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TABLE OF CONTENTSVOLUME 53 1 NUMBER 8 'AUGUST 2011

BroadcastEngineering,FEATURES

46 AutomationWhen automating your facility meansreducing staff, these guidelines will helpyou through this difficult process.

50 Understanding blockingcapacitor effectsHere's an examination of high -frequencypathological signal transmission issues intoday's high -bandwidth equipment.

BEYOND THE HEADLINESDOWNLOAD

12 Dynamic storage tieringA system mixing SSDs and HDDs canimprove workflow efficiency.

FCC UPDATE18 TV spectrum auctions

A Senate repurposing bill is gainingmomentum.

DIGITAL HANDBOOKTRANSITION TO DIGITAL

20 MPEG-4 AVC systemsA recent extension directlysupports 3-D presentation.

COMPUTERS & NETWORKS24 Programming routers

Get the most out of your routinginfrastructure.

PRODUCTION ROOM26 Mic design

Find out how classic mics and moderntechnology are influencing today's mic designs.

,ontinued on page 6

SEE IT ONLINE!Learn from the experts with Broadcast Engineering'sSpecialized Training eBooks and video tutorials.

Learn more at: www.broadcastengineering.com/specialized -training/.

4 broadcastengineering.com I August 2011

ON THE COVER:Learn about the behavior of the blocking capacitor andwhy the pathological signal is affected.

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TABLE OF CONTENTSVOLUME 53 I NUMBER 8 I AUGUST 2011

SYSTEMS INTEGRATIONNEW MEDIA NETWORKS

32 IP for signal managementHybrid routers offer a bridge between IP anddeterministic routing.

SHOWCASE38 Retooling

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DEPARTMENTS8 EDITORIAL

71 CLASSIFIEDS73 ADVERTISERS INDEX74 EOM

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6 broadcastengineering.com August 2011

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EDITORIALDEPARTMENT

Connectingwith viewers

The path from the TV station to a viewer's televi-sion set used to be simple and direct: transmitantenna to receive antenna. Today, there are avariety of ways to reach that HDTV.

In late July, over only one week's period, I reviewedmore than a dozen press releases concerning ways viewerscan access content. What I learned was there may be asmany paths for entertainment to reach into the home asgrubs in a summer lawn.

The large players - Hulu, Netflix, Amazon and evenWal-Mart - were all mentioned, but also there werestories about smaller companies. Hulu was ranked by

comScore as the ninth most popular video viewing sitewith almost 27 million unique viewers. Lest you thinkHulu is merely another OTT player streaming YouTubevideos, the subscription service also delivered almost 1billion ads, or about 19 percent of the total 5.3 billion adsviewed in June. That is a lot of commercials.

In addition to the above familiar names, several newplayers are getting into the video delivery business. RIM,the BlackBerry maker, is rumored to be building an AppleTV -like STB. Codenamed Cyclone, the media hub connectsto TV sets via HDMI, and it is Wi-Fi enabled. The box con-nects with Netflix, YouTube and in -home media sources.

For those former (or just angry) Netflix subscribers,Amazon Prime Instant Video will soon carry CBS net-work programming. The Amazon/CBS deal will includeall episodes of "Star Trek." The Amazon service says it willprovide access to 6000 movies and TV shows.

Streaming player Roku has released the Roku 2. Thedevice provides access to 300 channels, including iTunes,Netflix, YouTube, Hulu Plus, Crackle and Amazon. Sportsfans can access subscription -based feeds of MLB, NBA,NHL and UFC. And if that's not sufficient, the Roku play-er has an "enhanced remote" allowing viewers to wave theremote at the TV to play games like Angry Birds.

For those who prefer the stability of big -box stores,retailer Wal-Mart intends to challenge the dominance ofNetflix through its recent acquisition of streaming serviceVudu. Viewers will be able to stream movies and televisionshows through more than 300 devices, including HDTVsets, Blu-ray players and the Sony PlayStation 3.

All these new paths to viewers' eyeballs should makebroadcasters tremble in their control rooms, right?Maybe not.

New consumer research from Leichtman ResearchGroup shows that while 70 percent of households sub-scribe to both broadband and multichannel (cable/satel-lite) video services, only 8 percent of U.S. households havebroadband but no cable or satellite.

Viewers using only broadband express a variety of rea-sons for not subscribing to multichannel providers. Ofthis group, 5 percent say they won't buy an MVPD servicebecause they get all they want from the Internet.

Other reasons for not subscribing to a multichan-nel service are cost (28 percent), don't watch much TV(26 percent) or have no need for a service (18 percent).

Interestingly, viewing patterns of those using broad-band but no MVPD are actually similar to those with bothbroadband and MVPD. Nineteen percent of the Internet -only group watch online video daily and 55 percent week-ly. For those with both Internet and an MVPD service,17 percent watch videos daily, and 48 percent watchweekly.

The research firm's conclusion: "These decisions [pur-chasing broadband and no MVPD] tend to be basedmore on economics than about alternatives to traditionalvideo services."

I'm not worried about broadcasters going out of busi-ness. But those grubs ... that's something else.

,**-e 4-4'jEDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Send comments to: [email protected]


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DOWNLOADBEYONDTHE HEADLINES

Dynamic storage tieringA system mixing SSDs and HDDs can

improve workflow efficiency.

Data-intense broadcastprojects can require peta-bytes of data with severalhundred terabytes often

actively in production at any giventime. The need for storing contentthat is "in the can" on lower -cost ar-chive systems with frequently accessedmission -critical data on more costlyperformance -hungry media can be aprecarious balancing act for even themost seasoned IT administrator.

Employing an integrated tieredstorage architecture that enables in-formation to be dynamically storedon lower -cost SATA drives whennot actively in use while leveragingthe performance of SSD drives tohandle digital workloads is a betterway to gain the performance, sim-plicity and high availability that isrequired in a production environ-ment with a dramatic reduction inacquisition, deployment and oper-ating costs. Because of the orders ofmagnitude difference in storage me-dia costs and performance, data stor-age systems that feature SSD tiering

BY RON BIANCHINI

within a broadcast environment of-fer a viable alternative to traditionalNAS environments.

Storage performance is reachingits limits in traditional NAS archi-tectures as hard disk drive technol-ogy approaches limits imposed bythe nature of a spinning disk. Eventhough the capacity of HDDs con-tinues to increase, NAS servershave struggled to keep up with theamount of read/write requests sent

results in the underutilization of asignificant percentage of their rawcapacity, inefficient use of limiteddata center space and wasted powerconsumption. Even high -end NASservers cannot overcome the fun-damental limitations of increasedaccess times on denser SATA driveswhile attempting to deliver high -bandwidth file access to clients.

SSDs are a better option in overcom-ing the performance limits of HDDs,

Storage performance is reaching its limitsin traditional NAS architectures as harddisk drive technology approaches limits

imposed by the nature of a spinning disk.

to ever -denser disk drives. While ca-pacity has increased, disk I/O rateshave remained relatively constant,resulting in a decrease in the actualnumber of operations per storedbyte. To improve performance, ITmanagers have turned to overprovi-sioning Fibre Channel drives, which

FRAME GRAB A look at the issues driving today's technology

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but they too have limitations of theirown. Volatility can be an issue withDRAM, and flash memory can only bewritten to so many times. And intro-ducing new media into a data centercan be a hardship for storage admin-istrators, who would have to learn thecharacteristics of SSDs and how theyare best utilized by both broadcast andcorporate applications.

To gain the performance benefits ofSSDs within broadcast environmentswhile minimizing the limiting factorsof introducing new storage media intothe infrastructure, a new approachusing an appliance -based automatedtiering system may be the answer. Byautomatically placing data on the stor-age medium that is best suited for itscurrent access patterns, active files canbe stored on fast -access media whilefiles that have not been accessed re-cently reside on a mass storage serv-er. Because the data is automaticallymoved to the most appropriate tier, theamount and specialization of manage-ment involved is negligible.


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The appliance, which featuresmultiple tiers of fast -access stor-age and operating system software,is deployed between a currently in-stalled mass storage NAS server andthe client and application servers.(See Figure 1.) This allows an orga-nization to use its existing infrastruc-ture without disrupting data access.Inside the appliance are differenttypes of storage media, includingsolid-state storage and serial -attached

additional media can be added to amass storage server to increase capac-ity, new nodes can be added to thetiered storage system to form a scalablecluster of combined resources thatincreases overall performance. Byseparating the processing of file re-quests in the NAS infrastructurefrom data retention on the mass stor-age server, organizations will real-ize high-performance data deliverywhile freeing processor cycles on the

Applicationservers/clients

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High-performance read,write and metadataaccess to working set

Tiered storage system

RAM SSD/flash

2

Working -set dataplaced on optimal media,based on file size andaccess pattern

15,000rpm disk

Mass storagesystems

SATA diskMe Backup

4,r =NAS file server 1

SATA diskmums Backup

4+1M1NAS file server n

3

Dynamic and automaticdata movement betweentiered storage systemand mass storage system

4

Normal backup, mirror,etc. processes continue

Figure 1. Shown here is an example of a tiered storage system.

SCSI (SAS) HDDs. The OS softwareanalyzes how files are being accessedand places the files internally on themost appropriate storage mediumfor the fastest possible access. Thisapproach benefits write loads as well

storage server for tasks such as datamirroring, de -duplication and back-up operations.

Implementing a tiered storage ap-proach to broadcast engineering pro-vides several key benefits, including:

In much the same way that additionalmedia can be added to a mass storage

server to increase capacity, new nodes canbe added to the tiered storage system.

as read-only data. For optimal perfor-mance, changes made to data by cli-ent and application servers are storedlocally within high-speed storage tierson the tiering server, which writes allchanged data back to the mass stor-age server at an interval specified bythe administrator.

In much the same way that

Optimization of current NASservers to enable performance in-creases for the most demanding ac-tive applications;

Preserving current investment inexisting NAS infrastructure by dra-matically improving its performanceand extending its useful lifespan;

Enabling the use of less -expensive

NAS servers and lower -cost, higher -capacity SATA drives as primarystorage to expand the capacity of aNAS infrastructure without sacrific-ing performance;

Saving on operational expenses bydecreasing the number of expensiveNAS servers and disk shelves withinthe data center:

Cost per terabyte,Power,Cooling,Rack space;

Avoiding the expenses of overpro-visioning by allowing companies topay only for the performance theyneed, with the option of scaling per-formance in the future by adding moreautomated tiering nodes to the cluster.

In the broadcastenvironment

Tiered NAS appliances are used inbroadcast environments to separatedata delivery tasks from data reten-tion and deliver both more efficiently.

file system storeson the cluster is called the workingset. As clients and application serversrequest new files, such as images, au-dio, video and documents, the clusterretrieves them from the mass storageserver and adds them to the workingset. Active data remains available onthe internal SSD and HDD mediawithin a cluster of high-performancetiered appliances. As files become lessactive, the file system moves them toslower storage tiers and eventually re-moves them from the working set, atwhich point they are located only onthe mass storage server.

Rather than design a system aroundsupporting the most active data, atiered system can be constructed todynamically move that data to vari-ous tiers as the need for access chang-es. For example, if the system receivesonly a few random read-only requestsfor a file, it places it in DRAM andeventually writes it to disk storage.However, if the cluster then sees mul-tiple random reads for the file, frommany clients, it moves some blocksfrom DRAM to flash SSD, retaining


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the hottest data in the highest -perfor-mance storage medium. If the file ismodified with write operations, thecluster also writes the changes backto the mass storage server within thetime period specified by the maxi-mum write -back delay setting.

In all cases, the contents of thefile are distributed across the pooled

resources of all of the nodes in thecluster, preventing data from becom-ing bottlenecked on a single node.The file system serves the file's dataas blocks and permits different cli-ents to access and update differentparts of the file. This is particularlyuseful for very large files that are ac-cessed by multiple clients or threads

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simultaneously; for example, client Acan write one part of a file while clientB simultaneously writes a differentpart of the same file. Additionally, ifthe access patterns indicate the need,the file system can place read-onlycopies of the file on multiple nodes inthe cluster.

With the OS set to constantlymonitor data access patterns andself -adjust to increase performance,tiered storage systems are optimizedto distribute workload in the clusterand minimize accesses to the massstorage system as needed. Ratherthan adding HDDs to increase appli-cation performance, having multiplestorage tiers to move data in andout of based on its frequency of us-age and access provides better over-all performance at a lower cost. Thetotal equipment deployment cost ofa tiered storage appliance can be asmuch as one-third that of traditionalNAS, in addition to providing dra-matic savings in operational costs.

ConclusionA dynamically tiered NAS infra-

structure meets the need of broadcastengineering in a way that allows highproduction values to seamlessly meetwith cutting -edge technology to ef-ficiently deliver digital content whileminimizing the costs of management,equipment, power, cooling and rackspace. By combining multiple storagetiers in a single appliance with inte-grated software to automatically orga-nize data for maximum performance,broadcast organizations are better po-sitioned to ensure their most mission -critical information is readily availablewhile proactively dealing with therealities of economics in today's chal-lenging business environment. Imple-menting a tiered storage architecturethat leverages high-performance SSDswith lower -cost, higher -capacity SATAHDDs is an ideal way for broadcastersto ensure they always remain on -airwithout any interruptions. DE

Ron Bianchini is president and CEO ofAvere Systems.

1 6 broadcastengineering.comlAugust 2011

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FCC UPDATEBEYONDTHE HEADLINES

TV spectrum auctionsA Senate repurposing bill is gaining momentum.

In June, the Senate CommerceCommittee approved S.911, abipartisan bill that represents themost detailed effort yet to make

TV band spectrum auctions a reality.The bill now goes to the full Senate.Due to other legislative priorities, theSenate may not take final action thisyear. Also, any auction plan woulddepend on action on correspondingbills in the House, which is not as far

BY HARRY C. MARTIN

No full -power TV licensee wouldbe forced to give up spectrum in or-der to make it available for an incen-tive auction. But, if a licensee opts torelinquish its spectrum, the commis-sion would be authorized to sharesome part of the resulting auctionproceeds with the licensee.

The FCC's methodology for shar-ing auction proceeds must "considerthe value of the spectrum voluntarily

TV spectrum repurposing enters thepicture as a potential source of funding

for the new public safety service.

along as the Senate. But repurposinglegislation could pass as early as thissummer if it is attached to pendingbudget legislation.

The focus of S.911 is the creationof a public safety wireless network,which would be controlled by a newgovernment -created corporation -the Public Safety Broadband Corpo-ration (PSBC). TV spectrum repur-posing enters the picture as a potentialsource of funding for the new publicsafety service, mainly through the saleof the reclaimed spectrum to big wire-less providers. Pertinent to TV broad-casters are the following provisions:

DatelineNoncommercial TV stations in Iowa and

Missouri must file their biennial ownershipreports by Oct. 1.

