Future of AV-over-IP Unraveled: Pivotal Documents Charting The Course
In the ever-evolving world of audiovisual (AV) technology, a new standard is making waves: IPMX. Currently in a development phase towards finalization, IPMX is set to redefine AV-over-IP solutions by extending foundational standards into Pro AV.
One such real-world project is the break room upgrade. Here, IPMX is being used to integrate legacy baseband equipment with new IPMX endpoints. An IPMX solution capable of handling content mixing while adhering to HDCP through HKEP, IPMX's DCP-approved protocol for handling HDCP-compliant key exchange, is employed in the break room. However, a challenge arises when it comes to multicasting to the system's displays, all of which are reporting 4K30, falling short of the project's 4K60 specification.
In the auditorium portion of the project, IPMX devices can receive both ST 2110 and AES67 content, simplifying the connection of the huddle room to the live production system. This interoperability is a testament to IPMX's potential to unify AV-over-IP solutions.
The digital signage system in the break room project, partly upgraded, retains several older monitors that are not slated for replacement, leading to an EDID-related headache. To compensate for inaccurate values given to the IPMX sender by the HDMI switch, the Link Offset Delay property of the IPMX receiver is used, allowing for synchronization.
The facilities manager in the break room project requires all content traffic in a 'secure' huddle room to be encrypted. This leads to the exploration of IPMX's Privacy Encryption Protocol (PEP), outlined in TR-10-13. PEP, which leverages the HDCP-compliant HKEP protocol, ensures multi-vendor, interoperable encryption for video, audio, and USB traffic in IPMX.
Investigations were carried out during the break room project when audio and video were found to be out of sync. Using a Wireshark dissector for HKEP and another for IPMX RTCP sender reports, packets were inspected, revealing no out-of-ordinary findings. However, it was discovered that the HDMI switch was sending out strange audio info frames with very large values in the LATENCY field, indicating a problem with the HDMI switch.
The development of IPMX is rooted in the Video Services Forum (VSF) TR-10 and Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) NMOS specifications. NMOS IS-11's connection negotiation capabilities enable multicasting to the new and older monitors in the system, but the displays are all reporting 4K30, which falls short of the project's 4K60 specification. NMOS IS-12, on the other hand, enables direct adjustments for settings like scaling and frame rate conversion through the controller, potentially solving the compatibility issue with a gateway from an unfamiliar manufacturer.
Real-world scenarios and challenges faced by system designers and technicians are being explored to show how IPMX's components will simplify and enhance AV-over-IP systems. The search results do not provide specific information about manufacturers offering gateways with both frame-rate conversion and direct adjustment of scaling and frame-rate settings via NMOS controller. This underscores the need for further development and collaboration in the IPMX community.
In conclusion, IPMX is poised to revolutionize the AV-over-IP landscape by providing a comprehensive, interoperable standard that leverages the foundations of SMPTE ST 2110 and AES67 standards. As the standard moves towards finalization, it is exciting to see its practical application in real-world projects and the challenges they present.
