At the National Association of Broadcasters Convention (NAB) in April, Blackmagic went all in on the ST2110 video over IP standard by releasing a new line of products for an ST2110 network environment. Photo courtesy of the NAB Show.
Video over IP (Internet Protocol) is a hot topic in the video and broadcasting industry. This technology is the next great leap forward. In this author’s opinion, this kind of leap hasn’t been seen in the video realm since the introduction of the HD standard. One of the main benefits of this leap is combining multiple data sources of video, control, communications, tally, power, etc., over one fiber optic cable that can go great distances.
Recently, I sat down with Bob Caniglia Director of Sales Operations, North America for Blackmagic Design to discuss a “big rock thrown into the video over IP pond” that’s sending ripples throughout the video industry. What did Blackmagic Design do to cause the video industry to take notice? At the National Association of Broadcasters Convention (NAB) in April, Blackmagic went all in on the ST2110 video over IP standard by releasing a new line of products for an ST2110 network environment.
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Blackmagic Design devised a way to do ST2110 with video up to 4K at 60 frames per second using a 10-gigabit (10g) ethernet cable instead of fiber.
Not only does the Blackmagic Design Ethernet Switch 360P help customers set up their video over IP network, but it also tackles the latency issue (added frame delay) that can happen with an ST2110-based network environment.
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When asked why Blackmagic Design decided on ST2110 over NDI, Bob responded, “NDI is a per port charge for you to implement it into your products.” This means a license fee must be paid for every port a manufacturer wants to use the NDI codec on. Bob explained that this caused Blackmagic Design to think about how this affects their customers and the price of gear. Secondly, as Blackmagic Design leadership and engineers looked at the ST2110 standard developed by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), they realized that the standard's complexity level limits its use to those with a high level of IT and engineering experience. Bob explained it this way, “In embracing the ST2110 video over IP standard, Blackmagic Design wanted to make sure that the everyday user of their products could still use them… we design products for people who do video and don't know much about IT infrastructure”.
So Blackmagic Design engineers applied ingenuity and creativity to ensure the everyday video engineer isn’t left behind with the video over IP revolution. They devised a way to do ST2110 with video up to 4K at 60 frames per second using a 10-gigabit (10g) ethernet cable instead of fiber. This means that Blackmagic created a new codec based on the ST2110 standard. Bob added, “What we offered was a free codec to anyone else who wants to implement this. So, instead of paying per port, it's a free codec. …we can now offer a lower-cost solution to everybody. We made it for the guy that says, ‘I don't know anything about this. What can I do?’”
Not only did Blackmagic create a new codec using the ST2110 standard to make it available to everyone at all price points in the video industry, but they also took things a step further to set up an average video production engineer for success. How? They provided the network infrastructure so that anyone, regardless of IT knowledge and experience, could deploy their video over IP products on a stable, reliable network. Enter Blackmagic Design’s new Ethernet Switch 360P.
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“In embracing the ST2110 video over IP standard, Blackmagic Design wanted to make sure that the everyday user of their products could still use them… we design products for people who do video and don't know much about IT infrastructure.” – Bob Caniglia, Director of Sales Operations, North America, Blackmagic Design
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In explaining why Blackmagic engineered a network switch for a separate video-based network, Bob explained how their customer-focused approach sets up the average video engineer for success with their video over IP products. “If you start introducing video traffic on (your existing ethernet network), that's going to lead to some poor results. So, we built a product to isolate the video over IP network.”
Not only does the Ethernet Switch 360P help customers set up their video over IP network, but it also tackles the latency issue (added frame delay) that can happen with an ST2110-based network environment. Bob iterated, “Latency is another thing we need to bring down as much as possible because we know our customers will also be broadcasting live. And if you're going to use them in churches, especially some of the larger ones where they want to put up projection screens to run live video on and things like that, you don’t want to see delay.” An added benefit of the Ethernet Switch 360P is that two QSFP sockets for 100g optical or copper cabling allow even more flexibility to take advantage of Blackmagic’s high-performance, low-latency ST2110-based network.