By Oct. 1, TV and Class A TV stationsin the following locations must placetheir 2011 EEO reports in their public filesand post them on their websites: Alaska,Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Missouri, Oregon,the Pacific Islands, Puerto Rico, the VirginIslands and Washington.

relinquished in its current use andthe timeliness with which the licens-ee cleared its use of such spectrum."This vague standard would be sub-ject to FCC interpretation throughthe rulemaking process.

Licensees choosing to retain theirspectrum would likely be subject tospectrum "repacking," which couldrequire them to change to one of thefrequencies that remain availablefor over -the -air TV. Such repack-ing may require frequency sharingor bandwidth reductions in marketswhere there is sufficient remain-ing spectrum to accommodate allmigrating stations.

In imposing such an involuntarymove, the commission would onlyhave to make "reasonable efforts" toassure that the repurposed licenseegets "an identical amount of con-tiguous spectrum" in the same band(i.e., UHF or VHF); in the same geo-graphic market; and with the samearea/population coverage and inter-ference protection. Such protectionswould apply only if "technically fea-sible" and where their applicationwould be "in the public interest."

The FCC would not be permitted

to force stations to share a channel,although licensees who voluntarilyelect to channel share would be guar-anteed the same MVPD carriagerights they currently enjoy.

No less than 5 percent of auctionproceeds - but no more than $1 bil-lion - would be set aside in a newIncentive Auction Relocation Fund(IARF). The IARF would be availableto the NTIA, which would, in con-sultation with the commission, doleout funds to licensees and MVPDs toreimburse them for the "reasonablecosts" incurred in repacking.

While S.911 includes considerablymore detail than past spectrum re -purposing bills, it is too early to drawreliable conclusions about what therepurposing process will eventuallylook like. Among the unknowns are:

the extent to which repurposingwill be resisted by broadcasters;

if it is implemented, how muchmoney will be paid out under an auc-tion or repacking plan; and

whether such funds would adequate-ly compensate for lost spectrum ortransition costs under a repacking plan.

Moreover, it is hard to know whatwill be left of over -the -air TV, particu-larly in smaller and midsized markets,if the Senate's bill becomes law.

There is also the practical reality thatno bill will be enacted. Unless it is at-tached to budget legislation, as notedabove, the legislation may not makeit to the floor this year. And, contro-versial nonbroadcast proposals in thebill, e.g., creation of a new corpora-tion that would hold the nationwidelicense for a public safety network,could bring down the legislation. BE

Harry C. Martin is a member of Fletcher,Heald and Hildreth, PLC.

ISend questions and comments to:[email protected]


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TRANSITION TO DIGITALDIGITAL HANDBOOK

MPEG-4 AVC systemsA recent extension directly supports 3-D presentation.

MPEG -4 AVC offersmany tools for cod-ing video and highercoding efficiency than

MPEG-2. The growing number ofAVC applications is facilitated by abroad set of profiles, which grouptogether different feature sets. A re-cent extension to AVC is MultiviewVideo Coding (MVC), which of-fers content producers the abilityto code different views of the sameproduction, directly supporting 3-D

AVC

Constrained baseline profile

Baseline profile

Main profile

Extended profile

High profile

High 10 profile

High 4:2:2 profile

High 4:4:4 predictive profile

Stereo high profile

Multiview high profile

BY ALDO CUGNINI

presentation. First, let's look at someof the various profiles.

ProfilesMPEG profiles are defined so that a

higher profile is a superset of a lowerone. (See Table 1.) Within these pro-files, levels are defined that describea set of constraints on decoder per-formance (processing power and thememory size), essentially limiting themaximum pixel rate. A decoder thatsupports a particular profile and level

SVC

Scalable baseline profile

Scalable high profile

is only required to support the corre-sponding subset of the full syntax anda set of parameter constraints.

It is important to realize that MPEGcoding was developed to enable a widerange of applications, supportingboth real-time (streaming) and non -real -time (storage) applications. Theuse of the different profiles essentiallyconcentrated on videoconferencing,storage and broadcast. The Con-strained Baseline Profile and BaselineProfile were developed for low-cost

Intra

Scalable high Intra profile

High 10 Intra profile

High 4:2:2 Intra profile

High 4:4:4 Intra profile CAVLC 4:4:4 Intra profile

FRAME GRAB A look at tomorrow's technology

Exclusive OTA broadcast viewers increaseNearly 46 million Americans now rely exclusively on OTA broadcasttelevision in their homes compared to 42 million a year ago.

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Table 1. Various MPEG profiles

applications; videoconferencing andmobile uses gravitated towards the for-mer, being cheaper to implement andnot needing the additional error resil-ience tools of the latter. Both profilesspecify that every coded picture of thecoded video sequence is a coded framecontaining only frame macroblocks,i.e., coded pictures of the coded videosequence may not be coded as fields.

The Main Profile adds support forB -frames (bidirectionally predictive),which were left out of the simpler pro-files to lower both memory require-ments and computational complex-ity. The Extended Profile adds some


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Existing MPEG codecs can handle certain 3-Dformats, but not necessarily incompatible way.

coding tools, including support for upto eight slice groups per picture. (Pixelsare arranged in groups called blocks,and these are further arranged intomacroblocks.) Macroblocks of a picturecan be mapped into slice groups, whichare further partitioned into slices, add-ing compression efficiency.

The High Profile improves com-pression quality (up to 12 percent forprogressive HD video and film sourc-es) while adding almost no computa-tional complexity (but a slight mem-ory increase) over Main Profile. Theprofile adds switchable transform andscaling matrices to achieve the im-provement. Devices such as the SonyPlayStation and all current Blu-raydisc players support the High Profile.

The "derivative" High Profiles addadditional tools: High 10 adds 10 bits/channel coding, High 4:2:2 adds 4:2:2chroma sampling, and High 4:4:4Predictive adds 4:4:4 chroma at 12bits/channel. An earlier High 4:4:4Profile was later removed.

a backwards -

3 -DStereoscopic video is receiving

growing interest by consumers, CEmanufacturers and broadcasters, andexisting MPEG codecs can handlecertain 3-D formats, but not neces-sarily in a backwards -compatible way.Frame -compatible 3-D can be trans-mitted over either MPEG-2 or AVC,because the left and right views arevertically decimated by a factor of twoand arranged into formats such asside -by -side or top -and -bottom. Be-cause these frame -compatible formatsfit into a conventional 30Hz frame

period, no additional baseband band-width is needed, and conventionalbaseband video equipment can han-dle the signals. Frame -compatiblevideo can thus be encoded using aconventional MPEG-2 or AVC codec,but cannot be displayed on a 2-D dis-play, which cannot separate or prop-erly integrate the left and right views.

MVCNewer specifications, however, can

deal with these issues and providebandwidth savings, as well. MultiviewVideo Coding (MVC) was developedby MPEG to support multiple simul-taneous views of a subject, and in2008, an MVC extension to AVC wasreleased. In general, an MVC encoderreceives n temporally synchronizedvideo streams and generates one out-put bit stream. The decoder receivesthe bit stream, and decodes and out-puts the n video signals.

MVC works by exploiting the simi-larities between multiple -camera vid-eo captures of a scene. By eliminatingredundant information across cameraviews, MVC achieves a reduction in bitrate of about 20 to 25 percent on aver-age when compared to encoding eachview separately. This is accomplishedby encoding a full -resolution 2-D viewand the difference information be-tween the left and the right views. Thisdifference is coded in the video streamin a format that updated decodersand 3-D displays can play back in any3-D format at the highest quality pos-sible, while legacy 2-D televisions anddecoders play the stream in 2-D. The2-D view can be decoded from thebase -layer AVC stream by using a HighProfile decoder, which could then beoutput on a conventional 2-D display.

An MVC decoder would gener-ate the stereo views from the baselayer and enhancement layers, anddeliver them to a stereoscopic display.In this way, MVC is fully backward -compatible and display -independent.Of course, encoding 3-D in a fashionthat is intended to yield a compatible2-D representation will not alwaysbe the production intent; the left or

right view is not always intended to beviewed alone.

The Multiview High Profile, usingthe same coding tools as supportedby the High Profile, has been speci-fied so that fixed decoder resourcesof single -view AVC decoders, such asmemory, can be repurposed for de-coding stereo and multiview video bitstreams. The Stereo High Profile wasdeveloped to support coding left- andright -eye stereo views as the multipleviews of MVC. Also added to AVC wasFrame Packing Arrangement Supple-mental Enhancement Information(SEI) messaging, which signals thedecoder that the left- and right -eyestereo views are packed into a singlehigh -resolution video frame eitherin a top -and -bottom, side -by -side,checkerboard or other arrangement.

The Blu-ray 3-D specificationcalls for encoding 3-D video usingthe MVC codec. (AVC is currentlysupported by all Blu-ray Disc play-ers.) The Multiview High Profile asdefined in the MPEG-MVC Amend-ment uses the same coding tools assupported by the earlier High Profileof the MPEG-4 AVC standard.

IntraAs an aid to editing and content re-

trieval, several of the advanced profilesinclude intra versions, in which thereare no predictive frames, i.e., everyframe is intra coded. Although thiscarries a bandwidth premium, it gen-erates streams (and files) where eachframe is an intact element that doesnot depend on any other frame forits reconstruction. The CAVLC 4:4:4Intra and High 4:4:4 Intra Profile pro-vide the highest capability in the pro-duction environment, with the lattersupporting both CABAL and CAVLCstream coding. CABAL compressesdata more efficiently than CAVLC butrequires considerably more processingpower to encode and decode. BE

Aldo Cugnini is a consultant in the digitaltelevision industry.

ElSend questions and comments to:[email protected]


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COMPUTERS & NETWORKSDIGITAL HANDBOOK

Programming routersGet the most out of your routing infrastructure.

NEL his month's article will in-troduce network routerprogramming. If you havenot worked with IT infra-

structure, you may be surprised at thenumber of options and possible con-figurations available to advanced pro-grammers. The majority of this articlewill focus on Cisco routers and theiroperating system called IOS. There areseveral reasons for this. First, I am fa-miliar with IOS. Second, I have seen alot of Cisco equipment in media facili-ties, so it is likely you will come acrossthis at some point. Third, there is ahuge surplus market for Cisco rout-ers; you can likely pick up a device toexperiment with for much less than$100. Also, while this article uses theterm "router," be aware that some-times the distinction between a router,a switch and a firewall can get blurry.In the Cisco world, all three of thesedevices can be programmed.

Why program?Why you would ever want to learn

about how to configure a router? Themost straightforward answer is thatby learning how to program a router,you can make it do what you want.But here are some specific reasonsyou might want to know how to pro-gram a router:

You can get predictable perfor-mance from the network when youset specific quality of service (QoS)parameters.

Knowing how to program a routerallows you to set up virtual privatenetworks (VPNs), which can providehigh-performance, secure remoteconnections.

You can also set up virtual LANs(VLANS) to segment traffic, increas-ing the performance and predictabilityof the network, simplifying networktraffic management.

Programming allows full access to a

BY BRAD GILMFR

variety of network security measuresand provides a way to change networksecurity parameters on the fly.

How to program a routerAlmost every router, even the ones

bought in an office supply store, havea Web interface. The router createsthis Web interface by running an em-bedded HTTP server, which providesaccess to the router's configuration.Typically, this Web page allows youto configure basic parameters. Many

Knowing how toprogram a routerallows you to setup virtual privatenetworks, which

can providehigh-performance,

secure remoteconnections.

consumer routers are combined withwireless access points, so this Web in-terface also allows you to configurewireless parameters as well.

This configuration method has anumber of advantages. It is straight-forward and ubiquitous. The configu-ration parameters offered are usuallyeasily understood. It is an efficient wayto become acquainted with the capa-bilities of a router, and configurationcapabilities can be quickly explainedto other network engineers and evenend users. The most obvious problemwith this configuration method is thatit is necessarily simplistic.

A second way to program the rout-er is through uploadable configura-tion files. This method is not sup-ported on consumer routers, but it isquite common in commercial routers.

Configuration files can be created us-ing a text editor, or they can be ob-tained from the manufacturer. Con-figuration files can also be prebuilt onthe Internet.

A word of caution: Be sure to un-derstand every single line of a configu-ration file, especially if you have notcreated it yourself. In the best case, afile may crash the router. Worst case,the file can open security holes, whichcan be exploited.

A third way, and perhaps the mostcommon way to program a commer-cial -grade router, is through a com-mand line interface (CLI). For thoseof you who have been working with*NIX or who are old enough to re-member using DOS, working witha CLI will be a familiar experience.When using a CLI, type simple com-mands, and the router provides a text -based response. While the CLI tends tobe a little terse, it is an extremely pow-erful interface, and once learned, it canbe much quicker to make changes us-ing a CLI than using a Web interface.

Default configurationsBefore you start programming

using a Web interface or a CLI, itwould be good to have a general ideaof how the router behaves in its de-fault configuration. Consumer rout-ers are configured to plug and play.The manufacturer makes a host ofassumptions about how you will usethe router so that, when plugged in, itis pretty much ready to go.

Commercial routers are completelydifferent. In fact, in the default con-figuration, Cisco routers must be pro-grammed from the ground up. Thiscan be quite a shock for a technicianwho is just beginning to work withthis type of equipment.

Cisco IOSThis article will conclude with a


COMPUTERS & NETWORKSDIGITAL HANDBOOK

high level overview of Cisco IOS. IOScontains a command interpreter thatinterprets commands you type andcreates a stored configuration in therouter based on your input. Viewedfrom where a network engineer sits,IOS is almost like learning a comput-er programming language.

run" (short for "show running-config"),you would see a configuration line thattells the router to use 192.168.2.1 as thename server for the router.

Once you learn IOS, it can be usedto configure just about everything onthe router. Beyond that, it can helptroubleshoot network devices in real

Property of Mega-Corporation

User Access Verification

Username: YourUsernamePassword:

Routerl>

Figure 1. The Cisco IOS command line interface (CLI) is terse but extremelypowerful. Users working with the CLI for the first time will see a screen similar tothe one above.

Once logged into the IOS, yourscreen may look similar to Figure 1.Entering a question mark ("?") at theprompt will generate a list of possiblecommands. Many commands such as"show" take additional arguments, soentering "show ?" at the prompt willgenerate a list of allowable words tofollow the word "show?'

IOS has hundreds of commands, butmany of them are intuitive. For exam-ple, if you were to type "ip name -server192.168.2.1," and then typed "show

time, make backups of the configura-tion for archival and even copy a run-ning configuration to a new router.

There are many different versionsof IOS available. Depending uponwhat you are trying to do, you mayneed the most current version. How-ever, an older version may work justfine. Generally speaking, newer ver-sions of IOS require more memory,and newer versions of IOS may re-quire newer hardware. Check hard-ware compatibility and memory re-

quirements before upgrading the IOSon an existing router.

ConclusionThere are many resources available

for learning about router program-ming. Cisco does a particularly goodjob of producing courses, books, on-line tutorials, FAQs, sample configu-ration files, and other Web resourcesfor learning IOS and for working withtheir routers. Other manufacturersprovide similar resources.

