16 minute read
Video over IP: Controlling the IP environment and its security
In a time in which broadcasters are gradually deploying their systems over IP technology, there are several issues to keep in mind that are important. On the one hand, control: How to handle all the systems involved in a new environment. Secondly, interoperability and interconnectivity, from the exchange of signals between systems to their operation. And, last but not least, security is no longer an isolated system but it is connected to others, including the Internet, and must be properly protected.
By Yeray Alfageme
Control
Unified control of the various systems involved in capture, production and broadcast of content has always been one of the most important issues in the design of audiovisual systems. There is no point in having the best equipment if the machines do not understand each other or we cannot control them as a whole. For this purpose GPIO (General Purpose Input Output) was originally created. It is a very simple but effective system and all broadcast equipment have GPIO inputs and outputs to control their functions. From audio follow video up to control of graphics and content playback, everything can be automated with this simple and versatile system at the same time.
To progress a little more in the control of systems, control ports based on serial protocols, either RS232 or RS422, began to be implemented. Again, if we look at it from today's perspective, these systems are very simple and require specific wiring to operate, but for a long time, and indeed also today, they have been the basis for the control and automation of entire systems.
With the ambition to unify all these control systems, SWP-08 emerged. It is much more flexible than GPIOs but still requires serial interfaces, as well as specific wiring and connections. Some manufacturers have implemented serial protocols over Ethernet cables, but this is nothing more than using a different cable and connector for the same purpose; they are not IP communications.
The flexibility of IP control
Looking at IP as a purely communications protocol, which in fact it is, its great flexibility and adaptation have been proven thanks to the fact that it does not matter what type of data it conveys. Packages are transported in the same way, whether they contain audio, video, documents or a phone call. The same thing applies to the network.
This is of great help especially when we want to exchange audio and video signals outside the purely broadcast environment. Imagine a current contribution and distribution system that does not support IP protocols. Unthinkable, right? Returning to control protocols, implementing them over IP technology has several advantages.
The same wiring is used; in fact, even the same connectors without the need to add anything extra, both for the transport of the audiovisual signal and for control. A single RJ-45 connector -or fiber depending on bandwidth needs- utilized to connect the equipment via Ethernet to the network, can be used for all purposes. This provides great flexibility in configuration and control of the equipment, automatically achieving great interoperability.
In fact, protocols such as SWP-08 have been updated in order to enable transport through IP technology, thus allowing broadcasters to use IP infrastructure for everything from audio and video to control and all the rest of the necessary operations on the systems.
SDI is rigid, but highly interoperable
The more we immerse ourselves in the IP world, the more we realize that interoperability of equipment is ultimately the key. Something that was not even feasible in SDI environments, all
equipment could exchange signals with everything, remains yet a problem to be solved in the IP world.
SDI is rigid, no doubt about it. Specific cabling, only one type of signal unidirectional- and a long list of drawbacks that were previously assumed to be inherent in systems and that are now questionable in current data environments. In addition, SDI had the need to exchange signals synchronously. Ask the technical heads of mobile units and witness the problems that synchronism signals, clocks and worldclocks always cause each time signals are exchanged between mobile units on a TV Compound. Madness.
In contrast to this, IP is highly flexible, asynchronous, allows multiple formats through the same network, it is bidirectional and data of all kinds can coexist with audio and video signals, as long as all equipment units understand each other. And this last tagline was not necessary in the SDI world, although it is the main headache in IP environments: interoperability once again.
The challenges of interoperability
The great flexibility that IP presents comes with new challenges to solve. For example, a camera with a data interface of up to 25 Gbps can exchange signals bidirectionally, not just send the signal it records; all this through a single physical connection. The use of UDP or TCP over the IP protocol is transparent: the signals arrive from one side to the other and that's it.
AMWA was created in an attempt to solve these interoperability issues. AMWA is a free community of manufacturers, broadcasters and different industry participants whose greatest achievement is the creation of the NMOS (Networked Media Operation Specifications). NMOS establishes a framework through which all compliant systems can communicate with each other by using IP technology within a media world. No more interoperability problems. Or almost....
The NMOS specifications
I wish NMOS were the solution to all problems, but, as any other environment, NMOS was not born with all the capabilities from the
beginning, it has been evolving. IS-04 began by offering registration and discovery functionalities within the network. The equipment items would able to discover each other and to make themselves visible within the network in order to be discovered. This makes things even easier.
IS-05 introduced the concept of interconnectivity. In other words, a microphone and a mixing console, for example, could exchange audio signals and 'selfconfigure' to define the bitrate, sample rate and specifications of the signal to be exchanged. For this purpose the Session Description Protocol is used, as it facilitates this interoperability.
