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AVB: Where Are We Now?
Dante is arguably the most popular and efficient audio protocol on the market right now, and it’s continuing to build momentum in the pro audio sector – so where has that left AVB? Has the much-hyped open standard been left in the dark, or is it just a matter of time before everyone is on board the AVB train? Paul Watson reports.
IT WAS at InfoComm 2011 in Orlando that the AVnu Alliance really made a stand about AVB – literally, in fact, come to think of it, as it was on its own dedicated booth that I listened to several seminars about how this impressive open standard was about to set the world on fire. And, to be honest, there’s no reason
why it shouldn’t, when you look at the potential of AVB: it caters for audio and video; it has the potential to be the first wireless audio protocol; and the AVnu Alliance has grown and grown in the last 24 months in terms of its membership. So what’s the problem, then? Three
wise AVB heads are Peavey Commercial Audio’s (PCA) James Kennedy, Harman’s Sean Karpowicz, and Avid’s Al McKinna, all of whom offer an insight into the pros and cons of the standard. “For me, the big obstacle isn’t the technology – that’s all ratified now. There are two implementations: Layer 2 AVB and Layer 3 AVB, the latter of which is the RTP (Real-time Protocol) which was what we were all waiting for; so technically speaking, it’s good to go,” Kennedy reveals. “The problem commercially though is its compatibility in terms of switch hardware – there are still only three vendors that have actually got AVB- certified switches because the AVnu Alliance is now certifying all devices. In addition, there are around seven or eight IEEE standards inside AVB – these are individual standards, building blocks that make AVB, basically. There’s a hell of a lot to it, and when you’re talking audio and video having to be in sync, it has to be vigorously tested.”
22 November 2013
Interestingly, although Kennedy is a fan of what AVB is and can be, PCA is no longer a member of AVnu Alliance – the manufacturer is currently sitting comfortably in the Audinate/Dante camp, and understandably so. “The reason for this is because in the short-term, and by that I mean three to four years, we think Dante is the most realistic option. For existing projects we have already got an IT infrastructure and they’re not likely to replace the switch hardware with AVB-compliant switches because of the expense,” Kennedy explains. “Also, the likes of HP and Cisco haven’t even hinted that AVB is on their roadmap, let alone that they’re going to make compliant switches; that’s a big stumbling block as far as pro audio is concerned, as our industry is a much smaller part of the AVB pie in comparison to some of these larger companies.”
AUTOMOTIVE APPEAL
The real industry that needs to get behind AVB, Kennedy says, is automotive. Manufacturers such as Nissan and, most recently, BMW Group have already looked at AVB as a common control protocol for ‘Infotainment’ and Engine Management Systems (EMS). If this continues to take off, it will be another story, he insists. “If you take a typical seven-seater
car, all the audio and video such as the video screens in the back of the front seats and the radio playlists – that’ll all be AVB; then the vitals inside the car, too, such as the warnings from the EMS: if your brake pads are wearing thin, those symbols come up on the
Avid’s S3L live desk is the first console to be designed from the ground up utilising AVB
dash, and that’s all AVB,” explains Kennedy. “This is where the real impact could be made – and needs to be made, really. “The consumer market for public buildings and residential areas – that’s the other big pull, too, isn’t it? Really it’s consumer and automotive that have to be the driving force for the pro-AV market, and until they engineer products around AVB to a decent number, HP and Cisco won’t invest any R&D into it; that is the biggest worry for me.” According to Luca DeAmbroggi,
principal analyst automotive semiconductor, IHS research, AVB is the natural step for automobile infotainment. “Ethernet and AVB allows for
multiple in-vehicle systems to simultaneously access information over a single and high-data-rate network,” he says. “In particular, BMW has already demonstrated its strong focus on the deployment of Ethernet technology in the car; and with the addition of BMW as a member, the AVnu Alliance is further broadening the number of key players supporting the usage of AVB within the vehicle.” “It is the key to reliable and
powerful in-car networking, on which innovations can be built,” adds BMW Group’s director of E/E architectures and semiconductor standards, Alexander Maire. “BMW is excited about the opportunities the membership in the AVnu Alliance brings in respect to standardised quality-of-service Ethernet, which will allow us to further enhance the safety and infotainment functionalities in our vehicles.”
Sean Karpowicz, Harman
James Kennedy, Peavey
“You can’t do Dante or CobraNet on wireless, but with AVB it’s possible – that for me is the really interesting bit.” James Kennedy
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