While you could work on a liverouter, or find a simulator to use asyou begin learning about router pro-gramming, there is a large aftermarketfor used router hardware. IOS versionsbuild on each other, and IOS basics aresimilar across most Cisco router prod-ucts. Therefore, buy an inexpensivesmall router, connect it up to a coupleof computers and start experimenting.Also, take an introductory course. Thismay save you many hours as you beginworking with IOS. BE

Brad Gilmer is president of Gilmer & Asso-ciates, executive director of the AdvancedMedia Workflow Association and executivedirector of the Video Services Forum.


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PRODUCTION ROOMDIGITAL HANDBOOK

Mic designFind out how classic mics and modern technology

are influencing today's mic designs.

you see them in music vid-eos. You see them on albumart and in classic photos offamous musicians record-

ing in their studios. If you're lucky,you might also have a chance to useone while performing or engineeringa performance yourself. I'm talkingabout classic microphones. Usuallymore than just museum pieces, theseexamples of fine electro acoustic de-sign are highly prized and sought afterby the people who make recordings.

But are they really better than to-day's mics? What makes the designof classic mics, such as the RCA 77and the Neumann U47, so endur-ing? And, even more importantly,how do classic mics compare to thosebeing made today? With modern de-sign and manufacturing techniques,shouldn't today's mics be as good, ifnot better, than those designed andmade decades ago? We asked expertsin the field of mic design to help usfind out.

One of the first things the expertspointed out is that you must keep inmind that mic evaluation is subjec-tive. Specifications don't tell you thewhole story. David Royer of RoyerLabs says that if we were talking aboutmodems or hard drives, we could usethe specs and totally depend on sci-ence. But mics involve art as well asscience. In the field of electro acous-tics, there is a rule that you can't mea-sure what is not there. That makes itdifficult to provide numbers for someof the subtle differences in sound be-tween microphones.

Oliver Archut (writing in the Neu-mann web forums) points out that af-ter nearly 100 years of electro acoustics,we still use crude standards to measureand evaluate performance. We stillmeasure audio as a static function and

BY KFVIN K. RUPPERT, CPBF. CENT

The designs of classic mics, such as theRCA 77, raised the bar for performanceand provide a guideline for what toexpect out of a microphone.

do not include the dynamic characterof a recording. Dynamic range andintermodulation distortion are tryingto place values on dynamic functions,but these measurements are still donestatic. Most experts agree that there ismore to making an evaluation thanjust measurements. Royer says thatmusic and tests tones are not the same,and it is quite easy to build equipmentthat sounds mediocre and that has su-perb measured performance.

So why do people keep coming backto the classic mics? Juergen Breitlowof Sennheiser believes that these clas-sic designs have a very special charac-ter regarding their sound. They wereused over the last decades in a lot ofrecordings with famous artists andhave defined a special taste or prefer-ence in their sound. Why wouldn't youwant to try to use the same tools thatwere used by these artists to reproducethe esthetics of these old recordings?

Chris Currier, also of Sennheiser, saysthat there were some amazing thingshappening in the golden days of theHollywood films and recording indus-try. Currier thinks that it is more thanjust a nostalgic memory; it is actualtangible history.

Royer admits that mic selectionis partly nostalgia but that knowl-edge of mic performance still plays alarge role. Performers know that, forinstance, the U47 can generally becounted on to sound good on voices,and an RCA ribbon mic can be count-ed on to sound good on brass. If youare an experienced engineer, you aregoing to lean towards those mics forthose situations because you knowthat they will work.

The old designs raised the bar forperformance and were unique at thetime, so they were easily recognizedand remembered. Chad Wiggins, thecategory director of wired productsfor Shure, says that it makes sensethat the tools and methods used to

With moderndesign and

manufacturingtechniques,

shouldn't today'smics be as good,

if not better,than those from

decades ago?

make legendary music are studiedand emulated by today's performersand engineers. That's how art is ad-vanced, after all. The next generationtakes what is handed down from theprevious one and expands on it.


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Because early mic designers werebasically starting from scratch, theirproducts were made on the best tech-nical level and materials (such asmatching transformers) of that time.There were no marketing depart-ments demanding that the companyproduce products that show the cus-tomer something new or better, sowhat you probably got was solid per-formance without some of the hypeand gimmicks that you might be get-ting in today's microphone market.

Duplicating successWhat can we do if we want to make

new mics that perform as well as theclassics? The task for present day de-signers is to use new technologies tomake products that are equal to orbetter than the old ones, and that aremore compact, versatile and reliable.Some things can't be improved on,though, which explains why most ofthe designers that responded to thisarticle admit that many mic designsare basically copies of the old favor-ites, such as the U47 and SM58.

Thomas Stubics of AKG Harmanstates that modern production meth-ods allow much lower productiontolerances, higher quality and lowercosts. You can set your goals on mak-ing a really good mic and keep thecost down because, for one thing, ev-erything does not have to be assem-bled by hand as it did in the early daysof microphones.

Changing mic designToday's performers certainly have

different demands of the prod-uct than earlier artists did. For in-stance, rock vocals as well as venueshave changed since the 1950s, whenmics such as the Shure 55 wereinitially designed.

There is no doubt that the state ofthe art in microphone design contin-ues to advance. Wiggins states thataudio performance has gotten bet-ter in terms of output level and self -noise. Of course, some mic designsare less rugged then others. A ribbonmic still needs to be treated with more

care then a handheld dynamic. Butadvances in designs are making micshold up better under stress and per-form well under higher sound pres-sure levels than their predecessors.

Today's designers have several ad-vantages over the people who took onthis task years ago. Wiggins points outthat the raw materials, manufacturingprocesses and measurement tools are"leaps ahead of what were available afew decades age This allows manu-facturers to produce mics that per-form much more consistently thantheir forbears from unit to unit andyear to year.

Size mattersBecause modern design has made

mics more rugged and compact, thelook and profile for certain applica-tions have changed. Today's mics

Because moderndesign has mademics more ruggedand compact, the

look and profile forcertain applications

have changed.

combine size, shape and structural el-ements that not only determine styl-ing, but also have an effect on soundperformance. Wiggins cautions mi-crophone buyers about styling andreminds them that styling shouldnot be used just to get a look. Micro-phones that look radical often haveradical performance - and not in agood way.

Breitlow says he sees two trendsin the design of the outside of mics.One is smaller mics that allow a voicetalent to see a screen or script on astand, and larger mics trying to copythe old designs to give you some vin-tage feeling. He explains that the firstmicrophones were quite big becausethe electronics were so huge. Now, theelectronics can be made much smaller,

but we still want to keep them a cer-tain size. Especially for singers, if themic gets too small, the singer does notfeel like he or she is being recognizedas a true talent. Can you imagine arapper in the studio singing into asmall stick mic?

Of course, the outside dimensionsof a microphone affect its acoustics.Breitlow points out that most de-sign elements have an influence onthe sound. There is an interaction ofthe mic parts with the sound field assoon as the dimensions are compa-rable to the wavelength of the soundbeing recorded.

Going tubularOne trend you will see in looking

over mic catalogs is the prevalence ofvacuum tubes in microphones. Art-ists claim that tube microphones pro-duce a pleasing and desirable sound.The theory is that saturation in welldesigned tube mics produces har-monics that sound warm and musi-cal. (This is despite the fact that thecircuits employed tend to have moretotal harmonic distortion.) Somepeople, however, might ask why usea mic in a situation that saturatedthe preamplifier.

How did tubes find their way intomics? The most famous examples oftube mics have traced their ances-try to Germany. According to RobinStephenson of the Internet site eHow,American broadcasters intention-ally employed limited bandwidth inthe early days of radio. The primitivecarbon mics of the time seemed towork well enough for this purpose. InGermany, however, broadcasting wasstate -run. The impeccable Germansinsisted on the highest quality soundthat they could broadcast. Better micsneeded to be developed.

Condenser mics showed promisefor better performance, but theirhigh impedance and low outputneeded to be overcome with the useof a tube preamp built into the mic.The line of mics that came from thisperiod is still among the most prizedfor use in recording, including the


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U47. According to one expert in thefield of studio mics, up to the 1970s,the tube was a technical standard inthat it filled the technical functionfor amplification that was describedabove. Because of the evolution ofsolid-state devices and circuits, theuse of vacuum tubes to make a quietand sensitive mic was no longer re-quired. Now, says the expert, thetube is one of the "instruments" (likea musical instrument) used to createa special sound.

This is not to say that it is not avalid artistic choice (somewhat likechoosing a particular guitar amp toachieve a sound). There is a techni-cal issue here which is of concern toengineers. It can occur when the userof the tube mic also decides that thesound he or she wants requires a tubeamplifier after the mic. The point wasmade by one mic expert that you arenow combining two parts of a verycomplex nonlinear transfer function.There is no way to know how this isgoing to sound. You have lost the con-fidence in your final product that youthought you were going to achieve byusing a well respected product.

The future of micsModern technology is moving mic

design in new directions. Part of it is

actually a new market. Mic designersadmit that a new, large part of theirbusiness is to the large unwashed mass-es of mic buyers - that is, people whodo not have a large, expensive studioor a lot of money to spend on equip-ment. The PC has allowed people torecord music or webcasts at home. Thelatest equipment catalogs show plentyof mics that don't even have an analog

LCD displays, LEDsand features fromthe mobile phoneworld are available

on newer mics.

output in favor of a USB connectionthat the user can connect directly tothe PC. Some of them even includesoftware to help you edit and publishyour session to a podcast. Several well-known mic designs are now availablein a USB model.

Udo Wagner of Microtech Gefellsays that he expects to see more of thePC trend in mic designs of the future,along with smaller and smaller (mi-cro, nano) designs that will probablyinclude built-in DSP and computer

aids to monitor audio levels, etc. Healso contends that about half of thedesign efforts will be driven by thedesire for "nostalgic old things" suchas tubes. He admits that technological"toys" are finding their way into micdesigns. LCD displays, LEDs and fea-tures from the mobile phone worldare available on newer mics. Thisseems to make sense because, if youare marketing to the 30 something's,the best way to get their attention isto include something that looks likea cell phone.

In summaryMicrophone design is an exciting

combination of art and science. Futureadvancements will continue to bring usmics that serve the digital age, but thecareful designs and work of an earliertime still give us a guideline for what toexpect out of a microphone.

Kevin K. Ruppert, CPBE, CBN7; is theengineering maintenance supervisor forWISC-TV.

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IP for signal managementHybrid routers offer a bridge between IP

and deterministic routing.

With the wider adop-tion of IT -based infra-structures for playoutfacilities, it's natural to

consider the scope for moving to IP-based signal management in produc-tion studios. This is typically a muchmore demanding environment thanplayout for real-time signal processingand routing, especially with respect tomultichannel audio handling.

When it comes to moving videoand audio signals efficiently arounda television facility, there are end-less challenges, especially as HDTVconsumers have driven the demandfor broadcasters to produce theater -quality sound. Establishing this ca-pability in video production facilitiesinvolves more complex audio mixingequipment and production switch-ers, and often recording consoles. Italso requires monitoring equipmentto evaluate quality, as well as the abil-ity to switch and control mono audiochannels, discrete AES-3 signals, AES-3 signals with non-PCM payload andpossibly even MADI signals for bulkaudio transport. (See Figure 1.)

Moving to IP?When considering a move to IP

for signal management in studios,broadcasters have to consider boththe IP model and the use of Ethernetas a common physical layer for audioand video. Let's assume that audioand video would be switched us-ing the best available IP switch. Evenwith high-performance switches, akey issue is that HD video in studiosis 1.5Gb/s and moving to 3Gb/s, andthis exceeds the bandwidth of the af-fordable GigE IP physical layer. Videomezzanine compression can be usedto reduce the channel bandwidth re-quirements, but this will add cost and

BY NFIl SHARPI--

introduce an additional, bothersomedelay that must be managed.

There is also the problem of deter-minism inside the IP physical layer.One might contemplate an SDI videolayer at full bandwidth and use an IPlayer for audio. But here, the prob-lem is once again determinism forthe audio signal layer and the bridgebetween the IP physical layer and theSDI physical layer. An embedder orde-embedder is still required; it hasjust slightly changed its form.

Another possible solution wouldbe to use IP for audio only. This putsall the de -embedding and possiblyembedding into the final or outputpiece of equipment, which reducesthe system cost of embedders andde-embedders, but it does not solve

timing issues. It also introduces itsown delay for IP buffer management,which could be problematic for iden-tical A and B chain playout back-up.

These delay issues are importantbecause any quality audio productionrequires that its source audio signals,or more specifically samples, mustuse signals exactly in phase. The useof multiple IP switches and devicesconnected to even the most care-fully designed IP system can resultin slipped sample alignment and sig-nificant audio program degradation.Furthermore, today's facilities tendto incorporate routers with matricesranging from 200 x 400 up to 500 x1000. Given these dimensions, and thedeterministic timing requirements forsynchronism and low latency, it seems

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Figure 2. Shown here is a conceptual diagram of hybrid router signal flow.

that Ethernet infrastructures and IPare just not a plausible solution in theproduction environment.

The move to hybrid routingThe solution to improving signal

management in production environ-ments involves a switch fabric that isboth synchronous and deterministicfor audio and video. This requires abaseband "hybrid" router with 3Gb/s/HD/SD switching (using embeddedaudio) and integrated audio process-ing. These types of routers are now be-ing adopted by studios, and they canhandle multiple formats and func-tions within a single frame, includ-ing embedding and de -embeddingaudio, handling mismatched audiochannels, audio shuffling and audiobreakaways. (See Figure 2.)

Hybrid router frame architecturecurrently follows the same general ap-proach as traditional baseband rout-ers, although there are some impor-tant differences. For instance, in sucha router, one crosspoint card switchesboth the video signals and the au-dio signals. The video signals areswitched traditionally with a crossbarmatrix chip, and the audio signals areswitched in the time domain usinga shared memory architecture. It is

critical that audio delay is minimizedduring this switch process. The videosignals and audio TDM streams arethen fed to their corresponding out-put cards.

Critical timing parametersIt is imperative that the delay of

video and audio through a produc-tion studio router is as short as possi-ble. With careful design of the outputembedder, the video delay of a hybridrouter can be just a few pixels. This isaccomplished by always leaving thevideo signal in the serial domain andembedding audio data "on -the -fly" inwhat is, effectively, a bit -by -bit modeof operation. Short video delays, ide-ally much less than half of a videoline, ensure that plant system timingis simplified. This is especially truewhen using a hybrid router for pre-selection of inputs to a video produc-tion switcher.

The maximum audio delay with ahybrid router is constrained becauseevery embedded signal fed to therouter will have differing sample dis-tributions. Therefore, differing bufferdepths must be managed for each de-embedder and embedder in the rout-er so that any mono audio signal de -embedded from any video signal may

be embedded into a common videooutput. This can then result in a one -line minimum to two-line maximumdelay. Add in uncertainty for +/- halfvideo line input HD -SDI timing, andthe audio delay becomes three linesmaximum. This is more than satisfac-tory to ensure that even after multiplere-entries, lip sync will be preserved.

