Technical Standards

SMPTE Licenses Standards to Security Industry

philsandberg — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:33:59 +0000

The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has entered into an Agreement with HDcctv Alliance, the consortium managing worldwide technical standards for security equipment interoperability.
The Agreement licenses SMPTE documents, including the family of video interfaces known as HD-SDI, to HDcctv, entitling the Alliance to create derivative standards for its member companies in the security surveillance industry.
The license agreement brings the latest digital technology to the HDcctv specification, enabling plug-and-play security systems and equipment to deliver high-definition (HD) surveillance video with minimal delays, image artifacts, or jitter.
SMPTE developed the HD-SDI (High Definition, Serial Digital Interface) standards for efficient and reliable transmission of high-quality HDTV over coaxial cable and fiber. Today, nearly all broadcast studio equipment relies on HD-SDI. Coaxial cable is the predominant connective technology in broadcast operations – as well as in more than 95% of the installed base of security systems.
“The well-proven SMPTE Standards provided a solid foundation for HDcctv’s development,” said Todd Rockoff, Executive Director of HDcctv Alliance, “and allowed us to create specifications to meet our members’ needs much more quickly than would otherwise have been possible.”
“This is a win for everyone,” said Peter Symes, Director of Standards and Engineering for SMPTE. “Basing the HDcctv specifications on existing SMPTE Standards avoids unintentional divergence leading to incompatibilities that can be very expensive for the industry.”
For more information on the HDcctv Alliance, please www.highdefcctv.org

IEEE Publishes LAN AV Bridging Standard

philsandberg — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:29:03 +0000

The AVnu Alliance has announced that the IEEE has ratified and published IEEE 802.1Qav, the first of the core Audio/Video Bridging (AVB) standards. IEEE 802.1Qav defines forwarding and queuing for time sensitive streams and is part of a suite of standards developed by the IEEE 802.1 AVB task group.
AVnu Alliance, a group of industry leading companies dedicated to promoting the emerging AVB networking standards across a broad range of markets including automotive, consumer electronics, and professional A/V, commended the IEEE 802.1 AVB Task Group for their hard work.
“The approval of IEEE Std 802.1Qav marks a significant milestone as it is the first of four 802.1 standards under development in IEEE 802 that support audio and video applications over local area networking technologies.”
.“We are pleased by the progress of the IEEE in completing the first of the foundational AVB standards,” said Rick Kreifeldt, AVnu Alliance chairman and president. “With IEEE 802.1Qav published and two additional standards nearing completion, AVnu has the confidence to move quickly in developing our AVB compliance and interoperability programs which are vital for widespread commercial adoption.”
According to Michael Johas Teener, Chair of the IEEE AVB Task Group, “The approval of IEEE 802.1Qav as a full standard is a major milestone in the development of interoperable time-sensitive networks, as it is the first time the core technology of Ethernet switches and network bridges has specific methods defined for traffic shaping. This allows an IEEE 802 network to provide assured (and low) delays for streaming data with minimal dropped packets.
“When combined with the almost-finished 802.1Qat Stream Reservation Protocol, IEEE 802.1Qav will be the fundamental toolkit to provide the kind of virtual plumbing needed for professional-quality audio/video networking.”
Tony Jeffree, IEEE 802.1 Chair, said “The approval of IEEE Std 802.1Qav marks a significant milestone as it is the first of four 802.1 standards under development in IEEE 802 that support audio and video applications over local area networking technologies.”
Visit www.AVnu.org

Google, Microsoft in Camera Phone Image Initiative

philsandberg — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:13:13 +0000

I3A (the International Imaging Industry Association; http://www.i3a.org), the leading global association for the imaging industry, has announced that Google (http://www.google.com/corporate/) has joined the non-profit organization at the Participating level of membership.
I3A also announced that Google and existing member Microsoft Corporation (http://microsoft.com) will take part in its Camera Phone Image Quality Initiative (CPIQ; http://www.i3a.org/technologies/mobile-imaging/cpiq/). “We’re very excited about having Google as a Participating member, and we look forward to experiencing the energy and fresh thinking the company can bring to the table for I3A activities and programs,” said I3A President Lisa Walker. “I am also particularly pleased that Google and Microsoft are joining the other CPIQ members to help accomplish the important goals of the Initiative’s final critical phase, which will develop and deliver a much-needed consumer-facing system for evaluating the image quality delivered by mobile devices.”
Building on the accomplishments of CPIQ Phases 1 and 2, I3A members participating in CPIQ Phase 3 include Aptina Imaging, CDM Optics, Inc., DxO Labs, Eastman Kodak Company, FUJIFILM Corporation, Motorola, Inc, Nokia Corporation, OmniVision Technologies, Inc., Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, STMicroelectronics, ST Ericsson and VistaPoint Technologies. Together, these industry leaders will create the remaining essential metrics needed to produce an accurate and repeatable testing program for camera phone image quality.
The CPIQ group’s ultimate goal is to deliver a consumer-oriented rating system for camera phone images. The rating system will provide a tool for translating and distilling the complex set of measurements and tests into a rating that consumers can quickly and easily understand. In addition to the technical work, the initiative group will work to build awareness and encourage industry-wide adoption of the CPIQ deliverables by the mobile imaging industry. The seven technical papers developed by CPIQ to date are available from I3A’s Resources Store, located at http://www.i3a.org/resources/

