to our business. This year’s program addresses these critical topics and other challenges and opportunities across media production and transport. We’ve also got two exciting new workshops ahead of the event that give attendees the chance to learn more about key protocols supporting modern media workflows.”

In addition to security in media production, key topics at VidTrans 2025 will include:

• Evolving Live Sports Transport
• Application Security
• Proactive Monitoring and Service Assurance
• Dynamic Media Facilities
• Securing Live Production Environments in the Cloud

Something new for 2025, the event will offer breakfast roundtables, hosted by industry experts, on Feb. 26. There will also be welcome receptions on both Feb. 25 and 26 at 6 p.m., free and open to the public, with registration.

Slated for 8:30 a.m. on Feb. 24, the introduction to Precision Time Protocol (PTP) Workshop will answer common questions in implementing and optimizing PTP. Created for facility engineers, system integrators, and end users, the workshop will start with an introduction to the basics of PTP, demonstrate how it is used to synchronize multiple SMPTE ST 2110 essence streams, and describe implementation strategies within a facility. Attendees will come away with a basic understanding of how to set up and troubleshoot PTP for the synchronization of media essence flows at a production facility.

Running from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Feb. 24, the NMOS User Workshop will explore the practical implementation of NMOS technologies. This workshop is aimed at technical staff of end users such as broadcasters and system Integrators who deal with control protocols. It will showcase the fundamental principles of NMOS for technical-savvy and non-initiated attendees, and will give them the tools needed to understand it. The trainers will lead the participants step by step, from bootstrapping to connection management, showing them how to use off-the-shelf tools to understand how the protocols work. Attendees are welcome to bring their own laptop along and experience the NMOS-based network hands-on.

Registration for VidTrans 2025 and the pre-conference workshops is open now.

"Along with industry partners, VSF has been a champion for IPMX standards as a way to ensure interoperability for AV-over-IP systems in the media, entertainment, and Pro AV industries," said Richard Friedel, president of the VSF. "After public comment and several manufacturer implementations and interoperability trials, it is clear that IPMX, which I like to call 2110-lite, is ready for public release."

The official release of the IPMX Technical Recommendations at ISE this year is a significant milestone in the journey to industry adoption, Freidel added. "VidTrans24 will continue that momentum by giving people a chance to learn more about IPMX and how it can improve their businesses," Friedel said.

Based on the SMPTE ST 2110 standard and developed through a collaboration between AIMS and the VSF — using NMOS technology from the Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) — IPMX gives manufacturers and developers everything they need to create low-latency, interoperable, IP-based AV products and applications.

On IPMX Technology Day (Feb. 27), attendees will get high-level and in-depth briefings on how IPMX works. Designed to address the needs of end users, technology managers, developers, and system integrators, the presentations by industry experts will address topics such as the market and business side of IPMX, technical details of some of the key specifications, IPMX switch selection considerations, and a review of the IPMX demonstrations given at ISE 2024. The full conference agenda can be found at vidtrans.org.

Besides IPMX Technology Day, the VidTrans24 agenda includes other sessions covering a variety of topics such as:

• Reality Check: Content Provenance and C2PA to Fight "Fake News."
• From the Bespoke to Generic – How Close Has IP Media Production Got to the IT World?
• Distributed Production in Action – The New Norm. Exploring Use Cases.
• The New JPEG XS TDC Profile: Perfect Quality, Zero Latency, Reduced Bandwidth.
• Building Out Dynamic Media Infrastructures for Tier 1 Live Sports Production.
• Efficient, Scalable SMPTE ST 2110 Media Transport for Containerized Media Applications.

"Every year, people come to VidTrans to get the latest information about media networking technologies. They learn things they can take back and apply in their own organizations," said Brad Gilmer, executive director of the VSF. "This year we're especially pleased to be able to shine the spotlight on IPMX. VSF believes it represents the future of media connectivity. I hope people will take advantage of this opportunity to hear from some of the architects of the IPMX standards."

Registration for VidTrans24 is open at vidtrans.org, with an early-bird discount available through Jan. 27.

