Progress Report: ST 2110 Update

2018 is the year when professional media over Internet Protocol (IP) has become a strong choice for the architecture of new large outside broadcast trucks and inside broadcast facilities. Some users are making the decision based on the density of Ethernet switches and high-bandwidth Ethernet links, commonly up to 100 Gbits/s per port, with 200 and 400 Gbits/s ports now being introduced as well. Other users seek the flexibility of the IP “pipe” to carry video with different frame rates, resolutions (including UHDTV-1) and transfer functions (standard dynamic rate and high dynamic range, for example), as well as composing media from different video, audio, and ancillary data IP sources. Software-based video processing using commercially available off-the-shelf PC servers with IP connections is also beginning to be deployed. Regardless of the decision drivers, the choice to go with IP is enhanced greatly by the multivendor interoperability of SMPTE ST 2110.