PANELLISTS
16
November 2017
Broadcast Solutions opens new S ’ pore office
Broadcast Solutions , a German systems integrator ( SI ), has opened a new office in Singapore . Present at the opening ceremony were Stefan Breder , CEO of Broadcast Solutions , and Joe Tan , general manager Asia-Pacific and head of Broadcast Solutions ’ Singapore office . Tan said : “ It was a pleasure to meet friends , partners and members of the broadcast industry in the Asian region . With our new office in the centre of vibrant markets , we will serve our customers even better , and we are looking forward to increase our market presence and business in the area decisively .”
Wauthoz joins Tedial
Tedial has appointed Jerome Wauthoz as the company ’ s vice-president , products . In his new role , Wauthoz will work with the Tedial development team on new products and services for the media and entertainment industry , as well as bring executive level strategic marketing to the organisation . Prior to his appointment , Wauthoz helmed several positions during his 22 years tenure at EVS Broadcast Equipment , which has provided him with a deep understanding of live production workflows , and experience in analysing customer needs across global markets .
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Patrick So
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Craig Johnson
Managing Director - Media Nielsen
Streamlining workflows in a multi-format media ecosystem
In facing a variety of formats — such as 4K / UHD , HDR and HFR
— how should broadcasters and content producers evaluate the suitability of video formats for content that has to be delivered and stored over the long term ? Josephine Tan finds out more .
S tandards converters were first introduced to the broadcast industry to enable switching between the National Television System Committee ( NTSC ) and Phase Alternating Line ( PAL ) standards . Back then , these converters were analogue and physically large in size .
With the advent of digital video , standards converters are now becoming more compact and cheaper , says David Smith , technology manager at Rohde & Schwarz ( R & S ).
He tells APB : “ Within the production workflows , many different camera codecs and resolutions have been developed and used for many years . This results in the role of format converters , and their position in the broadcast chain , being changed significantly in the last decade .”
4K / Ultra HD ( UHD ), high dynamic
❝ The ability to generate and easily manage multiple versions simplifies monetisation of content through customisation for different target audiences , delivery systems or displays , and is a compelling and future-proof proposition for any content producer .❞
— David Smith , Technology Manager , Rohde & Schwarz range ( HDR ) and high frame rate ( HFR ) are some technologies that have been developed , enabling content producers to enhance image quality while improving the overall viewing experience for viewers . Due to the emergence of these technologies , Smith points out that today ’ s format converters are employed in the digital uncompressed domain for the conversion of colour space for HDR , temporal for HFR , and spatial for resolution and de-interlacing .
He explains that the first stage in any conversion starts with de-interlacing , which is the process of converting interlaced video , such as analogue TV signals or 1080i format HDTV signals , into a non-interlaced form . “ In practice , de-interlacing is often combined with frame-rate conversion to 1080p50 as this will give the best result with minimal effect on compressed bandwidth , when used in conjunction with highefficiency video coding ( HEVC )/ H . 265 .”
As for spatial resolution conversion , he says that the process is “ relatively straightforward ” for progressive content to be incorporated into any workflows , whether up / downconverting . He continues : “ Similarly , for frame-rate conversion , several experiments have shown that doubling the frame rate gives a significantly better perceived picture compared to doubling the resolution .”
To enhance workflow efficiency in a multi-format broadcast ecosystem , R & S developed the AVHE100 headend solution for encoding and multiplexing to manage de-interlacing , and up / down video resolution conversion , to or from 4K / UHD , HD , SD and over-the-top ( OTT ) formats . The system comprises the AVG100 audio / video gateway , which converts the feed formats used in broadcasting to IP , and the AVS100 audio / video processing platform , which uses software options to enable functions such as decoding , encoding and multiplexing .
AVHE100 also features R & S Cross- FlowIP technology , which enables “ optimum utilisation of all system components ” while providing enhanced redundancy solutions . Additionally , the headend is equipped with an intuitive headend management system ( HMS ) that allows users to control and monitor the entire workflow via a single graphical user interface ( GUI ).
But when it comes to switching between different HDR formats , Smith suggests that the conversion is “ more challenging ” due to the requirement of extensive floatingpoint computation power , and is also “ more complicated ” as there are a number of different HDR formats and metadata streams involved .
He elaborates : “ There are two broadcast HDR standards — hybrid log gamma ( HLG ) and perceptual quantiser ( PQ ). While HLG does not involve metadata , PQ requires one metadata set per programme . Even so , users can easily convert between HLG and PQ while achieving high-quality images .”
Despite the standard dynamic range ( SDR ) format being the widest viewed format by most viewers , SDR content can be upconverted to either PQ or HLG for archival purpose .
“ Different approaches can be used for upconversion , which can give reasonable results , but the widely varying brightness of content requires the experienced eye of a colourist to achieve the best possible result ,” Smith says . “ Therefore , SDR content is usually obtained either by downconverting from HDR , or produced within the post-production workflows alongside the HDR content .”
There are also several distribution formats — such as HDR 10 , HDR10 + and Dolby Vision — alongside mastering formats such as Sony ’ s S-Log3 , available for content producers ’ adoption . Smith continues : “ In post , these formats will once again require colourists to ensure all the images are colour-graded against a specific reference monitor with a known maximum brightness .
“ Conversion between these formats is a compute-intensive process because the mastering workflow uses much larger bitdepths — 16 bits per colour or more — during post production . However , generating multiple standards would be a part of the workflow , and not usually as a conversion step .”
These technologies , however , are exceeding the rate of adoption . And in this multi-format broadcast ecosystem , it is important to distinguish between the storage format , the file format and the content