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5.7

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RAI AmsterdamConference 9-14 September : Exhibition 10-14 September

And thewinner is. IBC's awards are really special - because they reward thepeople and projects who make a difference in our industry.Creative, technical and commercial: IBC looks to recognisethose who have changed the way we work with media.

The IBC Awards are made up of four categories: IBC Innovation Awards IBC International Honour for Excellence IBC Exhibition Design Awards IBC Conference Award

IBC's highest award, the International Honour for Excellence will bepresented, and the winners of the IBC Innovation Awards will be announced.

The IBC awards ceremony is a fast moving, sparkling event which canbe guaranteed to include some surprises - last year we enjoyed a unique16 minute preview of the 3D movie Avatar, three months before its release.

Join us on the red carpet on Sunday 12 Septemberfor the awards which really matter in our industry.Previous winners include: The Metropolitan Opera -New York, ESPN, MENOS, ASBU, JefferyKatzenberg - Dreamworks Animation, Walt Disney Pictures, NBC Universal, KLPD for Amber Alert

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- Variety of I/O options such as HD/SD-SDI inputs, DVI-D, VGA, HD/SD analog

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- Dual 16 -split multiviewer, supporting 4, 10 or 16 -split view with tally

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 44171 °.41;-'112 -"N"foilic;ji;

"1" -di4.111.1CVOLUME 52 I NUMBER 7 I JULY 2010

Broadcast Engineering®

FEATURES44 Automation trends: Key developments

for today and tomorrowThe demand for process improvement haspushed automation technologies to new limits.

48 3-D channel brandingFind out where to place 3-Dgraphics for optimal viewing.

52 Keys to successGain the respect of your managementteam with the following four tips.

BEYOND THE HEADLINESDOWNLOAD

12 File -based workflowHuman factors affect the adoptionof new technologies.

FCC UPDATE16 Must carry survives

The Supreme Court deniedCablevision's appeal to must carry.

DIGITAL HANDBOOKTRANSITION TO DIGITAL

18 Broadcast monitorsOLED and 3-D monitors are becomingpractical for professional use.

COMPUTERS & NETWORKS22 Firewalls and VPNs

Two tools provide critical securityfor the media professional.

PRODUCTION CLIPS26 Bag of tricks

Unlikely additions to your kit canmake all the difference.

continued on page (

4 broadcastengineering.coml July 2010

Blac <magicdesign

Introducing UltraStudio Pro, the world's firstbroadcast quality editing for USB 3.0 computers!

UltraStudio Pro is the world's first professional video solution for USB3.0 computers! Only UltraStudio Pro has state of the art broadcasttechnology miniaturized into an attractive ultra -thin design with amassive number of video and audio connections, hardware up, downand cross conversion, full 10 bit SD/HD video quality, internal SDkeying and more! Get broadcast quality capture from any video device

with amazing cinema style monitoring with full real time effects!

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UltraStudio Pro includes 3 Gb/s SDI, HDMI,

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Incredible Quality with USB 3.0

UltraStudio Pro takes advantage of the new

SuperSpeed" USB 3.0 to allow highest quality 10 bitHD video capture and playback! SuperSpeed USB 3.0

is 10 times faster than regular USB. That's a blistering 4.8 Gb/s, whicheasily handles the highest quality 10 bit uncompressed 1080HD video

with maximum real time effects.

Powerful Image Processor

UltraStudio Pro includes a fast video processor

for incredible 10 bit quality hardware up,down and cross conversion! Now you can

edit once and deploy in SD, 720HD or 1080HD! Select letterbox,anamorphic 16:9 and pillar -box 4:3 video. When working in HD youcan even monitor in SD and HD at the same time!

Use the Software You Love!

I. Work with the software you love to use! UltraStudio Prosupports mJltilayer real time effects in Premiere Pro`

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TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED)

VOLUME 52 1 NUMBER 7 1JULY 2010

SYSTEMS INTEGRATIONDIGITAL TUTORIAL

30 Router control systemsRouter systems should minimizeinterruptions and maximize flexibility.

SHOWCASE36 Golf Channel shoots high (def)

for newly upgraded facilityThe channel moved to a file -based workflow.

NEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWSAPPLIED TECHNOLOGY

56 Tufin network security

FIELD REPORT58 SiliconDust's HDHomeRun

combined with Elgato's EyeTVequals a low-cost DVR for news

TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSITION60 TV synchronization

Timing and synchronization haveprogressed since the first live TVsignal from the World's Fair.

NEW PRODUCTS62 OmniBus' iTX and more

DEPARTMENTS8 EDITORIAL

10 FEEDBACK64 CLASSIFIEDS65 ADVERTISERS INDEX66 EOM

SEE IT ONLINE!Register for upcoming training series webcasts,and download past events on -demand.

Learn more at http://broadcastengineering.com/webcast/

6 broadcastengineering.com I July 2010

ON THE COVER:The Golf Channel's new 4700sq-ft Studio A includes sixproduction areas.

tufin

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streaming solution from ViewCast. On the outside, its sleek, innovative design and

responsive touch -control interface will excite you. Its brilliant higt-resolution HD display

will dazzle you. But on the inside, it s a beast.

The Niagara 7500 devours your HD s.ideo and easily transforms it nto high -qua ity streams

for delivery to IP and mobile networks. Its powerful video pre-processing features stream-

line and simplify your workflow. Inverse telecine, closed caption extraction and rendering,

de -interlacing, scaling, cropping and bitmap overlay are just a few of its standard features.

You can switch on -the -fly between -D or SD video, and with ViewCast's SimulStream"

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EDITORIALDEPARTMENT

Google TVI've previously been of the opinion that TV viewerswould never settle for watching TV programming oncomputers because it required a lean forward expe-rience. Watching from your easy chair, on the other

hand, is a lean -back experience. There is a significant dif-ference both in the comfort and ease of use factors; I nowmay have to change my opinion.

At its May I/O conference, Google revealed its highlyanticipated Google TV product. Google TV is a combi-nation of software and hardware that merges the Internetand TV. Google's solution combines its new Android 2.2software, called Froyro, with a Sony TV.

Trying to read e-mail or surf the Internet on a TV haspreviously proven to be neither easy nor satisfying. Bal-ancing a keyboard and mouse from an easy chair is dif-ficult, at best, and Internet sites often display improperlyon a TV screen; however, Google's new approach promisesto be an easy experience.

Google has taken its search expertise and added user-friendly control in a lean -back environment. With GoogleTV, an Android phone can be used to enable voice con-trol. Simply say, "`Simpsons' TV show," and your GoogleTV would display the options for such tagged content.How about e-mail? Forget that now -ancient AOL phrase,"You've got mail." With Google TV, you'll be able reade-mail just by saying, "Open my e-mail:'

Because the platform is Android -based, thousands of de-velopers may bring new features, control and applicationsto the TV set. Google claims that 100,000 Android devicesare activated every day, and the platform is supported by

50,000 Android applications. Imagine what TV sets mightbe able to do when armed with third -party apps?

One might ask why Google wants to enter the TV mar-ket. It's not because the company wants to sell applications;it's because there are 4 billion TV sets around the world,and $70 billion is spent annually on TV advertising in theUnited States alone. Google wants a piece of this revenue.

Advertisers also could benefit from this new TV func-tionality. While today's advertising messages are passive,Google TV will enable a two-way dialog. When the viewersees an interesting product on a TV program, he will beable to quickly access more information about it, find alocal dealer and even contact the vendor. Combined withhome and viewer demographics, Google TV could becomeMadison Avenue's next hurrah.

Why should broadcasters even care about Google TV?Any technology that further enhances the viewer expe-

rience is good for broadcasters. Yes, the technology meansa variety of competition will be displayed along with yourstation on any EPG or listing. But with context search ca-pability, station content will be equally visible with otherchoices. This means local programming will stand outeven more, unlike now when your station or network isjust one of 500 other channels.

Today's viewers don't know or care whether the pro-grams come from satellite, cable, over the air, Internet orby water pipe. What viewers want is to be able to easilyfind the desired content and then view it in a comfort-able environment. Does Google TV effectively provideall these functions and features? Perhaps not yet, but itdoes appear Google is closer to an effective solution thananyone else.

EDITORIAL DIRECTORSend comments to: editor broadcastengineering.com

BE


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FEEDBACKDEPARTMENT

The 700MHz issueDear editor:

I have a question regarding wireless microphones in stage, PA and filmwork. Have you any comment about the FCC's take on "revisions?" Do yousee a trend either sweeping unlicensed devices out of the way or perhaps justleaving them alone? I received an e-mail message from FCC.gov early thismonth stating a "position" pertaining to microphones in the 700MHz band.Have you any sense of updates?

John D. HarmerHarmer Associates

Mitchell Lazarus responds:As of June 12, operation of wireless microphones in the 698MHz-

806MHz band is prohibited.The FCC has proposed new rules that would allow legal, unlicensed oper-

ation of TV -band wireless microphones by anyone at powers below 50mW.There are also proposals to expand eligibility for licensed microphonesabove 50mW beyond the present group of broadcast, cable and film pro-ducers. We are not likely to see these rules adopted for several months.

In the meantime, the FCC is allowing operation of wireless microphonesbelow 50mW by anyone on an unlicensed basis, under temporary waivers.

Mitchell LazarusFletcher, Heald & Hildreth, PLC

The FCC's spectrumplan report andauction

Here are a few responses to the re-cent flurry of activity regarding theFCC's spectrum plan, a proposedspectrum auction and the potentialloss of must carry.

Dear editor:Without having read the report,

which I suspect would more accu-rately be described as a con job or

verbal sleight of hand, I'd bet a week'spay (being almost retired makes thata safe bet) there are no facts regard-ing skyrocketing cable rates. No factsabout cable bundling versus a la cartepricing. No facts regarding much ofthe population in the United Statesnot knowing that programming canbe received off -air let alone a la carteand for free!

It would not surprise me if the re-port is based more on assumptionsthan facts.

Hopefully broadcast and engineerassociations - NAB, SBE, etc. - willwake up and start addressing the im-pending loss of broadcast spectrum!

Robin Adair -Weber

Dear editor:This proves the European method

of DTV transition (multichannel mul-tiplexes containing at least four chan-nels and operated by a third party) issimply more economical and makesbetter use of available resources. Alsomoving to AVC/H.264 would be smart.If ATSC had a system like DVB-CI,then pocket-size MPEG-4-to-MPEG-2transcoders could upgrade any com-patible set, easing the transition.

Mike Petersen

Dear editor:Handing the OTA free -to -watch

spectrum over to the pay-as-you-go corporations is akin to allowingfiefdoms along the nation's high-ways to set up their own system oftoll bridges. Follow the money to seewhere this line of logic originates. Itis not with the end users, I can tellyou that.

ARCSTV

Not impressedThe story "ABC's 'Jimmy Kimmel

Live' and `Nightline' use Apple prod-ucts for broadcast -quality produc-tion" story on June 25 got this reactionfrom a viewer. To recap, when a powerfailure struck the studio of JimmyKimmel's late night ABC show, thehost used his Apple Macbook's web -cam to shoot the show. ABC aired itthe next night, giving Kimmel a hugeboost of publicity.

Dear editor:If that was "broadcast quality" then

Fisher-Price needs to start relabelingits video recorders (the ones that usean audio cassette tape) as SD cams!The audio was horrible, and the videowas so loaded with artifacts, it lookedlike it came from YouTube.

Brassscrounger

10 broadcastengineering.com 1July 2010

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DOWNLOADBEYONDTHE HEADLINES

File -based workflowHuman factors affect the adoption

of new technologies.

In this second installment onaspects of file -based workflow,the topic turns to the humanfactors affecting implementa-

tion and how to implement softwaresystems in hardware -based broadcastsolutions. (Check out the first part ofthis article series, "File -based work-flow: Bits and bytes made into pro-

There are aspects offile -based workflowthat make it quite

different from analog ortape -based workflows.

grams," in the April issue of BroadcastEngineering.) Make no mistake, thedifferences are substantial, and thelearning curve is steep.

There are aspects of file -basedworkflow that make it quite differ-ent from analog or tape -based work-flows at the every level. It is impor-tant to note that the business itself is

BY JOHN LUFF

also affected directly by the decisionto move to new technology. But inthis case, the business systems, whichpreviously could often work with pa-per -based approaches, can no longeravoid being tightly integrated withthe new technology.

PBS solutionA case in point is the implementa-

tion of "NRT," non -real-time transfersof content from Alexandria, VA, toaffiliated stations, now under way atPBS. (See Figure 1.) Files are "pitched"to the stations over an IT -based satel-lite file transfer system. Once received,the files are cached on IT servers, aprocess that is part of PBS' StationServices Platform (SSP), before theyare moved to the station's video serv-ers. The more interesting part of thetechnology is the movement of meta -data. The metadata - including accu-rate start of message (SOM), durationand program details like series andepisode number - are distributedwith the content and then parsed di -

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

Market for wireless video -enabled CE devices to increaseThe number of units will rise to 85.2 million by 2014.

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rectly to the local traffic system fromthe SSP. Upon receiving the metadata,traffic has the choice of marking thecontent for movement to the air serverand then sending a "dub list" directlyto the SSP, which executes an FTPtransfer of the content to the station'svideo server. All this happens withoutany time spent in MCR to find andmark the content because the meta -

data flows with the content.It is important to note that the SSP

contains a critical bit of technologythat allows seamless interoperationbetween PBS and all of the stations.The SSP contains a transcoding enginethat takes the AMWA AS -03 -compli-ant files and makes them compatiblewith the station's local video server.No action is required by the station,and no special versions are needed foreach station. This tight integration ofseveral processes - transmission ofthe file, local cache, transcoding andFTP - constitutes an automatedworkflow that immediately affectsPBS' business operation in a materialway. It saves labor and will eventuallyenable PBS to cut the amount of sat-ellite bandwidth needed to move real-time content by shifting distributionto non -real-time file transfers.

A consortium including WarnerBrothers, CBS and Ascent Media isdoing something similar for long-

form commercial content in a systemit calls "Pitch Blue." Though differentin the details, the operation is mostlythe same. Content is sent as real-timeMPEG streams to a local cache server.No record list is needed. Content des-tined for each station is simply deliv-ered. This is similar to various com-mercial delivery services except thatthe end -to -end workflow was takeninto account and no ingest operationis required.


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Terrestrialdata path

Station services platform

File receptionsystem

AS 03files

Filetranscode

Station trafficsystem

Station videoserver

Stationnativefiles

Figure 1. In PBS' Station Services Platform (SSP), files are "pitched" to stations over an IT-

based satellite file transfer system.The SSP uses a transcoding engine to deliver the filesin a format compatible with a station's local video server.

Pitch Blue uses transport streamrecorders where PBS is using true filetransfer hardware. Both have self-

healing capabilities should packetsbe lost in transmission, and both useterrestrial data paths to make requestsfor lost packets and allow the distantoperators to check the status of con-tent and the health of the transmis-sion system. In both cases, FEC isused to allow some packet errors tobe corrected without retransmissionrequests. Both systems are ultimatelybacked up by the ability to send thecontent in real time, live or for localrecording by existing methods.

This kind of holistic integration ofthe file -based approach with existingbusiness operations is important. Asthe number of streams transmittedincreases, it will become harder to runefficient operations using old methods.Adoption of file -based methods is in-evitable, in part because the hardwareused for tape -based approaches is be-ginning to disappear slowly. At NABthis year, there was a recorder shownthat uses LTO-4 tapes and an internalMPEG-2 encoder to record files directlyon tapes which may be directly usablein some archive implementations.

