Sony opens IP Live Studio: “An opportunity to test” says Toshihiko Ohnishi

Sony is opening a new dedicated IP Live Studio, which will be used for training and interoperability testing, as part of its Digital Motion Picture Centre Europe (DMPCE) at Pinewood Film Studios. The IP Studio has been set up with products from some of the 50 manufacturers that have joined Sony’s IP Live Alliance, who will also have access to the centre.

The new centre will allow users “to go beyond isolated proof of concept, demonstrations and theory. They will be able to experience functioning, interoperable products in a functioning live environment,” said Toshihiko Ohnishi, deputy president, PSG, Sony Professional. It will serve as “a permanent technical reference for production and broadcasting companies, showing them what is possible.”

“With this new facility we will provide an opportunity to test and operate a complete IP Live production centre, which encompasses the acquisition, switching, routing, encryption, compression and workflow management.”

It is not just a matter of developing technology. “We must also support the people using it, empowering them with the knowledge and skills that they need,” said Ohnishi.

The studio will demonstrate Sony’s Networked Media Interface, offering low latency and noise-free switching of HD and 4K video, audio and metadata via standard network infrastructures. It will also support IP initiatives as a hardware tool and will serve as a ‘playground’ for IP Live Alliance partners, allowing them to interface their own equipment with the Sony system.

“Ever since introducing our first IP-enabled solutions back in 2012, we’ve been working with partners and customers to make IP an operational reality in live production environments. Our approach is tested and proven in the field, forming the backbone of live production workflows for customers such as TV Globo, CNN Adria and the PSNC,” said Norbert Paquet, strategic marketing manager at Sony Professional Europe. “To date, standards and alliances have focused only on a few of the challenges of IP Live production. The IP Live Studio is therefore an opportunity for our customers to test and operate a complete IP workflow, and experience the exciting interoperability on offer.”

“The IP Live Studio will exist alongside Sony’s established cinematography and Broadcast workflow at the DMPCE, which has already welcomed over 3,300 customers [including some 2,000 for training] since its launch in 2013,” said Ann-Marie Hiscox, Head of Customer Training at Sony Professional Europe.

The hands-on training will include a four-day course on understanding and building IP Live systems devised with Juniper Networks, for end users, dealers or system integrators. There are also free online lessons. “There is a lot of new knowledge to take on board,” she said.

The Studio’s acquisition system will include Sony’s HDC-4300 4K/HD camera and BPU-4500 baseband processor, with NXLK-IP40F SDI to IP converter boards in a network infrastructure, with additional equipment from Cisco, Evertz, EVS, Imagine Communications, Juniper Networks, Lawo, Tektronix and TSL.

Visitors will be able to use the studio to investigate 4K and HD acquisition, video switching and real-time graphics over IP, as well as Networked Media Interface interoperability and dynamic routing. The IP Live studio opens this month.