NAB Shared Services for Television Jan Weigner CTO Cinegy LLC

Concerns about the limitations of using IT and IP-based networks in a mission-critical real-time environment have prevented the broadcast industry from fully adopting these technologies. Advances in technology have addressed these issues and IT / IP-based infrastructure is fast becoming the future of broadcasting. The model of a common IT infrastructure for broadcast operations brings with it the new concept of a running a Virtual TV station where broadcast operations can be provided as a hosted, central service with signal delivery via IP. Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

This brings opportunities for smaller organizations to start their own channel and the potential for new revenue streams to large organizations. This presentation will cover in detail how the latest digital broadcast technologies can enable the creation of Virtual TV stations and how this can be done as a hosted service. Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Inside the Typical TV Station Today:  Satellite downlinks for live or syndicated content  SDI based signal distribution, routing & monitoring  News room with NCRS and NLEs, weather, traffic  Long form content creation  Live studio operations  Broadcast automation and playout  Archive Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Step One Going IP – Virtualizing the TV Facility Signal Distribution Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Advantages of IP based Signal Distribution:  Satellite downlinks stay in the IP domain – IRDs can put all transponder streams onto network as RTP/UDP streams - not just one channel – less IRDs are needed which saves money and space  Downlinks can be made redundant more affordably  Transport streams “signals” can be “tapped” anywhere in the network from any PC, Mac, Smartphone, etc.  Streams can be recorded and edited in their native format without recompression quality loss. Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Advantages of IP based Signal Distribution:  Routing and transport via Ethernet switches – downlinks stay in their original format without recompression – Ethernet switches are “cheap as chips” compared to SDI routers  IP signals can “broadcast” across the entire network and are available everywhere at once  A single Gigabit Ethernet cable can reliably transport 16 HD 50 Mbit/s 4:2:2 or 200 (!) SD streams e.g. from satellite 4 Mbit/s 4:2:0. Scalable – trunked Gigabit or 10G Ethernet for even more. Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Advantages of IP based Signal Distribution:  Ethernet cabling and signal redundancy is much easier and affordably achieved in a facility.  Virtual streams can be created that are a composite of multiple IP streams in the network (e.g. for failover or automatic routing)  IP streams can be processed in the IP domain in real-time (audio processing, video transcoding, etc.)  Metadata can be pulled straight of the IP / TS streams to trigger events or routing, EPG information, channel names, rights information, etc. Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Advantages of IP based Signal Distribution:  Monitoring via “software multi-viewers”: IP streams being decoded and displayed by a software multi-viewer.  Software multi-viewer provide a cost saving of up to 95% compared to SDI equivalent.  Alarm and notification capabilities equal or better than SDI based multi-viewers.  Can run on any PC anywhere on the network – no cabling hassle. Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Advantages of IP based Signal Distribution:  IP streams can be branded and passed thru to next-gen playout servers (as live input) just like SDI  IP streams can come in via ATM, fixed data connection, microwave, or Internet (e.g. VPN)  IP streams based facilities help achieving the next steps of virtualization. Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Step Two Moving Towards Centralized Production Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Ways to achieve Centralized Production  MAM – without a Media Asset Management solution this will never work. File based workflows are not the answer – without MAM they are just a different problem.  The MAM handles all media transactions, all media access, and manages all media instances (all proxy versions).  For larger organizations with multiple locations the MAM system needs to be able to manage a hub and spoke architecture with transfer of content and metadata between the locations.  Proxy based editing workflows must be possible Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Examples of Centralized Production  Hub and Spoke Example – Dogan Media Group Turkey Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service Hub Istanbul Hub Istanbul Spoke Ankara Spoke Ankara Metro Ethernet 30 Mbit/s 30 Edit 550 Edit 30 Ingest 6 Ingest Production Storage Production Storage Archive Storage Archive Storage 100 Playout Production Storage Production Storage

Ways to achieve Centralized Production  Local ingest at the spoke into the local MAM system. Local editing, local production. Immediately accessible to all locally and remotely at hub or other spokes (if permitted) in proxy resolution.  Transfer of finished package to hub for playout and archive.  Realtime production collaboration between local journalists/production staff and remote journalists/production staff. Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Ways to achieve Centralized Production  Cloud Based Hosting Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service Local MAM Local MAM Internet or fixed line Local Edit Local Ingest Production Storage Production Storage Archive Storage Archive Storage Local Cache Local Cache Cloud Hosted MAM Cloud Hosted MAM Web Client

Step Three Rethinking “Live” Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

What needs to be Live?  Most “live” content today is already pre- recorded “in front of a live audience”  Even news or weather in many cases is pre- recorded.  A lot of syndicated news being broadcasted in different time zones pre-recorded by nature.  All that can be dealt with pre-recorded rather than live can be handled in multiple ways.  Even “real” live can be handled in central cast model – e.g. IP stream to central playout. Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Live contribution  Hub and Spoke Example – Dogan Media Group Turkey Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service Hub Istanbul Hub Istanbul Spoke Ankara Spoke Ankara Metro Ethernet 30 Mbit/s Live Ingest Playout

Step Four Broadcast Automation and Playout as a Hosted Service Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Playout as a Local or Remote Service  Instead of a traditional playout server with SDI in/out the service-based playout acts as a IP based network appliance that can also run as a Virtual Machine instance e.g. using VMWARE ESX or Microsoft’s Hyper-V.  The automation front-end connects remotely via IP to the playout appliance to “upload” and control the schedule.  The playout appliance “prints” the schedule (like a print queue) to air.  The automation software acts as a “print queue” monitor but can also be closed as long as the print queue has something to “print” Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Playout as a Local or Remote Service  The automation software can be connected to multiple playout channels at the same time for multi-channel operations.  Multiple playout appliances can print the same print queue for failover purposes.  A playout appliance can create multiple output streams of different resolutions and formats (e.g. SD / HD simulcast, IPTV streaming, etc.)  Branding - logo insertion, overlays, title generation can be performed by the playout appliance.  Live streams can be inserted into the schedule and equally branded. Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Playout AppliancePlayout Control LAN WAN IP Streams IP/SDI Gateway SDI I/O

Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service Playout Control VPN IP Streams Cloud Hosted Playout Hosted Playout Appliances

Multi-Format Ingest Logging Storyboard & Simple Edit Finishing Multi-Format Export Media Asset Management / Archive metadata accumulation during entire asset lifecycle Keep or Delete SD&HD SDI P2 & XDCAM DV & DVB Audio/Video Files Watchdog Logging Customized Logging Web Logger Storage Production StorageArchive Storage Desktop Storyboard Web Storyboard Timeline NLE Finishing Post Automatated Export & Transcoding Export to Tape Playout to Air High Medium Low Compacting Enterprise Manager Manual Housekeeping High Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service Cloud Hosting or Local VM Appliances

Questions to the Broadcaster:  What is my business model?  What is my value add and how do I make my money?  Will I make my money this way in the future?  Am I in the business of providing technical services and running facilities?  Do I need to create the content the way I do? Why?  Does this scale?  What does running the technical part of the channel actually cost me?  If I did it differently – how much would I save?  If I am starting a new channel now – how should I do it? Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service

Built Your Own Test System Ask for our Software Trial DVD at our booth at SL2725 or get one from me now Broadcast Operations as a Hosted Service