One thing should be clear: File -based workflow is quite distinct fromtape -based approaches because it usesan IT infrastructure. This means de-signing, operating and maintaining thesystem is an IT issue, with constraints

real-time video puts on network topol-ogy, bandwidth and security. For in-stance, a single uncompressed SMPTE292 ( I.485Gb/s) signal requires atleast 10GigE. Because television filesseldom need more than 440Mbis,common GigE hardware suffices forfaster -than -real-time transfers of files.Because broadcast files are consider-ably skinnier, the overhead available ismore than adequate to move files sev-eral times faster than several times realtime or to move multiple files over onelink at the same time.

Securing content is critical. Systemsconnected to outside networks, espe-cially ones not locked down tightly,are dangerous at best and should beavoided. It is important to explain toIT designers that all aspects of topol-ogy and security need to be vettedbefore starting a complex file -basedworkflow system design to avoid dis-cussions about common IT securitytactics that don't work well with real-time video services. In an ideal world,the storage system would be infinitein size and speed and never requireupgrading. In reality, economics re-quire tiered storage.

Video server storage systems areexpensive because they need to sup-port many simultaneous I/O ports athigh bandwidth. A better approachis to use nearline storage (spinningdisks of a less expensive, lower perfor-mance type) and deeper archive with

removable media such as LTO tapes.While this approach lowers costs, italso introduces storage managementissues and complexity. The result is aneed to have a system that managesthe tiered storage, including offlinestorage of content on shelves or in re-mote locations. An archive managerproduct becomes a critical element offile -based workflow implementation.

An important part of file manage-ment is managing the metadata. Thesystem must keep track of the con-tent itself, the metadata describing itand its heritage, and also when andhow it has been used and the expira-tion dates for the rights. Modifyingthe content in one database oftenrequires changes to another relateddatabase. Keeping them all in syncrequires good planning at the time ofimplementation and a locked -downapproach to details in operation.

Though these systems are complex,they have become more affordable. In-deed, it is inappropriate not to protectthe content and the metadata equally.The Advanced Media Workflow As-sociation (AMWA) is working to addstandardized data protection to files.The protection would be added to theessence, the metadata and the entirefile wrapper. (See Figure 2.)

Let's assume you are tasked withinvestigating and implementing afile -based workflow. Common senseshould prevail, but first one shouldadmit that implementing softwaresystems is not like hanging gear in arack and running a bunch of coax. Itrequires meticulous planning in thesystems and in understanding whatneeds to be done. Defining a newsystem as a replacement for an oldsystem may lead to the conclusionthat you have to find a file -based ap-proach for each step in a tape -basedworkflow. The first task should be tounderstand the steps in the existingworkflow and what drives them. Us-ing the PBS example from earlier, it isclear that the old workflow was to is-sue a record log, record a show from asatellite receiver, ingest the tape in theserver (or at least mark it for playback



by automation) and report back totraffic on paper any errors. In a file -based workflow, the equivalent mayhappen entirely in traffic.

The people factorIt is likely that any new implementa-

tion plans will include changes in howpeople work. Make no mistake; themanagement of people's expectationsis a critical part of any system plan.People resist change. Any significantnew process, especially one not eas-ily understood, is hard to accomplish

from an old server system to a newone. The complications seemed easyto overcome, but issues such as up-dating the automation database onthe new system and interfaces to traf-fic and archive management (both oldand new systems) had to be detailed.Most importantly, the essence andmetadata needed to be moved seam-lessly from one system to the other.Every step turned out to be compli-cated, with multiple vendors interfac-ing at several critical points to be surethe content moved efficiently and was

246""" Checksum protecting entire file

hecksum protect[metadata

Figure 2: The Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) is working to addstandardized data protection to files.The protection would be added to the essence,metadata and wrapper of the file.

without conflict. It is critical to involveeveryone who has a stake in the out-come early in defining what the systemshould do in complete detail.

Equally important is the need toinvolve potential partners supplyingsoftware to the project. Set up a clearand direct line of communicationwith the people who will actually bedoing the implementation. Assemblethem all in a room and review theplans in detail. Articulate not howyou want it wired, but rather howyou need it to work. Use clear lan-guage to discover all of the interfacepoints between software systems. Geteveryone to understand what com-munications pass across every inter-face, especially security and topologyissues. Each problem needs to be as-signed to someone to solve. The en-tire team, including vendors, needs tocommunicate regularly and adhere toa schedule for completion.

One project I have been involvedin recently included moving content

transcoded into MXF. We were fortu-nate to have an SQL database experton staff during the project, and wehad the luxury of a test system onwhich we could test transcoded es-sence as we tried different settings inthe transcode process.

SOAIT technology has also offered us a

tool that is particularly well -suited todeveloping workflows. Service -orient-ed architecture (SOA) is not itself aworkflow; rather, it allows individualprocesses to be "plugged in" using Webservices interfaces. Tasks and metadataare passed over standardized protocolsfrom one process to the next. An SOAmanagement plane allows processmonitoring and defining the workflowacross multiple applications. For in-stance, content may need to be movedfrom an archive, analyzed for file

structure, moved to the appropriatetranscoder drop folder, transcoded toiPhone format and delivered to a Web

server for consumer access. One mightmanage all of the steps manually ordefine the workflow in SOA and allowthe content to move from one applica-tion to the next without intervention,reporting back at each step any errorsto the SOA system while modifyingmetadata in relevant databases alongthe way.

The AMWA and the EBU recentlyissued a Request for Technology tostandardize the essence and meta -data interfaces between componentsin a workflow system. The project,"Joint EBU - AMWA Task Force onFrameworks for Interoperable MediaServices (FIMS)" seeks not to rede-fine basic SOA technology, but ratherto define how messages are passed sothat common APIs can be used byvendors, simplifying the implementa-tion of SOA in many facilities.

New channelsOne of the strongest drivers for file -

based workflow is the explosion incontent delivery methods and formats.If a station has to deliver to multipledestinations, it is much more compli-cated if content is not moved as files.Transcoding content to many outputformats can be done in one holisticworkflow, rather than as separate se-rial processes. Consider for a momentthe problem of deleting media and allof the relevant metadata or keepingproxy files up to date when new ver-sions are created. Metadata must linkto all of the relevant content withouterror. Complex file -based workflowsystems require careful planning andimplementation to ensure the integ-rity of the whole system is not com-promised. Reconstructing the correctrelationships later can be difficult.

Broadcasters recognize the need tomove to file -based workflows. Theyrepresent effective and cost-efficientways of doing business. It just re-quires good planning, flawless ex-ecution and great attention to detailin operation. BE

John Luff is a broadcast technologyconsultant.

July 201C I broadcastengineering.com 15

FCC UPDATEBEYONDTHE HEADLINES

Must carry survivesThe Supreme Court denied

Cablevision's appeal to must carry.

The Supreme Court has de-cided not to hear an appealfiled by Cablevision relativeto last year's decision by the

U.S. Court of Appeals for the SecondCircuit upholding a must -carry "mar-ket modification" ruling by the FCC.

BackgroundThe must -carry rules have long

been a thorn in the side of the cableindustry. Those rules compel cablecompanies to carry local stations intheir markets for free. Of course, re-cent developments on the retransmis-sion consent front might indicate thatlocal station carriage may in fact haveconsiderable value to cable operators.Even so, the concept of the govern-ment ordering any company to giveaway services has been a source ofconsternation among cable interestsfor decades.

Turner decisionsIn 1994 and again in 1997, the

cable industry launched full-scaleattacks on must carry and came

DatelineNoncommercial TV stations in

California, North Carolina and SouthCarolina must file their biennialownership reports by Aug. 2.

By Aug. 2, TV and Class A TVstations in the following statesmust place their EEO public filereports in their files and post themon their websites: California, Illinois,North Carolina, South Carolina andWisconsin.

Aug. 2 is the deadline for TV sta-tions in California to electronicallyfile their broadcast EEO midtermreports (Form 397) with the FCC.

BY HARRY C MARTIN

close to getting it declared uncon-stitutional in the Supreme Court'sTurner Broadcast v. FCC decisions.In those cases, a divided court up-held the FCC's must -carry rules andthe Communications Act provisionsthat gave rise to them.

"Facial" versus "asapplied" challenges

The Turner decisions were note-worthy because they involved "facial"challenges to must carry. That is, thechallengers' claim was that the law wasunconstitutional on its face, withoutregard to any particular set of factsto which the law might be applied.A bare majority of the court, appar-ently convinced that the law mightbe constitutional in at least some set-tings, was not inclined to go that far.However, they reserved judgment asto whether must carry would survivean "as applied" attack, i.e., a challengebased on a specific factual setting.

The Cablevision petitionCablevision thought that it had an

excellent candidate for an "as applied"challenge when WRNN-TV, a stationin Kingston, NY, about 100mi northof New York City, asserted must -carryrights on some Cablevision systems inLong Island. The station's signal hadbeen entitled to must carry on thosesystems in the early 1990s, but Cable -vision had convinced the commissionto exclude those systems from thatobligation, relying in particular onthe reach (or lack thereof) of the sta-tion's Grade B contour. In response,the station moved its transmitterabout 50mi closer to NYC, therebycorrecting the Grade B shortfall. Thestation then asked the commissionto reinstate its previous must -carryrights on the Long Island systems.

The commission granted the request.Cablevision appealed to the full com-mission, was unsuccessful and thenappealed to the Second Circuit. It thenfiled a petition for certiorari with theSupreme Court.

Denial of certIn its petition to the Supreme Court,

Cablevision showed that Kingston is100mi away from Long Island andargued that WRNN-TV is not a localstation deserving must -carry rights. InMay, the Supreme Court declined totake the case and in doing so offeredno opinion or insight on either Cable -vision's case or must carry. Such sum-mary dismissals are customary whenthe court decides not to hear a case.

One theory about the reason for thedenial is that the court did not see this"as applied" case as raising a policy issueof sufficient importance for SupremeCourt disposition. A less fact -specificfacial attack, such as was mounted inthe Turner decisions, on must carrymight have had more appeal becausethe resulting decision, whether it was inCablevision's favor, would potentiallyhave had broad First Amendment im-plications. This is speculation, however.The court simply may have determinedthat it is premature to revisit must carrywhen the second Turner decision isonly 13 years old. BE

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

12Send questions and comments to:harry.martingpenton.corn

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TRANSITION TO DIGITALDIGITAL HANDBOOK

Broadcast monitorsOLED and 3-D monitors are

becoming practical for professional use.

Video monitoring technol-ogy continues to evolveat an amazing pace. Justconsider the variety of new

broadcast and production monitorsthat were announced and demon-strated at NAB this year, including thedebut of a number of 3-D products.It's no surprise that 3-D was amongthe top themes at the show. "Avatar"is now the highest -grossing film ofall time, several new 3-D consumerHDTVs were introduced this spring,and analysts are predicting that up to80 million 3-D TV sets could be soldby 2015. Coverage of 3-D at the con-ference involved all aspects of 3-D,including cameras, post production,distribution and displays.

LCD monitors have now displacedCRTs as replacement (and new) prod-ucts in video facilities; some even ex-ceed CRT capabilities. Plasma panelshave found a home meeting the re-quirements for large displays. New

BY ALDO CUGNINI

technologies continue to advanceperformance. This month, we'll ex-amine new technologies available invideo displays.

OLED becomes a realityOLED displays, only recently a lab-

oratory curiosity, are now practical,

and they are becoming available forprofessional use. The displays useorganic LEDs as the light -emittingpixel elements, and they are differ-ent from ordinary LEDs in that theyare composed of layers of organicsemiconducting material, i.e., they arebased on carbon rather than silicon.

0.005mm

C3thode

Emiss ye polymer

Conductive polymer

Anode

light

FRAME GRAB A look at tomorrow's technology

Worldwide 3-D TV shipment forecastShipments will rise from 4.2 million in 2010 to 12.9 million in 2011.

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

2010

Source: iSuppli

2011 2012

Year

2013 2014 2015

wwwisuppli.com

Figure 1. OLED technology.

(Some OLED display backplanes arebuilt from silicon as well.) In OLEDscreens, an applied voltage transportselectrons and electron holes into theemissive layer. (See Figure 1.) Lightis produced when the electrons andholes recombine.

The advantages of OLEDs in-clude fast response times, broadcolor reproduction, high bright-ness, high contrast levels and deepblack levels; contrast ratios of over1,000,000:1 have been achieved. Thedisplays obviate the need for a coldcathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL)or LED backlight unit, can have alower costs in mass production (dueto a simpler manufacturing processwith fewer components) and offer amore "green" manufacturing process;


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recycling is no more onerous thanprocessing glass.

While OLEDs historically havehad lower lifetimes than LCD/CCFLor plasma panels (typically 60,000hours for 50 percent brightness of ablue OLED device), power reductionstrategies and "pixel orbiting" optionscan offset the risk of burn -in. Mean-while, the lifetime and efficiency ofthe devices continue to improve tothe point where we can expect practi-cal 42in to 60in displays in the nextfive years.

3-D displays are now entering pro-fessional service as well. In consumerelectronics and theatrical applica-tions, displays generally use one ofthree technologies: filtering, shutter-ing or autostereoscopy. With filter-ing, the left and right images are or-thogonally filtered with correspond-ing passive eye wear. Filtering comesin two varieties: polarization (eitherlinear or circular) and narrowbandcolor separation (not to be confusedwith the two-color anaglyph pro-cess). With shuttering, the left andright images are time -multiplexedand viewed through active synchro-nized eyewear. Autostereo applica-tions remove the need for glasses andare usually realized with a diffuser/lenticular screen or a "parallax bar-rier" system using a series of verticalslits. For professional applications,3-D monitors usually incorporateeither polarization or shuttering.

A sampling of productsseen at NAB

In addition to OLED and 3-D tech-nologies, manufacturers continue toimprove the performance of LCD dis-plays. For example, Dolby may havejust crossed the performance barrierof CRTs. At NAB, the company un-veiled a 42in LCD reference moni-tor that accurately reveals true anddeep black levels with higher contrastacross the entire color spectrum. TheGrade 1 monitor uses an RGB back-light unit with LEDs that are modu-lated individually on a frame -by -frame basis. The LCD panel is also

modulated in real time as part of adual -modulation process. The com-bination of technologies produces anextremely deep black level for an LCDpanel. The unit can be used in dark-ened and well -lit rooms, and screenbrightness can reach 600nits.

Other key features of the moni-tor include extended dynamic range,such as that of digital cinema cam-eras; DCl/P3 (digital cinema) colorgamut support; color accuracy acrossall luminance levels; and the abilityto emulate various display devices.Applications include high -end post -production houses and broadcastquality control.

TVLogic showed two 15in OLEDmonitors, one of which provides3-D monitoring by means of a shut-ter glass display. Designed for color-

4.3in (16:9) OLED displays built intoa 2RU monitor bridge. These OLEDmonitors offer CRT -like viewingangles, direct 3G/SD/HD-SDI in-puts and 1080p60/50 support. Theproducts provide a stated contrastratio of over 100,000:1 and supportmultiple color spaces. The panels arealso said to offer more than 30,000hours of life. The other product isan OLED audio/video monitor withanalog and SDI inputs and outputs,and built-in speakers.

