Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

The Guys from IPnema

12/08/2022

As open-standards-based IP has come of age as a network protocol for the broadcast, AV and corporate sectors, the emphasis has moved from making essence transport work to refining and improving the customer experience and workflow, writes Jeremy Courtney, senior director, CTO office, Lawo

By Contributor

Published: August 11, 2022 Updated: August 16, 2022

As open-standards-based IP has come of age as a network protocol for the broadcast, AV and corporate sectors, the emphasis has moved from making essence transport work to refining and improving the customer experience and workflow, writes Jeremy Courtney, senior director, CTO office, Lawo

target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>

Jeremy Courtney, Lawo Gone are the days when the ability to control all devices via a unified, overarching control system was enough to set one's pulse racing. Even staunch defenders of ST 2110-based infrastructures admit that getting everything to work as expected used to take oodles of blood, sweat and tears. Just ask them about the behind-the-scenes programming and configuration work as well as their negotiations with vendors to implement the missing links.

In a sometimes brutally competitive environment, operators are expected to do more with ever less and quite naturally look for solutions that keep their tasks manageable. They expect their IP infrastructure to work like a samba that swings so cool and sways so gently right from the start

Head start Finding ways to reduce complexity, increase speed, and simplify the management of devices and signals with higher levels of agility and protection is key.

Operators and vendors can be proud of what has already been achieved. The number of operations built around a distributed set-up, with control rooms on premise in different parts of the world and data centres in still other locations is growing steadily. Operators in the US, Australia, Norway, Belgium and many other countries successfully managed to devise a new normal where the studio as well audio and video controllers are in one city, whilst the processing happens elsewhere.

Flexible, globe-spanning resource sharing over the IP network allows broadcasters and production service providers to lower their capital expenditures simply by using the tools they already own more frequently. Some users even went so far as to design multi-functional workspaces whose feature-set is determined by the credentials of the user logging into that space. All of this was implemented well before the global pandemic.

Vendors who pioneered the migration to IP for both audio and video infrastructure had already reached cruise speed when distributed production scenarios moved from being a forward-looking approach to sheer necessity.

With all elements in place and most pitfalls out of the way, they rightly anticipated that the next step would be to make broadcast IP manageable. Hence the launch of the HOME management platform for IP-based media infrastructures. It offers a microservice architecture based on modern technology and techniques that deliver the performance, reliability and experience tier 1 broadcasters expect.

More standards Interoperability has been at the top of the agenda since day one. The term stands for the ability to use best-of-breed solutions for the task at hand, irrespective of the vendor. This requires vendors to scrupulously stick to the protocol of the open standards employed: ST 2110, AES67, ST 2022, etc. Complications often arose from the fact that different manufacturers seemed to have different understandings of the word scrupulous'.

Another aspect was quickly brought to the vendors' attention: unlike IP-based networks for IT applications, broadcast and AV tools are essentially blind until operators assign them an IP address and make the other networked devices aware of them. This used to be a manual process that often took weeks, or months, for large broadcast infrastructures. It was also error-prone.

To alleviate this issue, a number of manufacturers jointly developed the AMWA NMOS IS-04 and IS-05 protocols that take care of discovering and registering devices as well as device connection management. NMOS is an open standard with a certain level of interoperability, but it has yet to become the silver bullet that allows all devices to work harmoniously together. This is not intentional, by the way, it typically occurs due to differences in interpretation, behaviour and implementation of specifications.

In any case, today's operators expect more than discovery and registration: they want a simple, but rich user experience, complete with the ability to tweak parameter settings on remote devices and signal grouping for one-click routing of essences. Separating audio from video and metadata offers more flexibility except when it doesn't. And this is where essence grouping steps in: devices and signals can be routed quickly and easily using a platform-agnostic web UI front-end.

Like NMOS, HOME revolves around a registry that keeps track of all known devices and greatly simplifies the discovery and registration process (no more manual input of IP addresses, etc).

