Broadcasters traditionally have used parts of the video signal to transport non-video information, such as subtitles, audio metadata, format descriptors, etc. The way this is done within facilties and the (default) settings of equipment can lead to interoperability problems.
| SMPTE to the rescue
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) is addressing these problems in Technology Committee '32NF'. The first step is to survey television broadcasters and equipment manufacturers on current practices. This information will be used to inform the industry on the use of the so-called VANC (Vertical ANCillary data space) data, which frequently is transported in SDI and HD-SDI video signals. |  |
You can help!
You can help solve these problems, by providing information on how you use VANC data. There are two (small) SMPTE surveys. Simply select the appropriate one and provide your answers before 6 Dec 2009:
VANC survey for users
VANC survey for manufacturers
EBU support
The EBU supports this iniative, as it could help improve interoperability between equipment. For more information, please contact: Dr Hans Hoffmann (EBU)