Pushing the envelope
In an industry that has always been driven by technology, things in broadcast are changing up really fast right now. If you are focused on getting today’s show on the air and making sure everyone and everything is in place for tomorrow, how do you find time to stay on top of what’s new?
How do you know what is relevant to you and your productions? How do you know which sets of initials are important and which you don’t need to care about? How do you when to embrace the new and when to stick to the tried and tested?
When it comes to connectivity, Hornets Tech can help. I started in live television engineering 25 years ago, on some of the biggest and most demanding events. Whatever your challenge, the team here has been there and done that. We know the issues you are facing.
But we also have very close relationships with leading vendors, and in particular those who are leading the transformation of the industry. We talk directly with their development teams, understanding why they do what they do and guiding their progress to ensure the solutions they propose are what the industry really needs.
There is an issue that we all need to face, and I think it is best that we say it clearly. In the old days, the engineers building hardware and those operating it in live broadcasts came from pretty much the same background and spoke the same language. Today, the expectations of broadcast are the same - very very high reliability, very low latency - but the people developing the products are from a completely different world. Software platforms, open standards and interworking can seem a foreign language.
One of the companies we are very proud to represent is SipRadius. These guys are extremely turned on to IP connectivity. The CTO was lead on the open standard RIST, and they are very active in many areas. Their products, I think, are outstanding.
The role that Hornets Tech plays is to take broadcast requirements to SipRadius to fulfil, and to take the latest software-enhanced thinking to production companies to show that a new technique can make their lives better.
Here is an example. Timing has always been seen as critical to broadcast infrastructures. Typically, a station master clock will send pulses around every device in the production chain, keeping everything perfectly synchronised.
When remote productions moved from SDI to IP connectivity, the first thought was that that precise station timing had to be replicated, and engineers continue to suffer a lot of heartache trying to distribute PTP, the IP precision timing protocol. It really is not easy.
SipRadius took a fresh look at the problem. PTP is a proven and established standard, but actually it is more than we need in television. It works to microsecond accuracy, when we only need milliseconds. What if we can simplify things by working with close enough time, asked SipRadius.
And they came up with the simple idea of an IP edge device, feeding into a distant broadcast centre, that had its own source of accurate time. That could be a GPS receiver, or it could be as simple as a cellular receiver. Either gives a very reliable, stable time signal which is accurate enough to synchronise all the local devices, and precise enough to lock up with all the other sources in master control.
The result is a box you were going to have to buy anyway - to provide the gateway onto the IP circuits back to the broadcast centre - but which also fulfils the master clock role. Simple, affordable, reliable and deliverable today.
Another area where the specialist understanding of Hornets Tech can be very helpful is in wireless cameras. These are very popular with directors, because they give shots which would otherwise be impossible, elevating the production with more insights and intimacy.
There are a number of vendors today who offer wireless camera connectivity using bonded cellular: either a backpack or a large on-camera device that contains maybe four cellular channels. Grouped together these provide adequate bandwidth for cameras, together with freedom of movement.
The attraction of them is that they take little or no set-up time. The downside, though, is that the processing involved, including splitting the signal across multiple channels then resynchronising, often in the cloud, leads to a relatively high latency. More important, you are relying on cellular bandwidth which can get congested - not least at major sporting events - means the potential for signal dropouts at critical moments.
When the pictures absolutely have to be perfect and on time, there is no substitute for the proven COFDM RF link. Yes, you have to rig receivers, but you know you have dedicated, segregated bandwidth that you manage and no-one is going to encroach on.
We work with Domo Broadcast Systems, a major supplier of RF cameras. They were pioneers in RF mesh technology, eliminating the need for carefully placed receivers. Using a mesh, wireless cameras can freely move around a large area. The technology was proven years ago on the Boat Race, providing multiple cameras on along a 6.8km stretch of the River Thames.
The goal for any live broadcast production has to be to capture the action, the emotions and the excitement of the event. The technology serves those goals: it has to be precise, low latency and uncompromised in quality. Hornets Tech can help you identify the right tools for the job.