IS-06 provides another leap of abstraction from the network, thus allowing some computers to control others. For example, controlling a matrix from a control surface, having a camera tell a mixer what format to work in and asking for the return PGM signal, or having an audio mixing console configure all the microphones on the network in the same way.
NMOS IS-07 was yet a huge leap forward and had the specification introduced, which included event control and tally. These are two very important aspects in the control of audiovisual systems. And the thing is that ‘when this occurs that happens’ is essential in all productions. For example, nobody can imagine not being able to perform a macro in a video mixing system: this is event control.
And finally, security
The title of this section is neither trivial nor the last thing to consider. Security of our signals was something that 'almost' no one had noticed in traditional linear signal environments, SDI, MADI and AES. And it was unthinkable that someone would come and steal your signal. It was only in distribution and contribution environments that a simple layer of security was put in place through BISS encryption. And I still remember the number of encoders and decoders that I have configured with the BISS 12345678 key, but I would rather not say where.
Security was not a problem and here the tense is important, it was not, because now it is. Not only because they can steal and copy our signals that we transmit through an IP network or the Internet -this is obviousbut because they can
break into our systems, change them or, even worse, control them for us and we would not even know.
Imagine a situation in which we are in the middle of a production and, without any operator noticing, the signals that are sent and the way the equipment works are controlled by a third party. Scary, right? Well, it is possible, real and it has already happened.
Our IT colleagues are over 30 years ahead of us in this area of security. They are the first ones and the experts to deal with these issues and they know what systems to implement and how to configure them. It is important that we do not include security considerations just as one more layer of the project, but as something to take into account from the project's outset that has an impact on the design of the final solution. Otherwise it will be too late again.
Conclusions
In this second installment of VoIP we have focused on interoperability and security, two issues that in traditional linear environments were things almost to not take into account, but that in IP environments are essential and necessary to consider right from the start.
Because migrating to IP does not only mean changing the coaxial cable for RJ-45 or fiber, but also changing our mindset and adopting new standards. If we want to make use of the innumerable advantages of the IP environment, we must ensure that we tackle all the challenges and are able to overcome them.
In the last issue we will talk about a practical application and we will see how to implement an IP production environment within a real production experience with the aim of closing this trilogy in the most practical way possible.
Nick Iannelli, EVP Post Production
Where did the path of Take 5 began? What is the focus activity of the company?
I've only been here for two years but Take 5 has been around for 13 years. We've always been part of the production community in Toronto. Over that time they've had extensive relationships with studios like CBS Studios, Showtime, and MGM. Through that, Take 5 has been able to build up a reputation, internationally and therefore we are able to attract these types of high profile projects that come to us.
Take 5 usually works on co-productions, as it has
done on Vikings, why is
that?
Vikings was a special case in which the structure of the show was best served by setting it up as an Irish/Canadian CoProduction. This allowed the show to take advantage of incentives from both Canada and Ireland, but it also allowed us to showcase our talented producers, editors, sound teams and VFX artists that work in Canada.
Take 5 is a production service company primarily servicing projects that shoot in Toronto. Over the years, we’ve been able to convince our production partners, mainly some of the Hollywood studios that leaving post in Toronto was a viable option. Typically, the studios would shoot in Toronto and take their post back to LA. We’ve been able to demonstrate that we have the level of talent that they are used to in Toronto. Over the past decade the Toronto
post community has really matured to the point in which we are competing for the same awards that our Hollywood counterparts are. We helped nurture and support these post creatives, so now we’ve created a bit of a speciality in which we will produce just the post and VFX for projects that shoot elsewhere, that’s what happened with Vikings and now the spin off series Vikings: Valhalla.
What are the main challenges in a technical way that you face on working with other companies?
A lot of the challenges come when we go into a new country/city and we don't have relationships with some of the post facilities in those cities. If a show is in Toronto, we know suppliers and what those facilities offer. But when we go into a new territory in some cases there isn't the postproduction facility that can service shows of our size. Then we need to establish a relationship and work out a workflow that is common to our way of working. Or in some cases we work with one of our existing partners to find a solution. This mainly pertains to dailies, securing the camera data, applying colour, creating Avid media, syncing sound etc. With Vikings, we’ve been fortunate to work with a local vendor In Ireland; Screen Scene. They are a postproduction company based in Dublin and we’ve used them for quite a few shows and most recently we’re working with them on Vikings: Valhalla. We have some interesting shows coming up in which they’re shooting one project in Calgary, Alberta and another in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in both cities there isn't a large post infrastructure, so we're having to put something together that's going to service these shows.
