The industry is positioned at the cusp of an inevitable migration toward the use of full IP infrastructure. IP-based solutions for the broadcast industry simply offer too many benefits — flexibility, productivity, and security — in professional A/V applications to be ignored. Nevertheless, we have a long way to go before significant numbers of broadcasters make the shift to IP. Once they do, they stand to be much better prepared to address some of the most critical challenges facing them.
The demand for simple, user-friendly media-consumption applications is also influencing the industry. In this respect, IP infrastructure and IT technology offer valuable new capabilities in linking demanding broadcast specifications to consumer expectations.
As growing numbers of radio and TV broadcasters extend into multiplatform media delivery, consumers are growing accustomed to anytime, anywhere availability of content. At the same time, the demand for simple, highquality live web streaming is pushing the industry toward acceptance of IP- and IT-based solutions.
Intuitive, flexible, and cost-effective IP audio and video solutions stand to play a central role in any future migration. In addition to enabling more efficient delivery of content to meet both professional applications and consumer demand, IP-based A/V processing and transport also gives organisations the opportunity to shift their operations from CAPEX to OPEX. At Digigram we’re supporting this by delivering more vertical solutions, the ultimate goal being to supply them as cloud-based applications operated in a SaaS model.
Another major technology driver for the industry is IP audio networking, and particularly AES67 interoperability, which promises massive gains with new audio production workflows that leverage IT to enable higher levels of productivity, cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and security.
IBC2015 will shed light on the new levels of performance and flexibility that RAVENNA/AES67 connectivity brings to real-world IP audio transport applications, with demonstrations of this major technological advance for massive low-latency synchronous audio distribution over IP.
Even more important, perhaps, is how RAVENNA/AES67 connectivity eases broadcasters’ migration toward the use of IP audio within their studios. At IBC2015, we are featuring RAVENNA/AES67 connectivity across our IQOYA AoIP codec and sound card range.
High-efficiency video coding (HEVC) is emerging as a powerful enabler of IP video delivery and our AQORD HEVC encoder helps production operations reduce the cost of high-volume data transport by encoding either one UHD signal or multiple HD raw video signals in real time with up to 50% lower bandwidth compared with H.264 for the same quality.
IBC2015 gives broadcasters the chance to see just how far video over IP has come, as we feature powerful, technologically advanced products for a variety of users and applications. The versatile Digigram AQILIM and AQORD video encoder ranges provide exceptional quality and value for money, facilitating not only the transition to IP but also the realisation of a rapid return on that investment.