In production applications, the hy-brid router provides a direct interfacewith embedded video signals, audiosignals and MADI signals. Every au-dio input is made available as monochannel audio. MADI is connecteddirectly to the router inputs and out-puts providing a single -cable, low-cost connection for the audio produc-tion switcher or mixing console, andall embedded audio is de -embeddedfrom video inputs. Because the sys-tem is synchronized, the switchingbetween inputs and outputs is deter-ministic and sample -accurate.

Care must be taken to ensure fullpreservation of the multichannelphase coherence, or audio image. Em-bedder sample distribution will varybetween video signals. Audio sampletiming slips can be generated whenswitching audio from one embed-ded input into a different embeddedoutput. Recall that one sample slip intime alignment is a significant phaseerror, which degrades the surroundsound image of the program audio.With 16 -channel audio embedders,it is possible to have image -accurateaudio transport within a single videosignal. If more than 16 channels ofaudio need to be exactly in phase,MADI is the better signal transport.Since Dolby E is a common signalfor production, it also needs to behandled correctly within the routerwith switch points that comply withSMPTE RP -168 Dolby guard bandspecifications. This capability shouldbe available simultaneously for HDand SD signals in the same frame.

Ingest and DHPAnother popular application for a

hybrid router is ingest. In this case, therouter affords complete flexibility to


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shuffle and route any single de -em-bedded mono input to any other em-bedded mono output. Hybrid rout-ers may also offer dynamic hybridpathfinding (DHP). This involvespopulating a portion of the routerwith hybrid inputs and outputs thatare connected to the sources thatneed frequent channel reassignment.Another smaller router partition ispopulated with additional hybridinput and output modules that arefed by, and fed back into, the router.This is the same pooled resource to-pology used by discrete de-embed-ders and embedders in an externalmodular equipment frame. The bal-ance of the router can be filled withstandard video or MADI input andoutput cards.

When sized correctly, DHP mayreduce a router's cost by approxi-mately 20 percent, and it also reducesthe overall hybrid card count for the

core router. Hybrid cards used forpathfinding are often significantlyless expensive than external terminalequipment. Importantly, the hybrid

When sizedcorrectly, dynamichybrid pathfinding(DHP) may reducea router's cost by

approximately20 percent.

pooled resource provides full monoaudio routing between the pool andthe core of the router, something thatis not even possible with external em-bedders and de-embedders.

With DHP, an audio breakawayroute can be made automatically be-tween signals on standard input and

output cards. The router control sys-tem will find an available output/in-put path, which re-enters the routerhybrid cards described earlier andgenerates the additional takes forthese cards. What would have beenfour takes becomes just one.

ConclusionIn summation, the most successful

technology for high -quality real-timesignal management in live produc-tion environments is hybrid routing.It avoids signal timing problems andoffers the ability to save costs by dra-matically reducing equipment needs.In essence, hybrid routing providesthe highest possible performance forcombined A/V signal switching inproduction and ingest operations, ei-ther on land or on wheels. BE

Neil Sharpe is vice president of marketingat Miranda Technologies.

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Hyd-a2 forms the routing backbone for both the Apolloand Artemis consoles.

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Highly scalable, Hydra2's router is a TDM-type router,capable of 'one -to -many' routing and truly point-to-point.This allows for enormous networks with highly flexibletopologies involving multiple routers, inputs/outputs,control rooms and studios. And with adaptive, intelligentsoftware which automatically recognizes changes to thenetwork and updates all its clients, it's also a very socialnetwork.

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The UTAH -400 Digital Router is Better than Ever.The UTAH -40o Digital Routing Switcher from Utah Scientific, the first 3G compatiblerouter, the first router to cover all sizes from 32x32 to io56xio56 with a single familyof models, and the first router to offer a full 1o56xio56 system in a single rack, haslong been established as the industry's best choice for any routing application.

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WLS-TV purchased an SSL C100 HDS consolewith Dialogue Automix. As currently configured,the console has 128 channels of DSP. The stationalso added the Blackrock processor option for itsconsole. Photo courtesy Mike Crews.

After losing Oprah, Chicago stationWLS-TV creates a show to fill the void.BY GARY ESKOW

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vision station in Chicago, Oprah wasmore than a rock -solid presence in itsline up; she was a local fixture. When


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Generally seen in the 4 p.m. slot,the station aired "The Oprah Win-frey Show" at 9 a.m., between "GoodMorning America" and "The View."It was apparent that the new show,"Windy City LIVE" would have tomaintain solid production values.

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"Windy City LIVE" was in develop-ment. HD capability was critical, andsince "Windy City LIVE" airs live, thenew equipment had to be flexibleand portable.

TV 1, the station's main controlroom, designed around a Snell Kahuna4ME production switcher, was alreadyHD -capable. The station purchasedan SSL Aysis Air Console in 1999, butsupport and maintenance issues forced

It may be hard toremember, butless than three

decades ago a fewpieces of outboardsignal processorsserved quite wellin an audio post

environment.

the company to consider replacing it.After considering several options, thestation purchased an SSL C100 HDSconsole with Dialogue Automix.

Design teamWLS-TV:

Emily Barr, president and generalmanager

Kal Hassan, VP and director ofengineering

ABC 7:

Thomas Hebei, VP creativeservices and programming

Lisa Clingan-Cruz, design director

Jeff Hall Design

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Jeff Hall Design, a Los Angeles firm, was brought in to design the set under thedirection of Thomas Hebel, vice president of creative services and programming atABC 7, and Lisa Clingan-Cruz, design director. Photo courtesy Thomas Hebel.

It may be hard to remember, but lessthan three decades ago, a few pieces ofoutboard signal processors served quitewell in an audio post environment.Hardware - a favorite reverb unit,perhaps, or a few compressors - liveson, but most processing is handled in-side the console these days, and 5.1 eatsup a lot of DSP. The station initiallythought that the 96 DSP channels thatthe C100 HDS ships with would suf-fice, but Kal Hassan, vice president anddirector of engineering, realized thatadditional channels were required. Ascurrently configured, the console has128 channels of DSP. WLS-TV pur-chased the redundant Blackrock pro-cessor option for its console. Housedwithin the console's frame, Blackrockoffers redundant PSUs and RAID 1hard disks in addition to a robust sig-nal processing engine.

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See ItNow you can look at your source before you do a take. The exclusive live thumbnail display in the 9430Avenue Router panel shows you the source before you take it to air. And it does so without the need forexternal monitors or a monitor bus output on the router. Video monitoring plus indicators for synchronicityand timing, audio, closed captions and AFD give you confidence that your source is ready to use.

Take ItIt's the best of both worlds, a router and a clean switch all in one. The clean switch gives you full framesynchronization that locks to your house reference so it can even switch cleanly between asynchronoussources. Flawless audio sample rate conversion makes the 9430 truly Clean and Silent.

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TV 1, WLS-TV's main control room, was designed around a Snell Kahuna 4ME production switcher and was already HD -capable. A Genelec 5.1 monitoring system continues to serve the control room. Photo courtesy Thomas Hebei.

Equipment listDejero ENG system

Genelec 5.1 audio monitors

HME wireless system

Jimmy Jib

RTS Adam intercom

Shure wireless microphones

Snell Kahuna 4ME production switcher

Sony HDC1400 HD cameras

HDC-P1 HD box cameras

Soundcraft GB840 audio console

SSL C100 HDS audio console

Blackrock audio processor

Vinten 105 robotic head

of eight Shure wireless mics were pur-chased, and another four are on theway. The station uses an HME wirelesssystem, and an RTS Adam is the base

and entertainment and everything Chi-cago. It features celebrities, local bands,cooking segments with top local chefs,fashion, politics and lively chat about

One of the main challenges thetechnical staff faced centered aroundthe mandate to include social media.

Integrating Skype was another.

intercom system. An existing Genelec5.1 monitoring system continues toserve the control room.

"Windy City LIVE" was expectedby some to simply be a local talk show,but it's more than that. It's information

what's on people's minds along withsegments pulled in from remote loca-tions around the Chicago area. One ofthe main challenges the technical stafffaced centered around the mandate toinclude social media. Skype had to be


integrated, and the crew needed to movequickly to program live feeds back tothe control room. WLS-TV purchasedan ENG system from Dejero, a Canadi-an company, instead of a remote truck.This system accepts air cards from fourdifferent vendors and aggregates themto maximize bandwidth.

The stationpurchased an

ENG system fromDejero instead of aremote truck. The

system aggregatesair cards from fourdifferent vendors

to maximizebandwidth.

The station purchased three SonyHDC1400 series HD cameras andthree HDC-P1 HD box cameras. Oneof these cameras is used as a handheld, whereas build up kits are incor-porated into the other two. One ofthe HDC-P 1 s is installed on a JimmyJib, and the other two are installed onVinten 105 robotic heads placed inthe lighting grid.

Jeff Hall Design, a Los Angeles firm,was brought in to design the set underthe direction of Thomas Hebei, vicepresident of creative services and pro-gramming at ABC 7, and Lisa Clingan-Cruz, design director. Chicago Scenicbuilt and installed the set, and DekeHazirijian, lighting designer with NewYork City Lites, provided the lighting.OSA Onstage Audio, a Chicago firm,provided the reinforcement speakersthat are strategically laid out across theperformance areas, as well as cabling,break out boxes, Lexicon reverbs, DBX

equalizers, audience speakers and avariety of microphones. A Sound -craft GB840 console is permanentlyinstalled in the studio to support theperformance area.

"Windy City LIVE" has had a dis-tinct impact on WLS-TV, accord-ing to Hassan. "As the No. 1 stationin the market, 'Windy City LIVE' isanother feather in our cap," he said."The addition of an hour-long, localproduction with a live studio audi-ence brings vitality and energy. Welove the energy!" BE

Gary Eskow is a composer and journalistwho reports on the audio post industry

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August 2011 broadcastengineering.com 45

AutomationWhen automating your facililty means

reducing staff, here are some guidelines to help youthrough this difficult process.

Broadcasting and the pro-duction of content arecomplex enough. With24/7 operations and 100 -

percent uptime requirements, anychanges to a broadcast operationmust be planned and carefully imple-mented. The affects of change go evenhigher when people must embracenew work flows.

Automating the production anddistribution of content, by definition,has a direct effect on people. While it'simportant that a broadcaster remainup-to-date with modern technology,there is often an elephant in the roomthat no one likes to talk about - howstaff and personnel will react to au-tomation, especially when that oftenresults in staff reductions. Fortunate-ly, with careful planning and imple-mentation, staff expectations can bemanaged while the facility reaches thegoals set by management.

The ultimate goalWhen upper management and the

ownership of a broadcast facility de-cide to modernize their operations,there are hundreds of issues to con-sider and resolve. How much will thisnew technology cost? How long willit take to get a return on the invest-ment? Will operating costs be lower?If so, by how much? Who will be af-fected by the new workflow?

All of these are legitimate concernsand issues that must be addressed. Theoften complex path to success beginswith setting a goal. Ask: Where do youwant to be at the end of this process?

Planning is kingOnce you've established the goal,

the next logical step is the planning.

BY SID GUEL

Thoughtful and methodical planningis just plain smart. Like any technol-ogy project, planning must include atime line with a start time, end time,and multiple benchmarks and mile-stones along the way.

When a project affects people, awhole new dimension of complexityis created. Leaving out the effect thatchange may have on staff is a sure-fireway to create trouble.

Mangement mustbe on -board

When managing factors involvingpersonnel, management must be on-board with the plan and how it affects

While some maynot be happy with

the decisions made,the result shouldbe what is best

for the business.

their employees. Voicing concerns andadvocating for or against employeeconcerns are acceptable debate topicsand a helpful part of this process.

At the end of the debate, however,all members of the management teammust be in -line and on -board withthe final decisions made. While somemay not be happy with the decisionsmade, the result should be what isbest for the business.

Manage personnelchanges early

After planning and team buy -in,

personnel issues should be the firstitem considered. Ask: Which currentpositions will be affected? It's impor-tant to identify which staff membersare capable or not capable of operat-ing a complex automation system.

Resolving personnel changes priorto a physical automation implementa-tion will clearly promote the serious-ness of the situation. Resolving per-sonnel changes early in the transitionprocess may also deter unwanted ret-ribution. Give staff, union leadershipand employee representatives an earlyheads up when personnel changes areto be made.

Stick to your planOnce management agrees on a plan,

it's important to stick with it and notvary from the original goals. Therewill always be unexpected twists andturns, but the result should always bethe original goal. Personnel issues arethe most sensitive, so humility andrespectfulness are important duringthis process. But, stick to the plan andalways have the goal at the forefrontof your thinking and when you speakwith personnel.

Obtain legal protectionA professional labor attorney is a

must tor any personnel reductions.Management must ensure a legal dueprocess is followed, one that preventscausing a liability for the company.Labor and employment law firmshave the knowledge and experience tominimize risk and ensure a legal pro-cess for the protection of all partiesinvolved. The last thing a broadcaster,or a personnel member for that mat-ter, wants is to end up in a costly anddrawn-out legal skirmish.

August 2011 broadcastengineering.com 47

FEATUREAUTOMATION

Having a knowledgeable firm in-volved from day one will help with thedotting of all the i's and the crossingof all the t's. Legal counsel can guidethe process and make clear what theboundaries are and advise on the legalprocess. For example, a broadcastermay consider eliminating a positionversus a general lay-off. Changing theterminology can sometimes avoidlegal issues. Terms like "evaluation"and "position elimination" may beless likely to result in conflicts thanif the changes are called termina-tion. The result may be the same, butwords often carry important weight.

Hire a third -partyconsultant

Hiring an outside broadcast auto-mation consultant may be beneficial.This may be especially so if person-nel and management relations arefrayed and suspicions run high. In

Staff membersclearly want tokeep their jobs.

Conversely,management is

looking to reduceoperating costs.

most cases, broadcasters are sensitiveto personnel changes and want a fairand unbiased process for both man-agement and personnel. A knowl-edgeable and independent broadcastautomation consultant can providea fair assessment without burdeningthe broadcaster or the automationmanufacturer with this sensitive taskor liability.

A professional consultant can cre-ate a program for properly evaluatinga team of broadcast engineers and/oroperators to determine competencyand capability in operating a complexautomation system. The consultantshould have the ability to identifythose who are able to be trained ina reasonable and efficient manner.A competent broadcast automationconsultant will work with manage-ment to establish a variety of evalu-ation criteria parameters and alsoa scoring mechanism. Having thisprofessional working together, andin parallel, with a broadcaster's legalcounsel can ensure a fair, proper andlegal process is followed.

When selecting a broadcast auto-mation consultant, seek a consultantwith extensive knowledge and exper-tise with broadcast automation sys-tems. Look for consultants who haveexperience with installing systems,

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FEATUREAUTOMATION

neers/operators andment.

