Quantel, Snell Survey Reveals Transition to IP Will Take Up to 10 Years to Complete

Quantel and Snell released the results of a global survey into the industry’s views on IP and 4K adoption. More than 1000 people responded to the survey from small, medium and large-scale public and private broadcast and post organizations across more than 80 countries. The results offer a view of where the industry is and where it’s going with IP and 4K.The headline findings on IP are that only 19% of respondents thought that SDI routers would be completely replaced by IP within two years, 42% within five years and 27% only seeing this happen within ten years. Interestingly, 9% of respondents predicted that SDI will never be completely replaced. When asked if they would be using live signals over IP in 2016, 20% said not at all, 47% somewhat and 29% extensively – with just 4% indicating that they are going fully IP next year.

On 4K, 60% of respondents saw it as relevant only in the future, with the majority of predictions spread across the two to five year timescale. We also asked whether High Frame Rate (HFR) or High Dynamic Range (HDR) would bring the most economic benefit to respondents; 47% saw HDR as a potential revenue generator, only 22% HFR, with 31% seeing no potential benefit from either.

Finally, to learn where IP and 4K fit in the priorities of broadcasters, we asked what is the top feature they look for in production switchers. 44% chose multi-format, multi-program production, with 20% and 16% concerned with IP and 4K readiness respectively.

“Broadcasters and media organizations have been bombarded with ‘IP and 4K now’ messages over the last year,” said Quantel and Snell CEO, Tim Thorsteinson. “This has led to a great deal of uncertainty, which I know our customers have fed back to us time and again. The results of our survey will go a long way to dispelling the myths and claims around IP and 4K. It clearly shows that broadcasters see these as key future concerns, but for the vast majority, a full-on infrastructure lift-out and replacement with IP and 4K is not going to happen any time soon.

“Rather than trying to tell our customers what to do, our position has always been to align our product offerings with their business requirements. The survey confirms our own ongoing research among our customers – what broadcasters need are future-flexible solutions that can meet their current needs and give them a progressive path to IP and 4K adoption as dictated by their individual business needs. At Quantel and Snell, we have just that,” Thorsteinson concluded.

TV2 Fyn Goes HD with Kahuna Switcher, Maverik Control and Sirius 800 Router
Denmark public broadcaster, TV2 Fyn, has purchased a Snell Kahuna switcher with two of the new Maverik configurable control panels to help drive its move into HD news production.

Snell’s unique Kahuna Make M/E technology enables a single mainframe to support two independent studio operations, with both studios benefiting from full 2M/E production power, including super-keyers, eKeys and 3D DVEs, via Maverik control. The system also integrates a Sirius 800 router with built-in Advanced Hybrid Processing on every input and output, eliminating the need for external signal processing devices. The systems were supplied through AVIT-Systems, Snell’s partner in Denmark.

The Kahuna is fully integrated with TV2 Fyn’s Viz Mosart news automation system. Kahuna Watch provides automated loading of graphics to the on-board Clipstore to ease production workflows. Snell FormatFusion3 technology ensures that the system can handle SD, HD, 1080p and 4K simultaneously. The Kahuna also controls TV2’s on-air servers, providing instant access to multiple content streams via the Maverik panels.

“Switching and routing are the backbone of our news operations and we needed a system that would enable us to transition smoothly to HD,” said Michael Jensen, Head of Production at TV2 Fyn. “The Sirius router gives us the flexibility we need in a compact package, and the power of the Kahuna meant that we could provide full live HD and SD production capability to both news studios from a single mainframe, saving valuable rack space and cost; Snell was the only company that offered us this key benefit. The Maverik panels add flexibility, giving us exactly the control layout we need and enabling us to almost instantly reconfigure studio control if required to meet the needs of different productions.”

“Our Kahuna range delivers massive production power and a range of extra capabilities that make it a really comprehensive and effective switching platform,” said Robert Rowe, Snell managing director, Live TV. “Add to this the versatility that the configurable Maverik panel offers, and the flexibility of the Sirius router, and it all adds up to a compelling proposition for broadcasters such as TV2 who require uncompromised production values in a highly cost-effective package.”