"The release of VSF's TR-10 drafts represents a major milestone in the work on IPMX, and we couldn't be more excited to announce that they are now available for the public to preview and comment on," said Jack Douglass, co-chair of the VSF IPMX Activity Group. "At this stage, several manufacturers have made implementations based on these documents, and those implementations have been tested in multiple labs and interoperability trials. Now we are closing in on the last stages before they are finalized within VSF."

A set of open standard-based protocols designed to ensure interoperability for AV-over-IP systems in the media, entertainment and Pro AV industries, IPMX is based on the SMPTE ST 2110 standard. It was developed through a collaboration between AIMS and the Joint Taskforce on Network Media (JT-NM), which includes VSF, the Advance Media Workflow Association (AMWA), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and SMPTE.

IPMX gives manufacturers and developers what they need to create low-latency, interoperable, IP-based AV products and applications. The VSF TR-10 suite outlines the differences between SMPTE ST 2110 and IPMX with documents covering everything from system time and definitions for using AMWA Networked Media Open Specifications (NMOS) APIs to the transparent transport of AES3 audio using the RTP protocol, it said.

"The VSF is pleased to have participated with its industry partners in developing IPMX, and we believe it will have a major impact in both the Pro AV and Media & Entertainment industries," said Richard Friedel, president of the VSF.

The draft documents are available online.

More information is available on the AIMS website.

This year, 148 industry professionals attended the event, Feb. 28-March 2, which despite the not-so-friendly southern California (wet/cold) weather, went on without a hitch. 

Topics of discussion covered the transport of video and media signals throughout systems, hence the name “VidTrans.”  This year’s agenda focused on innovative types of networking and video technologies along with their application to video transport. 

Here’s a summary of selected presentations:

Video Quality Monitoring
In the session “OTT: Best Practices and Challenges,” Andrey Pozdnyakov, president of  video monitoring provider Elecard, discussed typical OTT tasks and challenges, practical use-cases and quality monitoring models. Andrey described how to detect problematic parts of technical equipment or networks which then quickly identify who is responsible for the issue. 

Elecard’s monitoring products describe the differences and findings in a Quality of Services (QoS) vs. a Quality of Experience (QoE), similar to those applications in cable or encoding systems. 

Implementing Sustainability
In a hybrid session that included in-person and virtual panelists, “Minimizing the Carbon Footprint of Live Production” focused on sustainability in the video networking space. 

Moderated by Andy Rayner, chief technologist at Nevion, panelists Thomas Edwards of AWS, Barbara Lange of Kibo121, Athena Trastelis of the CBC, and Geoff Wolf of the BBC, discussed how their organizations are working towards implementing and maintaining a carbon neutral-future, focusing on the environmental impacts and best practices in the workplace.  Panelists asked the VidTrans audience to consider buying products from companies who have a demonstrable plan for improving their workplace or products amidst a growing global awareness for sustainability.

Live Cloud Production Networking
On-demand networking for enabling live cloud sports production in a real-world proof of concept (PoC) was discussed by Brad Cheney of Fox Sports, Thomas Edwards of AWS, and Ryan Korte of Cloud Connect, Lumen Technologies. The team showed how they approached “working from home” for live sports productions including the products and practices, showing examples of recent live sports productions done entirely in the cloud from non-venue locations.

Prompted by the impact of Covid on remote production, Fox in particular, has taken a stunning direction in making live production possible using cloud-based services and production support services that literally “sit” in production personnels’ living rooms, front porches or in a hotel.

This is obviously changing the structure, feasibility, and cost of doing live sports productions by mitigating the expenses and time associated with moving an entire truck fleet-level staff to the onsite venue. This new approach is changing the model by spreading the production into geographically separated locations and eliminating the requirements to transport large sets of complex hardware (i.e., mobile outside broadcast units) to site.

Designing for Efficiency
Adam Salkin, director of engineering, M&E West for Diversified, discussed how EVS, TAG VS and Fox Sports collaborated with Diversified to design, assemble and configure a fully transportable system (Fig. 1a) contained in a system engineered for transport in a cargo plane’s belly.

The folding rack system (Fig. 1b) consists of multiple skids that hold five 44RU systems each and contain a complete ST 2110 mobile production system that was used for Fox Sports’ coverage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Super Bowl LVII and the upcoming 2023 FIFA Women’s Cup this summer in Australia and New Zealand.

