her e d o es t he b r o ad c as t ind u s t r y c u r r ent l y stand when it comes to the transition to IP� and as an industry� what more can �e done to support this transition�

Tim F el s t ead : A I M S w as set up to av oid the issues of p rop rietary tec hn ol og ies , w hic h would slow down innovation in the industry . The overall objective of AIMS is to encourage the adoption of open , vendor-agnostic IP standards . v eral l thoug h , the in dustry is at a tric k y moment in its IP evolution right now . While here at S A M w e hav e sy stem s that do ex ac tl y what they should do and offer SDI levels of reliability , security and performance over IP networks , there remain competing proprietary systems and a lot of loud voices supporting them . It ’ s incredibly important that customers and suppliers alike stick to their principles at this moment . That means customers dem an din g of sup p l iers the use of p urel y op en standards , demanding that what replaces SDI should perform as well as , if not better than SDI , in all respects .

C ustom ers shoul d al so b e dem an din g to see what is being offered before buying it and not falling prey to long promises . That ’ s not the w ay S A M w ork s an d w e b el iev e if c ustom ers want to see , for example , TR-03 Ultra HD ( UHD ) over 4K working today in real world production systems , all they need do is call SAM and ask to see it .

I w oul d al so stron g l y rec om m en d that customers join AIMS as an organisation and express their support of open , vendor-agnostic IP standards publically . After all , it ’ s in all our in terests that w e hav e an op en , heal thy an d flourishing market .

�or many �roadcasters� the transition to IP in�ol�es many considerations� including how to accommodate e�isting S�I in�rastructures� What other �actors would you identi�y as currently holding �ack �roadcasters to em�race IP� and what ad�ice would you o�er in planning a transition path�

F el s t ead : We are in a transitory period when it comes to IP and so we make it a point to offer

products that work today in the SDI domain and that also allow transition and expansion into the IP world .

O n e of the p rob l em s that b roadc asters are ex p erien c in g is the w orry in term s of managing hybrid workflows and the need to meet the requirements of SDI and IP simultaneously . Our IP-Edge production routing technology is an integrated solution to tak e the c om p l ex ity aw ay f rom hy b rid an d pure-IP roll-outs and yet closely follow the interoperability goals of AIMS .

However , I think the biggest issue holding customers back from investing in IP systems for live production is one of trust . SDI is a great medium and we as an industry hav e b ec om e v ery , v ery g ood at usin g it in a highly efficient way . Until customers can see the sam e l ev el of sec urity , rel iab il ity an d performance in IP systems , they will naturally hesitate .

Fortunately , at SAM , we have built our IP systems on open standards including 2022-7 over separate ( and different ) IP switches from sources to destinations . This means that an y f ail ure or dec rease in p erf orm an c e on one IP network will not affect the media source reaching its destination in a timely manner . After all , we rely on SDI in a single cable and expect it to be rock reliable — it ’ s not unreasonable to expect the same of IP systems .

S o in term s of adv ic e I w oul d ask customers to seek vendors who do offer open , vendor-agnostic IP systems that meet or exceed SDI levels of performance . I w oul d al so ask them to c on sider their ow n c ap ital ex p en ditures an d in v estm en t c y c l es and seek a vendor who can offer a smooth and low-risk transition path from SDI to IP . SAM can help with that transition because we consistently build solutions with that transition in mind .

What other technology trends do you see making an impact in ����� and what will �e some o� the key challenges �or �roadcasters� How will these de�elopments also decide what SAM will �e �ocusing on in ����� and �eyond�

“ I think the biggest issue holding customers back from investing in IP systems for live production is one of trust [ of SDI ].”

— Tim Felstead Head of Product Marketing

SAM

F el s t ead : While 4K / UHD is and will continue to b rin g ab out g reat c han g e in the in dustry , high dynamic range ( HDR ) is set to be an other on e of the tec hn ol og ies m ak in g a big impact in 2017 . HDR is currently mainly used in the film industry but is crossing over to other media . While still in its early phase of adoption by manufacturers and content providers , HDR will inevitably become standard over time because it will have a great impact on the end-user viewing experience .

Key challenges for broadcasters and all media companies alike will be the efficient creation , management and delivery to consumers of both HDR and standard dynamic range ( SDR ) content for a plethora of different screens .

S A M is al ready f oc usin g on en surin g f or those c ustom ers w ho w an t the v ery b est viewing experience — for example , 4K / UHD with HDR and wide color gamut ( WCG ) — by providing production and delivery tools that enable multi-format simultaneous workflows . T hese av oid un w el c om e in c reases in c ost of operations and complexity in parallel SD / HD / 4K / UHD . In live or pre-recorded material production and delivery workflows , the issue of c om p l ex ity an d the m ethods of reducing it is where SAM is focusing .

A s w e say in our tag l in e , w e m ak e the complex simple .