I and sensitiveclearly want to keepersely, management

reduce operating costs.of a staff member's person-

ce you peel back a few layers,find a real human being whose

e is about to change. Stick to yourgoals and plans. but be mindful of howchanges may affect your people.

Provide multiple optionsFor station management, having

multiple options for staff and person-nel make this process a little easier. Aserious tone and multiple options canhelp employees understand the grav-ity of the situation and the career op-tions that are offered. Such choicesmay include for example, early retire-ment, job buyouts or simply moving

The more optionsyou make available

for affectedemployees, theless conflict thatwill develop -

and the easier thisprocess becomes.

an employee to another positionwithin the same facility or company.The more options you make availablefor affected employees, the less conflictthat will develop - and the easier thisdifficult process becomes.

At the end of the dayPlanning a legal and fair process

and procedure early on is a must. All

needed parties must be together at thetable as part of the planning process.Constant communication is critical.All plans should have time lines setwith notable milestones.

Affected personnel should be noti-fied as soon as possible. Keeping staffinformed will prove to be successfulin the end. Expect unexpected twistsand turns. Be firm, however, and stayfocused on the goal.

Not everyone is going to be 100 -percent happy. For affected person-nel, due process is important.

At the end of the day, it's all aboutdoing what it takes to keep the busi-ness profitable. At the same time, find-ing respectable solutions for affectedstaff is equally as important. BE

Sid Guel is the president and founder ofBroadcast Automation Consulting.

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August 2011 I broadcastengineering.corn 49

Understandin,

Here's an examination of high -frequency pathological signaltransmission issues in today's high -bandwidth equipment.BY RFINIAI in I AVOIF

by should we doAC -coupling on SDIand, how does AC -coupling degrade

our SDI signal? In past experiences,many engineers asked me this simplequestion, and because we are familiarwith AC -coupled signals, we usuallyforget about the theory behind our

design choice and we apply the ruleof thumb. I think that we behave thisway a lot of the time. Maybe it is be-cause we don't always have enoughtime to think about the theory!

Like me, you maybe discovered thissignal degradation in the lab. I hadworked for many years in a telecom-munications business, and when I

joined a well-known broadcast busi-ness in Montreal, one of my first as-signments was to work on an optical -to -electrical converter. At that time,small form -factor pluggable (SFP)was a new concept in telecommu-nications. So why don't we use it forbroadcast? I ordered a few parts toplay with.


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FEATUREUNDERSTANDING BLOCKING CAPACITOR EFFECTS

Unique Ts

19 '0's

Unique T's

19 Ts

19 '0's

4--

19 'l's

Figure 1. Pathological signal

My first conclusion was that every-thing worked perfectly except withthe pathological signal. (The AC -coupling wasn't the only problem;laser control loop and other prob-lem were present in the SFP.) Then, Icontacted the SFP manufacturer tocorrect the automatic power controlloop; it sent me a new SFP with a slowcontrol loop. I investigated the circuitin detail since the behaviour of the SFPwas not improving. The AC -couplingcapacitor value was 0.11.1F because themodule was used for 8b/10b encod-ing a well-balanced signal. I did findthe remaining problems of the patho-logical signals in my SFP, but I faceda bigger problem: The manufacturerdidn't want to change the layout withbigger capacitors.

I hope you will enjoy this quick ex-planation of the AC -coupling capaci-tors versus the beautiful pathologicalsignal. As a designer, you can findarticles on how the equalizer shouldhandle the pathological signals, butthe information about how blockingcapacitors react versus pathologicalis not accessible on the Internet. Thisarticle explains the behavior of theblocking capacitor and shows why thepathological signal is affected.

Pathological signalgeneration

The pathological signal is a resultof the coding scheme of the SMPTEstandards. Two functions are used inSDI to encode the signal. The reasonfor these two polynomials is simple: toencode the signal without significant-ly increasing the bandwidth. In manycases, the 8b/10b is used to encodethe signal and to balance the number

of 1's and 0's (called DC -balance orzero DC -component). Those encod-ing schemes increase drastically thebandwidth, 25 percent for the 8b/10b.Today, the data communications andtelecommunications companies arelooking to 64b/66b to reduce this in-crease to a reasonable 3.125 percent.

The scrambling and non -return -to -zero -inverted (NRZI) are usedto increase the transition density inthe serial data stream, but some se-quences create the undesired patho-logical signals. The NRZI also allowsthe receiver to decode an invertedstream; remember that the goal ofthe scrambler and the NRZI was theminimization of the overhead createdby the encoding. Take as an examplethe 8b/10b encoding; from the 8 bitsof data, the encoder creates 10 bits.With the 8b/10b encoding, the datastream has a 25 percent speed over-head due to the encoding, comparedto 0 percent with the NRZI. However,the 8b/10b encoding creates a DC -balance data stream. The SDI encod-ing is accomplished after the concat-enation of two functions:

G1 (X) = X9+ X4+ 1 ScramblerG2(X=X+1 NRZI

As a consequence of this encod-ing scheme, runs of 0's and 1's canappear in the data stream. Applying300hex followed by 198hex during thevideo active line produces 19 high(or low) data followed by a unique1 low (or high) data. This run isn'ta problem if this occurs once, com-pared to 66b/64b that can produce 66consecutive identical data (CID). Theproblem with the SDI encoding is therepetitive sequence of 300hex followedby 198hex; it produces the pathologi-cal signal, a specific shade of magenta,which occurs in the active portion ofthe line. (See Figure 1.)

Blocking capacitor effectA blocking capacitor with a termi-

nation resistor forms a high-pass filter.This filter should have a low cutoff fre-quency to minimize the distortion onthe signal. (See Figure 2.)

When long runs of consecutiveidentical bits are presented to thishigh-pass filter, a voltage drop oc-curs, resulting in low -frequency jitter.

TL

DriverDDO

Cb111500 4.7pF

3.3V

ReceiverDDI

Figure 2. A simple model of a typical AC -coupling capacitor. Note that the blockingcapacitor affects the differential signal as well.



This jitter is pattern -dependant. It iscalled pattern -dependant jitter (PDJ)or data -dependant jitter (DDJ). (SeeFigure 3 on page 54.)

To minimize the PDJ, the 3dB cut-off frequency should be set correctly.This frequency is directly related

If the pattern wasonly limited toone occurence,the blocking

capacitor for SDIencoding shouldbe really small.

to the capacitor (Cb) and the resis-tor (Rd. If you use new componentswith internal termination, you havelesser values of Rt. The goal is to use

a smaller capacitor size with the de-sired capacitance to minimize reflec-tions. The following equations solvethe capacitor's value:

-T * NCIDCI) =

Where:

1.2PDJ2-x-Rtieln (1tr

PDJ =AV

slope

AV = 0.5Vpp (1 -e VT)

t is the discharge time: Ncit, * bitperiod.

is the RC constant (Cb and Rt ),twice R, considering the driver im-pedance.

slope = VPP0.6

*tr

VP, is the voltage swing.

tr is the rise time of the signal (20percent to 80 percent).

Note for designers: If you eversimulate AC -coupled high-speedtraces, you will always see an optionlike "skip x symbols at the beginning:'Remember that the AC -coupling ca-pacitor is discharged at the beginningof the simulation, so you will have thesame behavior; your signal will not beDC -balanced, even with 8b/10b. Thesimulator will skip the first eye dia-gram to ensure that your simulationis relevant.

If the pattern was only limited toone occurence, the blocking capaci-tor for SDI encoding should be reallysmall. In the SMPTE-259 (270Mb/s)and SMPTE-292 specifications, thepattern can be repetitive up to 720 or1920 times respectively. The differ-ence between the number of 0's andl's over a long time can be called the

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Figure 3.The high-pass filter introduces voltage drop and low -frequency jitter.

cumulative bit difference (CBD); over aline the CBD is large.

Eye diagram after theblocking capacitor

With the previous explanation, wecan clearly understand why the patho-logical problem is not the CID but theDC unbalance over the line period(CBD). In other words, the capacitorcharge will not stay at the midpoint forthe entire line. This effect moves theunique 1 or 0 over the time far fromthe decision point, creating errors.Figures 4 and 5 show the eye diagramat the end of the line for the 270Mb/spathological signal (half line).

Another way to represent the block-ing capacitor effect is in frequencydomain. Compare the frequencyspectrum of the pathological signalversus a random stream applied tothe blocking capacitor circuit. (SeeFigure 6 on page 55.) Note the powerclose to DC for the pathological sig-nal (red). All the energy below thecutoff frequency will be attenuated,reducing the SNR and thus degradingthe bit error rate (338Hz for the 4.7µFand 265 kHz for the 6nF).

Possible changes onCb and Fit

The previous waveform demon-strates the pathological frequencyspectrum versus a perfect random sig-nal with 1 and 0 balance. To preservethe maximum SNR, the cutoff fre-quency of 338Hz appears to be a goodchoice. Changing the internal termi-nation from son to 750 and keepingthe same cutoff frequency, now thevalue of Cb is 3.3g. (See Figure 7 on

.0

Figure 4. Eye diagram 270Mb/s, Cb = 4.7pF

Figure 5. Eye diagram 270Mb/s, Cb = 6nF Note: This model has been created withthe generic CML IBIS model.

page 55.) This 3.3i.iF capacitor can besmaller in size and can be more stablein temperature.

DC -coupled versusAC -coupled

So why don't we do DC -coupled

circuits instead of AC -coupled? TheDC -coupled could be a great solu-tion, but you should be aware of a fewkey characteristic of your drivers andreceivers. First is the common modevoltage of your driver; every high-speed driver is swinging around a DC



0 25

02

>- 0 15

0 1

0 05

Single -sided amplitude spectrum of y(t)

0 05 15 2 25 3

Frequency (Hz)

Pathological

Rando-

3 5 1 15 5

x 103

Figure 6. Frequency spectrum 270Mb/s: Random signal (blue), pathological (red)

*NO

Figure 7. Eye diagram 270Mb/s, Ch = 3.3pF, Rt = 7552

mit

voltage on each wire. As example, theoutput of your equalizer could swingfrom 3.3V to 2.9V. (See the datasheetof the part you use for more precise in-formation.) If you use a new FPGA todeserialize the signal, you might havea voltage common mode of 1.2V withan allowed swing of +/-400mV. Youcan clearly see that your equalizer out-puts will not work with your FPGA in-puts. In this specific case, AC -couplingis one of the easiest solutions.

Here are the key points to considerbefore deciding to go DC -coupled: Known driver: no DC offset pos-sible, ie on the same board or in thesame system; Common mode voltage (Vcm) of thedriver is included in the receiver in-put common mode voltage; All combinations of Van positive andnegative swings of the signal are in-cluded in the receiver tolerance.

ConclusionThis article shows the blocking

capacitor's effect on the pathologicalsignal. This effect can be controlledby designing the system to have a low3dB cutoff frequency and by ensuringan equal number of 1's and 0's overtime. With SDI encoding, the secondoption isn't possible; the designershould set the cutoff frequency verylow to keep the SNR as high as pos-skle or use DC -coupling when thetechnology and design permit it. BE

Renaud Lavoie is president and CEO ofEmbrionix.

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APPLIED TECHNOLOGYNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

Dolby's PRIM -4200The monitor provides black -level performance that

would satisfy the most discriminating eye.

While the death of theCRT is welcome newsfor the environment,professionals who

have relied on the CRT for criticalwork like color correction are less en-thusiastic about losing their trustedmonitors. One reason is the inabilityof most flat -panel replacements torender true blacks and dark detail.For the Dolby PRM-4200 Profes-sional Reference Monitor, we wantedblack -level performance that would

The PRM-4200 Professional Reference Monitor supportsnot only today's 10 -bit video formats, but also emerging12 -bit formats without dithering or down -scaling of thecolor gamut.

satisfy even the most discriminatingeye. Achieving this goal required tak-ing a fresh approach to the problem.

The primary cause for the lifted"milky" blacks that have made LCDdisplays infamous among color -crit-ical users is the cold cathode fluores-cent lamp (CCFL), which also limitsthe available color gamut. Static LEDbacklight units, meanwhile, offer im-proved color, but they do little to solvethe lack of pure, deep blacks.

A viable CRT replacementOur solution: dual modulation. The

PRM-4200 features a unique backlight

BY BOB FRYE

unit comprised of some 1500 RGBLED triads that directly illuminate theLCD panel. The output of each R, Gand B element within each LED is dy-namically modulated on a frame -by -frame basis to match the image con-tent for each frame. When the imagerequires that a portion of the screenbe dark, the corresponding LEDs dim.This means no light will pass throughthe LCD to the viewer. The result is ab-solute black levels - true blacks andsuperior dark details. In fact, the black -

level performance of theDolby monitor has beenmeasured to surpass theblack -level performanceof any other display deviceon the market.

Once the full -colorbacklight image for a par-ticular content frame isgenerated, this informa-tion is then used to cre-ate the LCD image. Themodulation of the LCDpanel occurs in real timeand is based on a complexalgorithm composed of avariety of matrix and 2Dfiltering operations.

The pairing of a modulated LCDwith a dynamically modulated back-light unit has implications for overallimage quality as well as black levels.Our dual -modulation process enablesprecise color accuracy at all luminancelevels and exceptionally wide dynam-ic ranges. While other monitors claimcolor accuracy at a particular point inbrightness, the color accuracy of theDolby monitor is linear across the en-tire grey scale. Likewise, a very wide"dynamic envelope" and a very wide"gamut envelope" enable the monitorto emulate any monitor whose per-formance "fits" within gamuts up to

DCI-P3 and luminance envelopes upto 600cd/m2.

The LCD/LED display technol-ogy built into the monitor also haseconomic benefits. It eliminates thecostly re -tubing that CRT referencemonitors need every 18 to 24 months.Similarly, the LCD/LED combina-tion is less susceptible to burn in andother issues that shorten the lifespanof today's plasma technology and ne-cessitate the frequent replacement ofplasma monitors.

Indeed, we built the monitor withlongevity in mind. Consider the in-creasing popularity of cameras suchas the ARRI Alexa, RED Epic and SonyF35. Most monitors can display only asmall portion of the high -resolutionimages produced by these cameras.Our monitor already supports nativeviewing of both 10- and 12 -bit for-mats, and will be capable of display-ing the advanced high -dynamic -rangeoutput of cameras, color grading sys-tems, and other production and post -production devices moving forward.

By supporting 12 -bit video input,the monitor is also future -proofed forhigher bit -rate work flows like the newarchitecture for digital cinema master-ing being developed by the Academyof Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences.It is the only Grade 1 monitor on themarket that already supports the pro-posed infrastructure, which promisesto become a standard for digital cin-ema mastering into the future.

