OSLO, Norway—Bridge Technologies has unveiled a multiservice AV sync comparison feature to the AV Sync function of its VB440 production probe, enabling seamless, glitch-free switching.
The new feature enables frame-accurate synchronization assessment across multiple delivery paths of the same service. Designed for live IP production environments where redundancy is critical, but applicable in a range of contexts, the capability allows engineers to assess and compare multiple flows carrying the same service, including those across satellite, SRT or other IP routes, the company said.
The feature builds upon the core of the VB440’s AV Sync Generator capability, which was introduced at the beginning of the year. Its original function was to act as a first-line-of-defense approach to synchronization between audio and visual components within a single service.
Rather than relying solely on packet timestamps, the AV Sync Generator enables the system to embed machine-readable electronic markers directly into the audio and video signals themselves.
When the complete service is reconstructed at the client, these physical markers are analyzed to assess frame-accurate alignment between audio and video in real time. This ensures synchronization is measured on the content itself, not simply the transport layer. More recently, this capability was expanded to include ancillary data synchronization, allowing the client to visualize the precise delta between video and audio and metadata, including immersive audio.
Additional visualization tools include rolling shutter simulation, blink-and-beep reference cues, enhanced ease-of-use and confidence in synchronization, which are critical for accessibility, compliance and consistent start and end points across complex workflows, it said.
The newly introduced multi-service comparison capability builds on this foundation. In scenarios common to live sports and premium broadcasts, where the same service may be delivered via multiple independent paths for resilience.
Frequently, those paths arrive with different timing characteristics. With the VB440, users can now place multiple incoming services onto a shared timeline within the sync client, visually stacking and comparing them against a chosen reference. Engineers can instantly see frame-accurate offsets between flows and use this information to adjust delays accordingly, ensuring that switching between sources can happen without interruption.
Bridge Technologies has designed the user interface of VB440 to facilitate in-the-moment decision-making with a seamless, smooth workflow. New services can be added to the timeline with a button click, where they are stacked in an intuitive workspace. The addition of APIs also means users can develop further automation tools to perform alignment, drawing frame-accurate data from the probe to facilitate other sync-related processes, the company said.
More information is available on the company’s website.
