30 l October 2013
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video bridge)- compatible comms network. AVB is used for media control in
RTS showed the TM-10K Trunk Master at IBC2013
The TM-10K Trunk Master manages communications and supports dual 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet connections for redundant or segregated network topologies. The major focus was the European launch of new OMNEO media networking interface cards that convert the RTS ADAM intercom system into an IP-based, AVB (audio
conjunction with OCA (Open Control Architecture) control and IP transport, which
“The open media transport has to go over stock standards. We’re working with AVnu to set a similar standard to AVB for Layer 3. OMNEO has a very low latency and as it is based on an open standard software, changes can be made easily” Ralph Strader, RTS
RTS says will guarantee interconnectivity in the future over a wide range of devices. RTS works with AVnu Alliance, the body behind AVB (Audio-Video Bridging), but business line manager for RTS and Telex products Ralph Strader points out that the open media transport “has to go over stock standards”, including TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) and layer 3, the part of OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) that covers IP addresses. “We’re working with AVnu to set a similar standard to AVB for Layer 3,” Strader says. “OMNEO has a very low latency and as it is based on an open standard software, changes can be made easily.”
OPENING OPTIONS While companies like RTS remain within established fields, others are exploiting the openness of AoIP to move into new product areas. Axia Audio was an early adopter of IP as the basis of its range of mixing consoles and networking systems for radio. It has now moved sideways into intercom with a system claimed to be the only professional communications product that runs directly with IP-Audio. The IP Intercom connects to LiveWire studio networks over a single Cat5 cable, which carries multiple channels of full bandwidth sound and data. Axia’s UK distributor,
Broadcast Bionics has, says business development manager Kristen Smith, sold “a few” IP Intercoms. The company has also produced software, initially for the BBC ViLOR (Virtualised Local Radio) project that integrates Axia consoles with Broadcast Bionics’ PhoneBOX call handling and routing
system. Smith explains that the program enables PhoneBOX to control all IP sources, which could include intercom as well as audio running through the desk. Another console manufacturer to see the potential of IP is Solid State Logic, which launched a MADI-Dante bridge at IBC. This is designed to allow SSL C100 HDS and C10 HD digital broadcast desks, and other standard MADI devices, to connect to Dante IP-Audio networks while keeping full redundancy. Niall Feldman, SSL’s director of new products, says the console company has been looking at AoIP for “at least five years”, which predated much of the standardisation now in place. “Things really started to
happen last year when broadcast customers started asking about AoIP and what it meant for products,” Feldman explains. “So when broadcasters start talking to you about AVB and integrating audio over IP into systems, we thought we had to look into the benefits but also things like compression.” Feldman says SSL chose Dante
over Ravenna, the AoIP format marketed by Lawo subsidiary ALC NetworX, because it was more established at the time work began on the MADI bridge. Redundancy is a priority in live broadcast television, the primary market for the C100 HDS and C10 HD, and although latency is important Feldman comments that there is more leeway in TV than other professional applications. “If we’re talking microseconds that’s not an issue but millisecond delays can be a problem,” he says. “However, a 10ms delay is nothing compared to the delay on some video system, which can be into frames, so quite often the audio has to be delayed anyway to keep lipsync with the pictures.”
EARLY ADOPTERS Radio stations were among the earliest adopters of AoIP, using codecs with new coding algorithms for contributions from reporters in the field or remote studios, then distribution round studio centres and, finally, studio to transmitter links (STLs). Among the first proprietary codec algorithms was developed by apt, whose technology features in coding hardware manufactured by Worldcast Systems. Kevin Campbell, sales director for Asia Pacific and the
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