With its patented dual -modulationdesign and a host of other innovativefeatures, the PRM-4200 improves onthe capabilities of the CRT and offersdurability, versatility and compliancewith emerging formats. BE

Bob Frye is product manager for theDolby PRM-4200 Professional ReferenceMonitor


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The LMH0387National Semiconductor's bidirectional SDI I/O device

simplifies hardware headaches.BY GARY MELCHIOR

raditionally, SDI ports onvideo equipment have beenfixed as either inputs or out-puts. This has led to hard-

ware designers choosing architectureswith a limited number of input andoutput ports based on the numberof BNC connectors they can fit intoa given form factor. The fixed natureof these SDI ports necessitates manyunique board configurations in orderto support a variety of applications.For example, one board may requireone input and seven outputs, whileanother requires four in and fourout. This leads to higher design costs,as well as higher inventory costs forstocking each unique configuration.

Furthermore, the SDI ports on eachof these unique boards must meetstringent design requirements, suchas the SMPTE 424M return loss spec-ification. This requires fine-tuningmany passive components for eachparticular board design, a time-con-suming and costly process.

New way of thinkingabout SDI ports

National Semiconductor has de-veloped a single -chip bidirectionalSDI I/O - the LMH0387. This con-figurable I/O device provides theflexibility for SDI ports to be set as

either inputs or outputs via softwareor a switch, allowing one physicalboard design to be used in multipleconfigurations. The device includesan integrated return loss network toassure compliance with the SMPTEreturn loss specification. This savestime by avoiding the need for theoften iterative process of fine-tuningpassive components to achieve speci-fication compliance, while conserv-ing board area and reducing bill ofmaterials costs.

The LMH0387 configurable I/O isa single -chip solution that integratesthe full functionality of an SDI adap-tive cable equalizer, SDI cable driverand integrated return loss network ina tiny 7mm x 7mm package. It pro-vides a single pin for both the inputand output functions. This pin con-nects to the BNC connector via asingle AC -coupling capacitor. No ad-ditional components are required inthe SDI signal path.

The bidirectional I/O provides aswitch to configure the single pin aseither input or output. In the inputmode, the equalizer is enabled, andthe cable driver is disabled to preventinterference on the shared pin. In theoutput mode, the cable driver is en-abled, and the equalizer is typicallydisabled for power savings but may

optionally be left enabled to providea loopback path of the signal beingdriven on the cable.

The bidirectional I/O optimizesBNC usage, which is especially im-portant when the number of avail-able BNCs is physically limited byboard size. Suppose you are designingvideo equipment with five SDI ports,and you would like to provide vari-ous options for the number of inputsand outputs. These ports could beconfigured as four in, one out (4 x 1);3 x 2; 2 x 3; or 1 x 4. With dedicat-ed equalizers and cable drivers, thiswould require four unique designs.Using the configurable I/O, this iden-tical functionality can be realized witha single physical design, program-mable as four different options. (SeeFigure 1.) Only one board needs to bedesigned, optimized, maintained andstocked for a given number of SDIports. The board's I/O configurationscan be preconfigured before delivery,programmed during installation oreven changed live post -installationif desired.

By integrating the return loss net-work, the LMH0387 delivers plug -and -play compliance to rigorousSMPTE return loss specifications andsimplifies board design. The SMPTEreturn loss requirement specifies how

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Figure 1. Designing video equipment with five SDI ports and various options for the number of inputs and outputs wouldrequire four unique designs (left). With the LMH0387, this functionality can be achieved with a single physical design,programmable as four different options (right).



Vcc

4-0-1 Cable

driver

Cableequalizer

LM HC387configurable

I/O

Figure 2.The traditional solution (left) consists of Iwo BNCs, two ICs and return loss networks.The LMH0387 solution (right)consists of one BNC and one IC.

close in impedance a network mustbe to 75fl across a specified frequencyrange. This requirement is intendedto prevent reflections and increase thepower transfer at the BNC. A returnloss network, consisting of inductors,resistors and sometimes capacitors, isrequired to compensate for the inputor output capacitance of the receiveror driver circuit. (See Figure 2.) Goodreturn loss is best achieved by placingthis network as close as possible to theequalizer or cable driver chips andusing physically small componentsin order to minimize impedance

discontinuities. By integrating this net-work inside the package, the return lossis optimized, and the LMH0387 is ableto achieve greater than 5dB of marginabove the SMPTE specification.

SummaryThe LMH0387 configurable I/O en-

ables a new way of thinking about SDIports. They are no longer fixed andinflexible, but instead, become adapt-able to your particular application.One board using the bidirectional I/Osupplants the need for many uniquedesigns. The I/O device can replace an

ono

SDI equalizer or cable driver, or do thejob of both depending on the need, inaddition to simplifying layout and sav-ing board space. BE

Gary Melchior is an applications engineerwith National Semiconductor.

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FIELD REPORTNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

Spectra Logic's T950The tape library enablesTwin Cities PublicTelevision

to manage data growth with high density.

s one of the most watchedPBS affiliates in the na-tion, at Minnesota -basedTwin Cities Public Tele-

vision (tpt), we were grappling withthe storage and retrieval of burgeon-ing digital video data volumes. Weproduce our own television pro-grams and broadcast thousands ofhours each year from PBS and otherdistributors.

With a large, wide variety of con-tent, our data set increases rapidlyand must be retained anywhere fromone week to perpetuity due to variousindustry program rights. The chal-lenge of managing this rapid sizabledata growth prompted us to searchfor a large, efficient storage system toaccommodate our 180TB of data to-day - and to plan for future growth.

Our previous robotic tape librarywas pushing its capacity thresholds ata 60TB limit and was configured witholder, antiquated SALT drives. Weneeded a higher -density storage solu-tion. As part of a thorough technolo-gy review, the station considered bothtape and hard disk systems. The harddisk systems we evaluated didn't offerthe low cost, high capacity and reli-ability we needed, so we turned ourattention to an updated Spectra Logictape library that offered reliability,high performance and smooth inte-gration with our Masstech software.

DAM: Why tape?Tape libraries have an excellent

reputation and have been well -testedthanks to their widespread use in themedia and entertainment industry.While robotic tape library operationis easy, ensuring middleware inter-face integration with the tape library,server and automation requires a highdegree of expertise for a broadcast

BY BRUCE JACOBS

Bruce Jacobs, CTO of Twin Cities Public TV, uses Spectra's BlueScale 11 operatingsystem to check the status of the Spectra T950 tape library.

Tape libraries have an excellentreputation and have been well -testedthanks to their widespread use in the

media and entertainment industry.

environment. In fact, the middlewaresoftware integration was one of thebiggest challenges we faced.

My advice to peers is to address thisissue early in the process of a majordata center equipment refresh. Onceyou've determined your hardwarecomponents, focus on your middle -ware software package. Do you needa new one? Must you upgrade your

current software to ensure that all ofthe components in the network willwork well together?

Like many broadcasters, tpt is le-gally required to delete programsif we don't have legal long-term re-tention rights, hence the need for astrong middleware platform. In fact,some of our distributors and affiliatesrequire an affidavit confirming that


The Spectra T950 can scale up to as many as eight frames and 10,050 slots.

video clip use has been discontinuedonce rights expire. Despite the tera-bytes we reclaimed when we defrag-mented existing tapes once our rightsexpired, we were still running out ofspace and desperately needed morestorage capacity.

Based on the results of the tech-nology review and our past posi-tive experience with the vendor, weupgraded to a high -density SpectraT950 tape library with LTO-4 tapesand BlueScale 11 management soft-ware. The tape library offers highavailability, capacity and density; pro-active drive and media heath checks;

tape library's exclusive Global Spareoption, which enables a spare failovertape drive to be configured on -site,and ensures that all necessary drivesare always available to the MassStorsoftware to retrieve and store contentin required time frames.

The resultsThe Spectra T950 offers triple the

capacity of our previous SAIT-basedlibrary. While it's difficult to believe,before implementing robotic tapelibraries, we used a video tape stor-age system that consumed 3600sqft of data center floor space. We've

We've experienced a dramatic 99.7 percentreclamation of space over the years, as our

current library consumes just 9.2sq ft.

detailed reporting features; proactivenotification and tracking; data integ-rity verification; and ease of use. Theunit arrived well packed and easy tounload, install and commission. Theonly hiccup was that we neglected toorder enough fibre channel cables tosupport the new unit, as one cable isrequired for each LTO-4 drive, but theminor setback was quickly remediedby an overnight cable shipment.

The tape library is being used for thenearline storage of all of our broad-cast television programs. Data resideson the library and is transferred tothe archive daily. Then it is retrievedas historical programs are needed.The station is taking advantage of the

experienced a dramatic 99.7 percentreclamation of space over the years,as our current library consumes just9.2sq ft. Since installation, we'veimproved time management andstreamlined staffing efficiencies, thussaving money as well.

The space efficiency and high ca-pacity of the tape library with LTO-4drives combined with the reliabilityof BlueScale 11 software meets all ofour requirements. It's ideal for any-one managing large data sets - ei-ther within or outside of the mediaand entertainment industry. BE

Bruce Jacobs is CTO of Twin CitiesPublic TV


RTW's TouchMonitorThe audio meter features a touch screen

and a flexible configuration.

The entire pro audio in-dustry, particularly thoseworking in broadcast, is

currently undergoing a fastparadigm shift from traditional peakmetering of audio programs towardsintegrated loudness management.This is mainly a result of some of to-day's current standards and recom-mendations, such as EBU R128, ITU1770/1771, ATSC A/85, the CALMAct and ARIB. This change will soonaffect the daily tasks of many audioteams, from content generation to thedistribution of the final product overa number of channels. Today, oldermetering instruments hardly meetcurrent requirements due to insuffi-cient computing power.

Here in the U.S., the CALM Actthat Congress passed last year re-quires the FCC to adopt the ATSCA/85 guidelines. Originally ap-proved by the ATSC in 2009, an up-dated version of these guidelineswas published in May, which hasleft the pro audio industry withthe task of finding and implement-ing the best systems for adhering tothese regulations.

As a member of the P/Loud groupof the European Broadcasting Union(EBU), I work on loudness recom-mendations mainly for the EU. It be-came obvious, however, that the mod-ern loudness measurement equip-ment required for putting these newregulations into practice should meetnot only local, but any relevant inter-national regulations as well. On topof this, as regulations on new topicstend to develop quite fast, it should beeasy for the user to update his or herequipment to adapt to any upcom-ing version of such recommendationsand regulations.

Finding solutions to meet these

BY MIKE KAHSNITZ

The RTVVTouchMonitor simultaneousilyvisualizes up to 16 signal sources usingflexible, advanced instruments.

new regulations has been challeng-ing, especially as we inch closer to thedeadline for implementation of thesenew standards. From its years of re-search, expertise and involvement ingroups such as the EBU, RTW has de-veloped a new metering product: theTouchMonitor range. This family ofproducts combines the technologicalbenefits of dedicated hardware withthe flexibility of software and an er-gonomic touch -sensitive display. Thefirst two models of the new range -the TM7 with a 7in display and theTM9 featuring a 9in display - in-tegrate the entire signal processingfunctionality, the display unit and allinterface ports into a hardware unitwith an overall depth of 46mm.

A TouchMonitor simultaneouslyvisualizes up to 16 signal sources us-ing many flexible and advanced in-struments. The 3G -SDI interface forthe TM9 model is capable of process-ing and visualizing up to 32 input sig-nals at the same time. In addition, theunit handles and displays many inde-pendent audio groups simultaneouslywithin the same preset. Each group

can be displayed on different instru-ments. In addition, while the screenlayout of traditional RTW meters waslargely static, the new audio meter al-lows for freely arranging, scaling and,where appropriate, rotating all instru-ments that are part of a preset on thescreen. Thus, the user can quickly ac-cess a large number of signal paths,each configured with the appropriateinstruments using presets.

The system comes with no me-chanical controls; the user controlsthe units using just the 16:9 touch -sensitive display screen. Alternatively,if the environment does not allowfor touchscreen operation, the GUIcan also be controlled using a mouse.Initially, the majority of instrumentsknown from previous RTW meteringproducts were made available on thesystem. These include a large numberof peak -meter models, a vectorscope,an RTA and the Surround Sound An-alyzer used for visualizing multichan-nel audio.

Meanwhile, the unit also supportsvarious new developments, includ-ing several instruments for visualizingchannel or sum loudness on a graphi-cal or numerical basis that complywith the current EBU, ITU, ATSC andARIB recommendations. Originallydesigned by TC Electronic, the loud-ness radar meter with its characteristiccircular view was licensed for use onthe system.

From the range of functions, theuser can select exactly those instru-ments needed for his or her specificapplication thanks to the conceptof software modules, which can beadded at any time in the future withappropriate software licenses. Thus,the audio meter's universal hardwareplatform allows for configurationsas simple as stereo peak meters to


RIMIEDELfull-fledged multifunctional multi-channel -enabled metering systems.

The menu system developed forthe system guides the user throughthe process of making relevant set-tings, including the analog or digi-tal domain, channel counts, and theloudness standard to be applied orthe instrument selection. This allowsfor creating new presets quickly andin a target -oriented manner.

For each single -channel or multi-channel audio signal to be displayed onthe system, the user sets up a separateaudio group defining the desired inputchannels, the channel configurationand other details. Each audio group canbe populated with instruments suit-able for the selected domain and chan-nel mode if the appropriate licenseshave been unlocked. After creating thegroups for all sources to be visualizedwithin a preset, the user can freely placeinstruments from those groups on the

available screen area using the graphi-cal view editor. This allows for display-ing a number of entirely independentsources with their relevant instrumentson the screen at the same time.

Without a doubt, loudness is one ofthe major reasons for the increased in-terest in audio metering today. Whendesigning this new audio meter, RTWopted for a loudness implementationthat fully complies with all currentstandards and recommendations butalso allows for customizing all criticalparameters such as integration timesor gating. On the other hand, if youselect an established setting such asthe EBU mode that is specified by theEBU R128 standard, the standardizedparameters cannot be altered. Thisway, the user always knows whether ameasurement is standards -compliantor based on custom settings. BE

Mike Kahsnitz is technical director at RTW

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FIELD REPORTNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

Omneon MediaApplication Server

CNN standardizes across all of its platforms.BY BOB HFSSKAMP AND MICHAFL KOFTTFR

As CNN brings content toair on CNN, CNN Inter-national, CNN en Espanoland HLN, and to the In-

ternet on CNN.com, our goal is toleverage our substantial volume ofunique news content as fully as pos-sible in telling compelling and mean-ingful stories. Last year, we replacedaging feeds -ingest, edit and playoutinfrastructure at our Atlanta facili-ties with a new HD infrastructure.With this upgrade, we took on thechallenge of building an integratedproduction environment that wouldenable journalists to find and accessthe best of the media gathered by ourglobal news organization.

The Broadcast Engineering &System Technology (BEST) andImage and Sound teams here workedwith Omneon (now part of Har-monic) Broadcast Solutions Group,Adobe, Apple, Avid, Cisco, IPV, Sony,Telestream and Vizrt to design, in-stall and bring online the systemscomprising our new production en-vironment.

