CCMA, inside the labyrinth: the arrival of IP to channel 3/24

The engineering team CCMA (Catalan Corporation of Audiovisual Media) – 3Cat explains in depth how the arrival of IP infrastructure has been to its news channel 3/24, an option that opens numerous doors, but is not without challenges to overcome.

After carrying out its first tests in a controlled environment in its Studio A, the transition to high definition of 3/24 was the perfect excuse to put try the IP on a whole channel within CCMA. The arrival of the technology to other European television stations, as well as promises and expectations from manufacturers, integrators and the entire audiovisual chain, made television opt for this formula. The operational benefits are beyond any doubt: the abandonment of SDI and the integration of the IT world in an increasingly digital television world allow resources to be relocated within the same organization, open the door to the world of virtualization or optimize processes in favor of the speed demanded by the current media context.

The CCMA team has been working on this project since March 2021. At that time, they began to outline how to introduce IP in an intelligent way, favoring the exploitation of the channel and the comfort of operators in a 24 hour environment dedicated to current events. Public offers and awards via competition ended up determining that Unitecnic would be the company in charge of carrying out this integration, completed a few weeks ago.

3/24, island in a sea SDI, begins to take advantage of the advantages of IP without giving up the bridges with traditional infrastructure. But while you benefit from the streamlining of functions, the simplification of wiring or the automation of processes, you begin to discover the complexity of the IP fabric: much longer configurations, latent intercompatibility problems, a series of reliable equipment that alternates with others that are not so proven...

Josep Ardanuy Bel, head of continuity at the TV3 studios in Sant Joan Despí; Anna Ochoa Lopez, specialist engineer; Natalia Prats Buendía, director of digital and technological infrastructures; Antoni Roig Figueras, head of technical issuance, and Marc Sanclimens Solervicens, specialist engineer, share IP lights and shadows on 3/24. The balance is positive, but the footnotes are essential reading to make the decision about entering this ever-changing world…

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IP technology in 3/24

A transversal approach to IP: 2110, NDI, AES67…

The 20 years of age of the 3/24 made it necessary for the channel to undertake a technological leap to prepare for its next two decades of existence. The project had to be studied carefully: the 24-hour nature of the canal added additional challenges that had to be taken into account. After different meetings and debates within CCMA, it was decided to accompany the transition to HD with an IP infrastructure. In the words of Joseph Ardanuy: “It seemed to us that IP technology was quite mature and, furthermore, it was convenient for us to do so to enter this world.”

The channel opted for the set of standards SMPTE ST 2110 as core of the installation, driven by an electronic network of Arista, the network orchestrator Nevion VideoIPath (one of the systems that has been virtualized on 3/24), the IP media processing platform Selenium SNP of Imagine and the system BFE KSC Core as broadcast controller: a different approach from other projects spread in Spanish territory, but with success stories spread in different parts of the world.

The system coexists on Catalan television with equipment IS, deeply integrated into the chain systems; audio AES67, spread throughout all radio and television headquarters, and even sources SRT, thus building a transversal IP architecture that allows us to explore all the possibilities of this universe: “Our main infrastructure is 2110, but we have open doors to the NDI world, since at home we have native NDI signals that help us send a tweet to the air through NDI Screen Capture or as a basis for production with a vMix. They are tools that facilitate processes for us due to their speed and we have the door open to other protocols,” he explains. Marcus Sanclimens.

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The choice of new equipment

The 3/24 update goes beyond the IP infrastructure, since it covers a transversal renewal of its production and control equipment. In a broadcast market in transition, the CCMA team had to make the decision to prioritize 100% native IP compatibility u choose hybrid or traditional assets with the option of using adapters to integrate them into the network. The cost would be a fundamental variable when making the decision, but the resilience of the equipment or its versatility to adapt to all types of productions should not be ignored.

Anna Ochoa: “The entire transition of SDI a IP supposes a hybrid step. This island will grow based on gateways so that they can have the signals coming of all the studies or locations”.

