Grass Valley completes 20,000 km IP video link
Details
Michelle Clancy
| 28 February 2019

Grass Valley has announced the execution of a trial remote IP video link from cameras based in Telstra’s Tokyo office with an XCU base station in IMG Studios’ London headquarters.

The connection uses Grass Valley’s DirectIP connectivity solution to deliver uncompressed, ultra-low latency video over a distance of 20,000 kilometres. This Tokyo-to-London link, on a Telstra next generation Optical Transport Network (OTN) based Ethernet service between Japan and London, marks the “longest, true remote IP production connection to date,” according to the company.

“This trial is a real breakthrough that has put us in a strong position to extend our remote production capabilities, as demonstrated with the ATP500 series, to events in Asia such as the Rugby World Cup,” said Tim De Marco, head of engineering, live galleries and studios at IMG Studios. “Only needing to bring cameras on-site with us and being able to keep the majority of the heavy lifting in London means we can dramatically improve the economics of world feed production. We also now have a clear, tangible idea of how DirectIP enables effective remote production with greater flexibility and lower cost, while maintaining high broadcast quality. This is a valuable market differentiation for us that we can apply to future live productions.”

Signals were transmitted via Telstra’s high-speed fibre link using the DirectIP configuration from two Grass Valley LDX 86N cameras in Tokyo to an XCU Universe UXF base station, with OCP control panels, in London.

“This trial confirms that resolution and speed are not a barrier to remote production,” said Trevor Boal, head of Telstra broadcast services. “Getting signals from one side of the world to the other with low latency and assured quality over the Telstra network is now a reality. The transmission of remote signals via the Telstra network over such long distances between Grass Valley’s cameras and the production centre is a real gamechanger that will enable productions and workflows that were not previously possible.”

Mark Hilton, vice president of live production, Grass Valley added: “IP-based remote production is a great way to address the cost pressures of live productions as they strive to meet the growing demand for first class content and immersive viewing experiences. This unique real-life field test strongly underscores the unmatched capability of Grass Valley’s DirectIP workflow. As the only camera manufacturer that delivers all-IP communication between a camera head and its base station, our customers can achieve enormous savings on time, budget and resources by only sending camera heads to on-site production venues. This model maximises equipment usage at their production facilities for a higher return on investment while still supporting high end productions – it really is a major win for them and with that, a win for the whole industry.”