Sony showed an OLED displaypanel that delivers high -contrast,high -color images, even in ambi-ent light. The 7.4in high -resolution(960 x 540) portable monitor canbe used in 3-D camera rigs with itshorizontal/vertical flip mode, and itcan be outfitted with a viewing hood,

L

1

R

L

R

L

R

L R

Figure 2. 3-D video can be interfaced in various ways, includingtop: simultaneous, line -by-line and side -by -side.

critical visualization for film andbroadcast production, the moni-tors feature 1366 x 768 resolution,3G -SDI 1080p 4:2:2 10 -bit support,SDI/HDMI 10 -bit support, dual -link4:4:4 mode, waveform monitors and1:1 pixel mapping modes for SD/HD.The 3-D monitor also features 3-Dleft/right channel blocking.

TAMUZ introduced two OLEDrack monitors at NAB. One is a mul-tiscreen monitor equipped with four

clockwise, from

carrying handle and connector pro-tector. An anti -reflective coatingprovides protection from scratchesand enables a high transmission ofthe OLED output, keeping picturebrightness high while minimizingambient light reflection. The monitoris equipped with a feedback system,which monitors the emitted lightoutput and automatically adjusts thewhite balance. Sony also announcedtwo new 3-D monitors featuring



circular polarization in 42in and 24insizes. These models offer proprietarycolor matching, full HD resolutionand wide viewing angles. The moni-tors can be used to view 2-D contentas well.

Panasonic also showed a new 3-DLCD video monitor. This moni-tor uses a 25.5in 1920 x 1200 LCDin -plane switching (IPS) panel thatcan display in 3-D using passivepolarized glasses. To accommodatevarious 3-D signal formats, the unitsupports dual SDI inputs and threetypes of 3-D video: simultaneous(dual SDI), line -by-line and side -by -side. These formats have emerged asways of interfacing 3-D video sig-nals. (See Figure 2.) In the first, twofull -bandwidth pictures are relayed.In the second, each picture is deci-mated vertically, each successive lineis alternately transmitted, and thetwo images are sent in one channel.

In the third, each picture is down -sampled horizontally, and the twoimages are sent in one channel.

New display technologies are ap-pearing in combination monitor -processor units, too. Wohler showeda rack -mounted modular SDI -centric

New displaytechnologies

are appearing inmonitor -processor

units, too.

audio mixer and router at NAB thatcombines dual 4.3in OLED displayswith loudness metering and control,and audio routing and mix controls.The use of OLEDs in such a unitbrings the advantages of low costand wide viewing angles to this typeof application.

With an increasing number ofproducts from second- and third -tiermanufacturers, the field will becomefilled with products ranging from theexcellent to the mediocre. What's thesolution? Set out your specifications,and then get your hands on a demounit. You can always make a better de-cision after seeing it in operation inyour particular application.

Editorial note: As this column doesnot engage in product reviews, thosedescribed here are intended to illustratenew emerging technologies. For thatreason, model numbers and pricing arenot discussed. The astute reader can getfurther information about the productsfrom the manufacturers. BE

Aldo Cugnini is a consultant in the digitaltelevision industry.

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FurFin-rnaJuly 2010 broadcastengineering.com 21

COMPUTERS & NETWORKSDIGITAL HANDBOOK

Firewalls and VPNsTwo tools provide critical security for

the media professional.

Last month we looked at theimportant role a securitypolicy can play in profes-sional video networks. This

month's column will examine twotechnologies - firewalls and virtualprivate networks (VPNs) - that canhelp keep your facilities safe whenconnected to the Internet.

Network security -a top-level view

Let's take a look at how differentsecurity technologies fit into an over-all security strategy. As Figure 1 illus-trates, a firewall sits at the perimeter ofyour network, acting as a gatekeeperfor information entering and leavingthe facility. For security reasons, fire -walls are typically configured to blockmany different protocols, includingUser Datagram Protocol (UDP), a

BY BRAD GILMFR

Firewall basicsIn a car, a firewall is the wall be-

tween the engine and passenger com-partment. Its purpose is to protectpassengers in case of an engine fire. Innetworking, a firewall is used to pro-tect a local computer network fromwhatever may be happening on theInternet. But a car could not functionwithout allowing a few cables to passthrough the firewall. In the same way,local networks could not provide thefunctionality users need without al-lowing certain signals to pass throughthe firewall.

What is a firewall? At its base level, afirewall is simply a computer contain-ing two network cards. The computeris initially configured to not allow anytraffic to pass from one card to an-other. One network card is connectedto the wide area network (WAN) or

Policies

Perimeter

Network

VPN

Servers

Clients

Firewall

Intrusion detection systems Access control lists

Application access control User authentication Antivirus scanning Patches (OS and application)

User authentication Antivirus scanning Patches (OS and application)

Figure 1. The right column shows many different layers of security that can be put in placeto control access to critical network resources. Note that a VPN may be configured toallow certain kinds of traffic from specific users to pass through the firewall. Courtesy AvidTechnology and Cisco Systems.

key technology that is the basis for Internet; the other network card isthe efficient transfer of large files. A connected to the local area networkVPN can be configured to pass UDP (LAN) inside a facility.traffic through the firewall for specific Typically, the configuration of aremote users. new firewall intended for commercial

service is not useful. The device sitsbetween the WAN and LAN andblocks all traffic trying to go betweenthe two. (I make the distinction be-tween a commercial firewall and onethat's intended for consumer use be-cause consumer firewalls come pre -configured to pass certain commonprotocols.) A network engineer con-figures the commercial firewall to al-low certain traffic to pass between thetwo network cards on a limited ba-sis. The network engineer has manydifferent choices in how he decideswhich traffic to allow or deny. InCisco equipment, this information isfrequently contained in access controllists (ACLs). Traffic may be allowedor denied based on origination IP ad-dress, destination IP address, traffictype or port number, to name just afew methods.

Firewalls can also check to see iftraffic crossing the firewall makessense in relation to other traffic onthe network. This is called statefulpacket inspection. For example, ifa local client requests a Web pagefrom a remote server, it makes sensefor the firewall to see a server on theInternet responding to this request.But if no user internally requested aWeb page, then traffic generated bya server on the Internet directed to acomputer behind the firewall wouldmake no sense and would be blockedby this check.

Of course, this type of checkinggoes far beyond checking for unre-quested Web pages. However, statefulpacket inspection works by inspectingheaders on packets and thus may missmalicious information buried withina packet. To find malware (harmfulinformation contained in packets),a firewall must perform deep packetinspection. This kind of checking can


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COMPUTERS & NETWORKSDIGITAL HANDBOOK

detect and block malicious content,but deep packet inspection may in-troduce delays that are not tolerablein professional media applications.

Virtual private networksAs the name implies, a virtual

private network allows a networkadministrator to create a virtual net-work that is actually comprised ofseveral separate networks, some ofwhich may be located remotely. This

two facilities without having to al-low UDP traffic to flow unrestrictedthrough the firewall.

To the firewall, the VPN appears asa separate network within the localfacility. Typically all traffic is blockedfrom flowing from the VPN networkto or from the local network. UsingACLs, the network engineer can allowor restrict traffic from the VPN, justas he can allow or restrict traffic fromthe Internet. This allows the network

Public IP69.243.49.223

Firewall/router10.35.1

10.35.2.11

FeedMOMserver

Figure 2. Establishing a VPN connection

allows a single computer or even anentire facility to appear to be connect-ed to the local network even thoughthe remote facility may be hundredsor thousands of miles away. The VPNcan be configured to allow users tobypass restrictions put in place bythe firewall. For example, using VPNtechnology, a network engineer canpermit UDP traffic to flow between

engineer to develop two sets of crite-ria: one more restrictive set for the In-ternet and another less restrictive setfor VPN users.

To establish the VPN, the remotesystem must authenticate itself tothe local firewall using one of sev-eral methods that are generallyaccepted by the IT and financial com-munities as being secure. Once the

VPN is established, all communica-tions across the VPN are stronglyencrypted to keep an attacker frommonitoring the VPN traffic. (SeeFigure 2.)

In this example, we will assume thata reporter at a remote location wantsto send a video file from his laptopback to the station using UDP. UDPis blocked by the firewall, so he mustfirst access the VPN to send the file.

At the start of the VPN session,the reporter's laptop is connected tothe Internet. The laptop's IP addressis 69.243.49.223. When the reporterstarts the VPN client and begins theVPN log -in process, several importantsteps occur. (Note: This is a simplifieddescription.) First, the VPN clientverifies that the VPN-capable routeris available at the station. Second, theVPN client asks the reporter to log in,preventing unauthorized access to theVPN if the laptop is stolen. Third, theVPN client and router communicate,verifying the log -in data is correctand then applying any policies for theVPN link that have been establishedby the network engineer. Finally, theVPN client connects to the LAN us-ing the policies established by ACLs.

When the process is complete,several changes have taken place. All

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communications between the laptopand the station are now encrypted.Also, the laptop has been assigned asecond IP address within the station'sVPN pool. The reporter's laptop isnow attached to a network behind

lished between various networks. In from UDP-based attacks because thethis case, when the laptop connects to station firewall blocks UDP traffic.the VPN, a predefined route is estab-lished between the 10.35.2 network Other security technologiesand the 10.35.1 network. These poli- Firewalls and VPNs are but two ofcies permit UDP traffic to flow from many security approaches available.

Intrusion detection systems (IDS)

Application access control

User authentication

Antivirus scanning

OS and application patches

Monitor Ectivity on a network, looking fo - behavior that is unusual al d

may indicate that an attack is taking plat e

Permits or denies access to specific applications

Verifies the identity of users grants subsequert permission to resou-ces

on the se -ver or network

Scans for malware on servers and in e -mails

Contain updates that freque fitly fix security hobes in operating systems

or applications

Table 1. A partial list of security approaches that may be employed to reduce risk on media networks

the station's firewall (illustrated bythe grayed -out laptop in Figure 2). Inthis example, the network address as-signed to the laptop is 10.35.2.11. Thereporter wants to send his file to afeed room server on another networkwithin the station - 10.35.1.0.

During the VPN log -in process,security policies were applied to theconnection. Parts of these policiesdetermine which routes are estab-

the laptop to the feed room servernetwork. This connectivity is not anall or nothing approach. The networkengineer has many possibilities in de-termining what traffic is allowed topass from the VPN onto the local net-work. With the VPN connection upand running, the reporter may nowfeed his story to the station using aUDP-based file transfer accelerationprogram. The station remains secure

Space prevents me from going intodetail, but Table 1 gives a quick sum-mary of some other methods thatmay be employed to keep your medianetworks secure. BE

Brad Gilmer is president of Gilmer &Associates and executive director of theAdvanced Media Workflow Association.

111Send questions and comments to:brac [email protected]

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July 2010 I broadcastengineering.com 25

PRODUCTION CLIPSDIGITAL HANDBOOK

Bag of tricksUnlikely additions to your kit can make all the difference.

The job of acquiring beau-tiful moving images oftenrequires more than justa camera, and television

photographers are a resourcefulbunch. To solve a myriad of chal-lenges on the fly, you need a collec-tion of small tools and tricks thatcome from years of experience. Thetrusted run -bag can hold many ofthese time -tested appliances.

With that in mind, I assembleda list of the core gear that should bein every good photog's run -bag. Ele-ments such as gaffer's tape, sun re-flectors, multipurpose tools and cableadapters go into that indispensablebag that never leaves your side. Butthere are also the unusual, and some-times downright wacky, tools you'dnever think would be used in the fieldof TV production.

"Hey, you, hand me a CP50"If you're like me, your introduc-

tion to the unique lexicon of the tele-vision production world occurredwhen you were on the set of yourfirst production and a grizzled veter-an asked you for a "CP50." As a new-bie, you have no idea what they'rereferring to until the punch line isrevealed. CP50 is the high-tech termfor "clothespin, 50 count."

Whether the lowlyclothespin needsa sexier name is

up for debate, butits value cannotbe overstated.

Whether the lowly clothespin needsa sexier name is up for debate, but thevalue of the little wooden spring clipcannot be overstated.

BY KFVIN JOHNSON

You can hold up backdrops with-out damaging the fabric, affix gelsto lights and readjust them withoutburning yourself, and hold a report-er's clothing together in the wind.

A good run -bag contains the basics,such as gaffer's tape and cable adapters,as well as some slightly odd additions,such as clothespins and doorstops.

The finest stegosaurus impressionI have ever witnessed was courtesyof an unwitting reporter with a spikyspine of clothespins keeping his loosejacket from flapping in the wind.

If you can't beat them,join them

Basic color temperature rules dic-tate that daylight is around 5600K andincandescent light is around 3200K.What these rules don't tell you is thatthe little table lamp in your shot willnever be able to overpower the sun-light coming in from the window.

In times like these, it's always goodto carry small squares of color tem-perature blue (CTB) gel. These thinplastic sheets are used to convertthe light you have into the light you

want - for example, turning a stan-dard tungsten light into daylight bal-anced light.

Put your clothespins to good use,and clip the gel in front of your lights.White balance for the outdoor light,and let Mother Nature be your light-ing director.

I've only had one instance in whichI didn't have to wait for the passageof time to move the sun across thesky. While trying to set up an inter-view with a U.S. Navy captain on thebridge of a mammoth aircraft carrier,I was scowling because I couldn't getin the right spot with the sun. Thecaptain asked me what the problemwas, and I explained the sun was inthe wrong spot.

"30 degrees to starboard," he saidto the crew. The entire ship turned tothe right, and the sun was out of myshot. It's good to be the captain.

About your expense reportI've filled out a lot of expense re-

ports in my career, but the strang-est receipt I've presented to the bosswas for a box of unlubricated con-doms. After a brief explanation, itwas clear the purchase was for busi-ness purposes.

Pulled over a microphone, an un-lubricated condom can protect youraudio implements during foul weath-er or poolside interviews. Your mic isvirtually waterproof, but you can stillget decent audio through the latex.

A couple of tips: Avoid lubricatedcondoms, as the oils could damageyour electronics. You also may wantto add a windscreen over the prophy-lactic microphone to mask the reser-voir tip.

"Stop" thatWho would think to keep a rubber

doorstop in their gear bag? I hadn'tconsidered that idea until it was

26 broadcastengineering.com 1July 2010

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Often the visuals of a story call for a low -angle shot from ground level, and a rubberdoorstop can do the trick. You can easily vary your angle of attack as needed, and therubberized surface gives a little grip.

suggested to me by another cameraoperator.

Often the visuals of a story call for alow -angle shot from ground level, but

placing the camera flat on the grounddoesn't give the right composition.You need something to prop up thefront of the camera. Improvised so -

Carrying a low -wattage light bulballows you to quickly change thepractical bulbs on -location to preventbright lamps from ruining your shots.

lutions include throwing your walletor a battery on the ground as a lift,which invariably results in a soggy,

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dirty or missing wallet or a shorted -out battery.A rubber wedge doorstop does the trick. You can easily

vary your angle of attack as needed, and the rubberizedsurface gives a little grip.

The doorstop can also be helpful in its true capacity:holding the door open while you run cables or load gear.

I've got an idea!Carrying a low -wattage light bulb in your gear bag is

not meant to be a metaphor for a less -than -bright idea.Rather, this allows you to quickly change the practicalbulbs on -location to prevent bright lamps from ruiningyour shots. You don't have to bring out the heavy artilleryin your light kit to balance a bright table lamp.