There’s always a large amount of data that’s captured and getting that pushed across to our post teams in Toronto on a daily basis would
ordinarily be a challenged. But nowadays with the robustness of the internet and the cost data transfers coming down, it's fairly easy to manage and to get data pushed on a timely basis.
The workflow on a show like Vikings: Valhalla, is such that at the conclusion of each days shoot, dailies are processed overnight, and then the Avid Media gets pushed to us into a secure catch folder that we receive on our side. This allows for our editors and assistants to start right away in the morning. This is a case in which the time difference helps us. Ultimately the full camera data will be sent over, using the LTO camera masters.
Talking about you, which is your role in the post-production workflow?
From a post-production standpoint we have from five to seven shows that we're actively postproducing in one form or another. Whether we're handling all post-production which also encompasses visual effects. I oversee all the post and visual effects for those series from a Take 5 perspective. That includes everything from putting the team together, hiring the team, working with the various cinematographers, helping to establish dailies workflows based on camera formats. Making sure we stay on schedule and on budget. Most importantly I’m here to support out teams, making sure they have what they need to get the job done and make sure our studio partners are happy.
This is my first time working on the studio side, as my background was actually on the post facility side. I ran Deluxe Toronto for many years, which is now Company 3's post-production operation in Toronto. It’s one of their larger operations as it encompasses dailies services as well as full picture and sound finishing. It also services both feature films and television series. I was there for about 16 years and
then decided to leave and make a jump, and try something a little differently in my career.
Do you have your own equipment or do you rent it?
We have a certain amount of infrastructure, but if we have a new show where it goes beyond our means we will rent what we need. In addition, we also have a small visual effects team that services and works on all of our shows. The entire render farm, storage and workstations are in-house.
How long is the life cycle of your equipment?
Sometimes it's not so much about the life cycle but more about adding infrastructure because of growth. As you know, years ago you had a 50MB hard drive and that was a lot of storage. Now you've got 500 GB or 1 TB. Similarly, on our side. When we had a 100 terabyte, it was a lot of storage, but right now, we're looking to bring in a petabyte of storage to support our visual effects and post operation. Granted, that's probably not even a lot much data compared to some of the bigger facilities that exist.
What do you think about the constant updates of formats and technology and how do you adapt to it?
Years ago, everything was hardware-specific. If you wanted to do something, there was a specific piece of hardware that did that. Thankfully, over the last 10-15 years, we've gone away from that. Now, there is a workstation and software to do what you need to do. That allows us to take that same workstation, which might not be fast enough for visual effects or editing, but it might work as a file server of some kind that we'll use for our corporate office. Typically, as you upgrade, you look to find a reuse for some of the older infrastructure.
We want to talk about
Vikings and Vikings: Valhalla, the two big
shows of the house.
What camera equipment do you use on set?
For the original Vikings series the cinematographer used Alexa cameras shooting UHD resolution for all seasons. On the new series, Vikings: Valhalla, that’s currently in production, our cinematographer Peter Robertson is using the Sony VENICE at 6K. We are just starting to colour correct the episodes in Dolbyvision and the footage looks absolutely gorgeous.
They are series with a lot of visual effects, how do you work on that?
With Vikings and the spin off series Vikings: Valhalla the VFX vendor we use is Mr. X Toronto. They've been our partners for many years and handle all of the heavy lifting for the series. We also use our inhouse team which consists of 6-8 artists that are dedicated to the series. The majority of the work on our in-house team does, is clean ups, environment extensions, mainly 2D work. Some of the software MR. X uses is Maya, Houdini and Nuke. I'm also sure they're using a lot of their own proprietary code and scripts. Our in-house team primarily works with Nuke, a little Houdini and Photoshop for matte paintings.
There are a lot of water scenes, which are always complicated, which was the main challenge of this?
Mr. X uses water simulations in which they've perfected, it's looking amazing. We’re always striving to get to a photorealistic look and right now their water simulations are one of their specialties. It’s not just about creating the water sims, but integrating the different layers of water, foam, waves into the plates that add to the realistic look. They will take a plate which consists of a boat with our actors and just make it come to life. The action may not be perfect, but they always find a way to enhance it and make it look better.
It has a lot of postproduction work, which was the main challenge you face off during this production?
The time. It's just getting it all done within the schedule that you have. Everybody wants to create great-looking visual effects. Sometimes just getting it to that perfect state of photorealism, it takes a little more time. Sometimes we're lucky we have the time so we can do that, sometimes we're under some tight schedules and it's a little bit more challenging.
Ultimately, I think overall it's always about getting the shots looking as photorealistic as possible. You really don't