Update to Online Ad Unit Guidelines

philsandberg — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:05:35 +0000

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) recently announced the release of the “Ad Unit Guidelines Update.” For the first time, creative agencies lent their insights to the annual ad unit recommendations, joining the media agencies and publishers who have customarily been a part of the process. Including creative professionals in the process of updating ad unit guidelines is a key aspect of the IAB’s Reimagining Interactive Advertising initiative, which brings together leaders from creative agencies, media agencies, and publishers to discuss next steps in the creative evolution of digital marketing. The resulting joint publisher-agency working group, the Reimagining Interactive Advertising Task Force, took on as its first order of business updating the criteria for standard ad units by looking at industry-wide impression count reports, ad unit availability, agency-side effectiveness reviews and creative preferences.
With the new criteria, it made recommendations on the current list of eighteen standard ad units, including:

In order to be considered a standard, an ad unit must be commonly bought and offered throughout the marketplace; only seven of the eighteen ad units currently on the list meet the new criteria.
Ad units will not be removed from the standard list, but must meet the criteria by the end of 2010.
In 2010 the Reimagining Interactive Advertising Task Force will release “Rising Stars,” the first list of ad units to be identified by the task force using qualitative criteria of perceived effectiveness and creative preference to encourage innovation and creativity in online advertising. “Rising Stars” may ultimately become standard ad units if and when they meet the quantitative requirements for adoption and marketplace impressions.

“By bringing agencies into the process of developing standard ad units, we have taken a step towards improving the creative output and branding potential for interactive media,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “Our next order of business is to drive towards adoption of revised standards that we believe will spur increased investment in interactive advertising—we’ve already proven that there is no medium more accountable—now we have to bring all of its capabilities together to tell great stories to consumers—that’s what advertising is all about.”
Visit http://www.iab.net/adunit

Delivering Online Video Ads

philsandberg — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:01:31 +0000

The US-based Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), has released “VAST 2.0”, an update to the Digital Video Ad Serving Template that it created in July 2008 to standardise the communication protocol between video players and servers.
VAST 2.0 includes updates that:

Permit optional tracking of companion ads and other ad elements
Provide support for multi-part creatives
Allow for a broader range of digital video ad products
Clarify many technical requirements to ease implementation

“As more and more marketers embrace digital video for its ability to engage consumers and showcase brands, standardization is critical,” said Jeremy Fain, vice president of Industry Services, IAB. “VAST 2.0 will allow publishers who use it to be able to plug into multiple third-party digital video ad servers and networks without additional development, making it easier for marketers to reach large audiences through digital video.”
“By standardizing ad serving on VAST we can open the floodgates of agency media spend and allow publishers to maximize their yield per video view,” said Ari Paparo, Group Product Manager, Advertiser Products of Google.
“Vast 2.0” is the latest addition to the IAB’s work over the past year dedicated to creating a common infrastructure across the digital video ecosystem. The IAB’s efforts have addressed specific concerns around technology, metrics and consistent terminology.
This ongoing initiative has included the release of the following documents:

Video Player-Ad Interface Definitions Guidelines (VPAID)
Digital Video Overview Document
Digital Video In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines and Best Practices
Digital Video In-Stream Ad Metrics Definitions

These documents can be reviewed at: http://www.iab.net/digitalvideo
To review “Vast 2.0,” go to: http://www.iab.net/vast