Another great option is a simple lamp dimmer. Addingone of these will allow you to bring down the brightness.

While you're in the electrical supply section of your fa-vorite hardware store, be sure to pick up a two -prong tothree -prong AC adapter. Your beautiful lights won't do athing if you find yourself in an old house that doesn't havegrounded electrical outlets.

Go fish!The world of television photography often boils down

to hours of waiting punctuated by moments of pureadrenaline. A few simple mental distractions are impor-tant additions to your kit to get you through the waiting.A good book, a few sudoku puzzles or a deck of cards cankeep you alert during those long, tedious stakeouts andkeep you from having to explain to your boss how youmissed a shot because you were catching z's.

Your own little convenience storeAdd a few comforts of home to your run -bag. Some

granola bars and bottles of water may be your salvationwhen you're stuck miles from the nearest drive -throughwindow. A small stash of standard over-the-counter medi-cations and first -aid items is a good idea as well. Aspirin,Imodium, Pepto-Bismol, hand sanitizer and bandages canincrease your comfort or even save your life.

Where did I put that?In the end, having all this gear in your bag doesn't

do you any good if you can't find anything. Be sure tokeep a small LED flashlight on your keychain. You cansignal S -O -S for safety, level your tripod or find thatlost RCA-to-BNC adapter in the woods during a pitch-black new moon.

Adding some of these items to your bag may notmake you MacGyver, but you'll be geared up for a muchbetter shoot. BE

Kevin Johnson is the founder of b-roll.net and a cameraman forCox Television News Bureau in Washington, D.C.

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July 2010 broadcastengineering.com 29

DIGITAL TUTORIALSYSTEMS INTEGRATION

Router control systemsRouter systems should minimize interruptions

and maximize flexibility.

Nearly all modern TV fa-cilities are built around acentral routing switcher,and in recent years, these

routers have been growing in size.Where just a few years ago a normalrouting system would have been 128inputs and 128 outputs, routers noware commonly 256 x 256 and larger.Specialized systems in large produc-tion facilities, uplink facilities andmobile production units often userouters that are at least 528 x 528, andsystems of 1000 x 1000 and up are be-coming more common.

As routing systems become larger,the design of the control system be-comes more important. Large routersoften require more frequent repro-gramming, and the task of present-ing source and destination labels tothe operators in a useful and helpfulway becomes quite challenging whenthousands of labels are involved.

Well -designed control systems arecrucial for another reason. Unlikeother types of broadcast equipment,routing systems have a long servicelife. A typical routing system is ex-pected to be in service for at least 10years and often longer. This meansthat the router will serve multiplegenerations of source and destinationequipment, a fact that makes it cru-cial that the router is readily upgrad-able to suit the working environmentas it evolves.

The complexity of contemporarybroadcast requires that today's rout-ers, regardless of size, offer a widerange of features for improved sig-nal -handling flexibility and greatlyenhanced operational reliability. Fea-tures that are considered essentialinclude 3G operation; control, cros-spoint and power supply redundan-cy; a compact, space -saving physical

BY SCOTT BOSFN

design; and low power consumption As facilities' needs continue tofor reduced heat loading and pro- evolve, equipment is added and re -longed service life. (See Figure 1.) moved from the routing system, and

Master controlswitchers

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Configuration PC

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Ulah 5c4nlific rMan Router Manaspne01 OENDIGITAL TUTORIALSYSTEMS INTEGRATION

the technical crew must reconfigureit - usually while it remains online.Each configuration change requiressources and destinations to be rela-beled or reconfigured, and controlpanels in all areas of the system haveto be reprogrammed. (See Figure 2 onpage 30.)

Size, complexity and evolutioncombine to make a well -designedcontrol system a key component ofthe routing system and for the tech-nical staff, which keeps the overalloperation running smoothly. Such acontrol system automates repeatedsteps and performs error checkingto ensure, for example, that a typingerror doesn't have disproportionateconsequences. The following controlsystem features will make router set-up and operation easier.

Figure 3. A router control system shouldbe able to reliably save and recallvarious preset configurations.

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Offline configurationIn most cases, the technical crew

receives advance notice of changes tobe made to the system. If the routercontrol system allows for offline ed-iting of configuration files, the entiresystem configuration can be preparedin advance and installed at the timeof the changeover. This will not,of course, prevent the last-minutechanges that will always occur, but itwill give the technical crew a basis fortesting the new configuration.

Minimizing interruptionsIn every router control system,

normal operation is interrupted whenthe system must be reprogrammed.In some systems, this process is quickenough that operators are not incon-venienced by the interruption. In oth-er systems, the full reprogrammingcycle means an interruption of sever-al minutes. One way to reduce system

downtime is to remove control -panelreprogramming from the system con-figuration process. The best systemsdo this by making it possible to repro-gram individual panels or groups ofpanels, while the rest of the operationhums along unaffected. This is a bigplus in reducing complaints from theproduction crew.

Customizable GUIThe most time-consuming part

of setup is reprogramming dozensof control panels to reflect the newsystem configuration. This is wherethe design of the router control sys-tem is potentially helpful. Most con-trol systems offer a GUI for panelprogramming, and the best ones al-low the GUI to be customized, forexample, to allow separate views ofcertain parts of the system, reducingon -screen clutter so the operator canfocus on specific devices.

Cloning panelsAnother useful control system

design feature is the ability to clonepanels, i.e., to create a master panelof each type with all programmingchanges automatically reflected ineach panel that is copied from themaster. When the cloning feature isimpracticable, a good system allowsall or part of a panel's configurationto be used as a starting point whenconfiguring other panels of that type.This can be a tremendous help whenthe system has multiple panels thatrequire specific configuration for thatoperator's position.

Configurationmanagement tools

During the setup of a complexrouting system, there may be doz-ens of iterations of the control sys-tem configuration. A good controlsystem must feature a full set of tools

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Hydra2 forms the routing backbone for both the Apolloand Artemis consoles.

These desks are just one type of client capable interfacingwith Hydra2, which provides an enormous 81922synchronous router at its core. A range of I/O boxes canbe connected via high density 512 bi-directional copperor fiber connections, while mini-GBIC connectors keepsconnections simple and installation easy.

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,

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to reliably save and recall these vari-ous configurations and provide a fail-safe system to back them up. (See Fig-ure 3 on page 32.)

Rigors of mobile productionA particularly demanding environ-

ment for router systems is mobile pro-duction. Whereas a TV station's routermay be reconfigured or updated a fewtimes per year, mobile systems typi-cally are completely reprogrammedfor every show. Over the years, thishas provided plenty of challenges forthe designers of these systems, butthe improvements and enhancementsthat come out of mobile system ap-plications have proven to be useful toall routing switcher users.

Monitoring systemoperation

In addition to the system configu-ration software, the router control

system must provide a comprehen-sive toolbox to monitor the opera-tion of the system. Alarm indicatorssuch as power supply failure andtemperature alerts must be presented

In a growingnumber of facilities,

the routingswitcher is tied intoan overall network

managementsystem.

in a clear and easily understandableform to the maintenance crew socorrective action can be taken.

The monitoring/maintenance util-ity is also the logical place to providetools for operational supervision of

the system, giving access to high-levelfunctions such as tie -line manage-ment, releasing locks, and identifyingand trouble -shooting hardware faults.

In a growing number of facilities, therouting switcher is tied into an overallnetwork management system. Thesesystems monitor the health of theoverall operation by receiving messag-es from the individual subsystems viaSNMP communications. The routingsystem must be able to provide alarminformation via SNMP trap messages.Additional functionality such as lossof signal alarms on critical inputs andoutputs can help the network man-agement system trace the root causeof a service interruption through thevarious devices in the system.

Virtual control panelsAnother category of software that

is becoming increasingly importantin today's facilities is a system to

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provide virtual control panels, whichare GUI representations of routercontrol panels displayed on the com-puter screens.

A good control panel system GUIwill enable the design of an unlimitedrange of on -screen panels, from sim-ple button -per -source panels to pan-els that support the setup of complexmonitor walls. The ability to supportmultiple operating system platformsas well as browser -based panels cangreatly extend the usefulness of thevirtual control panel system.

Likewise, the ability to apply thepanels throughout a network withspecific access rights for users orgroups of users can make the systemmuch more useful. If the panel de-sign process is closely linked to thecontrol system configuration files, itwill be possible to input source anddestination labels with mouse clicks,eliminating the tedium and potential

errors associated with typed entries.

External device interfacesThe final control system feature re-

quiring consideration is its ability tointerface with external devices. Exter-nal control of the router by automa-tion, scheduling systems, editors andproduction switchers is critically im-portant when it comes to integratingthe router into the overall system.

Equally important is the ability ofthe router control system to com-municate router status to externalsystems such as tally management,under -monitor display devices and,in this day of the expanding use offlat -panel -based monitor walls, mul-tiview image processors.

Traditionally, communication fromthe router control system to these ex-ternal devices has been by a simplenumeric interface. The router statuswas sent as a message that output XX

is connected to input YY. This meantthat the external system's program-ming needed to be reconfigured tomatch the router's labeling configura-tion every time the router was updat-ed,. In modern systems, it is possibleto download the router's program-ming information directly to the ex-ternal device, allowing the completesystem to be automatically updatedwhen changes are made to the rout-er's configuration.

The increasing sophistication ofrouter control systems has kept pacewith the amazing growth of routersover the past few years. Modern sys-tems are infinitely easier to configure,manage and maintain than their pre-decessors, making it increasingly prac-tical to design systems based around alarge central routing switcher. BE

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SYSTEM DESIGNSHOWCASE

The new 4700sq-ft Studio A, designed by Jack Mortonof PDG New York, went live Jan. 4. It includes sixproduction areas.


shooti high Aden fornewly upgraded facility

The channel moved to based workflow.

The live coverage of golf tour-naments has always beendistinguished by the numer-ous camera angles used and

the pristine quality of the televisedsignal. Viewers like looking at beauti-ful golf courses, and there's no denyingthat the &port in HD - and more re-cently in :7.--D - looks stunning.

$ Understanding this, Golf Channel,owned by Comcast, has upgrad-

BY MICHAV GROTTICELLI

ed its main production facility inOrlando, FL, in a multistage moveto HD onerEtions. The entire facilityis now ED though the channel con-tinues to deliver HD and SD signalsto distributo-s.

Seen by more than 120 millionhouseholds worldwide, Golf Channelproduces more than 1000 hours oforiginal golf entertainment program-ming as well as live coverage of golf

July -010 I broadcastengineering.com 37


Technology at workApple Final Cut Pro workstationsAvid

iNEWS newsroom computer systemInterplay asset managementISIS shared storageNitris HD offline and finishing systems

Canon HJ22X7.5 and J11X4.5 HD studio lensesChyron HyperX3 graphics

Dixon Sports logging softwareEvertz

7700 and 7800 series infrastructure productsEMR 288 audio router

EOX video router

HD/SD frame syncsMVP multiviewer softwareQMC master control switchersVIP multiviewer

EVS XT[2]+ HD servers

Florical automationFront Porch Digital DIVArchiveHarris

Net 300 MPEG-2 HD receiversNexio 3601 serversNexio SAN

ION Lighting Console

NL Technology Autolngest softwarePanasonic 42in to 85in plasma monitorsSAMMA Systems robotSoftel closed captioningSolid State Logic

C100 HD -S broadcast consolesMORSE router

Sony

Bravia 26in monitorsHDC-1500 HD studio cameras

MVS-8000G production switchersLMD and BVM professional LCD monitorsPDW-F800 source decksPetaSite storage systemXDCAM HD PDW-700 and POW -F800 camcordersXDCAM HD PDW-HD1500 andXDCAM cart systemXDCAM EX camcorders

Sportsmedia TelestratorsTektronix waveform monitors and spectrum analyzersTVLogic LCD monitorsVizrt Trio graphicsWohler Amp2-E8 test equipmentYamaha DM -1000 audio mixer

(PGA Tour, European Tour, LPGA Tour, Champions Tourand Nationwide Tour) and "Golf Central," a daily half-hour news program. Highlights are often turned aroundwithin three minutes or less from when they actually hap-pen on the golf course. The facility also supports GolfChannel's Web and mobile video services.

The newly upgraded Orlando facility includes threefull HD production control rooms, a digital media center(which houses most of the channel's XDCAM HD and leg-acy formats, as well as two EVS workstations and an Avidingest system), a technical operations center, four HD/SDmaster control facilities, a digital transfer center and ingestalong with a digital media asset management center.

Making the moveIn overseeing the move from SD to HD, Ken Botelho,

senior director of engineering, said he wanted to improveimage quality, but he was also tasked with moving the net-work's production activities away from a predominantlytape -based workflow (from the Betacam SP to DigiBeta,IMX and HDCAM formats) to an environment that takesadvantage of digital video and audio as files that can beeasily handled and shared among the production staff.There was also a huge legacy of existing videotapes thathad to be leveraged in the most efficient way.

Before 2009, the year Botelho joined the channel, thefacility's workflow was convoluted, he said, but it now hasa consistent, cohesive engineering and production strategywithin one of the most sophisticated HD facilities in thecountry. The facility is now "truly tapeless," from acquisi-tion to deep archive and the many steps in between.

Now that a file -based architecture has been implement-ed - which proved to be a challenge to streamline opera-tions by getting systems to work together and recognizeXDCAM 50Mb/s HD files natively - the staff is capableof producing more content in much higher quality andgetting it to air faster than ever before. Thanks to the lat-est networking tools, they are also much more efficient inhow resources are used on a daily basis.

Golf Channel operations executives have committedto the Sony XDCAM HD platform because they think it'seasy to drag and drop HD files, and the physical opticaldisc format lends itself to better organization in the nearterm. If it's on your desk, you know where the footage is.

The XDCAM HD codec's file -based capabilities helpGolf Channel crews deal with the massive amount of foot-age gathered during a particular event. For example, whena crew is out covering a tour on a given weekend, it maycome back with upwards of 600 XDCAM HD discs full offootage that not only needs to be edited and aired, but alsoingested, stored and archived. Several XDCAM EX record-ers are also used in a pinch.

They use more than 65 Sony XDCAM HD optical decksfor program mastering and archiving. When XDCAM HDcamera operators come in from the field, they hand a disc


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The Golf Channel's transmission operations center maintains and adjusts the integrity of all satellite and fiber feeds, whether inboundor outbound.

over to a producer for ingest (usingDixon Sports logging software), andthat disc is then held nearby when aprogram is being produced. In addi-tion, at 50Mb/s, the picture quality isoutstanding and the file size is man-ageable, Botelho said.

Multilevel storage strategyOnce material is ingested into

the system, editors work on 13 AvidNitris HD systems, pulling clips froman Avid ISIS shared storage system.The integration of Avid Interplay,Transfer Manager, Archive and

iNEWS systems provide flexibilityin the movement of content. (Thefacility also has about 20 AppleFinal Cut Pro systems in the creativeservices department, which also usethe ISIS.) This allows them to searchand retrieve the most desired clips of

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the day and then move the finishedclips over to workstations runningNL Technology AutoIngest software.

This software acts as a traffic copand automatically sends files to wherethey have to go without human in-tervention. This destination could bethe Sony PetaSite archive or XDCAMautomated multidisc cart system forlong-term storage. It could also bea Front Porch Digital DIVArchivesystem, which is being used with aSAMMA Systems robot system to helptransfer the material on videotape tothe PetaSite digital archive.