We decided not to settle for an ex-isting system but instead to leverageour partnerships and our own staff todefine and develop an open HD in-frastructure and media asset manage-ment system that could supply videoto all of our platforms, integrate wellwith our archive and make it easyfor journalists to get the video theyneed to do their jobs. In doing so, weachieved a number of firsts.

We were the first to use the combi-nation of the Omneon Media Appli-cation Server (MAS) and the OmneonMediaGrid active storage system as aproduction system. We also achievedsignificant industry firsts in our useof MXF in Apple Final Cut Pro with

When CNN decided to revamp its ingest, edit and playout infrastructure, it chosethe Omneon Media Application Server and MediaGrid.The network will implementthis framework at all of its bureaus worldwide. Photo courtesy John Nowak/CNN.

the addition of Sony's Cinemon plug-in, and in our integration of AdobeAfter Effects and Adobe Premiere Profunctionality into our internal MAMsystem. These variables meant thatwe had to be dynamic in anticipat-ing and handling the rollout, and wemanaged it successfully, implement-ing a system that will help drive ourbusiness forward.

DevelopmentFrom day one of the project, our

stakeholders were represented. Weadopted a new Agile developmentprocess (Scrum), going through it-erative development cycles rightnext to internal clients, whose abil-ity to see our work early on waskey to the project's success. TheMAS environment simplified devel-opment by providing an intelligentmiddleware layer between stored me-dia content and the applications usedto access or process content. Dur-ing our testing phase, collaboration

among our development team, theengineering team and operationshelped us to ensure that we tested al-most every single scenario we mightface in production. It was a carefulyet fast process, as we were able to testand adjust quickly with new buildsand fixes. During actual rollout, thisearlier work helped us to maintainthe performance required by the 24 -hour news cycle.

IngestWithin the new HD production

infrastructure now online, we useMXF Op la -wrapped HD XDCAM35 as our house format, from pull-ing content off cameras to editing,archiving and fulfillment. This ap-proach has allowed us to eliminatetranscoding or reingest of 35Mb/scontent and thereby maintain imagequality while keeping file sizes smallenough for fast, efficient movementaround our facility and from bureauto bureau.


The MAS presents a single vir-tualized view of content across allHarmonic managed systems, includ-ing Omneon MediaDeck ingest serversystems, two 126TB MediaGrid sys-tems and Spectrum playout servers.The server also allows our internallydeveloped media management sys-tem, MediaSource-2, to access mediametadata easily, thus providing ro-bust search functionality to journal-ists, and to trigger system functionssuch as file movement and transcod-ing. Our media management systemalso provides workflow integra-tion with our Vizrt Viz Dart front-end ingest system, Final Cut Proeditors and other systems across theCNN enterprise.

EditingThe Sony Cinemon plug-in sup-

ports the direct import and editing ofXDCAM MXF files in Final Cut Proand facilitates the edit -during -ingestapproach that allows our journaliststo edit growing files on the MediaGridand to move stories to air quickly.Cinemon preserves the quality of edit-ed media by performing a GOP -splicerender that cleans up long -GOP con-tent so that there is an I -frame on thein and outpoint of a mid -GOP edit.This technique preserves the nativeencoding from the MediaDeck systemor XDCAM camera and maintains im-age quality.

The new proxy edit system we de-vised in collaboration with Adobeand IPV provides a journalist -friend-ly user interface to Premiere Pro and afacility -friendly backend render envi-ronment, both of which are fully inte-grated with MediaSource-2. Secondsafter an ingest begins, journalists canuse the simplified Adobe Premier Prouser interface to edit low -resolutionproxy video generated by our IPVsystem. Completed timelines can beconformed to our house format au-tomatically by the MediaSource ren-der management service attachedto the MediaGrid system. Whilethe autoconform process can sup-port any effects employed by Adobe

Premiere Pro, we continue to rely onour Final Cut Pro systems and edi-tors for craft editing. This powerfuland cost-effective new model makestrue location -independent produc-tion a reality by eliminating the needto move high -resolution files aroundour facilities.

With this new production infra-structure, we tied all of our produc-tion operations together in a waynever before achieved. The vastly im-proved workflow we've put in placeat CNN Atlanta allows producedcontent to be taken to air or Web ina matter of minutes. Any media cutby any network (or for any network)is available for playback on any otherCNN network, as well as to our morethan 1000 affiliates worldwide via ourNewsource services. We're now go-ing ahead with plans to roll out thisarchitecture at other bureaus aroundthe world.

The futureWe're seeing more and more com-

panies take this kind of open IT ap-proach, with MXF as a production for-mat gaining a lot of steam. Widespreadvendor support for MXF and MPEGas a meaningful production formatindicates that this type of agile inte-grated production system will only be-come easier to build. Moving forward,our engineering team is contributingto this trend through its involvementin the development of an applicationspecification, through AMWA, forsimple MXF acquisition and produc-tion. The specification, AS10, will bebased on SMPTE RDD9 and provide asignificantly simpler and faster meansof validating that files will work withina given MXF production ecosystem.There are already a significant numberof camera, edit, transcode and play -out vendors on the team, and we havegreat hopes for the value this will bringto the industry. BE

Bob Hesskamp is SVP CNN BroadcastEngineering and Systems Technology(BEST), Turner Broadcasting/CNN, andMichael Koetter is VP News TechnologyPlanning and Development CNN BEST.

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TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSITIONNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

Video compressionThe handwriting is on the wall for video switching.

BY JOHN LUFF

Reality in our industry isall in the presentation ofapproximations of real-ity. The essence of video

and audio compression is the selec-tive discarding of information thatthe consumer of the content will notmiss. We do our job best not whenwe send the most pristine and perfectimages and sound, but rather whenit's been transmitted through the nar-rowest funnel we can manage withoutmaking it obvious to the consumer'suntrained eyes.

that time, there were plenty of ques-tions about how one might even ap-proach perceptual coding of images(and sound). There were also manypapers about run length encoding,the Nyquist limit and other topicsworthy of serious reading.

Part of what changed is the de-velopment of effective pixel motionestimation, which, in fairness to thescientists of the 1970s, was largely notpossible in real time on affordablehardware. Today, we think nothingabout using the hardware codecs in

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A ballot for the most essential invention in the media industry in our lifetimeswould have to at least include compression.

Changes in videocompression technology

This began decades ago as an areaof research called bit -rate reduction,now, of course, called video compres-sion. In the 1970s, it was generallythought that 525/625 video neededwell in excess of 25Mb/s for adequatedigital representation. In fact, theEBU published a paper once purport-ing to mathematically "prove" thatthe job could not be done in less than34Mb/s. Jumping forward a couple ofdecades, it is quite obvious that thecalculation was not able to take intoaccount research done much later. At

cell phones to transmit news storiesin 720p at effective rates below 2Mb/s,and SD content is delivered over DTVtransmission at sub-1Mb/s rates. Thecompression ratios are mind boggling.If the entire DTV bit stream is used todeliver one 1080i29.27, the compres-sion ratio is most descriptively givenas just over 0.3 bits per pixel of thedisplay. But audio and PSIP eat intothe available bandwidth, making thenumber seem even more absurd.

In the more modern era - theperiod when cost-effective, real-timesystems began wide deployment -MPEG-2 compression has clearly

dominated the market. Over the lastfew years, H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10, orAVC compression) has begun to re-place MPEG-2 for many uses. Its moreefficient algorithms allow equivalentquality at lower bit rates, or higherquality at the same economic cost inbandwidth. Though we tend to dwellon the technical aspects, it is the eco-nomic benefit that drives technologi-cal change today. Would anyone doubtthat we would have no reason to de-ploy AVC without the cost savings intransmission bandwidth or storagecost? I suspect the answer to such arhetorical question is completely aca-demic, for the cost of developing newcompression tools would hardly besupportable unless there is a demon-strable benefit to companies investingin new hardware.

Frankly, we are lucky that compres-sion has become a key component oftechnological advances we rely on,both as consumers of content and cre-ators of content. DTV, Internet distri-bution of content, video chat, 3G/4Gnewsgathering, digital archives, wire-less home networking of content, per-sonal music and video players, DVDand Blu-ray players, and digital stilland movie cameras are but a few in-novations that would not be possiblewithout compression. A ballot for themost essential invention in the mediaindustry in our lifetimes would haveto at least include compression.

But there is no free lunch. To usecompression as more than a pointsource solution, that is to say at twoends of a loop in a closed system,we need effective standards, whichof necessity stifle innovation in theprocess of technology self regulation.We might have much more effectivecompression by now if the market-place was able to innovate withoutthe need to interoperate. And part ofthe innovation continuum seems to


TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSITIONNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

be the increase in complexity that of-ten comes along.

An example is the death of videoswitching. I do not mean to imply itis already dead. But I see the hand-writing on the wall. There is a lot of"baseband" switching all over the fab-ric of our industry, but increasinglywe see "switching" of compressedcontent streams. That process is moreaccurately described as a splice thatjoins to time -independent streamsof content into one stream with per-fect continuity in syntax. Basebandswitching is far less complex, but aswe inexorably move toward a mostlyIT infrastructure carrying mostlycompressed content, I see an increasein system complexity. The reasons aresimple enough to understand.

To switch between two video sig-nals, one needs to only break the elec-trical connection to one source and

establish the connection to the secondsource. In an ideal world, you need toassure the signals are synchronized,though with the exception of a shortglitch, cutting between to unsynchro-nized sources is often acceptable.

But with compressed signals, onemust do much more. In any case,assuming the available bandwidthwould support either source flexibly,you still need to align the syntax inthe signals so that the decoder willnot lose its place in the bit stream.In addition, it is critical to establishthe group of pictures (GOP) cadenceon both sides of the switch, bettertermed a splice. This is not terriblyhard to do, but requires buffering toallow for matching up two inherentlyasynchronous signals.

Many years ago, SMPTE and oth-ers began work on standards to es-tablish how such switching might be

signaled to downstream devices, mak-ing it possible for a device listening inon the transmitted sequence to knowwhen an appropriate splice pointwould be arriving. This work createda SMPTE standard, which is the basisof the SCTE splicing standards usedfor commercial insertion worldwide.Networks like FOX and others haveadopted splicing as a critical technol-ogy for the distribution of content toaffiliates, with a Technical Emmy givento FOX in 2008-2009.

A great reference for questionsabout splicing in considerable detailwas written by Norm Hurst and KatieCornog and can be found at www.mpeg.orgIMPEG/splicing-FAQ:html.BE

John Luff is a broadcast technologyconsultant.

IISend questions and comments to:[email protected]

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Encoder and decodercards offer JPEG2000SD and HD com-pression; use variableJPEG2000 compres-sion rate on ASI orIP; designed to offerbetter quality, higherrate and lower latencythan previous genera-tions; 7880DEC-J2K-IPASI decoder sup-ports pass throughof up to two AESgroups (eight channels) of audio embed-ded; 7880ENC-J2K-IPASI also supportspass through of up to four AES groups(16 channels) of embedded audio; thesefunctions of the card are easily controlledthrough the Evertz VistaLINK interface.

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SGL FlashNet 6.4

A key new feature of the scalable contentstorage management system is the Amalga-mation Service, a workflow enhancementtool that allows small files to be archivedmore efficiently while significantly increas-ing access time; another new feature is theability to store index information on theCartridge Memory Chip on LTO tape,providing significantly improved accessspeed; traditionally index information iswritten on a partition on the tape and inorder to access that information, the tapehas to loaded and spooled; by writing tothe Cartidge Memory Chip, indexes aremore quickly accessed by the drive, re-sulting in rapid tape positioning and dataaccess.

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LYNX Technik CHD 1812

HDMI-to-SDI converter features twoelectrical SDI outputs, as well as an op-tional fiber-optic output; incorporatesan integrated frame symchronizer withfull cross lock capability to any sync refer-ence standard, making it ideal for ingest-ing HDMI signals into a broadcast facilityfrom an external asynchronous HDMIsource; audio in the HDMI signal is em-bedded into the SDI output, and the twoexternal analog audio inputs can be em-bedded into any AES channel.

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J2K Snell Morpheus ICE 2.2

Channel -in -a -box introduces additionalbranding tools for visually enhancingHD and/or SD channels; operators cangenerate vertical and horizontal crawlsvia automated URL or RSS feed, or frommanually created source information,and multiple DVE per mixer effects allowthem to squeeze different on -air contentwhile inserting graphics and audio effects;meets any head -end requirement with itsability to set specific VANC packets (suchas SCTE-104) in the outgoing video pathfor each on -air channel.

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Polecam Wide

Motorized camera head accommodatesDSLR cameras or camcorders of up 200mmwidth, 280mm height and 3.6kg weight;fully compatible with Polecam rigs of up to6m span; features a high -resolution pulse -width -modulated electronic drive, replac-ing the bipolar direct -current feed used onPolecam's previous joystick control system;optical pulse encoders fitted to the pan andtilt motors provide feedback to the motorcontroller, ensuring smooth and stable op-eration; motor braking is activated when-ever the joystick is stationary; integral 12 -pin connector delivers up to 12V at IA topower a camera.

www.polecam.com

Panasonic HDTV Producer

Main components of the video produc-tion studio include two AG-HMC80AVCCAM HD/SD professional camcord-ers for video capture, an AG-HMX100HD/SD AV mixer with MultiViewer forvideo and audio mixing with digital ef-fects, an AG-HMR10 compact AVCCAMrecorder for recording of up to four hoursof content, a 42in TH-42LF20 LCD moni-tor with 1080p resolution, as well as SDHCcards and all the audio/video accessoriesand cabling necessary to begin produc-ing HD content immediately; includesaccessories such as a Shure SM48LC mi-crophone and boom stand, an intercom/tally system with four headsets/belt packs,two tripod systems with dollies, and twozoom/focus rear lens control systems.

www.panasonic-broadcast.com

AJA Video

Compact field recordersupports all four typesof Apple ProRes 422(including HQ, LT andProxy); designed tosimplify the link be-tween production andpost by unobtrusivelyfitting in small spacesand acquiring on thebest codec for use withApple Final Cut Studio,from any SDI or HDMIcamera, regardless offormat; records edit -ready SD/HD filesfrom any camera to Compact Flash cards;offers skip log and capture with instantmounting of native OSX media, as wellas professional connectivity through SD/HD -SDI and HDMI I/O.

www.aja.com

Ki Pro Mini

Jampro JAT-U

Broadband batwing IV/V 470MHz to860MHz antenna; radome-enclosed unitcan be either top- or side -mounted ona tower; minimum windloading whileproviding broadband response makes itideal for applications where either onechannel is defined or multiple channelsare combined.

www.jampro.com


NEW PRODUCTSNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

Autoscript CuePlus

Tally accessory provides both a selectablecolor range and multiple color states; theability to select from a range of colors ad-dresses the needs of talent with color visionimpairments, such as color blindness; canbe mounted on and powered directly fromAutoscript's LED line of prompters.