IP broadcast standards for the mere encapsulation of content (ST 2110) can be complemented with robust, established IT standards for other important tasks. Support for DHCP, DNS and RADIUS therefore makes a lot of sense.

Elephant in the room Given the dramatically increased awareness regarding network security and the need for a strategy to fend off hacker attacks and content theft, the addition of the tried-and-tested 802.1x standard offers a robust solution.

This simplified way of adding devices to a network via automated discovery and registration may pose a new threat: the newly-added device might immediately come online and wreak havoc on at least part of the network. This i
LINK: https://www.tvbeurope.com/features/the-guys-from-ipnema...
See more stories from tvb

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Scripps Completes Acquisition of WTVQ Lexington

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/08/2026

U.S., U.K. Consumers Now Spend 11 Hours a Day Using Media

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/08/2026

Sinclair Announces 2026 Annual Scholarship Winners

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/08/2026

Tom DeLay: Only Congress Can Change Station Ownership Caps

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/08/2026

IAB Tech Lab Upgrades Open Framework for Agentic Advertising

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/08/2026

DirecTV For Business Inks New Agreement to Sell NFL Sunday Ticket

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/08/2026

IEEE Broadcast Technology Society Honors Charles Einolf

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

04/08/2026

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Dreion

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Dreion The singer, songwriter, and producer talks about finding his village at Berklee ahead of his Homecoming performance on Sep...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

03/08/2026

SVGs TranSPORT Conference Returns to NYC on Oct. 20; Register Today!

SVG's annual TranSPORT conference returns to New York City for a full day of sessions focused on the current state of live-sports-transmission technology. S...

03/08/2026

SVG All-Stars: Stefan Richardson, Director, Global Broadcast, Riot Games

A five-time Emmy winner, this esports vet has built a production career on live storytelling, audience connection, and meeting viewers wherever they are The sp...

03/08/2026

MLBs Jason Hedgcock on Using the Cloud To Produce World Baseball Classic Games for Netflix Japan

Live production in the cloud is a growing trend across the industry and Major Le...

03/08/2026

Cookie Queens Is Sweet With Substance

(L-R) Nyah B., Nala B., Shannon Elizabeth S., Celia K., Olive G., and Nikki B. attend the Q&A for Cookie Queens by Alysa Nahmias, an official selection of the...

03/08/2026

Rhodes launch Rhodes Clav Pro

Recreates a 1977 Hohner Clavinet D6 After launching a software recreation of their own electric piano, Rhodes set about capturing another classic instrument...

03/08/2026

Peak Tamer from Nicky Howard

A modern solution for an old technique Peak Tamer is a new standalone application that automatically applies gain automation to keep rogue peaks under cont...

03/08/2026

Sound Particles update Beat Panner

Plug-in gains object metadata automation export Sound Particles have just released an update that adds a new Metadata Automation function to their their rec...

03/08/2026

SGL Carbon and X-energy announce capacity expansion for Nuclear-Grade Graphite

SGL Carbon and X-energy today announced a binding agreement to double SGL's production capacity for medium-grain isotropic graphite ( NBG-18 ), a specialize...

03/08/2026

Glensound launches Greater Divine Supernal at PLASA Show...

Glensound will launch the Greater Divine Supernal at PLASA Show 2026, extending its intelligent loudspeaker range for professional studio monitoring and live au...

03/08/2026

How Agua Tinta's Class Project Launched Her Songwriting Career

How Agua Tinta's Class Project Launched Her Songwriting Career Two years after graduating from Berklee, the songwriter has a Latin Grammy nomination, a So...

03/08/2026

Lightware UCX delivers campus-wide connectivity to Leiden...

Leiden University's new Campus Spui, located in the heart of The Hague, the diplomatic and administrative centre of the Netherlands, opened in February 2026...

03/08/2026

Bitfocus heads to the future with new investment

Bitfocus, the specialist in media control and monitoring, has received a further boost to its plans for continuing growth, particularly in Europe and North Amer...