Overall, the streamlined HD post -production environment gives jour-nalists and producers full access to thesame clips from their desktops, whichhas fostered strong collaboration.

Archiving and repurposingThe third aspect to the Golf

Channel's HD upgrade was to begin

the process of digitizing more than100,000 hours of videotape mate-rial and moving it to a centralizedstorage library ("deep archive"), inthis case the PetaSite library systemwith about 12PB of capacity storedon LTO data tape. This was criticallyimportant as the Golf Channel re -purposes a lot of material, so havingfootage readily available saves a lot oftime and frustration.

An Evertz EQX 576 x 576 HD vid-eo router handles all of the incomingdigital signals and distributes them asnecessary. Audio is routed as embed-ded signals with an Evertz EMR 288x 288 audio router. There is some 5.1surround sound audio mixed at thefacility, but all of the Golf Channelprogramming is delivered in stereo.

Outgoing signals are sent via a mas-sive digital teleport on the Orlandocampus, as well as a dedicated Level3 fiber Ethernet private line service.

The current capacity is 600Mb/s, andit is connected to the Comcast DigitalMedia Center in Denver. The Level 3fiber is currently being upgraded toa GigE virtual private line that willprovide the campus with completeredundancy. The teleport is capable ofsending and receiving signals all overthe world.

HD studio productionThere are three new HD control

rooms, and the larger productioncontrol rooms, PCR1 and PCR2,are identical. Both have Sony MVS-8000G video production switchersand several Panasonic plasma andTVLogic LCD monitors on the frontwall running Evertz MVP multiview-er and VIP multiviewer. EVS XT [2] +HD servers and Chyron HyperX3and Vizrt Trio graphics systems arealso employed for live -to -tape andother broadcasts. The rooms tan be

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Design teamGolf Channel:Ken Botelho, senior director of engineeringGreg Fox, project engineerDan Overleese, VP network operationsRobert Majors, senior engineering managerBrian Slusarz, manager of broadcast ITJason Miller, broadcast engineerPatrick Jones, broadcast engineer

This HD/SD MC (one of four) at the GolfChannel uses an Evertz QMC switcherand MVP multiviewer software.

operated independently or used intandem for larger projects. Recently,the channel was able to simultane-ously handle both a "Grey Goose19th Hole" show live from PCR2 and"Golf Central" live, as well as "TheGolf Fix" with Michael Breed livefrom PCR I.

PCR2 has an adjacent audio mixingroom with a 32 -fader Solid State LogicC100 HD -S console. The facility oper-

The multiformat ingest center handlesthe massive amount of footage thatcomes into the facility on a daily basis.

ates two SSL boards, which can servethe main control rooms or be routedto other post -production areas withinthe building. An SSL MORSE routerwas purchased with the new consoleto enhance the C100 HD -S console'scompatibility with this studio designand to further integrate the exist-ing MORSE Stagebox. The MORSEStagebox is fitted with 14 HD -SDII/O cards that can be configured for

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PCR3 is a smaller control room thatincludes a Yamaha DM -1000 audiomixing board but still features a SonyMVS-8000G switcher and most of theHD -compatible equipment found inthe other two control rooms.

A new 4700sq-ft Studio A, de-signed by Jack Morton of PDG NewYork, went live Jan. 4 and includessix different production areas. BothStudios A and B feature Sony HDC-1500 HD cameras, Canon HD lensesand LED lighting to create differentatmospheres for the various showsproduced there. Nearly 40 Panasonicplasma and Sony LCD monitorsadorn the walls at strategic locationsfor the best on -camera views.

The clean differenceBotelho said the staff went the ex-

tra mile to make sure that the new fa-cility is the cleanest anyone will eversee. The broadcast team integrated45mi of video, 18mi of audio and13mi of Cat 5 cable into its new HDfacility. A remarkable achievementof the new HD studio facility is thateven with all of the miles of broadcast

The video and camera control area contains the operations control panels for the SonyHD studio cameras.The cameras can be remotely adjusted, and the camera signals can beevaluated before going to air.

and IP cabling and intercom com-munications links, it is all hidden andinstalled under the studio floors. Thetalent can report a story from literallyanywhere, and you won't see a pieceof cable on -air. There are eight bulk-heads throughout the facility thatprovide SMPTE fiber connectivity forcameras and other equipment. Everymonitor cable is carefully built androuted into a set piece.

Perhaps the biggest achievement atGolf Channel is that all of the systems

integration work and the physical in-stallation of the equipment was com-pleted by in-house staff and somefreelancers. The staff is particularlyproud of the way the equipment hasbeen implemented so that they coulddo their jobs better and faster. It was achance for them to build their dreamfacility and, according to Botelho,they did. BE

Michael Grotticelli regularly reports on theprofessional video and broadcasttechnology industries.

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Automation trends:Key developments for

Though file -based transmis-sion playout has been fun-damental to the majorityof broadcast platforms for

years now, content aggregators thatrun such platforms are looking toachieve even greater efficiency in con-solidating and operating multichan-nel playout operations. The demandfor process improvement has beenpushing automation technologies tonew limits as broadcasters seek to le-verage technology in more complexways to meet their changing business,commercial and program -relatedneeds. Automation vendors have re-sponded through continual productenhancement and developments tar-geting broadcasters' increasingly com-plicated operational requirements asthey take on multiregion, multichan-nel broadcasting; preparation for 3-Dbroadcasting; and implementation ofcentralcasting models with hub -and -spoke sites.

Content providers worldwide arefinding that their operational flexibil-ity is being stretched daily, leading toa demand for more clever solutionsthat provide needed versatility inplayout. This is particularly true whenautomated playout is combined withplayout of live content. Commercialplayout during live broadcasts is onekey area in which broadcasters andtheir viewers are asking more of theautomation system.

Optimizing manualintervention

As a rule, an automation sys-tem should be able to operate on itsown 100 percent of the time. Whenmanual operation is required, a goodautomation system supports ratherthan fights the operator. Broadcast-ers providing a significant amount oflive programming should look for ex-panded automation feature sets that

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New automation technology,such as Snell Morpheus, allowscommercial playout during livebroadcasts.

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include commercial hot lists, whichin turn give operators the ability torun select ad spots depending on theprogress of a live broadcast event. Inother words, an easily accessed GUIallows the operator to match ads tocontent on the fly. In the case of afootball game or soccer match, thisfeature allows, for example, the op-erator to run the ad of a team sponsorin the break immediately following a

touchdown or goal by that team.Improvements to automation are

also helping to simplify join -in -prog-ress transitions from a. live event thathas overrun its time slot into a pro-gram already in progress. If a live gameis running long and a film is set to startas part of a network feed, the broad-caster needs a way to preserve tim-ing for all scheduled ad breaks. Whenbroadcasts are spread across different


today and tomorrow

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regions and time zones, the manage-ment of this information becomesquite complicated. Understanding thatbroadcasters need a means of handlingissues such as on -the -fly ad playoutand management of program over-runs in a multichannel, multiregionbroadcast mode, automation vendorshave focused on providing maximumflexibility and the optimal use of auto-mation with the fewest operators.

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Simplifying and saving withvirtualization

Select up-to-date automation sys-tems that are relevant with the latestIT technology can be hosted and op-erated in a virtualized environment inwhich the execution of applicationsis performed by virtual host serversusing fewer machines. A tradition-ally architected automation solutioncan become quite hungry for server

resources, requiring racks and racksof servers running just one applica-tion per machine. The virtualizationmodel offers broadcasters significantbenefits including much simpler up-dating and less costly maintenance;lower real estate, cooling and powerrequirements; and less hardware andfewer connections to manage. In ad-dition to increasing efficiency acrossthe board, virtualization supportsthe broadcaster's "green" credentials,which are of growing importance intoday's business climate.

Virtualization software is engineeredto provide a fully resilient architecture,with automated processes allowing theredundant part of the system to takeover when and as needed. This charac-teristic ensures that there is no singlepoint of failure and, in turn, no down-time that can lead to loss of revenue.As a software -based solution that iscommercially available off the shelf,virtualization software is less expen-sive and easier to configure than hard-ware -hungry systems. Furthermore,virtualization is a technique that is notunique to the broadcast environment;it's a proven IT concept that the latestautomation systems are now applyingto simplify operations and reduce op-erational costs.

Improving interoperabilityTakin advantage of newer open

standarc_s, including the Broadcast Ex-change Format (BXF), advanced auto-mation systems now enable smootherinteroperability across playout opera-tions. (See Figure 1 on page 46.) TheBXF open standard allows devices toexchange messages about media andmetadata. With this capability, con-tent management, traffic, scheduling,MAM databases and other criticalworkflow components use a sharedstandard for communications ratherthan a number of proprietary formats


FEATUREAUTOMATION TRENDS

BXF

Content management

Programmanagement Automation Master

control

Content publishing

Transmission Viewerconsumption

Figure 1. Relationship and use of BXF in the broadcast environment

that must be translated, often in waysthat limit system interoperability. Useof a native format gives broadcastersthe ability to make changes in one sys-tem and see those changes reflected inan upstream or downstream system.

In the case of automation with BXFsupport, the system can dynamicallyaccept changes to the schedule as theyare made in the traffic system. Like-wise, changes made in playout can bereflected back to traffic. While theseareas traditionally have operated sep-arately, simpler communication withBXF messages brings key processestogether and gives the broadcasterthe agility to make better commercialand business decisions about contentcloser to air time and even to sell adcontent right up until air time.

Preparing for 3-DAutomation also has grown to ad-

dress broadcasters' interest in beingready to distribute 3-D content. A hottopic at this year's CES and NAB shows,3-D presents broadcasters with a host ofnew challenges. While 3-D productionremains cumbersome, the automationsystem's ability to offer tools for manag-ing 3-D transmission with relative easeis key for future development.

For broadcasters that choose to de-liver 3-D in single -multiplexed files,which include data for both the leftand right eye, there are no special im-plications for the automation system,which simply treats the file as a file.(The media asset management system,however, does need to be aware thatit is a file that includes 3-D content.)For those broadcasters that work withdiscreet files, one for each eye, the au-tomation system must be able to linkthese files and ensure that for any op-eration - move, play, delete, etc. -the two files maintain their relation-ship and get treated in the same way.

With one file serving as a reference andthe other treated accordingly, opera-tors can still manage playout as if theywere managing a single file.

All of these functional advancesin automation solutions are helpingbroadcasters to meet challenges pre-sented by a changing marketplace. Thearchitecture of automation implemen-tations also makes it easier for broad-casters to conserve costs and improveefficiency, largely through consolida-tion and centralization of key elementsof their operations. Implementation ofa hub -and -spoke broadcast architec-ture supports centralized acquisition,distribution and delivery of assets, aswell as flexible playout of local news,commercials and programming.

Centralizing with ahub -and -spoke model

A hub -and -spoke infrastructurereduces operational costs by elimi-nating duplication of ingest processesand storage; lowering operationaland staffing costs; and offering an ap-propriate degree of resilience with-out the need for added or redundantinvestment at the spoke sites. (See Fig-ure 2.) In most implementations, thehub site houses the bulk of requiredservers, storage systems and otherlarge hardware systems, and performsthe majority of the operations that re-quire manual operation. As large me-dia organizations, broadcasters withdistributed sites naturally work withenormous volumes of content. Bothtape- and file -based ingest, as well asmetadata markup, are typically per-formed centrally through a combina-tion of manual operation and auto-mated processes such as file transport,technical QC, subtitling, and evenconfirmation of rights and licensing.

Once content is ingested, the hub -and -spoke model provides for file -

based distribution of content to spokesites. A rather large volume of chan-nels, in the neighborhood of 10 to 60,are delivered to geographically dis-tributed stations and often in a num-ber of different time zones. The mainlong -form material is distributed fromthe hub to the spoke sites two to threedays in advance and stored on localplayout servers based on the scheduledplaylist. This transfer requires signifi-cant infrastructure, including playoutservers, graphics engines, subtitlingsystems, routing matrixes and mastercontrol devices - all operating underautomation control - as well as inter-faces with external traffic systems withschedule load/edit capabilities andback -office functions such as as -runlogs, billing and rights payments.

The size and complexity of thismodel requires an enterprise -levelplayout automation system equippedwith tools that minimize media move-ment and the overall burden on op-erations staff while making the mostof hardware at both the hub and spokesites. External traffic systems providethe automation system with the cen-tral and local programming sched-ules, and single operators typicallycan manage several channels from oneworkstation. When live programmingis distributed across the network, theautomation system should be able toensure frame -accurate regional con-tent insertion across select sites, trig-gered from a single central system.

File -based content is deliveredfrom the hub, where centralized stor-age of high -value assets and the pro-cessing or repurposing of content formultiple sites both reduce redun-dancy and add to cost savings. Thecontent transfer capabilities, archiveand management systems, and alter-nate playout platforms built into thehub can be leveraged by local spoke


FEATUREAUTOMATION TRENDS

Hub

Ingest

1E7 8111

VTR File -basedimport

Database Archive

Figure 2. Centralcasting hub -and -spoke

sites. Often equipped with a completebut lean stand-alone automation andmedia management system includinglocal ingest, individual stations canassume control over their own broad-casts and local content, or even man-age playout for another station in theevent of a disaster. With this flexibil-ity, the hub can hand over control forthose programming hours featuring

architecture

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rt- 11 ®local news and content, and then takeback control for nonpeak or over-night control and scheduling. At lessbusy times, this model allows a hand-ful of operators to control dozens ofsites from the hub facility.

Deployed in centralized hub -and -spoke architectures or at single sta-tions, advanced automation systemstoday give broadcasters the power -

ful tools and expansive functionalitythey need to manage intricate playoutworkflows with maximum efficiencyand flexibility. With a versatile andreliable automation system in place,broadcasters can focus on providingviewers with the type and quality ofcontent they demand. BE

Phil Wilton is product manager, automa-tion and media management, for Snell.

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3 D channeil4i1V proiessors

Adjusting the Z -depth of a channel brandinggraphic is an important part of broadcasting in3-D. An error could lead to loss of the effect.

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Controlling Z -depth is important inmaintaining the stereoscopic effect.

BY MICHEL PROULX

Adjusting Z -depth during a live broadcast calls In the future, advances in 3-D metadata may allow sophisticated automated controlfor manual control and depth presets. of channel branding depth.


brandingThe emergence of stereo-

scopic 3-D TV as a practicaloption for broadcasters hasopened up a whole new set

of issues in relation to best practicesfor channel branding graphics. Keyissues include where to place the 3-Dgraphics in terms of the perspective,or Z -depth, for optimal viewing andhow to control the Z -depth of graph-ics during playout to compensate forchanges to the program perspective.

Getting the Z -depth rightTo illustrate this Z -depth issue and

some of the associated challenges,it's worth considering a simple caseof logo insertion for a stereoscopic3-D program with a changing 3-D

perspective. (See Figure 1.) Whenthe program has a near (negative)depth, with the 3-D effect appear-ing to come out of the screen towardthe viewer, there is a requirementto have the logo positioned in frontof the action to maintain a naturalperspective (Case 1). During a se-quence with a flat perspective, or afar depth (with the perspective effectgoing into the distance), the brand-ing graphics need to be just in frontof the action (Cases 2 and 3). If theZ -depth positioning of the graphicis incorrect at any point, the chan-nel branding may lose its 3-D effector, worse, the presence of the logo orgraphic may interfere with the 3-Deffect of the program itself.

