BLOG

Reducing Total Cost of Ownership in a channel-dense broadcast environment through Trust Boundary and JPEG XS

By David Edwards, Product Manager

Dynamics in the live production environment

The live broadcast environment can feel like it is in a state of constant flux. Market dynamics are forcing change on broadcast platforms. New events and a demand for additional camera views are driving deeper viewer engagement. Innovative sports events, for instance, are introducing gamification perspectives to attract more viewers.

However, the changes extend beyond the production environment to the underlying video networks. Remote production techniques are transforming operations, offering greater efficiencies, improving work-life balance, and broadening the available talent pool for live production. This transformation requires video networks to accommodate new services while ensuring cost efficiency.

IP Flexibility – The power and the pain

A switch to IP interfacing and routing is being adopted at almost every opportunity. The promise of being able to route content into the broadcast centre and around the plant at will and with massive flexibility, all at a click of a button is a draw that is hard to resist.

Yet, transitioning to an all-IP environment comes with challenges.

IP connectivity allows the potential to connect any location to any other location, any device to any other device, regardless of compatibility.

The inherent flexibility in IP routing can raise concerns about exposing an organization’s complete IP video network to another. Organizations that have adopted IP connectivity standards such as SMPTE 2022-6, SMPTE 2022-7, and SMPTE 2110 for compressed and uncompressed media often need additional checks and procedures to maintain operational robustness. Hesitancy to expose IP connectivity can feel justified.

Realizing IP efficiency through Trust Boundaries

To address these challenges, and enhance network robustness, the SMPTE recommended practice – RP2129, IP Media Trust Boundary has been introduced.

The recommended practice enhances network robustness through tools that Monitor, Protect, and Adapt IP flows between workflow environments. The concept of micro-segmentation to create and “air-gap” is central to IP Media Trust Boundaries, isolating network sections and allowing content to pass only if it meets automated tests and rules.

Integrating IP Media Trust Boundaries can help broadcast operations achieve the flexibility and efficiency benefits long promised by IP-native workflows.

However, unleashing the full potential of an IP media network is nothing without content.

Immersive viewing drives channel density

The demand for immersive and visually rich viewing experiences, combined with the growth in diverse camera feeds, challenges live production environments to balance video quality, bandwidth availability, and costs. Uncompressed video feeds offer visual perfection with near-instantaneous presentation, but transporting multiple high-resolution feeds can sometimes be impractical or too costly.
For many, deploying video compression technology is the right answer.
But what type of compression technology?
And how best to integrate into flexible, micro-segmented trust boundary IP domains?

Making an appropriate compression choice

Visually lossy, high compression ratio algorithms may prove acceptable where bandwidth is highly constrained. However, for applications requiring near-pristine video quality and low latency, such as remote production, lighter compression technologies like JPEG 2000 and JPEG XS are more suitable.
Whilst JPEG 2000 and JPEG XS are sometimes considered similar, nearly a decade of innovation separates the two. JPEG XS is proven to offer lowest latency. With cross-platform support stretching from FPGA to CPU, from custom hardware to COTS and Cloud implementations, JPEG XS usage has expanded rapidly across the complete production workflow.

JPEG XS – Low complexity, high channel density

JPEG XS differentiates itself from JPEG 2000 through its low processing complexity. This enables high channel density implementations.

Net Insight’s Nimbra 1060 Media Network Node device exemplifies this by delivering highest density JPEG XS processing. A single Nimbra 1060 unit can be scaled to simultaneously process up to 120 HD 1080p video services, showcasing the impact of combining channel density with IP networking.

Supporting sustainability

High channel density is not only advantageous for accommodating multi-camera productions but also reduces total power consumption. A high-density solution such as the Nimbra 1060 can reduce power consumption per channel to just 10% of a classical “pizza-box” product deployment. As the broadcast industry commits to environmental sustainability, low power consumption per channel can underpin corporate social responsibility goals.

Managing channel dense operations

Managing high channel density in live events can be complex – creating challenges for operations staff. Especially so in the dynamic, live events environment.

Automation tools have long been available to simplify service provisioning and system monitoring.

Net Insight’s Nimbra devices can be managed top-to-bottom through APIs. Trust Boundary rules can be set, encoding services can be enabled. Through system APIs, high-level orchestration systems can control a complete video network.

Delivering operational efficiency and reducing Total Cost of Ownership

By integrating IP media connectivity and channel-dense JPEG XS encoding, broadcast operations can significantly reduce channel costs and operational efficiencies can be enhanced.

Managed IP Media Trust Boundaries ensure robust operations, enabling the delivery of rich, immersive content whilst driving down total cost of ownership in an environmentally sustainable way.

Reduced total cost of ownership can be used as a business driver that enables production services to expand to deliver the richer, channel-dense, immersive program content that today’s TV viewers are now demanding.

We will be exhibiting at the coming IBC Show in September. Talk to us if you are interested in learning more about our Nimbra portfolio and what they can do for your business!

Trusted by various global customers across industries

“We can now consider a far wider array of live broadcasting services, often presented at very short notice, for our overseas territories where difficult connectivity environments had, until now, hindered numerous high-quality broadcast opportunities. Net Insight’s solution reduces our operational costs significantly, while at the same time enabling us to maximize our service availability and reach to our overseas territories.”

Pascal Gerard,
French overseas territories, at France Télévisions

“We offered our IP/MPLS media transport solution to the world’s most demanding TV companies, for their contribution feeds and it has performed extremely well. Going forward, we see multiple possibilities to expand our service offering based on the advanced VA platform. In addition, the strong QoS functionalities combined with the advanced monitoring capabilities of the Net Insight Nimbra platform ensures that we can offer the highest quality services to our customers.”

Magdalena Domagalik,
Business Development Manager Media Services, KPN

“For us, carrier grade really means something, and we would never use the Globecast brand on a solution if we didn’t believe it fulfilled our strict quality requirements.”

Benoit Leonble,
Product Manager, International Terrestrial Solutions at Globecast

Want to know more about us?

Get started today.

GET IN TOUCH

About the Author

David Edwards

Product Manager

David Edwards, Product Manager at Net Insight has over 2 decades of experience in the world of video compression and broadcast transmission. With deep involvement in bringing to market some of the world’s first professional MPEG-4 AVC HD transmission systems and more latterly HEVC HD and 4k solutions.