Migrating Live Production to IP Technology

Chuck Meyer
Grass Valley

UHD-TV is showing that better pixels offer more opportunity for business growththan just more pixels.  Unlike the HD migration, government regulation is not requiring this change.  Unlike the change from 270 Mbps to 1.5 Gpbs data, the change to UHD includes the challenge of multiple data rates based on frame rate, pixel bit depth and resolution.  The migration to HD spanned 18 years.  It is unlikely the adoption of UHD will take as long.   Shorter adoption cycles will force new facility design models to efficiently utilize capital investment.  To illustrate this point, 12 Gbps video is just starting to see adoption, but 24 Gbps is already planned for leading edge systems.   In some ways, the SDI standard for 12 Gbps is already obsolete after only one year.  Scalable bandwidth infrastructure is one clear design approach to take on these challenges.  Information Technology equipment has evolved to the point that live video production based on an Ethernet and Internet Protocol infrastructure is possible.   If provides sufficiently low latency, high bandwidth, scalability and timing.  It also provides the ability to build facilities which can improve over time, without complete infrastructure replacement.  It even accommodates workflows which are nearly identical to those in use today.