Adjusting the graphicsZ -depth

The Z -depth of a channel brandinggraphic can be changed to suit a pro-gram sequence by adjusting the hori-zontal separation of the left and rightbranding graphics, which are requiredto create a stereoscopic 3-D logo. Thismethod of controlling the Z -depth ofelements is often called horizontal im-age translation (HIT). By separatingthe right and left images of the graph-ics in one direction, the graphics willappear to come out of the screen. Con-versely, when the left and right brand-ing graphics are moved horizontallyrelative to each other in the other dir-ection, they will appear to move intothe screen. (See Figure 2.)

Case 1:Program with near (negative) depth

Incorrect

Graphicsintersectprogram

Correct

Case 2:

Program with flat (zero) depth

Incorrect

Graphicstoo far in frontof program

Correct

Case 3:Program with far (positive) depth

Ircorrect

Graphicstco far in frontof program

Correct

Figure 1. Different 3-D perspectives demand different positions for the channel branding graphics.

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Right channelgraphic

Left channelgraphic

/ Resulting graphic/ moves into

screen

Right channelgraphic

4 \ 411M./Left channelgraphic

/ Resulting graphic/ moves intoscreen

Figure 2. The Z -depth of channel branding graphics can be controlled by adjusting the horizontal separation of the left andright channel branding graphics.


FEATURE3-D CHANNEL BRANDING

Media currently loaded (left eye)

O

Load logo (side by side)

Logo Z -depth presets

Back Back Back Flat Front Front++

Front+++

Media currently loaded (right eye)

O

Load lower third (side by side)

Lower third Z -depth presents

Back Back Back Flat Front Front++

Front+++

X position of left media

0

X position of right media

960

Keyer control

3-D keyer on/off (direct)

Figure 3. Shown here is a stereoscopic 3-D branding control panel with Z -depth control presets.

Hence, one way to address a logo'sZ -depth problem is to have multipleversions of the logo, each with differ-ent left and right horizontal separa-tions. This is not difficult to accom-plish, as stereoscopic 3-D graphicscan be created using standard graph-ics tools such as Adobe's Premiere andAfter Effects, which are much easier touse than traditional 3-D news graph-ics (nonstereoscopic).

However, an obvious problem withthis approach is that it demands morecomplex media management to copewith all the different depth positionsrequired for a logo. Therefore, this ap-proach has not been widely adopted,and the focus has been toward con-trolling the Z -depth by dynamicallychanging the separation of a singlepair of left and right branding images.Moving the Z -position of the graph-ics is relatively simple; it's more diffi-cult to decide when to move them.

Controlling the Z -depth forlive content

There are multiple options forautomated and manual control of theZ -depth of channel branding graph-ics. One factor that influences theapproach is the type of content to be

played out, in terms of whether it islive or prerecorded.

A significant number of the initialapplications for stereoscopic 3-D TVare likely to be live events, such assports. With this type of program-ming, playout automation can be usedfor driving graphics, such as bugs, onand off for different segments. How-ever, it can't easily be used for Z -depthcontrol because of the unpredictablenature of live programming.

In this case, it's often best to sup-plement the automated control ofbranding with manual Z -depth con-trol, using a branding control panelwith depth presets. (See Figure 3.) Byusing presets, the operator can quick-ly and easily rectify graphics Z -depthissues using smooth depth adjust-ment transitions.

In the future, it's anticipated thatadvances in 3-D metadata playoutwill enable more sophisticated auto-mated control. The channel brand-ing processors will be able to read Z -depth metadata, probably in a similarmanner to reading AFD metadata,and automatically adjust the positionof the channel branding to optimizethe presentation. (See Figure 4.)

Another related automated control

option is dynamic measurement ofthe Z -depth by the channel brand-ing processor, or an associated signalprocessor, and performing on -the -flyadjustment of the branding graphicsaccording to the depth data. This mayrepresent a good back-up solutionin the absence of Z -depth metadata.However, both of these advancedautomated control techniques are stillin the formative stages and are notfully proven to date.

Z -depth control of recordedcontent

Broadcasters that play out chan-nels of recorded content, such as3-D movies, have additional optionsfor Z -depth control. One simple ap-proach is prerecording of the channelbranding with the content ahead ofplayout on -air. However, this is notvery practical because the show con-tent includes the branding graphics,which limits the reuse of the samecopy of the content on different chan-nels or with different branding.

Another alternative is to have theautomation system control the Z -pos-ition of the logo inserter by recallingthe position presets using either a ser-ial command or general purpose input.


FEATURE3-D CHANNEL BRANDING

Stereoscopicprogram

Extrametadata

Depthpositioncontrol

R RRLF LR II

External fill andkey input fromexternal GFX device

Stereoscopicprogram withstereoscopicgraphics

Figure 4. By extracting stereoscopic 3-D metadata, a channel branding processor can automatically adjust the Z -depth of thegraphics to optimize viewing.

This is more flexible but requires anextra piece of information that has tobe entered in the traffic or automationsystem, which is not possible or prac-tical for many operators.

A third option is to have the con-tent creator specifycontent is edited or reviewed, and toenter this information as metadata inthe program. This is broadly similarto the approach currently used forpresenting closed captions in 3-DBlu-ray productions. An operatormanually adjusts the branding Z -

depth using a fader while rerecordingthe content. This is a time-consumingprocess, but it offers the advantages ofsimplicity and consistent quality con-trol. Standards committees are work-ing diligently on Z -depth metadata

playout model.

ConclusionIn summary, we're still very much

in the early adoption phase of 3-D TV,with the playout equipment still beingdeveloped and the associated workflow

processes still being refined. There aresome obvious parallels between thecurrent state of channel branding for3-D TV and the early phase of HDTVwith its associated aspect ratio controlissues. However, equipment vendors,

and organizations suchas SMPTE are now working togetherclosely to overcome the current ob-stacles, and more elegant and more ef-ficient solutions to 3-D TV brandingare already on the horizon.

Michel Proulx is CTO of MirandaTechnologies.

BE

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Gain the respect of yourmanagement team with the following four tips.

As broadcast engineers, weoften sense that our train-ing and our engineeringskills and abilities do not

receive the respect we would hopefor - not that we thrive on our egos.More often than not, our greatestsatisfaction comes from our uniqueability at problem solving, especiallyunder duress. The concern is that, fartoo often, we are perceived by man-agement as workers plying a trade,seemingly as general handymen. Theperceived value of engineering to

station management is an ongoingchallenge for many technical profes-sionals, and station size or marketimportance has no bearing on theseattitudes. Although the followingideas for improving your standingwith your management are not guar-anteed, this information will lead youin the right direction.

Maintain yourtechnical abilities

To maintain your career as a broad-cast engineer, you will need to keep

pace with technology and techno-logical changes. When I was a stu-dent years ago, a professor told ourclass that if we wanted to be effectivebroadcast engineers, we would needto technologically retrain ourselvesfour times throughout the spanof our careers. Whether it be tubetechnology, transistors, integratedcircuits, digital technology or anyfuture innovations, you will need tobe retrained to remain professionallycompetitive.

This can be accomplished through


formal class work, keep-ing up with manufacturing

trends, attending trade showsto hear technical seminars and

studying the exhibits, forced self-

study, or voracious technical read-ing. Of course, SBE chapter programsand SBE seminars can enhance yourcontinuing education as well. No oneaction of those listed here will be ad-equate by itself.

Some broadcast companies will re-imburse part or all of your continu-ing formal education, usually requir-ing employee loyalty as part of theagreement. In other cases, you mayneed to pay your own educationalexpenses. In any event, continuing toimprove your technical knowledgeis a good way to increase your pro-fessionalism. Be sure to keep yourmanagement team posted on yourincreased skill level.

Also be sure to keep your man-agement team posted when you be-come SBE certified (each time, if youachieve multiple certifications). Thiswill open the door to further conver-sation about advancing yourself toprovide added value for the good ofthe company.

Dress for successIf you carry a management

title (DOE, CE, or even EIC or super-visor), you undoubtedly have routinemeetings with your station's non-technical management team (GM,PD, news director, sales manager,marketing manager, etc.). If you arenot regularly attending their routinemeetings (typically held weekly), startattending. Pay attention to everythingthey discuss, even if they seem to haveno topics directly related to engineer-ing. You might hear discussions aboutvisions or goals that will require engi-neering assistance in the future. Also,you will gain a new appreciation forthe mindset of management and thusbe better prepared to deal with themon their terms.

Dress in a manner compatible withthe rest of the management team. Ifthey wear business suits, then you

should also wear a business suit.Make sure your suit says that you arealso a management professional -not a used car salesman. If you havenot been dressing in this manner,and comments are made about yournew style of dress, simply acknowl-edge the change by saying, "Thankyou. I feel much more comfortablediscussing station business and shar-ing ideas with you when dressed thisway."

Without saying another wordabout your attire, you will intuitively

Dress in a mannercompatible withthe rest of the

management team.You will intuitively

be consideredmore professional.

be considered more professional. Ofcourse, always wear your SBE certi-fication pin on your jacket lapel tothese meetings. If asked about it, thedoor will be opened to discuss howyour SBE membership and certifica-tion improve your professional abili-ties, thus making you a more valuableasset to the management team.

Along with professional attire,good grooming is also necessary foryour overall professional appear-ance. This includes neat hair, a cleanshave or neatly trimmed facial hair,clean hands and shined shoes. Withprofessional attire and good groom-ing in place, you will not only beready to take your place in manage-ment meetings, but also be ready torepresent the station on any publicoccasion.

Although it may seem "old school,"you may find it appropriate to nor-mally wear a suit to work, and keepa change of clothes in a locker forany maintenance you may need to

perform. Alternatively, keep a service"jump suit" in your locker to wearover your trousers and dress shirt formaintenance, or a simple lab jacketto cover your dress shirt for lightmaintenance. While different fromtoday's trends of casual engineeringattire, following this guideline willalways position you as a professionalengineering manager first, then as abroadcast engineer.

Document your workThe presumption is that you

have some sort of regular schedulethat you are expected to maintain. Ifyou do not punch a time clock, keep apersonal log book (separate from anyofficial company records) indicat-ing your daily start and end times. Inthis book, also log your daily activi-ties during your regular work hours.List things like meetings, engineeringplanning time, talking with vendors,professional correspondence time,technical maintenance time, trainingtime and time for any nontechnicalactions taken at the request or direc-tion of the management team.

Include more detailed notes whenadvising any members of your man-agement team about actions theyneed to take regarding decisions onbudgetary items or other items thatmay involve legal or licensing issues.If you recommend budgeting foror purchasing critical replacementparts, and you are denied, note thatin your log as well. Include names inyour personal log.

Remember, the FCC puts responsi-bility for operating within their rulessquarely on station management,not on engineering. If you providesound engineering -based advice toyour management team, and it is

documented, and they ignore youradvice, then they must deal withthe consequences - not you. If,

for some reason, your managementdoes not value your accurate docu-mentation and sense of accountabil-ity, you will be able to refer to thethoroughness of your procedures toprove your high ethical standards,


FEATUREKEYSTO SUCCESS

character and professionalism toyour next employer.

Also document any work thatinvolves you - and the time spent -outside your normal work schedule.This might include anything fromovernight transmitter maintenance toa call at 3 a.m. about a burned out pi-lot light to a stopped automation sys-tem. Compile a list of this additionalwork and submit a weekly report toyour station management team.

If you are salaried, rather than anhourly employee, some employers be-lieve that your contracted salary cov-ers all your time. However, most stateshave wage -hour laws that requireemployers to pay overtime at over-time rates, even to salaried employ-ees, for work in excess of 40 hours perweek. Certain salaried employees thathave primary authority over otheremployees may be assigned "exempt"status, precluding them from over-time pay. Overall, most salaried em-ployees do not qualify as exempt em-ployees. Your state's wage -hour officecan clarify any specific inquiries.

Document,document,

document. Asan engineer, youare already usedto dealing with

details. Let thesedetails help you

to succeed.

Because you are responsible for in-stalling and maintaining the station'stechnical equipment, the proper tech-nical operation of that equipmentshould be an interest of yours as well.In the area of documentation, be awilling trainer of anyone assigned tooperate any of the technical equip-ment. Document any training given,including time spent and the name

of the person trained. Include thatin your weekly report to the manage-ment team. This will also show thatyou are a team player and are provid-ing value-added engineering servicefor the good of the station.

In addition, a properly trainednontechnical operator will be lesslikely to damage the equipment, thusreducing your maintenance require-ments. If you notice someone you'vetrained handling the equipment inan inappropriate manner, a gentlereminder about proper procedures(while allowing them to maintaintheir dignity) will go much farther inreinforcing your professional lead-ership than berating them for theirincompetence.

A nontechnicalapproach

In general, the nontechnical man-agement team has a primary goal tomake money for the station owners.In their meetings, you will find thatall of their decisions will be based onthat underlying goal. In today's highlycompetitive business climate, it's im-perative that you learn the businessand the business language of broad-cast management.

For example, hiring a high-pricedtalent is fiscally responsible if thattalent can generate additional rev-enue by increasing the ratings.Spending money in marketing andadvertising is all designed to increasemarket share, which translates intothe ability for the station to chargemore for station advertising, thusincreasing station revenue. On theother hand, engineering is generallyseen as a department that only wantsto spend money.

Years ago, broadcast engineerscould tell management that a cer-tain piece of (presumably expensive)equipment was needed to eithermaintain technical quality standardsor improve technical quality. Engi-neers only needed to talk "engineer-ing" language.

These days, a successful engineermust talk to the nontechnical man-

agement team as a salesman, sellingthe value of good engineering. Theengineer must think in sales and mar-keting terms to convey the goals ofengineering in words and with pre-sentations that support the work thatengineering can provide to achievethe goals of the nontechnical man-agement team.

If engineering saves the day againstnear disaster, include specific exam-ples of the support that was willinglygiven by engineering to enhance thevalue of engineering to the manage-ment team in your weekly reports.Prove to them how the efficiencyand skill of the engineering staffcan actually save money by reduc-ing unplanned downtime and savingotherwise lost revenue. You are nowmarketing engineering expertisefor operating and maintaining thetechnical plant, rather than quotinga dollar amount for a technicalexpenditure.

IT support falls into this categoryof full -service technical support.From an engineering point of view,it would be far better for engineer-ing to assume technical oversight ofall IT operations to allow coherentintegration of technical computersystems with business computer sys-tems. Typically, IT people with nobroadcast engineering experiencemay know computer technology, butthey will have no idea why it might bea bad idea to do a routine reboot ofthe on -air automation computer dur-ing afternoon drive time or during alocal newscast. Help the managementteam understand why it is to their ad-vantage to incorporate IT as an engi-neering responsibility.

Finally, if other departments placeblame for their errors onto engineer-ing, be prepared to discuss these chal-lenges in your weekly managementteam meetings - openly and can-didly - and with documentation youhave maintained to support the highlevel of engineering service you haveprovided to give them every oppor-tunity to succeed. While you cannotalways guide nontechnical staff to


FEATUREKEYSTO SUCCESS

make wise decisions, you can reportthat the equipment they used wastested and was functioning perfectly.This is another opportunity to offeroperator training for more value-added engineering support.

