Broadcast Pix is latest addition to the ASPEN Community

Broadcast Pix has joined the ASPEN Community, a collaborative effort of more than 30 broadcast industry leaders, to develop a robust transport format for video, audio and associated metadata over IP networks. ASPEN, short for Adaptive Sample Picture ENcapsulation, is a standards-based, open format that moves uncompressed Ultra HD, 3G, HD, and SD signals over MPEG-2 transport streams (ISO/IEC 13818-1).

With ASPEN (defined in SMPTE RDD 37), video, audio, and metadata can be treated as individual streams for maximum flexibility, and ultra-low latency makes it ideal for transport, production and playout in broadcast facilities. ASPEN works with existing SMPTE standards (i.e., SMPTE ST 302 and ST 2038) to satisfy the real world requirements of an IP-centric facility, and has a framework designed to support future video formats.

Evertz first demonstrated ASPEN at the 2015 NAB Show, and the ASPEN Community was founded five months later at IBC2015. The ASPEN Community was formed to share information between end-users and manufacturers in an effort for interoperability to simplify the transition from SDI to IP-based workflows.

“MPEG-2 is widely deployed throughout the industry. ASPEN leverages that proven technology to deliver a flexible transport format for high-quality video with very low latency,” said Kevin Prince, president and CEO of Broadcast Pix. “ASPEN aligns perfectly with our low latency technology necessary for contribution-level live production. We are proud to be part of this transition to environments and to explore the unique flexibility ASPEN brings to the merger of video, data, and control that Broadcast Pix solutions have been delivering.”