Considering the complexities associated with assembling and transporting the huge volume of gear needed to technically produce these events, it was impractical to use ocean cargo methods to get the systems between locations in the time frame available between two major events. Developing the air-cargo system was essential to covering the World Cup and Super Bowl in the minimal time allotted.

‘Building the Airplane While in Flight’
I had the pleasure of joining Microsoft’s technology team of Jack Clawson, Chief Solutions Architect and John Ball, Project Manager at Microsoft to focus on the timelines involved in transitioning to IP in the session “End User Requirements and Design Challenges,” moderated by Brad Gilmer, Gilmer and Associates. 

In the session, Jack and John outlined all the detailed planning and implementation requirements for an active project that updated Microsoft’s Production Studios services on their Redmond, Wash. Campus.  

Panelists talked about the steps taken in the migration from an SDI-based system to IP. Since the five-year-old SMPTE ST2110 standard is so new, such a transition was described by one panelist as akin to “building the airplane while it’s in flight.”  

Discussion topics focused on how the integration addressed supply-chain issues, delays, and the continual changes and additions incurred as the design and install was developed throughout an 18-month period; all the while, keeping live production going and major events Microsoft conference events moving forward. Extensive adjustments were constantly made as switch deliveries and new products were introduced into the Microsoft Production Studio systems—often with delay adjustments driving the “next phase” of each project segment.

Network Details
Chris Lapp, Technical Solutions Architect of Cisco Systems discussed any-source multicasting (ASM) in the session “PIM: there's a better way,” which included a brief overview of PIM-DM (dense mode) and PIM-SM (sparse mode). In addition, Chris described the concepts of “PIM flooding,” a generic way of distributing information within a PIM domain as well as “PIM source discovery,” which announces information of active sources throughout a PIM domain. 

Chris discussed the status of this technology within the IETF and Cisco, describing how the oldest multicast routing protocol commonly used today is defined in RFC 3973 (which is only an experimental protocol and not a standard). 

Sufficient detail was diagrammed to describe the variations in the family of PIM (protocol independent multicast) as optimized for specific, particular, or differing environments. The protocols provide one-to-many and many-to-many distribution of data over a LAN, WAN, or the Internet.  

IPMX and RIST Updates
One of VidTrans’s annual rites of passage include a summary status of the variations, findings, and demonstrations of the newest Technical Recommendations, such as TR-10 for Internet Protocol Media eXperience (IPMX) and TR-06 Reliable Internet Stream Protocol (RIST). 

The developers for both of these transport technology TRs discussed their progress within the VSF Activity Group, including an update on TR-10 within the IPMX group from Jack Douglas, Vice President Marketing and Business Development for Packetstorm. IPMX is a ST 2110-type implementation focused on products in the ProAV marketplace. Such products are already available for harmonized implementation with ST 2110 systems.

Dr. Ciro A. Noronha, Ph.D, Cobalt Digital, updated the gathering on the latest developments in RIST Source Adaptation. Topics included the motivation for source adaptation, and an overview of the VSF TR-06-4 (Part 1) and preliminary implementation results for this technology. 

TR-06-4 (part 1) is designed to recover packet loss via retransmission. When network capacity falls below the stream rate, no amount of retransmission can fix this (i.e., you can’t recover a 5 Mbps stream once the link falls below 4 Mbps). TR-06-4 sets a point where the stream source must be reduced to compensate for a link level that is insufficient. This TR creates a signaling methodology to dynamically adjust the stream source rate to compensate for network changes.

New features are summarized in TR-06-3 RIST Advanced Profile for other protocols and in TR-06-4 RIST Ancillary Features including Source Adaptation (approved in November 2022) and the use of Wiregaurd VPN in RIST (approved in January). 

Historical Perspectives and PTP Security
Wes Simpson of LearnIPVideo reviewed the history of the Video Services Forum, from its creation in 1997 to the present, while John R. Naylor, Vice President of DashBoard, softGear at Ross Video, presented the SMPTE Study Group’s second report on Security in ST 2059, including a detailed overview of how PTP (i.e., IEEE-1588) functions, typical PTP applications, how PTP is used in broadcast infrastructures and the vulnerabilities of PTP on systems plus suggested corrective actions to prevent bad actors from taking over PTP in a system.