SummaryKeep current with technology any

way you can. Your continuing educa-tion is mandatory to be successful asa broadcast engineer. Dress for suc-cess. If you dress like a tradesman ora janitor, you will receive the respectyou deserve. If you dress like themanager that your title indicates, youwill receive the respect you expect.Document, document, document. Asan engineer, you are already used todealing with details. Let these detailshelp you to succeed. Finally, step outof your engineering hat to learn howto communicate with nontechnicalmanagers in a professional way thatthey can understand.

A further way to exude your pro-fessionalism is to speak and write inan articulate manner, always usinggood grammar and correct spelling.Maintain a friendly but professionalmanner with all management andstaff. Leave slang and inappropriatelanguage in the back room.

Once you have gained the respectof the management team for yourmore professional appearance, at-titude and ability to communicate,you will be able to gain influence inremoving some of the nontechni-cal functions from your workload.

Once you havegained the respectof the management

team, you willbe able to gain

influence inremoving some ofthe nontechnicalfunctions fromyour workload.

Because image is important, youmight actually be able to convincemanagement that hiring a lawnservice will improve the appear-ance of the grounds, that hiring aplumber on retainer who actuallystocks the needed parts will solve

those problems more quickly and atless expense than using engineeringtime to run to the hardware store,and that hiring a janitorial serviceis prudent.

Remember, when factoring yourexpense as an engineer for doingmenial nontechnical labor, take yoursalary and add 50 percent. When allthe benefits are added, that is youractual cost to the company as an em-ployee. Now compare that amountagainst the cost of the outside servic-es listed above. You should be able toprove that this new course of actionwill save money.

Consider these ideas as a start-ing point. When you start thinkingin management terms, you shouldbe able to develop other ideas inwhich engineering can become avalue-added resource for the good ofthe station. BE

Todd A. Boettcher, CPBE, is chair of SBEChapter 28 in Milwaukee.

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APPLIED TECHNOLOGYNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

Tufin network securitySecureTrack and SecureChange Workflow control

firewalls to meet security standards.

providing network securityfor today's organizationshas become an overwhelm-ingly complex operation

involving numerous components of-ten distributed across multiple sitesand managed by more than one team.At the same time, government andindustry regulations require organi-zations to implement much higherlevels of transparency and account-ability for their IT systems. In prac-tical terms, aligning day-to-day op-erations with regulatory complianceand other business requirements canonly be achieved by automating themanual, highly error -prone tasks as-sociated with daily network securityoperations. The most critical areasare change management, process au-tomation, security infrastructure op-timization, auditing and compliancemanagement.

Security life cycle management so-lutions enable organizations to cost-effectively implement, maintain and

BY SHAUL FFRAIM

audit their security policy on firewallsand other network infrastructure.They use a combination of businessprocess automation and sophisticatedanalysis and simulation algorithms to

can be fully explained and tracked;Processing automation to ensure

compliance and accountability andto eliminate manual, repetitive, error -prone tasks;

SecureTrack is essential in ensuringthat a corporate security policy isbeing implemented consistently inan environment with multiple rule

bases, geographies and teams.

help organizations manage networksecurity risks and ensure compli-ance with corporate and regulatorystandards.

Security life cycle managementincludes:

Changing management to ensurethat every change to firewall rule basesand related infrastructure is in accor-dance with corporate standards and

Risk and business continuity man-agement to evaluate potential securityhazards or performance issues beforechanges are implemented;

Security infrastructure optimiza-tion to enhance security, provide highperformance and a satisfactory userexperience while containing infra-structure costs;

Auditing and compliance manage-ment to ensure fulfillment ofindustry regulations and vendorbest practices as well as corporateIT policies.

Tufin offers two systems thattackle operations challenges andhelp organizations get them undercontrol.

tufin T 1000

Mtn T-1000 XL

Tufin offers two systems for managing network security. SecureTrack manages andaudits firewalls, routers and switches. SecureChange Workflow automates the processof a security policy change request, from beginning to end.

SecureTrackSecureTrack manages and au-

dits firewalls, routers and switch-es. It provides a cohesive, unifiedview of all firewalls along withmany other network devices. It isessential in ensuring that a cor-porate security policy is beingimplemented consistently in anenvironment with multiple rulebases, geographies and teams.

The system can view the rules

56 broadcastengineering.com July 2010

APPLIED TECHNOLOGYNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

in different firewalls and understandthe overall efficacy and compliance ofeach rule in the rule set. It then rec-ommends different actions that en-able operations teams to address thedifferent firewall configuration issues.The system can automatically gener-ate a variety of audit and compliancereports. This ability is a cost -reductionfeature that saves organizations a largeamount of time. Users report that de-ploying the system has resulted in a50 percent reduction in the time andcost of firewall management.

SecureTrack can substantially re-duce many of the costs related tocreating auditing and compliance re-ports. Along with capabilities such asconfiguration change tracking, auditand risk reports, and rule base opti-mization, the system becomes a keycost reduction product that can ben-efit the organization in terms of secu-rity and efficiency as well.

SecureChange WorkflowThe company's SecureChange

Workflow automates the entire lifecycle of a policy change requestfrom submission through design,risk analysis, approval, implementa-

firewall configuration while prevent-ing security and compliance risks.

SecureChange Workflow gives or-ganizations the ability to preventnoncompliant firewall configurationchanges and to cut back on the man -

Users report that deploying the system hasresulted in a 50 percent reduction in thetime and cost of firewall management.

tion and auditing. It complementsexisting ticketing systems and makesthem "security aware," so organiza-tions can proactively enforce securitypolicy, manage risk and comply withstandards. Harnessing the ability ofautomation to cut back on repetitivemanual tasks, it can substantially re-duce the time and labor involved in

ual, repetitive firewall managementtasks that cost organizations so manyman-hours. Using both products pro-vides organizations with a completelife cycle system that keeps firewalls se-cure, compliant and cost-efficient. BE

Shaul Efraim is vice president, products, atTufin Technologies.

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FIELD REPORTNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

A low-cost DVR for newsSilicon Dust's HDHomeRun combined with Elgato'sEyeTV results in an HD news recorder and logger.

BY DANIFL SLENTZ

With HD here, find-ing a way to recordprogramming frombroadcast (both cable

and antenna) has posed a problem.Some cable companies and satelliteproviders either charge a significantamount or refuse to rent their HDPVR systems. Even when these PVRsare rented to broadcasters, often theyare proprietary or just simply not theeasiest to make compatible with ourediting systems and servers.

The following is a solution I havefound that works well and provideshigh -quality video. It uses consum-er gear to stream HD across an ITnetwork and records to commonlyfound Mac machines in the broadcastenvironment. With Final Cut Pro be-coming so commonplace in the newsenvironment and easily exported toservers, I found recording to a MacG5 the easiest way to go.

The system consists of a Sili-conDust HDHomeRun TV tunerfor computers placed in a terminalroom rack and fed an antenna inputand a cable input. Elgato's EyeTVsoftware is loaded on a Mac. Thesoftware reaches across the networkto the TV tuner and scans channels

WSFL Miami Studio, formerly the Sun Sentinel auditorium in Fort Lauderdalecombined SiliconDust's HDHomeRun and Elgato's EyeTV to create an HD DVR thatuses existing Final Cut Pro systems as recorders via a network HD stream of off -airchannels. This enables journalists to offline other network programming to editand post to the station's server for their morning four-hour news/entertainmentprogram.

record function is also possible. Whenthe recording activates, the Mac actu-ally receives the streaming video overthe network and records it.

Confidence monitoring is dis-played if desired, and all programs tobe recorded or already recorded areeasy to see in the software GUI. Oncerecorded, the EyeTV software allowsfor semi -accurate (to the second, notframe) editing. This allows the file to

The HDHomeRun hardware and EyeTVsoftware were rock -solid, with no missedrecordings during testing or actual use.

(both ATSC from antenna and Clear-QAM from cable). Using TV Guide'sonline programming schedule, it rec-ognizes all possible recordable chan-nels and loads the guide on the Elgatoguide for recording. This allows asimple "click the box" to record onetime or on every showing. A manual

remain native to the software and fastto render for Final Cut. The video canthen be quickly "flipped" to your na-tive editing format, cleaned up to theframe and posted into your serverquickly.

The typical one -hour Elgato-nativefile is about 5Mb per hour of HD

video, and the quality of the video isnothing short of incredible. I foundboth the HDHomeRun hardware andEyeTV software to be rock -solid, withno missed recordings during testingor actual use. The software allows forauto -purging (based on a pre -deter -minded number of days or shows re-corded). In addition, auto -compressto a tight archive format (like MP4,QuickTime or DivX) is possible fromwithin the software.

On a Mac G5 (set up as Final CutEditor), there were ample resourcesto allow perfect recording of twochannels simultaneously. Because theHDHomeRun has two tuners, you canrecord one off -air and one off -cablechannel at the same time without kill-ing machine resources. The result isgreat video with no lip -sync errors. BE

Daniel Slentz was formerly director ofengineering at Tribune's WSFL Miami andis now vice president of technology andbroadcast operations at KERA TV/FM -KXT FM Dallas/Fort Worth.


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TRAINING DOESN'T

TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSITIONNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

TV synchronizationTiming and synchronization have progressed since the

first liveTV signal from the World's Fair.

In 1939, when General Sarnoffbroadcast the first live televisionshow at the World's Fair in NewYork, synchronization was criti-

cal to the ability to send signals to thehome. The tube -type sync generatorswere notoriously finicky. The pulses(horizontal, vertical and blanking,along with composite sync) were usedto ensure the cameras were makingimages in perfect synchronization. Infact, the entire system depended ona tight linkage between the scanningbeam in the camera and the electronbeam scanning the back of the displayfaceplate in perfect lock step. Therewere no electronic delays on video-tape, which wasn't made practical un-til 1956, when Ampex made recordersthat could mechanically lock rapidlyspinning heads tightly enough to per-mit electronics to correct the signal toroughly the same time base accuracyas the sync generator provided forlive sources. This absolute linkage be-tween acquisition, transmission anddisplay was a feature central to televi-sion for nearly 50 years.

Timing and sync progressThink for a moment about the

specifications for the NTSC (color)system to be practical. Every signalhad to be lined up vertically, horizon-tally and even tightly timed to makethe color subcarrier line up perfectly.The standard specifies 10 parts in3.5 million as the tolerance for sub -carrier frequency. However, at anyone point in time, two signals neededto be within about two degrees ofphase of the subcarrier running at3,579,545.27MHz. That means thatthe real instantaneous accuracy isroutinely about 1.5ns of phase dif-ference, often much less in well -con-trolled facilities.

BY JOHN LUFF

The world changed with the ad-vent of digital systems with significantamounts of buffering built in, allow-ing those difficult specs to become athing of the past. Today, a productionswitcher doesn't need to be timed to asingle nanosecond, but rather to plus or

Synchronization was critical during thefirst liveTV broadcast at the World's Fairin 1939.

minus half a line or so. This amountsto about 85,000 times the timing er-ror permissible just a few years ago.But in the end, that alone is not morethan a curiosity. By using compres-sion and pixel -mapped displays, wehave effectively delinked the two ends

The world changedwith the advent

of digital systemswith significant

amounts ofbuffering built in.

of the production/consumption chain.There is no longer any direct correla-tion between the two ends except inthe statistical sense. At any one instantin time you cannot say how manyframes per second are being transmit-ted, for the length of a frame dependson how many bits it needs for adequate

reconstruction of the intended image. Agood transmission system may changethe number of frames per second whenfilm material is sent instead of replicat-ing the 3:2 pulldown required for 24 -frame film material in a 30 -frame videoworld. Just send the original 24 frames,and if the receiver needs 30 frames forthe display, reconstruct them at theother end. This is much different thanGeneral Sarnoff's engineers would havethought possible.

But we live in a multiformat worldtoday. First, the frame rate is really30/1.001 to accommodate the needto be synchronous with remainingNTSC legacy hardware. In a perfectworld, HD would have been precisely30fps, but after lengthy discussionsin the 1980s, SMPTE acknowledgedthe reality of building a facility withframe rates so close, yet so far apart.The hardware needed to create 30frames out of 29.97 is expensive andwas deemed to be an unreasonableburden on future systems. But we dohave the need to accommodate framerates locked to PAL systems and theneed to lock digital audio at a multi-tude of different clock speeds.

We are still burdened with time mea-surement, which was invented beforethe 30/1.001 issue. The result is dropframe and nondrop frame time code,which by the way is of barely any use insystems like 720p59.94 because it can-not name frames beyond 30 uniquely.Now I am sure someone will point outthe field flag in SMPTE 12M, but thepoint is that there has been a need fora time code that can correctly number(nominally) 60fps for many years. Ex-isting analog, audio -based time codedoesn't adequately specify the dateor a reference to a globally supportedtime standard either. Out of adversitycomes creativity and progress.


TECHNOLOGY IN TRANSITIONNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

A new reference signalA couple years ago, SMPTE and

EBU started to create a new referencesignal. Experts worldwide collabo-rated, and after much work, severalcritical elements of the next time andreference signal emerged.

First, the reference signal will belocked universally to the time signalused in GPS satellites, allowing pre-cise information about time and dateto be included.

Second, in a stroke of creative en-gineering, the committee determinedthat the references for all standardsworldwide could be built from thissingle starting point in the follow-ing manner. If one started all signalsat the same time, you could use theprecise time of day to describe theircurrent state anywhere, without hav-ing multiple references for multipleframe rates. For example, if line one offield one of an NTSC signal began at

midnight GMT on Jan. 1, and you knowthe time precisely enough (enter GPSclocks), you could predict the phase ofthe color black signal at any time in thefuture with a little bit of math. Locking

The reference signalwill be locked

universally to thetime signal usedin GPS satellites.

an oscillator locally to this time signaland calculating the startup conditionsfrom the current local time creates agenerator that you can trace back to the"big bang of sync signals." That time, orepoch as it is called, has been selected as1/1 1958, per SMPTE 404M Draft:

"Time 00:00:00 of Wednesday,January 1, 1958, 00:00:00 being themidnight at the start of January 1).

This corresponds to the origin forInternational Atomic Time (TAI) andCoordinated Universal Time (UTC).The corresponding Modified JulianDate (MJD) is 36204."

Thus, neatly, we can start clocks forAES, NTSC, PAL, MPEG or any othermedia -related signal using one conve-nient and well-known reference. Thesignal may be distributed a number ofways, including most significantly viacomputer networks of known latency,and as an overlay on color black. In thefuture, if someone determines that an81Hz frame rate with 2678 lines is ap-propriate, we can quickly relate it tothe "SMPTE epoch" and deliver a newsync signal. Done; and without break-ing any existing signal.

John Luff is a broadcast technologyconsultant.

BE

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oadcastEngineeting

11 L FETIII; TELEVISIONCREATING A DIGITAL WORKFLOW

Your Name HereCompanyAddressCity, State ZIP

-

Nal.7;

Rows UpECTIVE ANDFORMING

STEMSES AND

,..tiNOLOGY


NEW PRODUCTSNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

OmniBus iTX Analog Way

Automation and playout platform in-cludes more than 130 new features, suchas advanced aspect ratio control withAFD insertion, BXF schedule import, en-hanced CG capability and closed -caption-ing functionality, support for copy guarddata insertion, additional bit rate supportfor Dolby D, and schedule preview con-trol; allows broadcasters to mix both me-dia formats and resolutions in the sameschedule; broadcast HD, SD and lower bitrates can be mixed within a single sched-ule and are automatically up- or down -converted by iTX; can be used for InternetTV and streaming delivery applications.

