Kairos (Panasonic): IP transition in hybrid environments with ST 2110

The H10 Tribeca hotel in Madrid has hosted on Tuesday an event organized by Panasonic, Imagine Communications and Broadcast Meditel in which the benefits of the adoption of SMPTE ST 2110 workflows have been discovered in detail, an unstoppable transition that is already accompanied by robust solutions compatible with the great demands of Broadcast contexts.

In recent years there has been in depth about the benefits of environments SMPTE ST 2110. Simplicity, scalability and flexibility There are three of the most intrinsically linked concepts to this universe, enabling processes with widely optimized configuration times in areas such as Signal distribution, the bidirectionality of processes or remote operation capabilities.

A five years ago we started discovering the first effective applications of this type of infrastructure, but now the panorama has completely changed. The IP is no longer a promise for production environments, but a immovable reality and to which the broadcasting industry is inevitably directed. Ctos and engineers They cannot resist this transition, but they do have the opportunity to decide How do they want to undertake it.

Kairos: a hybrid window to the IP world

Jaume looked, responsible for projects at the European level of Panasonic overturned in the IP universe, has presented the master lines of Kairos, Open Architecture Platform specially aimed at live video production. Among them, its ability to Enable local, remote or hybrid settings, or adapt to Multifabricing environments making interoperability flag.

Apart from these keys, the solution stands out for recognizing the hybrid nature of Broadcast infrastructure Contemporary. In Miró's words: “We are in a moment of migration in which it is not so easy to make a complete transition to the IP. We must take into account signals, SDI, HDMI and even the Gateways that facilitate the way. It is not all or nothing: we are aware that you can work on IP and have entrances and band exits prepared to provide all kinds of solutions. ”

The different Kairos servers can adapt according to their model to configurations that prioritize IP Environments (AT-KC200 o AT-KC2000) o SDI (AT-KC200L1). In this context, they can interoperate with all kinds of tools to offer a clear vision of the production framework, manage all signals regardless of their origin or take advantage of all the advantages of Kairos through their interface Creator: Virtual Control Panel, Creation of Multipurpose Environments or Generation of Graphics Titles.

Likewise, the system makes possible processes only possible in IP environments. Among them, Kairos shows unique solutions in the market as Smart Routing, which allows to transport the signals to the mixer on demand to avoid the saturation of bandwidths (especially in UHD work environments), or the Creation of complex scenes occupying the same channel, as demonstrated with a demo of a composition of 20 different signals with 20 unique color corrections in the same channel.

Another key tool is the Kairos control interface, which uses a “true client-server scheme”, which allows several clients to access the same server simultaneously working with different solutions. In this way, the same core of Kairos could manage a Main study With a control panel, as well as being used in parallel with the Tactile interface of the Panasonic system.

***CCU-Less*: Panasonic's future vision**

The workflow that those attending the Madrid appointment could discover was composed, beyond the core Kairos working without redundancy, of the study chamber And -ucx100, with a native ST 2110 connection on the head of the camera without CCU; The study camera And-plv100, with a native ST 2110 connection, the PTZ AW-UE160, and the processor all in one Selenio snp of Imagine Communications. This deployment, operating in real time and configured in just three hours, served to exemplify the potential of philosophy CCU-less (sin ccu) that Kairos offers.

As Miró explained, the Panasonic IP production environment enables signal management to be done with NMOS Through an orchestrator, being able to manage the returns, if it is considered, from the mixer. "In this way both the cost and the space of the CCUs are eliminated, which allows smaller mobile units. It is one of the consequences of 2110," he explained.

Christophe Almeras, business development manager From Panasonic specialized in the Kairos area, he also participated in the Madrid event to share all the news of the system, as an imminent version 2.0. which will be accompanied by a HDMI card And a new one Work area design. Apart from putting the solution in value and analyzing how the advent of the IP has brought with it the hybridization of production technologies Broadcast y by, he stopped in the possibilities of "replace the CCU with a mere fiber cable”:“ Today, there are hardly any processes in the CCU: more than anything, it is responsible for the distribution of signals in both directions. This is precisely what the IP knows how to do very well: send many signals of different types in a single cable. ”

IPMX and Imagine's ecosystem, key to Kairos present

Almeras also took advantage of his intervention to put on the table the benefits of IPMX, a suite of open standards and specifications for audiovisual content management through IP networks. "The 2110 works well, but the different manufacturers have applied it differently. The French engineer, who also stressed that this solution allows to work Without PTP asynchronous And he pointed out that his promoter, the AEF, is immersed in the development of different profiles to facilitate its use in different contexts.

The interventions ended with a presentation of José María Álvarez, director of Qin Media, in which he detailed how several key solutions of Imagine Communications stand as key pieces in the puzzle that make up the Broadcast IP infrastructure. Specifically, the platform valued Selenio Network Processor, solution that offers comprehensive IP/SDI routing control, orchestration, monitoring and analysis in real time, and the control system Magellan, an interoperable solution that provides end of SDI-IP signals from end to end and that continues to evolve to offer, among other attractive functions, control between venues or compatibility with cloud environments.