Blackmagic Design’s new line of ST2110 products provides the network infrastructure and an assortment of SDI and HDMI to ST2110 converters that allow video engineers to implement video over IP at their own pace. These converters convert signals to 10g Ethernet. Or, if you need to accomplish a fiber run over a long distance, some converters include SFPs for a fiber connection. Bob explained Blackmagic’s reasoning behind these converters that help out church techs when an HDMI cable or SDI cable can’t do the job or if you slowly want to move into the ST2110 environment, “It is a piecemeal thing. I think it's not an all-or-nothing environment we're trying to create. What we're trying to create is to allow video engineers to keep using the products that they're using and augment them as needed with this extra capability.”
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“Blackmagic Design is making their ST2110 products easy to use without having to go back to school.” – Bob Caniglia, Director of Sales Operations, North America, Blackmagic Design
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Bob further explains, “Once engineers see some of the little boxes coming up, they will realize, ‘Wow! I can just get started and get a little down the 2110 world without throwing out my current infrastructure.’ It's just there to compliment what you're using already.”
But, if you have Blackmagic broadcast cameras or studio cameras with 10g connections, you can use a new single rack space unit called the 2110 IP Converter 4x12G PWR to not only power four cameras but transmit CCU control data, tally, return video, and even comms when running through a Blackmagic ATEM switcher. Bob states the point when he says, “We are making it a lot easier to implement several cameras into a facility, and you can run it long distances fairly easily. It's just plugging those ports in, and the converter will power the camera and get you going.”
But Blackmagic’s engineers didn’t stop there. This groundbreaking new line of products also provides monitoring in an ST2110 environment. Video monitoring is accomplished by the new Smartview 4K G3, which handles not only ST2110 but also 12G SDI inputs and loop outs. The new Audio Monitor 12G G3 handles ST2110, 12G SDI, SLR, HiFi, and AES/EBU inputs. The ability to accomplish critical monitoring on an ST2110-based network without needing external converters lets video engineers know that Blackmagic Design has thought ahead in ensuring they can choose how signals are routed.
One exciting and reassuring aspect of Blackmagic’s rollout of ST2110 cameras, converters, monitoring, network devices, etc., is its focus on customer support. Blackmagic’s products are available through dealers/integrators and direct-to-customer dealer websites. Because of this direct-to-customer availability, someone implementing ST2110 equipment in their space for the first time may have questions and need support. Blackmagic Design's website has an excellent customer support forum for video engineers. Bob compliments not only Blackmagic’s engineering specialists but also users on the forum. “I like the forum because it brings together our specialists and our expert customers who can help others with what they’re trying to do with our products. Sometimes, I’ll get asked a question, and I double-check the forum on the website, and the answer is already there.” Bob also explains how the forum is beneficial for churches. “The forum helps the houses of worship, schools, and other organizations that might not have a ton of engineering or production expertise, but it's a great opportunity for people to learn what others are doing and receive the support they need.”
Finally, Bob explained that even more products and capabilities will be available for Blackmagic Design’s ST2110 environment in the future.
“We're (currently) using the advantages of the 10g world because of the lower cost. However, the future is still there, with this SFP module version of these converters and 100 gig SFPs put into the router and the other products. I'm sure that in the future we'll have more of those. …The reason we showed all of the products (at NAB), even though they have varying delivery times, was to show everybody that we have been thinking, and we are thinking about where we're headed with all of this.”
The ripple effect of this announcement and Blackmagic Design's release of products in the ST2110 space shows that it’s an exciting time to be a church technical leader. It’s reassuring to see a company on the edge of a technological revolution that doesn’t want to leave people behind, like church techs, because of complexity or expense. As Bob said, “Blackmagic Design is making their ST2110 products easy to use without having to go back to school.”