www.autoscript.tv

EVS Sports360°

Enhonced Live Preaduction

Sports content management system aimsto help sports content owners, broadcast-ers and facility companies to address mul-tiple markets; features include enhancedlive production with high -end replays,on -the -fly editing, new ultra motion con-trol capabilities, overlay graphic analysisor 3-D replay and super -motion opera-tions, sports highlights and immediatemedia access and exchange with postproduction, logging and statistics inte-gration, second screen applications, andsports archive management; also includesmobile, Web streaming and multichanneldelivery.

www.evs.tv

Cobalt Digital 9257

Card -based MADI audio distribution am-plifier system, developed for openGear, isdesigned to provide a quick and easy wayto transport audio between vehicles with-out the need for fiber and without deg-radation; allows multiple signal copies tobe reclocked, preserving signal integrityand enabling a longer cable run; up to 20input channels of the scalable DA can beinstalled in one frame, making it ideal forthe limited space available in trucks.

www.cobaltdigital.com

Guntermann & Drunck DVICenter

DVI matrix switch is designed to opti-mize studio workflow; offers a centralizedconfiguration through a web interface orOSD; provides multiple users with accessto a series of computers using differentplatforms simultaneously; provides a highresolution of 1920 x 1200 at 60Hz overdistances of up to 280m by CAT cablingand up to 10km by fiber optics.

www.gdsys.de

Isilon Systems S200

Next -generation, ultra -high-performance2U NAS platform built on Isilon's unifiedscale -out technology; accelerates businessperformance and time to market withultra -fast primary storage for mission -critical, highly transactional and randomaccess file -based applications; scales withthe most demanding workflows and ap-plications; uses enterprise SSDs to accel-erate namespace-intensive metadata op-erations; enables placement of mission -critical, latency -sensitive data on SSDs ina SmartPools environment.

www.isilon.com

Sonnet Technologies Fusion F2-SSDRAID storage system features two high-performance 2.5in, 256MB SSDs side -by -side in an aluminum enclosure about thesize of two stacked CD cases; silent -run-ning system is designed to offer editorsuncompromising performance in the fieldand on location; with its two -port 6Gb/seSATA controller card, the system deliversup to 385MB/s sustained read speeds andcan be bus -powered via a FireWire powercable.

www.sonnettech.com

Thales Angenieux Optimo 45-120

PL -mount 45mm to 120mm T2.8 zoomlens has been designed for 35mm filmcameras and new generations of digitalcameras; available in meters or feet, itsfocus ring has a 320° focus rotation withmore than 50 precise focus witness marksand minimal breathing; small and lightenough for handheld cameras, steadicamor crane; long enough for close-ups.

www.angenieux.com

Haivision Viper MAX

Encoder/streaming device combinesHaivision's H.264 encoding with an inte-grated Furnace operating environment;through a simple, user-friendly touchscreen, operators can set up a multichan-nel session, initiate simultaneous stream-ing and recording, and automatically makecontent available for on -demand viewing;captures full -resolution, full -frame -rate,dual -channel content synchronously, as-suring contextual review; during a ses-sion, remote viewers can watch multi -stream HD content live by clicking a Weblink and launching Haivision's browser -independent InStream player.

www.haivision.com

FOR -A LTR-120HS

Video archiving recorder supports LTO-5(Linear Tape Open); features 1.5TB of re-cording capacity and LTFS portable filesystem; can be used as material/programexchange media server; using high -qual-ity AVC-Intra codec with HD -SDI input/output and MXF wrapper/un-wrapper,the MXF files on LTO-5 tape can be usedeasily by other NLE systems; enables "ar-chive at ingest" systems.

www.for-a.com

Wohlen AMP2-16V

Upgrades to the modular audio/videoprocessing monitor include auto -detectfor 3G/HD/SD and embedded Dolby,which enables customers to perform auto-matic monitoring in mixed signal formatenvironments; additional enhancementsinclude support for SMPTE 2020 meta -data monitoring, a menu lockout func-tion that prevents unauthorized changesto the unit's configuration, the ability tocycle through solo monitoring of defineddusters of audio channels at the press of abutton, an optical TOSLINK input optionfor monitoring the consumer's STB expe-rience, and improved display of metadataand stream status information.

www.wohler.com


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PlayBox Technology TimeShiftBox HD

Timeshift system provides accurate program time delays from one minute to a week ormore and fulfills all program time delay requirements; includes logo insertion as stan-dard; as an option, TitleBox can be added to offer full interactive CG, text and graphicskeyed over the time -shifted video; available as a turnkey system for single -channel ormultichannel HD-SDI/SD-SDI.

www.playbox.tv

Blackmagic Design

New features for the color correction toolinclude multilayer timeline support withediting, as well as XML import and ex-port with Apple Final Cut Pro 7 and AdobePremiere Pro; now includes OpenCL pro-cessing to allow use on Apple iMac andMacBook Pro computers; new advancedprocessing tools enable real-time noisereduction, curve grading, advanced multi -point stabilization and automatic stereoscopic 3-1) image alignment.

www.blackmagic-design.com

DaVinci Resolve 8

Videssence ExceLED 225 - Nine Light

High-performance LED fixtures at low wattages; suitable for large production studios,theaters and other areas that require a long throw and high light levels; produces over5200 lux at 9m; light has nine cubes with nine LED optical modules in each; the left andright row of cubes pivot outward to adjust or separate the beam spread; also offered in25W, 50W and 100W versions.

www.videssence.tv

Front Porch Digital

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DIVAdirector V4.2

Media asset management system enablesoperators, using their Web browsers, tosearch, locate and retrieve stored mediaassets directly from their desktops; newversion adds a revamped and simplifiedbrowser interface, support for identifica-tion and retrieval of clips with noncon-tiguous timecode, partial -restore formatauto -detection to further simplify user in-teractions with the complex format/wrap-per challenges handled by DIVArchive,and management of remote proxies with-out the need for their replication specifi-cally for DIVAdirector; offers enhancedintegration with SAMMA Solo system.

www.fpdigital.com

Telecast Fiber Systems TR6442i (CommLink)

Fiber-optic transceiver system can carry two intercom channels over a single strand offiber across distances of more than 40km; ideal for outside broadcasting; features auto -nulling hybrid technology, making it easy to interface with industry -standard party -lineand matrix -style intercom systems; when in two -wire mode, CommLink will extendtwo channels of a Clear-Com party -line system or an RTS two -wire intercom system;when no intercom power supply is available, the transceiver will act as a power supplyfor up to five intercom belt packs.

www.telecast-fiber.com


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JULIE DAHLSTROM

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Employment

Z24) C11930

RF/Studio EngineerABC2, WPTY Memphis, TN is seeking an RF/Stud Engineer If you have a good bacxgrcundwith TV Broadcast facilities, studio, news, andtrans -litter reps it and maintenance this is a greatoppo-unCy for you. You will be helpinc bui d astate of the art facility with a great team

The idea cancidate must have an AssociatesDegr---2 in ele:tronics, 3 years of b-oad:asttelesasion experience, strong troubleshootingskills with Thal2s Transmitters and sysbens bewell crganized and have a successful history inbroai:ast news and studio maintenance computerexpo- ence is a plus.

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The ideal candidate must have an AssociatesDegree in electronics, 5 years of broadcasttelevision experience, strong troubleshootingskills, be well organized and have a successfulhistory in broadcast news and studio maintenanceand the ability to work with Thales digitaltransmitters. IT experience is a plus.

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Products & Services

Disaster Resource Softwarefor the Broadcast Industry

Disaster Resource NavigatorlInforming the public to further the safety of lifeand property during disaster situations(Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, widespreadpower failures, etc.), it is critical to quickly notifythe public as to what resources are available.

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AD INDEXBroadcast Engineering is not responsible

for errors in the Advertisers Index.

Page Advertiser WebsiteHotline AddressSALES OFFICES

US/CANADA AJA Video 13 800-251-4224 aja.comWESTGeorge Watts III Amos by Spacecom 15 212-920-8868 amos-spacecom.com(360) 546-0379; Fax: (360) 546-0388georgeww3 @aol.com Apantac LLC 48 503-616-3711 apantac.com

Avid Technology 3 800 -949 -AVIDEASTEmily Kalmus avid.com/mmm/integrated news(312) 840-8473; Fax: (913) [email protected] Avitech 25 877- AVITECH avitechvideo.com

INTERNATIONAL BE online 57

EUROPE BE Subscriptions 63Richard Woolley+44-1295-278-407 BEST: Broadcast Engineering Specialized Training5lFax: +44-1295-278-408r ich a rdwoo I ley @ btcl ick.com Blackmagic Design 19 408-954-0500 blackmagic-design.com

Calrec Audio Ltd 36 +44(0)1422842159 calrec.comISRAELAsa Talbar DaySequerra 59 856-719-9900 daysequerra.com

Talbar Media+972 (77) [email protected]

Dell Inc.

Ensemble Designs

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JAPAN ESE 49 310-322-2136 ese-web.com

Mashy YoshikawaOrient Echo, Inc. Evertz Microsystems Ltd IBC 877-995-3700 evertz.com

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EVS Broadcast Equipment 41 973-575-7811 evs.tv

For. A Corporation of America 42, 67 714-894-3311 for-a.corn

ASIA PACIFIC Harmonic Inc. 21 harmonicinc.com/mediagridTan May LingInterAct Media & Marketing Intelsat 17 +44 20-3036-6700 intelsat.com+65 9623 1405; Fax: +65 6265 [email protected] Linear Acoustic 27 717-735-3611 linearacoustic.com

LYNX Technik AG 16 +49 6150 18170 lynx-technik.comCLASSIFIED ADVERTISINGJulie Dahlstrom Matrox Electronic Systems 39 800-361-4903 matrox.com/video(312) 840-8436Fax: (913) [email protected]

Miranda Technologies Inc 9 514-333-1772 miranda.com/stn

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LIST RENTAL SERVICES Riedel Communications 61, 63, 65 818-241-4696 riedel.net

Marie BrigantiMeritDirect Sencore 29 605-978-4810 sencore.com

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Snell Group 23 snellgroup.com

Solid State Logic IFC 212-315-1111 solidstatelogic.com/c10

Stagetec USA 55 888-782-4391 stagetec.comCustomer Service:913-967-1707 or 800-441-0294 Stanford Research Systems 33 408-744-9040 thinksrs.com

Broadcast Engineering, August 2011, Vol. 53, No. 8 (ISSN Studer USA 31 866-406-2349 studerch0007-19941 is published monthly and mailed free to qualifiedpersons by Penton Media, Inc. 9800 Metcalf Ave., Overland Thales Angenieux 7 973-812-3858 angenieux.comPark, KS 66212-2216. Periodicals postage paid at ShawneeMission, KS, and additional mailing offices. Canadian Post TVU Networks 45 650-969-6732 tvupack.com

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40612608. Canada returnaddress: Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON

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Overland Park, KS 66212-2216 Phone: 913-341-1300; Edit. fax:

913-967-1905. Advert. fax: 913-967-1904. © 2011 by Penton aMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.


EOMDEPARTMENT

Virtual trade showsOnline technical conferences provideeducation with a convenience factor.

n electrical problem hasshut down Amtrak andclosed the northeast cor-ridor tracks into New

York?' Those were the words I heardone morning at 5 a.m. as I got into theshower and turned on both the hotwater and my shower radio. An invet-erate news junky, the shower radio isalways set to the local all -news stationand provides my first fix of the day.As I stepped under the hot spray, thenewscaster's words elicited a "What?Oh, no!"

It was the opening day of SMPTE's2nd Annual International Conferenceon Stereoscopic 3-D for Media andEntertainment, which was held at theBroadway Millenium Hotel in NewYork City -a convenient walk fromPenn Station. Rather than fighting themorning drive traffic, my plan - agood one at the time or so I thought- was to opt for the more civilizedcommute of a relaxing train ride intoPenn Station via the now unfortunate-ly stilled northeast corridor rail tracks.Well, that obviously was not going towork, especially after an updated newsreport said that repairs would likely becompleted later in the morning, butthere would still be significant sched-ule delays throughout the day.

Time for Plan B: the unrelaxed anddefinitely uncivil drive into Manhat-tan. Better listen to the traffic report.Surprise! The rail shutdown has cre-ated significant delays at the bridgesand tunnels going into Manhattanand all the arteries on the New Jerseyside feeding them.

At that point, figuring the morn-ing and possibly more was a certainloss, it was time to take a look at theagenda to assess what sessions I wasgoing to miss. As I brought up theconference schedule on my iMac, I

BY ANTHONY R. GARGANO

couldn't help but think how expedi-ent it would have been to attend thesessions in virtual fashion from thecomfort of my office chair. No trainschedule hassles, no drive time fraz-zle, no need for anything other thanjeans and sneaks.

Personally, attending a virtual tradeshow is an option that I really wouldonly exercise in an emergency. Theopportunity for face-to-face interac-tion and discussion with industry col-leagues during breaks in between thetechnical sessions and at the organizedsocial functions is almost as important

For those withrestricted travel

budgets, attendinga virtual conference

is better than noconference at all.

as the sitting, listening and learningaspects of the sessions themselves. Butthere is an argument to be made thatin the event of last-minute delays orfor those with restricted travel budgetsin today's tight economy, attending avirtual conference is better than noconference at all.

Clearly, not without complica-tions for the organizers, providinga virtual attendance option to a liveevent requires discipline, particularlyon the part of the presenters. Slidesand presentation materials need to besubmitted sufficiently in advance inorder to enable day of the event avail-ability to the online attendees. Havingpreviously served in various roles asa session organizer, panel moderatorand a presenter guilty of turning inlate slides (mea culpa), I know howdaunting of a task this can be.

Also, let's not overlook the practi-cal considerations. A technical con-ference is designed not only to impartinformation to the attendees, but alsoit serves as a revenue generator forthe conference hosting organization.And, that revenue is most importantin that it allows the host to organizefuture sessions for attendee educationand to provide forums for technologydevelopers and venues for presenters.Thus, a reasonable stipend for onlinesession attendance is something to beexpected and accepted. Who knows?Paid online attendance might evenoffer an exciting new revenue oppor-tunity for conference organizers whocould then invest in even better con-ference events.

But back to the SMPTE 3-D con-ference. SMPTE recently announcedits YouTube channel (nice to see ourfundamental standards body actu-ally using the media whose technol-ogy it oversees!), and you can find anexcerpt or two from the conferencethere. It's a far cry from an online at-tendance option but perhaps a greatfirst step. Opting to get there at allcosts, I set out driving only to en-counter a huge construction delay fol-lowed by a bumper -to -bumper crawldue to a traffic accident. Finally, con-cluding it was just not meant to be,I disappointedly turned back towardmy home office with visions, unfor-tunately not to be realized, of sittingthere comfortably in those jeans andsneaks attending the conference. Mylong-term colleague and dear friendSMPTE president Pete Lucie, are youlistening? BE

Anthony R. Gargano is a consultant andformer industry executive.



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