Vendors say broadcasters are increasingly looking to expand virtualization of their operations across the whole chain, and they’re also seeking to take that virtualization off-premises, either in their own master control hubs or the public cloud.
Executives at NBCUniversal Local, Sinclair, ABC Owned Stations and Avid shared stories of their accelerated shift to the cloud and virtualization in a TVNewsCheck virtual conference last week.
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.
Graham Media-owned WDIV in Detroit now has about 90% of its staff working from home, shifting quickly on the advice of its health reporter (who is an ER doctor) and a senior producer with a public health background.
Stations Eye Virtual Master Control, Playout
Everyone from smaller station groups to major playout centers are examining software- and cloud-based solutions as they look at consolidation, centralization and density of operations. But whether IP and virtualization can replace all SDI functionality today remains a “big question mark” for many broadcasters. Above, Grass Valley’s iTX channel control. Click here to access TVNewsCheck’s NAB 2018 Resource Guide listing of master control and playout vendors and products or here to download it as a PDF.
Exclusives
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Sinclair is using public cloud-based playout to broadcast a three-hour block of children’s programming loaded across 51 stations. So far, so good, says CTO Del Parks. “It’s been pretty bulletproof.” And it also just may be the future for the whole industry.
IP, Virtualization To Drive Workflows At NAB
With broad industry support for the SMPTE ST 2110 IP standard for professional video, which is expected to be finalized soon, the TV industry has a solid foundation to build more flexible, agile workflows to meet future broadcast and live production requirements. At the 2017 NAB Show, IP and the virtualization of broadcast functions will take center stage as enablers of new efficiencies and even new revenue sources made possible by ATSC 3.0. Click here to access TVNewsCheck’s NAB 2017 Resource Guide listing of IP vendors and products. Photo: Robb Cohen Photography and Video
