Tech Focus: Networked Audio, Part 1 - Standards Help the Technology Grow Up SMPTE 2110, NMOS, AES70, and others aid in increasing adoption for broadcast sports By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Thursday, May 28, 2020 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Networked audio has left its novelty stage behind and is moving into its own maturity even as its evolution continues, hastened by the rapid rate of development around standards.
There have been some additional considerations with regard to interoperating in a SMPTE 2110 context, and we're happy to say we fully support these, says Kieran Walsh, director of application engineering, EMEA, Audinate, referring to recent additions to the suite of 2110 standards, such as 2110-30 and -31. Dante devices are able to operate with the extensions required to exchange audio information with SMPTE 2110-30 devices, whilst maintaining the additional benefits of the Dante ecosystem. This has led to fully featured networks accommodating the enhanced feature set that comes with Dante-to-Dante device communication, whilst simultaneously operating in a wider SMPTE 2110-30 ecosystem on the same network infrastructure.
Notes Ted White, global marketing manager, Focusrite Pro, The continuously increasing adoption rate [of AoIP] over the last few years is probably the most important trend I've seen when it comes to networked audio.
Dante technology is part of the move to large and complex audio networks.
He cites recent Super Bowl halftime events as a progressive marker of networked audio's evolution vis- -vis broadcast sports: When you look at the systems diagrams of those events, you see networked audio being used more and more each year, and that kind of reflects its adoption across broadcast sports in general. Once a Dante system had become the entire backbone of the audio, you see how large and complex an audio network can become and the benefits it can bring with it.
White says channel counts, which now routinely number in the hundreds and which could theoretically be accommodated into the thousands, are the most visceral evidence of networked audio's advantages.
That's also what's really propelling it, he explains. As the networks move to fiber, you saw them start to experiment with eight channels, then 16, then dozens and then hundreds. Networks are now the only way to distribute a lot of audio over a large sports campus for broadcast.
Evolution and Challenges
Evolution continues. Device synchronization is among the most recent functions to have been addressed.
SMPTE 2059 gives a clear baseline for device synchronization, and a Dante Domain is able to synchronize with an external clock generator that supports this profile or utilize a Dante-enabled device as the master for the profile, Walsh explains. More complex synchronization configurations are, of course, supported, and this is an architectural hurdle - and an understanding hurdle - to overcome, rather than a technical one.
Challenges remain. As channel counts continue to grow, simply managing the traffic is a problem, says White. The standards are looking at that, but many people suggest they aren't being specific enough.
That is being addressed, he believes, by a combination of proprietary solutions, such as Audinate's Dante Domain Manager, by improved best practices, including better network design, and by newer specifications like NMOS and standards like AES70.
Ready for the Next Generation
A combination of the pandemic and the rise of esports - two phenomena that were initially discrete and are now increasingly synergistic - could positively affect the progress of networked audio.
They're both creating a need for an entirely new infrastructure that might not be what traditional broadcast is used to, says White. Between the number of channels of audio required, the increasing amount of [data] traffic, the need for more-creative or unconventional forms of audio distribution to the talent, PA system, live audience, OB trucks, etc., only a network could handle that.
Click here for Tech Focus: Networked Audio, Part 2 - SMPTE Readies a Refresh for ST 2110.
North America Stories
16/04/2024
Women's Global Gathering Shaping the Future Space Workforce panel particip...
16/04/2024
MONTREAL, CANADA - April 16, 2024 - Grass Valley, a leading innovator for live p...
16/04/2024
Following a difficult 2023 market for OTT solutions and technologies that saw considerable economic uncertainty, Quickplay chief business officer Paul Pastor sa...
16/04/2024
NEW YORK TV usage dropped by 3% in March compared to February and March Madness helped cable to gain a larger share of TV viewing but overall changes in TV usag...
16/04/2024
Brompton Technology unveils world's most powerful 8K LED video processor, Te...
16/04/2024
Motion Picture Connectivity Company Bit Part Debuts bitbox Remote Camera Control...
16/04/2024
Capitol Broadcasting Company holds supporting the community as a high priority a...
16/04/2024
TV 2, a television broadcaster in Norway, has chosen Magnifi, an AI-powered highlight generation platform, to enhance its coverage of football for fans across t...
16/04/2024
FilmLight, best known for its grading system Baselight, has chosen Jigsaw24 Media as the first global and exclusive UK partner for their new product, Nara. The ...
16/04/2024
DPA Microphones introduces its new AIR1 Universal Miniature Fur Windscreen at NAB 2024 (Booth C7307). Intended for quick mounting on round, omnidirectional head...
16/04/2024
If there remains any doubt that the cloud and artificial intelligence are transforming the workflows that drive the Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry, Amazon...
16/04/2024
Evan Jacobs, VP Finishing & Stereo at Marvel Studios, cautioned not to downplay the home entertainment environment too much, noting that it's now hard to bu...
16/04/2024
The age of streaming the opportunity for different viewing habits for many. Entire seasons could be binged whenever you had the time to spare and didn't m...
16/04/2024
LAS VEGAS During a press conference at the NAB Show, ARRI unveiled its ALEXA 35 Live - Multicam System, which is designed to bring the cinematic image quality o...
