Tektronix, Inc., an industry-leading innovator of video test and monitoring solutions, today announced that it will showcase end-to-end solutions that ensure content quality, signal integrity, and regulatory compliance while the industry is embracing the challenges of transitioning to next generation technologies and workflows at IBC 2017 in Stand 10 D41.
The premier annual event for professionals engaged in the creation, management and delivery of entertainment and news content worldwide, the IBC exhibition is being held 15-19 Sept., 2017 in Amsterdam and is expected to draw more than 55,000 attendees from 170 countries and will feature products from over 1,600 exhibitors.
“There’s never been a time like this in the broadcast industry with so many fundamental changes in technology and workflows coming together at the same time,” said Charlie Dunn, general manager, Video Product Line, Tektronix. “We encourage everyone in the industry to stop by our stand during IBC to see how we can help tackle these changes with our latest solutions for monitoring and analyzing Live IP workflows or monitoring and optimizing 4K, HDR, and OTT content.”
Here’s what Tektronix will be demonstrating at IBC to support critical broadcast industry transitions:
Transition #1: Live IP Production
The broadcast industry is undergoing a transition from an SDI infrastructure to an all-IP infrastructure that will ultimately impact all parts of the broadcast workflow. Tektronix PRISM offers broadcast and network engineers real time monitoring and analysis of IP streams and the associated content, enabling early identification and diagnosis of network or content issues including intermittent loss of video, audio, or data content.
Tektronix will be demonstrating new PRISM IP capabilities including analysis of PTP synchronization timing, support for SMPTE ST 2022-7 redundancy and SMPTE ST 2110, IGMP V3 and new API support for easy system integration into network management systems, and IP stream capture for deep dive analysis.
Alongside PRISM will be the SPG8000A hybrid master sync generator and PTP grandmaster clock that provides PTP (SMPTE ST 2059) timing for the SMPTE ST 2110 compliant IP video network.
Transition #2: 4K with HDR content
With the increasing adoption of 4K/Ultra High Definition (UHD) with High Dynamic Range (HDR) displays by consumers and the increasing drive from the content delivery companies to differentiate their product offerings, there is an increasing demand from content providers to produce more content with stunning 4K HDR picture quality.
At IBC, Tektronix will be introducing a brand new suite of 4K HDR features on the PRISM platform that enables high quality live production in OB vans / trucks or studios by ensuring consistent look of images in mixed and multi-camera HDR and SDR environments using different color spaces (BT.709 and BT.2020). Also introduced at IBC is the new single link 12G-SDI interface on PRISM including Eye pattern display capabilities.
The WFM8000 series 4K HDR waveform monitors that has become the go-to tool for high quality 4K HDR color grading or correction in post-production workflow will also be showcased in the Tektronix stand as well.
Transition #3: Live, on-demand OTT content
Ensuring the availability and quality of both live and file-based content is a critical task for content distributors moving to adaptive bit rate (ABR) delivery models. Tektronix’ Sentry’s OTT streaming solutions provide real-time visibility and quality of experience measurements to ensure the content you are delivering is good. The software solution is able to decrypt the content and interface with different DRM systems (e.g. PlayReady) to provide monitoring and diagnostics for live streaming at key locations, including AWS Media, virtual private networks, and CDNs.
As broadcasters prepare content for OTT delivery, Tektronix’ Aurora file-based QC solution will verify the correct encoding for all profiles, and ensure the packaging is error-free and perfectly aligned for a flawless viewing experience. Aurora offers perceptual video quality tests to reveal any encoding issues and its EBR and IDR alignment feature tests for seamless transitions between different representations for viewers.
Transition #4: Data-driven efficiency improvements for broadcasters
As broadcasters continue to drive for increased workflow efficiency across their media operations, the need to make data-driven decisions becomes critical. Knowing how the network and the associated operations are performing at the regional and national levels is vital.
Tektronix Sentry provides visibility of operational performance across the whole broadcast network at regional and national levels. Using a 90-day database of detailed operational data, Sentry can be used to support SLA and compliance reporting, and to explore network performance trends.
Technology Demonstrations
Tektronix will also showcase a number of technology demonstrations including scalable, end-to-end picture quality MOS scoring from content creation to delivery and the ability to monitor cloud workflows with Sentry monitoring, an Elemental cloud workflow on AWS.