Media organizations looking for an IT-network alternative for SDI can choose from a range products based on technology such as SDI over IP, PTP, AES67, SDN and TSN (AVB). In a panel session during the EBU Network Technology Seminar 2014 , vendors tried to answer the EBU’s concern that the current offerings will not work together well. And that while the main user requirement is so clear: provide a network solution that provides a ‘real-time’ (synced, stable, low-latency) path for audiovisual and control data. The devil is of course in the (quite complex) technical details and the fact that, contrary to traditional broadcast technology, IT networks offer multiple distinct ways of meeting the users' needs, sometimes at different levels of the protocol stack. This is reflected in the products currently being proposed. Some solutions require specific end-points and switches/bridges to be bought to allow the network to support professional video transport, while others ‘only’ require specific end-point devices and a Precision Time Protocol supporting network. Yet other focus more on managing switches via software to improve overall network Quality of Service. Users therefore are best advised to stay vigilant and ask critical questions, such as: What use case am I trying to solve? Will the solution scale as far as I need it? What specific network hardware (if any) do I need? How many vendors provide the required endpoint and/or network devices?
A show of hands during an informal poll at NTS 2014, at which Ethernet ports were in abundant supply.
At NTS 2014 most participants agreed standardization and maybe some form of equipment certification are needed to guarantee interoperability, but opinions differed on how far that should stretch, with some vendors even talking about islands of proprietary solutions in a a standardized sea, or... the inverse. Another way to approach the problem is to consider the industry for which network solutions are being created. As David Chalmers (BBC) argued, the media industry is relatively small and users should not focus on broadcast-specific solutions, but instead look towards the much wider IT industry which is likely to achieve better interoperability. CBC colleague François Legrand added that already now we could have better interoperability, if only manufacturers would open up their APIs instead of blocking access to them. One way in which interoperability may get a boost in the near future is via the EBU-SMPTE-VSF Networked Media Task Force , which is currenlty working on a reference architecture. More information via: Félix Poulin (EBU) .