IBC 2015: The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Belgian public broadcaster VRT have unveiled the LiveIP Project, a multi-vendor system integration project to showcase IP-based live broadcast production.

The live TV production studio at VRT’s premises in Brussels uses IT-centric hardware and software.

It is part of Sandbox+, an international joint platform for collaborative innovation put together by VRT, EBU and digital research centre iMinds.

The multi-vendor system uses open standards – in this case SMPTE 2022/6, AES67, and PTP – to transport broadcast feeds via SDN.

Industry technology partners participating in the project include Axon, Dwesam, EVS, Genelec, Grass Valley, Lawo, LSB, Nevion, Tektronix and Trilogy who provide all the elements of a live production chain driven by IP. 

A scaled down version of the studio will be shown as a proof-of-concept demonstration on the EBU stand at this year’s IBC.

“While this project is about producing live content via IP, it’s also a great measure of the added value IP-based production workflows bring to functions like sharing resources, remote production and automation,” said VRT head of technology and operations Mick De Valck.

“There’s been talk for a long time about what individual vendors can offer in IP production, so we wanted to bring together those parties to design a state-of- the-art system which relies entirely on IP.”

EBU head of media fundamentals and production technology Hans Hoffmann added: “We’re very proud that we’ve been able to implement a leading-edge studio workflow using only IP-based technology.

“This takes our industry to the next level of interoperability in a live production environment. This project was a huge undertaking and we wouldn’t have been able to complete the infrastructure without the technology and expertise of our partners.” 

Topics