NAB 2019: EVS Launches XNet-VIA Media-Sharing Network for Faster, Higher-Resolution IP Workflows

EVS will introduce XNet-VIA, its Ethernet-based live-media–sharing network that facilitates ultra-fast sharing of high-resolution content between XT-VIA and XS-VIA servers. This matches the needs of the world’s largest and most demanding event producers, stadiums and arenas, and remote-production–facility providers.

Interconnecting EVS servers to XNet-VIA enables faster transfers via a 10-Gbps bidirectional Ethernet-based network optimized for high-resolution formats and super-slo-mo content.

As 1080p, UHD-4K (both SDR and HDR), as well as IP workflows become more prevalent, fast, efficient and secure ethernet media sharing provides critical bandwidth and speed. The easily configured bidirectional network gives operators three times the bandwidth of EVS’ legacy SDTI-based network to move high-resolution recorded media between EVS’ latest generation of production servers at greater speed.

By interconnecting the servers to XNet-VIA, operators will benefit from faster transfers via the 10-Gbps bidirectional Ethernet-based network that is optimized for high-resolution formats and super motion content. The network is quick and simple to deploy, taking the complexity associated with IP away, as it handles discovery and IP address assignments automatically.

XNet-VIA is quick and simple to deploy through EVS’s new XHub-VIA network appliance, removing the complexity of IP with automatic discovery and IP addressing. One unit can support up to 18 servers and can be expanded to connect more than 30 servers on the same network. Its small form factor and shallow depth also make it ideal for outside broadcast environments.

“Increasingly, sports-rights holders, broadcasters, and mobile-production providers are maximizing the boundaries of our original XNet-SDTI media-sharing network,” said Laurent Petit, SVP Products, EVS. “XNet-VIA removes those limitations by accommodating larger distributed networks and faster workflows with plug-and-play simplicity.”

The solution has already been successfully market-tested. Host broadcaster MatchTV selected XNet-VIA for the 29th Winter Universiade, a multi-sport event spread over 11 venues, held in early March in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. XNet-VIA was used at the event’s broadcast-center operations to share clips and recorded media of more than 50 sports, enabling production teams to execute at a higher level of sharing than ever before.

XNet-VIA has also been deployed by leading live-production–facilities provider Mobile TV Group, in its new 45 Flex end-to-end SMPTE 2110 uncompressed IP-based mobile production unit. The state-of-the-art truck will be on display at Mobile TV Group’s outdoor Booth OE2000 throughout NAB 2019.

XNet-VIA integrates with EVS’s VIA, the new platform sitting as the core foundation of all new EVS products. VIA is seeding the future ecosystem of live production enabling more flexible and open production workflows and offering future-proof creative user experiences.

NAB Show attendees can see XNet-VIA in action at the EVS booth (SL3816) and in Mobile TV Group’s 45 Flex unit (OE2000) at the Las Vegas Convention Center, April 8-11, 2019. There will be an event for customers and press to kick off EVS’s 25th-anniversary festivities at its booth on Monday, April 8 at 4 p.m.