IBC 2016: Tektronix Prism, SPG8000A support IBC TV live video over IP production

At IBC 2016, Tektronix is supporting IBC TV and the VRT-EBU LiveIP Studio project. IBC TV delivers key stories about industry suppliers and event-related news, distributes content online and on screens throughout the RAI Exhibition Center.

The biggest trend in the industry today is the transition from SDI to more flexible and capable IP networks for such applications as live broadcasting. With its unique ability to analyze, diagnose and correlate both SDI and IP errors, Prism bridges the gap between these two worlds, helping broadcasters to smoothly transition to IP. At IBC, the focus is on showcasing how Prism supports real-world, multi-vendor IP and SDI environments. The widely adopted SPG8000A is the first hybrid SDI Sync Pulse Generator and PTP Grandmaster supporting the SMPTE 2059, AES67 as well as the default IEEE 1588v2 PTP profiles. Both sets of equipment are in use in the LiveIP studio project and are being deployed to support the IBC TV production at IBC.

For the first time, IBC TV will also adopt the VRT-EBU LiveIP Studio project’s fully functional IP production studio as a live remote location to insert into the Show – the Live IP Studio which relies on interoperability between some of the industry’s leading technology providers including Axon, Digital & Media Solutions (D&MS), Dwesam, EVS, Genelec, Grass Valley, Imagine Communications, Lawo, Nevion, Tektronix, Trilogy, and Vizrt. The project is also supported by the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS). The technical setup of the LiveIP studio at the show will be split across three sites:

• The studio floor and the control room with production staff is on stand 8.D10a
• The data center with the majority of the network equipment are hosted on the EVS stand 8.B90.
• The content producers and directors who control the LiveIP studio remotely are housed in Hall 13.

Beginning in the summer of 2015, the VRT-EBU LiveIP studio is the world’s first proof of concept of a complete live production that relies exclusively on IP. This summer, VRT successfully began using this solution to broadcast daily, live programming for its children’s channel, Ketnet.

“Tektronix is delighted to have been able to support the LiveIP Studio project from its inception. This project has been able to demonstrate the viability of multi-vendor Live IP Production and has successfully broadcasted to air since June of this year,” says Paul Robinson, CTO, Video Product Line, Tektronix. “The adoption of the LiveIP project by IBC TV is further proof of the viability of adopting IP throughout broadcast workflows and specifically in live production, whilst promoting multi-vendor interoperability. At the same time, the LiveIP Studio project, with the successful Ketnet live-to-air broadcasts, has already demonstrated the high performance and flexibility advantages that IP brings to live production workflows.”

IBC is the premier annual event for professionals engaged in the creation, management and delivery of entertainment and news content worldwide. The IBC exhibition is being held 9-13 Sept. 2016 in Amsterdam and is expected to draw more than 55,000 attendees from 170 countries and will feature products from over 1,600 exhibitors. Tektronix will be demonstrating its full range of industry leading video test and monitoring solutions in Stand 10.D41.