TSA in a new TM broadcast breakfast: IP in Spain

The event was sponsored by Sony/Nevion, Cisco Systems and Telefónica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), companies represented with the participation of Héctor Sierra (Key Account Manager) from Sony and Óscar García (Senior Solution Architect) from Nevion; María Martín Jodar (Commercial Manager Spain Media) and José Pérez Redondo (Systems Architect) from Cisco; and Jesús Vegas (Project Manager) and Asier Anitua (Business Development Manager) from TSA. In addition, the meeting has counted on the occasion with the collaboration of RTVE, with Jesús García Romero (Television Technical Area Director) and Miguel Ángel Corral (Head of IP Projects); Telemadrid, with Vicente Alcalá (Deputy Director of Engineering) and Pablo de la Peña (Deputy Director of Technological Transformation); RTVC with Víctor Mendoza (Head of Engineering); TV3 with Ignasi Jauset (Head of Projects); and Warner/Discovery with Laura Martín (Senior Broadcast Manager).

The conference began with an interesting reflection on the evolution of the different technologies up to broadcast video over IP, to continue with the analysis of the current state of the transition to IP in each of the invited corporations: Telemadrid, TV3, RTVC, Discovery and RTVE.

Everyone agrees that IP technology represents a clear benefit for their daily operations, so it is gradually making its way into their facilities to replace SDI. The change to the IP world also has the advantage of a low impact on the operation technicians daily work, since the same equipment interface is maintained. Where it does represent a big change is in all the infrastructure behind it, the different workflows, the increase in latency, the machines virtualization, etc., for which the figure of integrators and manufacturers as support to the end user is especially relevant.

The technology seems to be ready so, what about the different formats? Currently we find with NDI against SMPTE 2110, or with SMPTE 2022-6 for delivery, while SRT is positioned as a format similar to NDI. This disparity of formats is not at all beneficial for the industry, since it generates a lot of uncertainty. Although everyone agrees that each one has its place and works better depending on the point in the transmission chain in which we find ourselves, in the coming years it is convenient to work on a task of regulation.

Although the initial investment in IP technology is high, it is a system that generates greater performance in the future. It has the advantages of allowing remote production, flexible allocation of resources and, in terms of cost, the operation. In addition, it is a more sustainable installation, as it requires less hardware and therefore occupies less space in the technical rooms, which in turn translates into less need for cooling and less consumption of energy and natural resources.

The biggest change that a broadcast operator must adapt to, when adopting this new technology, is taking security and cybersecurity measures. In a broadcast video over IP environment, it is essential to achieve the best prevention against the attack, which is why it is essential to establish authentication gateways, zero trust, password changes, etc. in daily operations.

To end such an interesting conversation, the meeting attendees look to the future. A future in which the convergence of formats is glimpsed, with a horizon in which new promises, such as the cloud and 5G, are increasingly appearing, which will undoubtedly bring great changes and advances for which Telefónica Servicios Audiovisuales will be prepared to act as a hostess.

You can read the article about this complete breakfast in the TM Broadcast online magazine:

https://issuu.com/daromedia/docs/tmbroadcast156?fr=sMTE1MTM2ODg0OQ