Anna Ochoa explains why they opted for first of the options: "To the extent we could, we went to ensure that the equipment was natively IP. In some equipment, such as the chroma keyer, we had to opt for an SDI solution such as Ultimatte 12 from Blackmagic, since the rest did not give us the possibilities we were looking for. In these cases, we have resorted to converters or gateways”.

Among the new teams that shape the jump IP y HD From 3/24 the table appears Kairos of Panasonic as main mixer; systems Theirs mc² 36 for audio management; HDC-3100 cameras and HDCE TX30 CCU Sony; robotics systems Ross Video; Prismon multiviewer system Rohde & Schwarz; the replay server XT-Go of EVS, or the Artist 1024 intercom matrix Riedel.

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Converters: key pieces in the hybrid world

The design of the 3/24 IP infrastructure could not be contemplated without the use of converters and gateways; wildcards for those solutions where the IP world has not yet arrived. Its greatest and main function is interconnection with the rest of the CCMA infrastructure, who continues to work in an environment SDI. Ochoa provides more details: “We have dozens of entrance and exit doors with our MCR through gateways, converting those SDI signals to 2110 and vice versa. The entire transition from SDI to IP is a hybrid step. This island will grow based on gateways so that the signals from all the studios or locations can be available.”

This resource also extends to a key point of news coverage: the reception of sources from broadcast backpacks. As detailed Antoni Roig Figueras, these feeds They go to their central control: "As it is not IP, all signals arrive through gateways until 3/24. We have done reception tests through 5G with several production systems, but for now everything remains in central control."

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The experience with the IP in 3/24

Common points in the philosophy of the IP and 3/24

Los technological pillars of the IP at 3/24 they do not differ from other similar installations in the broadcast world, which demonstrates the standardization of a technology prepared to provide important benefits to television. The design of the architecture will vary as a result of specific needs or the experience of the engineering and integration team, but its founding pillars will remain unchanged. On the contrary, it is the human, conceptual and philosophical experience which transforms the work methodology in this world.

Ardanuy considers that IP technology is “conceptually very different,” which has led the corporation to go through a “time of maturity.” "We have been discovering many things along the way. The channel was set up in its day with a lot of control electronics via GPI and wiring, or switches via patch. Now, all the cables become buttons and protocols,” explains the continuity manager.

This transformation in the daily life of television offers multiple possibilities in the signal management, the possibility of turning off the monitored bridge at night or in the organization of the room control. This key area for the daily life of 3/24 has been renovated with more jobs, the possibility that these are adaptable according to needs or asset management with a continuity system interconnected with the IP world, but with an SDI base.

As Natàlia Prats, director of digital and technological infrastructures, explains, the multichannel and multipurpose philosophy of the IP dialogues directly with the elements that make the 3/24 a unique model, which mixes in its exploitation model the management of a control and a set with the broadcast: “Just as in 3/24 the exploitation and broadcast part had been merged, now we add the entire communications systems part, which is more IP.”

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Improving factory IP equipment

The nature of the 3/24 makes it complex to perform critical changes in its infrastructure. This caused the CCMA team to undertake a gradual transition to start up and test all the IP equipment and solutions. Ochoa states that this process has come to fruition thanks to constant communication with integrator and manufacturers to carry out a safe installation, “resolve doubts” and even “improve the products”: “Some of the systems were very young,” says the engineer, showing that, despite being faced with a much more stable and consolidated technology than five years ago, it still requires a put to the test in real environments.

Marc Sanclimens: “We have had a lot of war in configuring many computers so that they speak correctly. There are many small print after all the teams and they are things that you don't know until you have every solution in front of you”.

This problem is not new in the broadcast world. There are frequent cases in which technological solutions find their true potential after being tested in real environments. However, this problem is not the best letter of introduction for a world like IP, which requires certainties in order to guarantee the much desired stability and resilience, probably two of the greatest values ​​in the world SDI: "Many teams have had an evolution with the requirements that we have been telling them. In almost all important teams there have been several changes in firmware. The manufacturers have helped in this aspect and have solved all the needs, which in fact are generic exploitation, not something particular to the 3/24,” explains Ardanuy.