The VSF’s annual technical conference is an educational and networking experience for all those working in the domain of IP video in a broadcast environment, a WAN or a transport solution provider’s world.  Each year the VidTrans conference showcases some of the latest applications, technologies and products in its exhibit hall as well as provides attendees with networking opportunities at this special event. 

More information about VSF is available at vsf.tv.

CCO Kevin Joyce to speak at Video Services Forum October meeting

CEO Abe Zerbib to serve as panelist at SVG’s TranSPORT event

New York – October 10, 2019 – Two TAG Video Systems’ Executives will be sharing their expertise with sold-out crowds at industry events in October. Kevin Joyce, TAG’s newly appointed Chief Commercial Officer has been tapped as a speaker at Video Services Forum’s (VSF) October 14 meeting, and CEO Abe Zerbib is slated to serve as a panelist at Sport Video Group’s (SVG) TranSPORT conference on Tuesday, October 15. VSF and SVG have teamed up to hold back-to-back events at the Microsoft Technology Center In New York.

On Monday, October 14, Joyce will address attendees at VSF’s October meeting. VSF, an international association dedicated to interoperability and quality metrics, hosts forums to identify and address issues involving the development, engineering, installation, testing and maintenance of video networking technologies. Joyce’s presentation - Achieving low latency in 100% software in uncompressed (2110 JPEG 2K) workflows – will be delivered from 1:15 – 2:00 PM and will delve into the need for low latency in live-production applications, the journey to embracing SMPTE ST 2110, and the benefits of software-based systems to broadcasters.

On Tuesday, October 15 from 1:20 – 2:00 PM Zerbib will join other distinguished industry professionals at SVG's annual TranSPORT conference on a panel titled - Traditional vs. OTT Distribution Technology: Where are we? The session will explore the shift from linear TV to streaming outlets and engage the participants in a discussion about their technological strategies, how to deliver a high-quality viewing experience to fans regardless of their preferred screen, and where the business is headed.

Both Joyce and Zerbib will draw upon their first-hand experience working with TAG, the world leader in integrated software-based IP Probing, Monitoring and Multiviewer solutions, and the world’s first and only 100% Software, 100% IP solution capable of running on standard off-the-shelf-hardware for all four primary video applications: Live Production, Playout, Distribution and OTT.

The events, both of which have sold-out registration, precede NAB Show New York - the popular, annual industry Trade Show to be held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on October 16 & 17 where Joyce and Zerbib will be available in Booth N 861 to demonstrate TAG’s solution and talk to visitors about its benefits.

TAG Video Systems is the world leader in 100% software based integrated IP Multiviewing, Probing and Monitoring solutions. Introducing its first IP solution in 2008, today TAG supports over 40,000 channels across the four primary broadcasting applications - Live Production, Playout/Master Control, Distribution and OTT. Its solutions allow Broadcasters and Content Distributors the greatest scalability and flexibility available in the market today. The 100% software platform supports both compressed and uncompressed formats, including MPEG TS, JPEG2000, SMPTE 2110, SMPTE 2022-6/7, and HLS. TAG's solutions run on standard off-the-shelf hardware (COTS), providing state-of-the-art IP monitoring and analysis tools combined with the highest quality UHD Multiviewer available on standard and mobile device displays. For more information: www.tagvs.com

TAG Video Systems contact:

Danna Mann

Europe: +33 1 86 26 94 00

US : +1 315 646 8400

mailto:danna@tagvs.com

Press contact:

Desert Moon Communications

Harriet Diener

+1 – 845-512-8283

harriet@desertmoon.tv

RIST [Reliable Internet Stream Transport], achieved a milestone at the meeting. Six vendors, including Cobalt, DVEO, Nevion, QVidium, Videoflow and Zixi, provided a live, multivendor live interoperability demonstration of contribution-quality video signals being transported over the open internet. RIST uses a technique called ARQ [Automatic Repeat request], where the receiver is able to detect missing packets in an incoming signal stream and request them to be automatically retransmitted by the sender. This process allows single-packet or burst errors that are not uncommon in internet transport to be corrected, allowing a clean video and audio signal to be delivered.