ETSI Event Confirms GPON Interoperability

philsandberg — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:55:36 +0000

An ETSI Plugtests testing event has significantly advanced industry confidence in the interoperability of Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Networks (GPON). This was the ninth event on the topic and successfully confirmed a “plug and play” interoperability between various vendors’ products.
The event was organized in November by ETSI and the Full Service Access Network Group (FSAN) with support from China Academy of Telecommunications Research (CATR/TMC), France Telecom and Tecnalia, and sponsored by the European Commission. Its focus was on verifying correct implementations of the ITU-T OMCI Implementers’ guide (OMCI is the Optical Network Termination (ONT) Management and Control Interface). The testing was a useful validation of the clarity and consistency of that guide. This gives an assurance that future implementations based on the guide should be “plug and play”.
The event was held at the Foreign Experts Building in Beijing, China, and brought together 14 GPON equipment and integrated circuit device vendors. Using detailed Test Case descriptions provided by FSAN, the event enabled these vendors to run numerous test cases between each other, resulting in 55 test pairing sessions in a period of one week.
However, beyond these pairing sessions that are regularly used at Plugtests events, a new test concept which had been successfully introduced for the first time during the GPON Plugtests™ event in June was applied once again. This was “Blindfold pairing” and was employed to create a more “real world” situation for these particular products. Taking on the role of network operators, independent testing experts configured the Optical Network Termination themselves through the OLT using the OMCI layer without vendor intervention, as will be the case in practice, and then carried out the tests. “Blindfold pairing” permitted a further 52 short pairing test sessions, each lasting a maximum of half an hour, and very effectively confirmed the “plug and play” capabilities of the vendors’ implementations. This was carried out in the presence of the invited network operators.
The participating vendors were Alcatel-Lucent, Broadcom Corporation, BroadLight, Cambridge Industries, Comtrend, Cortina Systems, Ericsson, Huawei, Motorola, PMC-Sierra, RAD Data Communication, Tecom and ZTE. All vendors expressed their appreciation of the efficient organization of the event, as well as the support provided by ETSI, CATR/TMC, France Telecom, observers and test tool vendors.
Part of an ongoing series of GPON test events, this latest Plugtests event has brought industry confidence in GPON products to a high level, as observed by Regis Coat (France Telecom), Co-Chair of the FSAN Interoperability Task Group, who said: “The Beijing event showed that plug and play GPON interoperability is now a reality. The OMCI Implementation Study Group (OISG) and the associated OMCI Implementers’ Guide are clearly at the origin of this success. This event was opened to worldwide operators and gave them the opportunity to see in real conditions how an FSAN test event is conducted.”
Visit: www.etsi.org

AMWA, EBU Form Joint Interoperability Task Force

philsandberg — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:52:29 +0000

The Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) have formed a new Joint Task Force to address the system integration issue in modern and complex TV production environments.
“Both organizations have been working on independent projects covering system integration issues and digital workflows, so it was a natural step to bring both organizations together,” said Lieven Vermaele, Director of EBU Technical.
Hans Hoffmann, EBU Program Manager added, “the current situation is that we, as the EBU, see an increasing complexity in digital workflows and broadcasters report about system integration problems. The joint effort between the EBU and the AMWA to seek out to the industry for a common approach to integrate hard and software components in modern TV production facilities is a fundamental need of the whole media industry.”
Brad Gilmer, Executive Director of the AMWA said, “we believe that the development of the service oriented architecture (SOA) to meet the special requirements of the media industry will deliver great benefits to both manufacturers and broadcasters.
“File formats such as AAF and MXF have been an important step forward for the industry, but users need systems that interoperate, and that is the focus of this new work”.
“I am very pleased to see this joint effort move forward,” said John Footen, Vice President, National TeleConsultants. “Our clients have continually expressed a desire for solutions to these kinds of integration problems. SOA is an approach that works and this Task Force will move forward the adoption of SOA in the media industry”.
“To preserve the investments on new infrastructures, we need systems that are flexible enough to be seamlessly evolved according to the changing needs of the users (new workflows, vertical and horizontal scalability) and to the advancements in software and hardware technologies: in a word that are easy to maintain and expand. I believe that SOA is a very promising technology in this perspective,” added Giorgio Dimino, Head of Research in Production Technologies , RAI/CRIT.
Jean-Pierre Evain, Project Manager, EBU Technical, summarised the Task Force’s roadmap in following three phases:
The Task Force will begin by developing a joint Request for Technology (RFT). This RFT will be focusing on user requirements collected from EBU and AMWA Members but also from other interested parties in an open public process. The plan is to publish the RFT in early 2010.
The industry’s responses to the RFT will be evaluated against the requirements. It is expected that contributions will be based on existing technologies, which makes the Task Force confident in scheduling the end of the RFT phase during the third quarter of 2010.
It is the ambition of the Task Force to identify common solutions. For that reason, it is foreseen that the RFT phase will be followed by a necessary reconciliation phase seeking harmonization across the different submissions. Resulting specifications or interoperability guidelines will be developed and co-published between the two organizations in the course of 2011.
Membership in this joint Task Force will be open to interested AMWA and/or EBU Members. Participants need not belong to both organizations.
The Task Force will be chaired jointly by John Footen (National TeleConsultants) and Giorgio Dimino (RAI) and is facilitated by EBU Project Manager Jean Pierre Evain.
Visit http://wiki.amwa.tv/ebu

