Topic > The Age of IP in TV Production

According to Goldman (2018), we are on the verge of a revolution in the way professional media facilities handle audio, video and ancillary data. While this shift, from serial digital interface (SDI) to Internet Protocol (IP), is just as monumental and significant as the industry's transition from tape to file-based operations, it can happen seamlessly if engineers plan carefully the transition. Over the past few decades, the professional media industry has used several variations of SDI to move into high-quality real-time video. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay However, industry-specific interfaces, protocols, and infrastructures limit effectiveness in addressing the challenges of modern media production and distribution, including issues of scalability and complexity. Since the development of SDI many years ago, we have entered the information technology (IT) era. Because computers are ubiquitous and hundreds of billions of devices are in use around the world, it has become possible to realize significant economies of scale by working with IT technology. By moving away from SDI's industry-specific interfaces, protocols and infrastructure towards IP and leveraging IT's more scalable and cost-effective interfaces, protocols and infrastructure, professional media facilities have the freedom and agility to rapidly implement new solutions and quickly realize new capabilities that simplify operations, reduce costs and improve competitive potential. Top six reasons to go all-IP: Keep in mind: This is just one example. Get a customized paper from our expert writers now. Get Custom Essay To enhance the flexibility and agility of your video installation, where “video” means professional media, including video, audio, and ancillary data. To enable compatibility with network interfaces on COTS Ethernet switches and COTS servers. To achieve flexible association of streams into desired media groups. Establish network-based recording and discovery of devices, streams, and media features. Achieve much greater density than was possible with SDI, over an inherently bidirectional connection. Create a standard suite that is independent of the specific video and audio formats that are transported on it and that uses the same transport mechanism regardless of resolution, bit depth, frame rate, number of channels, and so on. Now we're starting to see deployment solutions to do just that, going all-IP all at once. The feasibility of this approach has become evident through a series of interoperability demonstrations for professional media over IP. SMPTE is one of eight sponsors of what is known as the IP Showcase, a multi-vendor interoperability demonstration that first took place at IBC 2016 and has continued at key trade shows, including the annual technical conference and SMPTE 2017 exhibit, standing-room-only crowds for IP migration presentations.