While a number of companies provide proprietary solutions that accomplish the same thing, RIST is the first completely open, standards-based protocol that has been independently implemented by multiple vendors. The VSF is currently putting the finishing touches on the first release of RIST, which should be publicly available in the coming months. Future enhancements are planned that will support interoperable encryption, multipoint/multipath distribution, VPN tunneling and other advanced features.

[Read: SMPTE ST 2110-21: Taming the Torrents]

The initial version of the RIST specification is nearing completion (as evidenced by the successful interop demonstration during the May VSF meetings) and should be released in the coming months. Discussions are also underway for potential future public demonstrations of RIST technology at industry trade shows later in 2018.

NMOS [Networked Media Open Specifications] is rapidly becoming a necessity for IP-based production systems. These are being developed under the auspices of AMWA [Advanced Media Workflow Association], but they have featured heavily at the VSF, including a live interop demo at VidTrans in February. While the signal formats for uncompressed video and audio have been published as SMPTE ST 2110, these mechanisms that are used for higher level network functions are just as important for a smooth operation. Three of the NMOS specs were discussed in detail during the VSF meeting:

• IS-04 for Registration and Discovery was released first, and covers the procedures that devices use to announce their presence on a network and to figure out which other devices are also present on the network. This is an important first step in any process for network management — without knowing the identities of the devices on the network, it is impossible to manage or communicate with them.
• IS-05 for Connection Management was released last fall, and covers the procedures that endpoints (cameras, servers, displays, etc.) use to set up connections to other endpoints to send or receive specific signals. Since each media type (video audio, metadata) is sent as a separate stream in SMPTE ST 2110, making a connection can involve managing multiple IP packet streams and addresses.
• IS-06 for Network Control is the newest of the bunch, and is set to be released in the near future. It covers the messages that networking equipment such as Ethernet switches and IP routers need in order to route signals through the IP communications fabric. This is not trivial: connections frequently need to be managed to ensure that the underlying data circuits (often 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps Ethernet links) are not overloaded.

NMOS is significantly different from most of the previous control and monitoring mechanisms used in video production facilities in that it is not a wire-based message protocol, like the many common ones based on RS-422. Since every IP media endpoint (by definition) has an IP network interface, it makes sense to use more advanced, web- and network-friendly protocols and interfaces, including HTTP and RESTful APIs. Accordingly, NMOS does away with defining its own signaling protocol, and instead uses widely-accepted industry standards. This also makes NMOS much easier to integrate with systems that extend beyond a single facility, including remote production venues and cloud-based content processing applications.

Several other technical topics were covered during the VSF meetings. The SVIP [Studio Video over IP] team hosted a panel discussion about a forthcoming VSF specification (TR-05) that will define a set of commonly used IP video formats that are intended to serve as precisely specified interoperability profiles. The JPEG 2000 Ultra Low Latency project is also wrapping up, which adds a new set of profiles to TR-01 that allow a complete JPEG 2000 encode/decode cycle to take place in 6 to 8 milliseconds, instead of the current specification’s 100 milliseconds or more. Attendees at the VSF meeting were also treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of Cisco’s corporate television facility, which is responsible for producing hundreds of events for internal and external audiences.

[Want more information like this? Subscribe to our newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox.]

VSF aids the development and adoption of open standards for video transport. The company’s activities include forums on video networking technologies; exchanging non-proprietary information to promote the development of technology; and promoting interoperability by contributing to and supporting development of standards by national and international standards bodies.

The IABM ICG Endorsement program is designed to encourage collaboration across a range of industry issues and opportunities, including best practice, standardization and interoperability. IABM states that its goal is a “framework where endorsed collaborative groups will be supported, promoted and encouraged to fulfill their potential and move forward in an open, constructive environment to the benefit of the wider industry.”

This interoperability demo will feature 14 equipment manufacturers, three test equipment manufacturers, as well as network technology suppliers. Demonstrations will include VSF TR-03 with AES67/IEEE1588, VSF TR-03 with RFC4175, VSF TR-04, ST2022-6 with ST2059 and ST2022-5/6/7.

Additional events for the conference will include technical sessions on video capture, transport and delivery; technical papers on video networking, IP transport, HDR, IP Video and AES67 audio; and panel discussion on topics like transitioning to an IP infrastructure.

VidTrans 2016 will take place from Feb. 23-25 at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel in New Orelans. The conference is run by the Video Services Forum. For more information, click here.