303-237-4868; www.omnibus.tv

Altera Stratix V FPGA family

Family of field -programmable gate arraysoffers up to 1.6Tb/s of serial switching ca-pability; provides up to 1.1 million logicelements, 53Mb embedded memory, 368018 x 18 multiplexers and integrated trans-ceivers operating up to 28Gb/s; familyincludes four variants; V GT FPGA inte-grates 28Gb/s transceivers targeting 100Gsystems and beyond; V GX FPGA supportsapplications with 600Mb/s to 12.5Gb/stransceivers; V GS FPGA is optimized forhigh-performance DSP applications with600Mb/s to 12.5Gb/s transceivers; V EFPGA is designed for ASIC prototyping,emulation or high-performance comput-ing applications.

408-544-7000; www.altera.com

Cache -A Pro-Cache5

LTO-5 archive appliance offers 1.5TB ofstorage; provides faster archiving speedsand extends the economic advantages ofdata tape; allows users to create sourcemasters in acquisition workflows whenusing the new memory card or disk -basedcameras; writes on LTO tape cartridgesusing the TAR format; can be deployedinto Windows, Mac OS and Unix environ-ments; enables direct access to archiveddata from any platform with simultaneousmultiuser access and volume sharing; canbe upgraded to control robotic libraries.

866-931-5560; www.cache-a.com

Eikos

Multilayer mixer/scaler/seamless switcheroffers up to 12 inputs, including four fit-ted with SDI and two fitted with DVI-D;outputs digital and analog signals in DVIand VGA (RGBHV) simultaneously witha selection of many formats from HDTVto computer 2K; operates in multilayermixer, 12 x 2 seamless native matrix andQuadraVision modes; multilayer mixercan display up to six layers (three livesources, one frame and two logos) as wellas two PIPs on a live background or threePIPs on a still background, in addition toa number of effects; QuadraVision modeenables the display of four computer orvideo sources on the main output accord-ing to four different preprogrammed pre-sets with different window sizes and posi-tions available.

212-269-1902; www.analogway.com

MAXX-2020HD

Reference recorder provides lossless re-cording and playback of many HD videoformats, including paired channels for3-D; accepts images in any color spacewith 8, 10 or 12 bits; doesn't compressthe image; two channels can be used forindependent HD -SDI streams, as a 3-Dpair or as a single 3G channel, and tworecorders can be synchronized for dual -3G operation; features HDMI monitoroutputs, 16 channels of 24 -bit audio, slowmotion, nine -pin control, LTC time code,file trimming and playlisting.

818-735-8221; www.360systems.com

Marshall Electronics 3DR-HDSDI

High -quality 3-D digital processor can beused with any size 3-D monitor or TV setwith HDMI and DVI inputs; features fourHD -SDI inputs, which enable the switch-ing between two 3-D (left eye/right eye)HD -SDI signals; can support in -monitordisplay functions through RS-422/RS-485connections; is rack -mountable.

800-800-6608; www.lcdracks.com

Archion Technologies EditSTOR

Multiplatform, shared -storage product isa turnkey, self-contained, hardware RAID -based system that offers a streamlinedworkflow with the flexibility of multiwriteOSX, Windows and Linux across standardEthernet networks; available in 8TB, 12TB,16TB and 32TB configurations; supportsdemanding ProRes or DNX workflowswith 300MB/s minimum in the standardconfiguration with an aggregate through-put of up to 650MB in the larger port con-figuration; upgradable to 10GigE.

818-840-0777; www.archion.com

Compix QuickShot

PI Mmom

M ar 11101111111-16

CG solution provides fast access to mul-tiple graphics on a remote system withoutrequiring the user to log in to a PC; en-ables broadcast users to keep viewers upto date with the latest news regardless ofthe time of day or number of staff at thefacility; templates can be customized fornews, sports, weather or other types ofinformation; features LCD keycaps withmultiple colors and custom text labels toensure accurate graphics playout.

949-585-0055; www.compix.tv

Band Pro FGV 7D -PL

Standard Canon 7D camera is perma-nently retrofitted with a one-piece lens/sensor/base mounting element of steel;comes with a one-year limited warrantyfrom FGV Schmidle; mirror and opticalviewfinder are removed and original sen-sor block is reconnected with the one-piece3/8in threaded steel mounting bracketand PL lens mount; features a three -pinFischer connector to enable start/stop con-trol when using a handgrip system or re-mote camera controls; uses an APS-C sen-sor; accepts most PL lenses.

818-841-9655; www.bandpro.com


NEW PRODUCTSNEW PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

P+S TECHNIK Freestyle Rig Zaxcom

Part of the 3-D Stereo Rig product fam-ily; offers a professional solution for ste-reoscopic camera movement; featuresmaximum stiffness and dimensional sta-bility even under heat; has a lightweight,slim and compact design for mobility andportability, integrated motorization foroptimal balance and complete adjustabil-ity; can carry a wide range of professionallenses and cameras up to 7kg per camerasetup; can be equipped for shoulder, craneand dolly use with range of ergonomicmounting accessories.

+49 89 45 09 82 30www.pstechnik.de

Concurrent MediaHawk VX

Software solution for delivering multi -screen video enables service and contentproviders to deliver commercial video toany device over any network from a uni-fied, hardware -agnostic platform; featuresinclude integrated streaming and down-load delivery, support for Web and wire-less connected devices, origin server, con-tent delivery and edge caching functional-ity, 3-D content support, and support formultiple hardware platforms.

877-978-7363; www.ccur.com

Digital Vision Nucoda

Updated color grading and image en-hancement solution includes toolset withadvanced tracking and new keyer, colorand editorial tools; features stereoscopicgrading toolset, RED Rocket hardwareaccelerator card and Mysterium-X sen-sor support, full Avid workflow integra-tion (including Unity ISIS and Interplay),native and nondestructive open EXR andhigh dynamic range grading, telecine ma-chine and picture control, and native cam-era support for all major digital cameras.

818-769-8111;www.digitalvision.se

TRX900LT

Wireless digital audio transceiver com-bines wireless transmission, recordingand remote -control receiving functionsin a single cost-effective system; featuresa 100 percent digital, fully encryptedtransmission and internal time code -referenced audio recorder that backs upall wireless transmissions on a removablemicroSD card; housed in a high -strength,impact -resistant nylon polymer casingthat provides protection from corrosionand water damage.

973-835-5000; www.zaxcom.com

EditShare Geevs 5.0

Multichannel ingest and playout solutionfeatures a new user interface, sports clientapplication and edit while capture; sup-ports 32 -bit and Dolby E audio, as well asAVI, Quicklime, MXF containers, DNx-HD, ProRes, XDCAM and all standardbroadcast formats; offers synchronizedmulticam ingest; provides a flexibte set oftools for broadcasters, including XML API,VDCP, MOS, router control, graphic over-lays and GPI triggers for integration withexternal controllers or vision mixers.

617-782-0479www.editshare.com

ComNet Va Wain.

A cost-effective suite of fiber-optic andEthernet transmission products; consistsof digital encoded fiber-optic video mul-tiplexers, serial data products, Ethernetmedia converters and a new Ethernetover coaxial cable (VDSL) product.

888-678-9427; www.comnet.net

Front Porch Digital DIVAsymphony

Advanced service -oriented architectureframework for DIVArchive content stor-age management solution leverages bestpractices from IT enterprise architecturaldesign to simplify DIVArchive's integra-tion of third -party products for controland content exchange; built around anenterprise service bus; allows other ser-vice -based technologies to integrate intoDIVArchive directly.

303-440-7930; www.fpdigital.com

Riedel Communications RRCS 2.0

Router control software provides a uni-versal XML interface to enable third -party router control systems to controlRiedel Artist intercom systems; featuresan expanded set of XML commands forthe software to allow for an even deeperintegration of external third -party con-trol systems and Artist; includes highlyflexible control surfaces and intuitiveshortcuts; provides a powerful assign-ment tool for conferences, panels, exter-nal four -wires, IFBs and program signals,including gain settings.

818-241-4696; www.riedel.net

Globalstor

Storage system comprises five enterprise -class SATA drives or solid-state drivesand a single 4Gb/s Fibre Channel hostinterface; offers a capacity of up to 10TBof storage with more than 20 hours ofuncompressed, 10 -bit HD video footage;supports real-time HD and SD applica-tions, including single, 10 -bit 1080i; fea-tures a processing rate of 400MB/s, RAID5 striping technology, several layers ofbuilt-in redundancy, SATA drive hotswap, an LED drive mismatch warningwhen drives are removed and reinstalledincorrectly, and RAIDWatch, which runscontinuously and silently without im-pacting performance.

818-701-7771www.globalstor.com


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REGIONAL SALES MANAGER

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64 broadcastengineering.com I July 201 0

AD INDEXBroadcast Engineering os not responsible

for errors in the Advertisers Index.

Page Advertiser Website

Hotline Address

AJA Video 27 800-251-4224

Apantac LLC 21 503-616-3711

Blackmagic Design 5 408-954-0500

Calrec Audio Ltd 33 +44(0)1422842159

Canare Cable Inc. 40, 42, 43 973-837-0070

Canon U.S.A. Inc. 11

Clear -Corn Communication Systems 51 510-496-6600

Dolby Laboratories Inc. 13

Evertz Microsystems Ltd. IBC 877-995-3700

Florical Systems Inc. 39 800-372-4613

For. A Corporation of America 3 714-894-3311

Harris BC 800-231-9673

IBC 2010 I FC +44(0)20 7832 4100

LYNX Technik AG 47 +49 6150 18170

Miranda Technologies Inc 9 514-333-1772

Nevion 23 805-247-8560

Omneon 19 866-861-5690

PESA 41 800-328-1008

Renaissance Electronics Corp. / HXI 35 978-521-7300

Riedel Communications 25, 55 914-592-0220

Snell Group 29

Stanford Research Systems 32 408-744-9040

Utah Scientific 17 800-453-8782

ViewCast 7 800-540-4119

Ward -Beck Systems Ltd 24 800-771-2556

Zeus Broadcast 34 407-352-6501

aja.com

apantac.com

blackmagic-design.com

calrec.com

canare.com

usa.canon.com/

camcorder

clearcom.com

dolby.com

evertz.com

florical.com

for-a.corn

broadcast.

harris.com/x50

ibc.org/register

yellobrik.com

miranda.com/

kaleido-modular

nevion.com

omneon.com/

spectrumdelivers

pesa.com

hxi.com

riedel.net

hdforless.tv

thinksrs.com

utahscientific.com

viewcast.com

ward-beck.com

zeusbroadcast.com

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INTERNATIONALEUROPERichard Woolley+44-1295-278-407Fax: +44-1295-278-408riche rdwoolley@ btclick.com

IsraelAsa TalbarTalbar Media+972-3-5629565; Fax: [email protected]

JAPANMashy YoshikawaOrient Echo, Inc.+81-3-3235-5961; Fax: [email protected]

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Broadcast Eng 'leering, July 2010, Vol. 52, No. 7 (ISSN 0007-1994) is pubf shed monthly and mailed free to qualifiedpersons by Penton Media, Inc. 9800 Metcalf Ave, Overland

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913-967-1905. Advert. fax: 913-967-1904. © 2010 by PentonMecia, Inc. Alt rights reserved.


EOMDEPARTMENT

Improving workflowThe DVS Venice is a video server on steroids.

The supply chain of contentfrom its initial acquisitionto final delivery to the view-er has been revolutionized

as a function of the digital era in whichwe live and work today. There was atime when manufacturers could mea-sure the life cycles of their hardware -based analog product lines in termsof years. Today's digital technologyhas enabled the creation of software -based products and systems, reducingproduct cycle timeline measurementsto months. Additionally, software -based technology has the advantageof creating processes and functions asprograms, which can relatively quicklybe embedded in firmware or releasedas software. The result, vis A vis previ-ous requirements for hardware layout,multilevel board design and chip fab,has probably increased new productintroductions tenfold.

A good thing in those days of analoghardware was that if you experienceda functional difficulty, it either wentto the manufacturer or a field techni-cian would be dispatched to repair theproblem. Today, however, we have touse a work -around while awaiting abug fix or the next version of a soft-ware release. The sheer abundance oftoday's new technology products pres-ents a daunting challenge to simplystay on top of all the latest availabletools and workflow solutions.

One new, interesting workflow toolis the Venice video server from Ger-man company DVS Digital VideoSystems. (See Figure 1.) The serveris a multichannel ingest, capture andplayout device available with all thecurrent Sony, Panasonic and Avid co-decs, thus providing capabilities foreverything from edit output to livecamera capture and ingest of disk ortape content.

The system is available as a two- orfour -channel device. With the variety

BY ANTHONY R. GARGANO

of codecs available, it offers a mul-tiplicity of system configurations.Systems can be stacked to provideadditional channels if needed. For ex-ample, while there has been a recenttrend with some of today's sitcomsto shoot using just a single camera,many shows are still shot in the tradi-tional three -camera style. In that situ-ation, an interesting workflow optionfor a three -camera video shoot mightbe a Venice system configured withfour independent channels where the

compressed SD to uncompressed 4Kand can do on -the -fly conversionsand playout in most of today's com-mon formats. It has much to offer inproduction and play -to -air broadcastapplications. There is a huge space inbetween in post production, and posthas migrated largely to a file -basedworkflow. The system can serve tomediate between content that is be-ing captured live or content ingestedfrom tape or disc and that wholeworld of file -based content finishing.

I. =Io

HD VTR

HD camera

Capture or playout SD/HD

Capture SD/HD

File transfer

File transfer

Venicevideo server

11 File transfer

F2 cardreader

Client

Professionaldisc players

Figure 1. DVS' Venice video server was designed as a multichannel ingest, captureand playout device.

three cameras would each feed an in-put channel while the fourth channelcould be configured to feed an Avidsystem for edit output. Need moreinputs or outputs? Simply stack an-other system. Another benefit is youcan retire or put to other use what-ever decks the cameras would havebeen feeding.

Today's broadcaster is faced with aplethora of content in various videoand file formats. Need a conversion?The system supports a range of videoand file formats in anything from

Other features and capabilities facili-tate nonlinear editing workflow andenhance graphics and compositingworkflow processes.

The German engineers responsiblefor the Venice must have looked toone of their neighbors to the southfor inspiration. The result is the SwissArmy Knife of video servers. BE

Anthony R. Gargano is a consultant andformer industry executive.

111Send questions and comments to:[email protected]


Routing CoreEQX / Xenon / ECIT / XRF

Master Control & Brandinglevertzl EMC / OvertureRT Multiviewer

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Magnum is Evertz® solution to unify the control and operation of the routing core, mastercontrol & branding, production switching, infrastructure, and multiviewer.

Magnum Unified Control presents users with a single point of configuration and contra] of multiple systems. Magnum'sweb -based interface and intelligent CP-2232E and CP-2116E-H control panels offer users better workflow, greater efficiencyand lower costs for their facilities.

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i'frimusixso

The surprisingly affordable X5OTM synchronizer/converter.

The latest member of the award -winning Harris family of 1RU video/audio processors, the versatile X50 fits anyproduction environment - and even the tightest budget. Its industry -leading features include:

SD/HD up/down/cross conversion

Integrated color correctionFully adjustable aspect ratio converters16 -channel embedded audio processing

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The X50 processor -the compact platform for any situation.

Learn more at broadcast.harris.com/X50 or contact your local Harris dealer.

ONE Company. ONE Direction. The Future.

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