Lawo and Broadcast 3.0

posted:

30/04/2017

Lawo designs and manufactures pioneering network, control, audio and video technology for broadcast and post production, as well as live performance applications. Products include control and monitoring systems, digital audio mixing consoles, routers, video processing tools as well as solutions for IP-based A/V infrastructures and routing systems. At the NAB press conference Andreas Hilmer, Director Marketing & Communications at Lawo introduced Broadcast 3.0

Broadcast 3.0 – A moniker used specifically to describe the broadcast and broader content creation industry’s shift to IP-based production and content delivery utilizing Internet Protocols to manage the delivery of video, audio, metadata, ancillary data and control data as elementary streams or transport streams utilizing IP networking technology and COTS hardware.

The term is derived by recognizing the current industry transition as the third evolutionary step, where the historical progression of content production and delivery methodologies began with Broadcast 1.0, utilizing analog baseband signals over dedicated point-to-point hardware, and Broadcast 2.0 represents the industry’s second-stage transition to digital audio and digital video baseband signals over dedicated or specialized hardware and in some cases, leveraging early stage telecom or computer-based tools for transmission, routing and storage.

The current trend and operational ethic in broadcast production is opening up new possibilities for workflows and production principles leveraging IP-based technology. Broadcast 3.0 creates what can be called a “smart production facility”, be it a studio, a truck or a hybrid installation with distributed resources. The approach is based on the following prerequisites:

the deployment of IP networking technology for transport of video, audio, control and auxiliary data
function- and format-agnostic, software-defined processing hardware allowing to transfer data-center and cloud computing principles to broadcast core infrastructure
network- and resource-aware orchestration and control systems that can flexibly map available (hardware and virtual) infrastructure resources to production workflows
intelligent production technology that allows for automated workflows and technology-assisted productions.

The value proposition driving the move to Broadcast 3.0 (IP-based production technologies) is derived principally from the shift from linear baseband to non-linear streams where audio and video signals are now simply digitized data enabling network management and standardized control protocols to automate production process, or ‘workflows’, which heavily reduces CAPEX investment and OPEX costs required to create and deliver very high quality content to millions of consumers on virtually any number of platforms simultaneously.