Scaling UHD Live Production Workflow with Mezzanine Compression

Ultra High Definition Television (UHDTV) bandwidth requirements are exceeding the capabilities of traditional serial video transports. Since 1998, Serial Digital Interface transport rates have increased from 270 Mbps to 12 Gpbs, while Ethernet has increased four times more, from 100 Mbps to 25 Gbps. UHD 120 frame per second video requires up to 24 Gbps, rendering a 12 Gbps SDI infrastructure immediately obsolete. HEVC technology is being deployed in smart TVs, and next generation set top boxes as a way to deliver UHD to the home with the least bandwidth. Over-The-Top services are available today, and Over-The-Air capabilities have been successfully demonstrated. Using this infrastructure, UHD TV provides compelling picture quality which scales across screen size and delivery method. It is certainly poised to be the successor to HDTV. Live content production is essential to this transition. The challenge of managing variable input data rates combined with variable output formats, requires a workflow which scales from today's 3 Gbps infrastructure to the 96 Gbps capacity of tomorrow's facility networks. Mezzanine compression is one clear option for providing this scalability. Four to one mezzanine compression provides an optimal balance between workflow and scalability. Requirements for low latency, low power, and minimal computing resources which are essential for affordable, live production workflows are met with this technique.