16/04/2024
ROXi announced that it has partnered with Pearl TV and major U.S. broadcasters to deploy ROXi's FastStream-powered interactive TV channels on the broadcaste...
16/04/2024
U.S. Internet households now consume an average 43.5 hours of video per week across all viewing devices. That's an increase of more than six hours in 2020, ...
16/04/2024
Lawo and Waves Audio have announced that the Waves SuperRack LiveBox hardware server being displayed at the 2024 NAB Show is fully compatible with Lawo's mc...
16/04/2024
At the 2024 NAB Show, Riedel Communications has unveiled its expanded RiCapture ingest solutions line with the addition of RiCapture i8, i44, and i84. Complemen...
16/04/2024
The Prismatic Company Debuts Strategy for New LightWeave Platform for the Creato...
16/04/2024
Avid to Demonstrate Latest Stream of Innovation at NAB Show 2024 to Drive the Op...
16/04/2024
Paramount Plus has ordered a fourth season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and said the fifth season of Star Trek: Lower Decks will be the final one. Season f...
16/04/2024
Sinclair said that it launched Broadspan, a datacasting platform based on the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast technology....
16/04/2024
LAS VEGAS Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, spoke about his bid to acquire Paramount Global at NAB Show April 14. Allen called Para...
16/04/2024
Major station owners are bringing interactivity to broadcast, hoping that will convince consumers particularly younger ones obsessed with TikTok to buy new ...
16/04/2024
Back to All News
Go on Time-Traveling Adventures with Bon and Friends in New T P BON' TrailerPlay Video
Play Video
Entertainment
16 April 2024
GlobalJ...
16/04/2024
Back to All News
Alert the Ton: Bowral Takes Centre Stage for a Week-Long Brid...
16/04/2024
Back to All News
Netflix Announces Start of Production of Second Season of High Tides
Credits: Mayli Sterkendries
Entertainment
16 April 2024
GlobalNetherl...
16/04/2024
Back to All News
Netflix and MVP Announce Katie Taylor vs Amanda Serrano to Str...
16/04/2024
Back to All News
Top 10 Week of Apr. 8: 3 Body Problem' Spends Third Week at #1
Entertainment
16 April 2024
Global
Link copied to clipboard
3 Body Pr...
16/04/2024
Editor's note: This post is part of our In the NVIDIA Studio series, which c...
15/04/2024
(Robin Marshall/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
15/04/2024
LONDONDERRY, N.H., April 15, 2024 - L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) received a $256 million order from the U.S. Army for continued production of the Enhanced N...
15/04/2024
Montreal, Canada - April 15, 2024 - Grass Valley, a pioneer in live production s...
15/04/2024
NEW YORK In a major step forward in the broadcast industry's move to ATSC 3.0, NBCUniversal announced that it is launching personalized broadcast experience...
15/04/2024
LAS VEGAS Ross Video has announced an agreement to acquire Bannister Lake Software (BL Soft), a 31-year old Cambridge, Ontario-based provider of data-driven bro...
15/04/2024
Panasonic has revealed some of its technology that will be used for the broadcast of this summer's Olympic Games and Paralympics in Paris....
15/04/2024
Adobe Previews Breakthrough AI Innovations to Advance Professional Video Workflo...
15/04/2024
Zaxcom NAB Preview - Zaxcom's ZaxConvert Software is Now More Versatile & 10...
15/04/2024
Blackmagic Design Announces New Blackmagic PYXIS 6K
Brie Clayton April 15, 2024
0 Comments
Advanced digital film camera in an incredibly versatile des...
15/04/2024
SmallHD's Free PageOS 6 Update Adds Powerful New Capabilities to All Current...
15/04/2024
CBS's daytime panel talk show The Talk will end its run with a shortened 15th season, concluding the show in December, CBS confirmed Friday....
15/04/2024
Season four of Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog starts on Nat Geo Friday, A...
15/04/2024
In a notable leap forward for broadcasters planning to monetize their NextGen TV broadcasts, Sinclair has announced the launch of its Broadspan datacasting pl...
15/04/2024
Like a science fiction novel where artificial intelligence is involved in everything people do, the 2024 NAB Show is seeing artificial intelligence, and in part...
15/04/2024
Sustainability was one of the big topics at NAB Show last year, and this year the topic has matured within a media environment during technological and regulato...
15/04/2024
The cloud has offered significant on-demand availability for data storage without direct active management by the user. Increasingly, however, it isn't just...
15/04/2024
At first glance, it might seem a bit odd that the 2024 NAB Show is rolling out a new feature dubbed the Creator Lab....
15/04/2024
As the media and entertainment industry meets again in Las Vegas, NAB Show kicks off the beginning of its second century. Organizers describe an agenda suited t...
15/04/2024
Celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year, Ikegami USA will introduce four new additions to its range of broadcast-quality production equipment at the 2024 NAB...
Tech Focus: Networked Audio, Part 1 - Standards Help the Technology Grow Up SMPTE 2110, NMOS, AES70, and others aid in increasing adoption for broadcast sports By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
