Siemens IT Solutions And Services Implements Distribution Infrastructure For Super Hi-Vision At IBC2008

Siemens IT Solutions and Services, a provider of IT solutions and services, brings the first international live transmission of pictures in Super Hi-Vision (SHV) video format to IBC2008 with its IP distribution infrastructure from London to Amsterdam.
This future format is 16 times the resolution of High Definition TV (HDTV) and was developed by NHK, Japan's public broadcaster.
Project management for the London demonstration will be in the hands of Siemens IT Solutions and Services, who will also design, test and implement the IT and broadcasting infrastructure.
BBC Research & Innovation has been working for many years with NHK on a range of projects and is collaborating on many aspects of Video Coding and Future TV systems.
Consequently, the BBC involved its technology partner, Siemens IT Solutions and Services, to provide the infrastructure for the first international SHV Video over IP optical transmission from the City Hall in London via dual paths over the Siemens London Fibre Network to its London Media Gateway at BBC Television Centre in West London.
From here, the London Fibre Network feeds the duplicated 1 Gigabit/sec circuits to the Cable&Wireless Point of Presence in Central London from where the signal is carried to the RAI Conference Centre in Amsterdam. Siemens then runs the last 400 metres to the NHK Demonstration Theatre.
Siemens and Cable&Wireless worked together to supply a resilient circuit architecture, which would provide error free and minimal IP packet jitter and loss. To combat these problems, Siemens subjected the circuits to testing, using not only the standard IP network testers, but also techniques developed with WAN and LAN tests for the transmission of streamed broadcast content. Siemens currently operates and manages over 100 devices carrying audio or video over IP, with another 50 due to come on stream in the next two months.
As well as the project management and infrastructure provision, Siemens built a temporary control room at City Hall and is also contributing its knowledge of broadcasting technologies, assisting NHK research engineers in the set-up and integration of the SHV coding systems with the circuits.
(KMcA/JM)