03/08/2026

Leagues Cup kicks off tomorrow, August\u00A04, on\u00A0Apple\u00A0TV - UPDATE - Posted on 03 August 2026

Building on the momentum of a landmark year for soccer in North America, Leagues...

02/08/2026

Acustica introduce Dangerous Music BAX EQ Plugin

Classic EQ design goes virtual Following on from the launch of the 500-series version of their BAX EQ unit, Dangerous Music have now teamed up with modellin...

02/08/2026

Television, Resilience and National Security

The Government's Missing Dimension This article was originally published on the National Preparedness Commission website on 25 June 2026. ----------------...

01/08/2026

Harmonic Piano from The Crow Hill Company

Latest free Vaults instrument released The Crow Hill Company's Vaults collection offers a continually rotating selection of virtual instruments and samp...

01/08/2026

American Television Alliance Slams Deltavision Blackout on Verizon

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/08/2026

FreeWheel Debuts TV Series-Level Reporting for CTV Buyers

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/08/2026

Minnesota Timberwolves, DAZN to Launch New Streaming Offering

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/08/2026

Early Registration Opens for 2026 SMPTE Media Technology Summit

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/08/2026

NBCUniversal and YouTube Ink Landmark Distribution Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/08/2026

COW Jobs: Lead Generation Representative - Animation Services

COW Jobs: Lead Generation Representative - Animation Services Brie Clayton July 31, 2026 0 Comments Lead Generation Representative - Animation Service...

01/08/2026

Emilie Lowe Shoots Award Winning Short Film Where Dead Things Grow with Blackmagic Design

Emilie Lowe Shoots Award Winning Short Film Where Dead Things Grow with Blackmag...

01/08/2026

Early Registration Opens for the 2026 SMPTE Media Technology Summit

Early Registration Opens for the 2026 SMPTE Media Technology Summit Brie Clayton July 31, 2026 0 Comments Initial Program Announced Alongside New Medi...

31/07/2026

SVG Sit-Down: NHL's Steve Mayer on Building a Centralized Production Operation From Scratch

With an emphasis on local, the league is looking beyond the initial four teams t...

31/07/2026

Reflecting on the 2026 Summer Season of Our Sundance Institute Labs

The 2026 Sundance Institute Directors Lab fellows in Estes Park, Colorado (Photo by Gabe Rovick) Dear Friends, This has been an extraordinary year for our ar...

31/07/2026

Audiocube launch Audiocube Space

Offers 360-degree sound placement in any DAW Audiocube have just announced the launch of a new plug-in that embeds a complete 3D acoustic environment inside...

31/07/2026

Sonarworks expand SoundID VoiceAI library

10 new Chinese C-Pop voices introduced While Sonarworks are best known to many for their room-correction software, their product range also includes an inno...

31/07/2026

PSPaudioware release PSP BBDelay

Reimagines the vintage BBD sound character PSPaudioware have now officially launched the new delay plug-in that they were previewing at GearExpo UK. Said to...

31/07/2026

Savannah Bananas Hits a Broadcast Home Run with Calrec

The Savannah Bananas has built its reputation on refusing to play baseball by traditional rules, and the team's production arm Banana Ball TV (BTV) has draf...

31/07/2026

How Valuable Is TV to Smaller, Independent Cable Operators?

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/07/2026

Early Registration Opens for the 2026 SMPTE Media Techno...

SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today opened early registration for the 2026 Media Technology Summit (MTS) and announced i...

31/07/2026

Central Christian Church Connects Remote Production Teams...

Clear-Com announced that Central Christian Church has transformed communication across its live production operations by implementing Clear-Com's LQ Seri...

31/07/2026

Haivision To Feature Makito ONE, Falkon X4 At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/07/2026

ABC Stations Tout Community Support for License Renewals

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/07/2026

Finalists Announced for IBC2026 Innovation Awards

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/07/2026

IBC2026 Innovation Awards finalists unveiled honouring co...

IBC has unveiled the finalists for the IBC2026 Innovation Awards, recognising collaborative projects from around the world that solve real-world challenges and ...