Quantel and Snell have released the results of a global survey into the industry’s views on IP and 4K adoption. The survey found that only 19 per cent of respondents thought that SDI routers would be completely replaced by IP within two years, 42 per cent within five years and 27 per cent only seeing this happen within ten years. Interestingly, 9 per cent of respondents predicted that SDI will never be completely replaced. When asked if they would be using live signals over IP in 2016, 20 per cent said not at all, 47 per cent somewhat and 29 per cent extensively – with just 4 per cent indicating that they are going fully IP next year.
On 4K, 60 per cent of respondents saw it as relevant only in the future, with the majority of predictions spread across the two to five year timescale. Asked about whether High Frame Rate (HFR) or High Dynamic Range (HDR) would bring the most economic benefit to respondents; 47 per cent saw HDR as a potential revenue generator, only 22 per cent HFR, with 31 per cent seeing no potential benefit from either.
Finally, to learn where IP and 4K fit in the priorities of broadcasters, respondents were asked about the top feature they look for in production switchers. Forty-four per cent chose multi-format, multi-programme production, with 20 per cent and 16 per cent concerned with IP and 4K readiness respectively. More than 1000 people responded to the survey from small, medium and large-scale public and private broadcast and post organisations across more than 80 countries.
“Broadcasters and media organisations have been bombarded with ‘IP and 4K now’ messages over the last year,” said Quantel and Snell CEO, Tim Thorsteinson. “This has led to a great deal of uncertainty, which I know our customers have fed back to us time and again. The results of our survey will go a long way to dispelling the myths and claims around IP and 4K. It clearly shows that broadcasters see these as key future concerns, but for the vast majority, a full-on infrastructure lift-out and replacement with IP and 4K is not going to happen any time soon.
“Rather than trying to tell our customers what to do, our position has always been to align our product offerings with their business requirements. The survey confirms our own ongoing research among our customers – what broadcasters need are future-flexible solutions that can meet their current needs and give them a progressive path to IP and 4K adoption as dictated by their individual business needs. At Quantel and Snell, we have just that,” Thorsteinson concluded.
