Today, the broadcast industry is embracing flexibility as its guiding principle. The idea of a single, universal standard dominating workflows is fading. Instead, broadcasters are gravitating toward ecosystems that support multiple codecs and transport methods, tailored to specific operational needs.

For example, a broadcaster focused on live production might prioritize ST2110 or JPEG-XS for their low latency and high quality. The key is to enable workflows that allow customers to mix and match technologies based on their unique requirements.

This shift underscores the need for broadcasters to evaluate their investments carefully. Hardware or software solutions should not only meet today’s demands but also adapt to the evolving ecosystem of codecs and transports. By prioritizing modular and scalable architectures, broadcasters can future-proof their workflows while remaining agile.

Why Hybrid Is Winning

Adoption of cloud-based solutions involves numerous considerations across a media organization, and the hybrid approach allows each business to balance those considerations and pursue a strategic path toward more efficient and agile operations.

Employing Existing Resources

One reason hybrid environments will dominate going forward is that media organizations worldwide have already invested in on-prem hardware and infrastructure, both SDI and IP, that currently support familiar and functional workflows. And, when processes or workflows are migrated to the cloud, it is typically an incremental undertaking, not a wholesale replacement of existing systems. In many cases, the business will identify an ideal or opportune use case for a cloud-based solution and begin the shift there.

Minimizing Risk and Reducing Impact

When the time comes to integrate and implement a cloud-based solution, some businesses choose to begin with an on-premises deployment. To maintain control, minimize risk, optimize the system, and provide time and opportunity for internal teams to learn, they may test or even maintain the cloud-based system within a private cloud run on their own infrastructure.

Further requirements that might affect the decision to take a process or service to the cloud include augmenting staff and tools to support this transition, dedicating time and resources to training, investing resources in integration of existing systems with cloud-based solutions, and potentially re-architecting existing applications for the cloud environment. For some applications, it’s simply more desirable to maintain audio and video locally rather than in a remote virtual environment.

Businesses that choose to run software-centric solutions in the public cloud rather than on premises can eliminate hardware infrastructure and associated maintenance costs while reducing administrative costs. Working with a major cloud provider, they also gain access to robust data security measures, such as data encryption, access controls, and built-in redundancy, that protect both content and customer data.

Tapping Into Cloud Strengths

The cloud commonly brings advantages such as improved productivity and the ability to adapt and innovate with relative speed, but these well-known benefits must be balanced against potential performance and cost issues, and their impact on different use cases. Thus, broadcasters may opt to shift lower-value services to the cloud first and then follow with higher-value or higher-visibility offerings if the model delivers compelling operational and economic benefits.

Once a workflow or operation is established in the cloud, broadcasters and media organizations can automate manual tasks and leverage AI and machine learning to optimize content production and distribution. To support those workflows, they can scale compute resources up and down at will to address peaks in demand or enable new business opportunities. Rather than overprovision or underutilize resources, businesses working in the cloud can use and pay for just the compute resources they need.

Simplifying Signal Management

Managing multiple signals for various monitoring locations traditionally requires significant resources and bandwidth. The complexity arises from the need to route the same stream to multiple destinations, often involving redundant processes and high costs. Each signal must be carefully managed to ensure quality and synchronization across different platforms. In contrast to older SDI technologies, which rely on straightforward, point-to-point connections, modern IP workflows must handle diverse transport streams, codecs, and bit rates (ABR).

This complexity is further compounded by the need to avoid redundant signal transmissions to multiple monitoring endpoints. A crucial aspect of this advancement is dynamic scaling, simplifying signal management by automatically creating signal proxies from any source type and optimizing them for display. This ensures that pictures are scaled and compressed to fit monitoring and visualization requirements, minimizing bandwidth usage and ensuring low-latency delivery. It’s like having a custom-fit solution for every screen, everywhere.

Enhancing Resource Optimization

Efficiency in signal management doesn’t stop at simplifying the process; it extends to optimizing the resources used. The latest technology allows for significant reductions in compute resources once a stream is ingested. This is achieved through advanced scaling, compression and delivery protocols such as SRT and RTP.

These optimizations are particularly beneficial in cloud and hybrid environments. For instance, in SMPTE 2110 uncompressed environments, while monitoring signals from cloud to ground, using optimization techniques where ‘bridge’ proxies of video, audio, and metadata are utilized for multiviewing your saving data egress costs and bandwidth. Conversely, from ground to cloud with the same proxies, you’re saving bandwidth and simplifying operations. By respecting data gravity—keeping data where it’s generated—the system minimizes unnecessary redundant data movement, further reducing costs and improving efficiency.