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Broadcasters are calling on multiviewers to work in traditional, hybrid and IP environments, monitoring many different formats and high numbers of input and output signals. Vendors say they’re keeping up, while advancing in virtualization, compression and resolution. Above, TAG’s probing, monitoring and multiviewing platform for real-time video.

Television is slowly following radio into the adoption of audio over IP technology, but the transition has been hampered by infrastructure costs, the challenge of preventing audio latency and concerns over standards and security. Above, the University of Miami adopted Dante and AOIP for its live sports production workflows before COVID introduced the need for social distancing.

Remotely working broadcasters are increasingly seeing the advantages of IP routing systems to easily control equipment and monitor feeds. Those who adopted IP routers prior to the pandemic were “well ahead of the game,” says one vendor. Above, the BBC’s SMPTE 2110 facility in Cardiff, Wales.

Broadcasters such as Sinclair and Vice are increasingly shifting playout functions to cloud platforms, seeking more flexibility and agility there and testing the waters with disaster recovery strategies, OTT channels and diginets. “In the cloud, you can build up a whole separate system in parallel, test it, then cut over to it,” says one consultant.

TVNewsCheck will consider how news organizations are turning remote production outposts into permanent at-home studios, while Sinclair will present episode two of a series on monetizing NextGen TV. SMPTE has two events this week, MFM continues a series of for-credit sessions for finance managers and SVG presents its annual Sports Content Management conference in virtual form. For more events, plus dates, times and registration links, visit TVNewsCheck’s Virtual Events Directory.

Sinclair and its One Media sister company will kick off a series of virtual events about monetizing NextGen TV with ATSC 3.0 Monetization 101 on Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET. Vela will focus on Advances in Compliance Monitoring Tuesday and Wednesday at varying times. Ross Live considers Esports Arena Production on Tuesday. In the LAWO Lounge, Audio Mixing in the Hands of Automated TV Production will be playing July 8 at two different times. For TVNewsCheck’s full listing of virtual events this week and into the fall and winter, visit the Virtual Events Directory.

The pandemic created an opportunity to stress-test distributed and virtualized workflows right now that stations and networks were already considering for the future. The industry’s shift may now be ahead of schedule because of it. Above, NBC Universal’s Boston Media Center is one of the latest all-IP broadcast facilities.

The coronavirus pandemic has amped up the transition to cloud-based workflows as broadcasters have employed as many remote operations as possible. The next frontier: an acceleration of live production applications in the cloud. Above, an Amazon Web Services Outpost cloud server.

Francois Vaillant, executive director of engineering at CBC/Radio-Canada, says the group opted to build an IP-based broadcast center to move CBC/Radio-Canada into the future. The greenfield project was an opportunity to be more future-proof.

Fox will use more than 100 manned and robotic cameras to cover the game, including 24 “Super-Motion” cameras to support replays; 20 goal-line and end-line pylon cameras; wireless “Line to Gain” cameras that travel up and down the field in alignment with the first-down marker; and two different SkyCam systems which operate at different elevations. It will also use 72 field mics, as well as wireless player mics, to capture game audio. And that’s just scratching the surface.

Audio over IP (AoIP) networking technology is experiencing higher adoption among TV broadcasters, prompted in part by a new transport standard ensuring more interoperability. Many of those embracing IP no longer think of audio production as an island, but as connected networks prompting interoperability to become an important factor. Above, SSL’s System T AoIP production system runs on COTS hardware like Cisco switches.

Multiviewers are in the midst of a rapid evolutionary phase spurred by the proliferation of signals that need monitoring and the IP transition. As the need for control across multiviewer screens increases, the technology is also becoming more integrated with other pieces of equipment.

Exclamations about the IP transition, the cloud and AI were notably muted at this year’s IBC. Vendors say that’s because this year wasn’t about shiny new things, but rather getting to work on implementation.

The new WCAU-WWSI facility, set for a grand opening sometime this fall, is IP-centric and is designed to not only give the two stations a more efficient space with a common technology infrastructure, but to give their personnel new flexibility in creating content for today’s multiplatform world.