Previously approved standards, such as SMPTE 2022-6, require video signals to be first formatted into SDI (Serial Digital Interface) streams before they are placed into IP packets. Related audio and metadata signals are commonly embedded in the horizontal and vertical ancillary spaces (HANC and VANC) that are present within the SDI signal. This is somewhat inefficient, due to the need to de-embed the individual signals from the SDI stream before they can be processed, and then possibly re-embed them before being passed along to the next step in the processing workflow.

DIFFERENT APPROACHES
With TR-03, each media type is transported individually as elementary streams. In the case of audio signals, the raw audio samples are placed directly into RTP/IP packets using AES67. For video, pixels from the active picture area are placed directly into RTP/IP packets in accordance with IETF RFC 4175. Metadata is handled using another IETF-proposed standard “draft-ietf-payload-rtp-ancillary-02.”

Chuck Meyer, chief technology officer, production for Grass Valley, noted the significance of the new standard. “TR-03 is very much about essence, and really separating out the media types be it video, audio, metadata and timing events,” he said. It’s just so important to keep those separate.”

Fig. 1 shows the different approaches used by 2022-6 and TR-03. Fig. 1 shows the different approaches used by 2022-6 and TR-03. Part A shows audio and metadata being embedded into an SDI stream that is then packetized using 2022-6 and sent through an IP network. Part B shows audio, video and metadata each being packetized into separate IP streams in accordance with TR-03. The crucial difference between these two approaches is illustrated in the steps needed to perform an audio processing function (such as loudness adjustment). In the 2022-6 process, the entire video stream must first be de-packetized and then the audio signal must be de-embedded from the SDI stream. When processing is completed, the audio must be re-embedded in the SDI before the SDI signal can once again be packetized. Contrast this with the TR-03 process shown in Part B of Fig. 1, where only the packets containing audio samples are required to be depacketized, before they are processed, and then repacketized back into an IP stream. Not only does this process remove the need for audio embedding and de-embedding, it also greatly reduces the volume of packet traffic that needs to be routed to the audio processor. As an added benefit of TR-03, note that only the active video pixels of TR-03 need to be packetized, thereby reducing the amount of network traffic generated by uncompressed video.

TIMING AND IDENTIFICATION
Two important elements that underpin TR-03 are timing and identification. Timing is handled by distributing a common clock to every node on the network using IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol, and by referencing all of the media clocks to the SMPTE Epoch defined in 2059-1. Streams are identified, and, more importantly, associated with each other using SDP (Session Description Protocol; IETF RFC 4566 and The SDP Grouping Framework; IETF RFC 5888). Using these capabilities, audio and video streams can be identified as belonging to the same lip sync group and be referenced to a common clock so that they can be sent as separate IP packet streams through a network and then synchronized at the streams’ destination. Going back to Part B in Fig. 1, once the video, audio and data streams are synchronized at their source using a common clock, the streams can take different paths, with different amounts of delay, yet still be able to be realigned to a common clock at the output. An SDP file is created to indicate that the video, audio and data signals shown in Part B in Fig. 1 are part of the same lip sync group; the information in this file tells the receiving device where to find the streams and how to synchronize them.

When asked why a new standard is needed at this time, John Mailhot, CTO networking and infrastructure for Imagine Communications said “IP is a new infrastructure for the industry. 2022 has a place for interconnection between facilities and between rooms. The SVIP group was formed to address needs in the production studio. TR-03 has the flexibility that is a paramount need for this application.

“TR-03 can deliver the promise of IP networks,” he said. “It creates an extensible way to organize video, audio and metadata that can deliver all these media types in a media-agnostic fashion.”

There already appears to be a great deal of interest in this new TR, at least according to Meyer. “People noticed my name on the list of contributors to TR-03 and are calling me out of the blue—this never happened to me before. They are saying ‘Hey Chuck this is a really a cool thing. I think I’m seeing how this could really help me with my 4K transitions. Can you give me more technical details?’”

A copy of the TR-03 Draft Recommendation can be downloaded at www.videoservicesforum.org/technical_recommendations.shtml.

Wes Simpson is a member of the SVIP team that developed TR-03 within the VSF, along with representatives from dozens of other companies within the media industry.