Sanclimens expands this vision with specific data, such as the “supposed compatibility with NMOS protocols” which, on many occasions, are far from working as expected: “We have had a lot of trouble configuring many computers so that they speak correctly. There is a lot of fine print behind all the equipment and these are things that you don't know until you have each solution in front of you. We had read that the configuration time in IP was lengthened and multiplied by three and four. The installation time is really fast, but the configuration is where the war is.”

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The need for a test environment

Once the configuration of IP production and communication solutions is complete, CCMA is finding important operational benefits in your day to day life. A very clear example is the team management, which since they must be on constantly to operate 24 hours a day, are duplicated.

Antoni Roig: “Before you took a team, it you changed and that's it. Now the software update cycle is much more frequent that in the traditional facilities”.

This is how he explains it Sanclimens: “We have a checklist and from time to time the teams are exchanged. The switching of these devices was previously done almost by hand. You went to the equipment, you had to change the GPI card... Now we have been able to make many of these processes semi-automated through the broadcast controller. You go to the panel and select team one or team two.” Another key is the streamlining processes within the studio, as Ochoa says: “We have put a great effort into this integration of GPI, tally and communication protocols with lighting, robotics, our control system of playout…This has allowed us to make a very clean space and eliminate the “I can't sit here because I don't have this button.” It seems very absurd, but it gives the environment great power.”

But just as Sanclimens referred to the small print of the teams, there is another footnote which may be evident, especially for those professionals in the IT world who are making the leap to broadcast applications with the IP world: the configuration process never ends, since the update rate is very high and it is essential to ensure the operation of all IT gear when changing the firmware of each of the solutions. For Prats, this is a problem “very beast”: “It's like Windows, which makes updates when it wants. This in a professional environment 24 hours a day has its what. You don't set the pace: they set it.” “Before, you took a team, changed it, and that's it. Now the software update cycle is much more frequent than in traditional installations,” adds Roig.

Marc Sanclimens: “We have to be cautious with each update, why we don't know exactly what we can affect”.

The IP world encompasses a complex network of systems that become global, which implies that the The impact of a change in one element can have repercussions on other elements. parts. This has led 3/24 to create a “test environment” in which all updates are tested and, once validated, they are carried out. “You have to be very careful, because you can lose a lot of system configuration, especially the IP part or the orchestrator part,” Ochoa remarks.

The caution has become one of the greatest allies of the CCMA, as Sanclimens explains with the following example: “Now we are configuring a tally of a new equipment that is already in production. We have connected the system to a PC that we have for testing, it has worked well on this computer and now we are going to actually configure the equipment. “We have to be cautious with each update, because we don't know exactly what we can affect.”

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A project without an end date

Once the challenge of training has been overcome, a process defined as prats as “extensive” and complex given the 24-hour nature of the training and a summer implementation, “everything has started to work well.” The system starts to glow previously unimaginable processes and will reach his maximum expression at the time when the rest of the CCMA's environments and production centers opt for IP.

Natalia Prats: “The project of update to IP at CCMA will last next two or three years, and then we will evaluate to decide where we are going.”

The roadmap is underway, count prats, and will be completed between the year 2025 and 2026: "There is an infrastructure update route to provide it with IP and HD, which is possibly larger compared to 3/24 in terms of volume, but much simpler due to the experience we have had. The project will last the next two or three years, and then we will evaluate to decide where we are going. It not only responds to a technological change, but to our own analysis of the production models, which have been changing. Making content for TikTok is not the same as making a program with a very high audience in prime time as euphoria”.

With continuity as the last step before the definitive consolidation of the IP, the CCMA will continue to update controls, systems production y communications to undertake a transition that seems, clearly, inevitable. Meanwhile, the IP will continue to allow room for improvement to ensure its suitability in environments like those of the Catalan television. Technology is now a reality, But is it everything that was expected of her?

A report by Sergio Julián Gómez