Magenta Video Network Joins openGear

philsandberg — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:48:24 +0000

Ross Video has announced Magenta Video Network’s partnership to expand the openGear terminal equipment platform.
Magenta Video Network develops IP-centric digital video processing solutions for professional broadcast Contribution and Distribution, Studios
and IPTV markets.
“Our team at Magenta Video is excited to be joining the openGear partner program”, said Allan Nicholson, founder and Vice President Marketing.“Our IP-centric video networking solutions will complement and enhance the wide range of solutions offered by existing openGear partners”.
“Magenta Video is a great addition to the openGear platform,” said Eric Goodmurphy, RossGear Marketing Product Manager. “With its continuous growth, openGear expands its product offerings with diversity and depth, giving customers a choice to pick the best solution for their particular application.”
openGear is an open-architecture, modular frame system designed by Ross Video and supported by a diverse range of terminal equipment manufacturers.The platform offers clients the freedom to choose technology
from a wide range of products to meet the needs of a broadcast, production,
or distribution facility while maintaining a compatible openGear frame infrastructure. The Ross DashBoard Remote Control and Monitoring System and companion SNMP plug-in enables unified control over all openGear cards in a system as well as for openGear to tie in with 3rd party SNMP based systems.
The openGear modules offered by Ross include a broad selection of audio and video products for distribution, analog conversion, Up/Down/X format conversion, fiber, switching, keying and synchronization, as well as backward compatibility with a suite of solutions from the RossGear 8000
series.
Visit www.magentavideo.com and www.rossvideo.com

First Roll-out of MHEG Interaction Channel

philsandberg — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:44:54 +0000

IMPALA, the International MHEG Promotion Alliance, has welcomed the beta release of the world’s first deployment of hybrid broadcast broadband MHEG Interaction Channel (MHEG-IC) by UK free-to-air satellite platform Freesat.
Freesat, which is owned by the BBC and ITV, will allow access to the highly successful BBC iPlayer catch-up TV service via the IP connection, supplementing its existing broadcast content.
The principles behind the MHEG-IC are to provide a seamless viewer experience of broadcast-delivered content augmented with content delivered over IP as an extension of the channel or network. The MHEG-IC gives access to streamed on-demand video content in addition to traditional text and graphics as well as the ability to support secure transactions.
Giri Valliappan, Director of Market Development with IMPALA, says, “While there has been much discussion in the marketplace about other potential hybrid technologies, we are delighted that MHEG is the first to make this real-world breakthrough. The MHEG-IC has been designed to provide viewers with access to additional on-demand services without the broadcaster having to relinquish control, something that we believe to be tremendously important.”
The MHEG-IC uses a sophisticated ‘Hybrid File System’ that enables broadcasters to create common applications that can work on both IP-connected and unconnected receivers in a seamless and user friendly way. The MHEG-IC allows the application to determine whether or not an IP connection is possible (i.e. the receiver is equipped with the appropriate hardware and software) and whether or not it is actually available (i.e. has the user actually connected the receiver to the home network?).
The system enables decoding of MPEG-4 or MPEG-2 streams using the same hardware used for broadcast content.
Visit www.impala.org.

Milestones for Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV

philsandberg — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:41:01 +0000

The Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT) has announced the completion of the first HbbTV (Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV) interoperability workshop.
Representatives from over twenty different companies from across the value chain including broadcasters, software providers and CE device anufacturers attended the event to evaluate current HbbTV applications and implementations. The three day event took place at IRT in Munich, Germany.
Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV or “HbbTV”, is a major new pan-European initiative aimed at harmonising the broadcast and broadband delivery of entertainment to the end consumer through connected TVs and set-top boxes. The HbbTV specification was developed to effectively manage the rapidly increasing amount of available content targeted at today’s end consumer. It is based on elements of existing standards and web
technologies including OIPF (Open IPTV Forum), CEA, DVB and W3C. HbbTV has a wide range of supporters from across the broadcaster and CE industries.
Dr. Klaus Illgner-Fehns, Managing Director, Institut für Rundfunktechnik IRT, commented: “We’re delighted to have had such a strong response to the first HbbTV interoperability workshop. The number of companies involved this week demonstrates the momentum that we’ve witnessed since HbbTV was formally announced in August 2009. While we’ve already seen excellent implementations at IFA, IBC and MEDIENTAGE MÜNCHEN, the interoperability workshop gave further support to those involved in getting further HbbTV products and services to market. ”
Live satellite feeds containing HbbTV signalling plus test feeds, generated by IRT, provided the framework for 10 companies to host their applications. Over 10 manufactures and software vendors performed interoperability testing against 17 different applications and over a dozen specifically written feature test cases. A further 7 test cases focused on application lifecycles issues.
Dr Illgner-Fehns added, “This first HbbTV interoperability workshop has additional significance for the HbbTV activity, as it occurred at the same time as the group submitted the 1.1.1 specification draft to ETSI. This means two milestones for the HbbTV project in the same week.” Visit www.hbbtv.org and www.irt.de