NAB 2016: Blackmagic Design, Ikegami, Panasonic and more join TICO Alliance

Blackmagic Design, B&M Modern Media, Bluefish444, Cobalt Digital, Ikegami, Leader, Net Insight, Panasonic, Pesa, Telestream and Village Island joined the TICO Alliance in Las Vegas. The addition of the new members demonstrates the growing acceptance worldwide of TICO compression, according to the Alliance, as suitable technology for lightly compressed IP transmission in live production.

Current members have collaborated to create a full set of open specifications that will be disclosed in the SMPTE RDD35, specifying TICO compression, its mapping on SDI, SMPTE2022-6 and RTP payload. The specification suits the industry roadmap converging on SMPTE 2022-6, VSF TR03 and TR-04 for the transition to IP.

“Broadcasters have been asking us for video over IP solutions for quite some time,” said Grant Petty, CEO Blackmagic Design. “The TICO codec delivers incredible image quality with extremely low latency and we believe it is the ideal codec for our IP video solutions. We will be able to offer our customers advanced HD and Ultra HD video over IP products that will integrate with other TICO compatible studios and broadcasters around the world.”

“With TICO lightweight compression our customers will be able to provide products capable of delivering 4K 60fps video over a single 3G SDI cable, infrastructure which is already well established globally,” said Tom Lithgow, Bluefish444 Product Manager.

“The TICO Alliance is less than a year old but has already attracted some major industry players, which is a testament to the technology’s viability. Participating in the TICO Alliance will help Cobalt maintain its strong position in the signal-processing and transport markets as a go-to provider of essential, problem-solving products that connect system components such as cameras, production switchers, and multiviewers,” said Jesse Foster, director of products and business development at Cobalt Digital.

“We’ve built partnerships and trust with our customers by providing top-notch technology and support, and we expect they will be pleased to find TICO-enabled products across our portfolio.”

“We believe interoperability and scalability will ultimately benefit customers, especially in our specialty, 4K and 8K. As IP based solutions will play a key role, we see TICO as a real answer,” according to Naoki Kashimura, Director of the Board, Global Business Promotion, Ikegami.