Aiming to promote a cost-effective platform for carrying AV signals over Ethernet networks, a roster of six companies has formed the Software-Defined Video over Ethernet (SDVoE) Alliance. The Alliance will make its debut at Integrated Systems Europe 2017 coming up next month at RAI Amsterdam, where it says it will demonstrate technology for carrying zero-latency (under 100 microseconds) 4K 60p video over off-the-shelf 10 Gig Ethernet hardware.
The technology can carry 4K 30p signals fully uncompressed, while 4K 60p material can be carried in an "artifact-free" state indistinguishable from the original source, the Alliance said. HDMI is carried without modifying clock timing, allowing synchronized signals to be maintained across a network, and audio formats including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-MA are carried without modification.
The founding members of the SDVoE Alliance are AptoVision, Aquantia, Christie Digital, Netgear, Sony and ZeeVee. Justin Kennington, director of strategic and technical marketing at AptoVision, is president of the Alliance, which is governed by a board of directors that includes a representative from each of the founding companies.
The group's aim is to unify multiple existing approaches to AV/IT convergence by implementing new chipset technology, utilizing common control APIs and ensuring interoperability. "Using 10 Gb Ethernet hardware to move video witrh flawless quality and zero latency is only the beginning," Kennington said in a prepared statement. "The creation of a software platform enables the development of whole new classes of applications not yet conceived."
Source: SDVoE Alliance
In SDVoE's vision of the AV-over-IP world, the tradtional matrix switcher is replaced by an Ethernet switcher that can be scaled up as needed. KVM switching can be extended to support more categories of workstation hardware, including fingerprint scanners and web cameras. Content can also be distributed to video walls and multiviewers via conventional Ethernet switches.
SDVoE's system relies on commercially available networking technology along with SDVoE devices that offer session management and adaptive clock resynchronization. An API allows vendors, system integrators and other developers to create applications that interface with the SDVoE platform.
"We will deliver this solution for industrial product design and manufacturing, theme parks, museums, high-traffic lobbies, corporate boardrooms — any environment requiring realistic simulation," said Sony's Toru Suzuki, deputy senior general manager of Sony's B2B business, in a statement provided by the Alliance. "We can now construct display systems more flexibly beyond 4K resolution with free aspect, free layout contents on any size of display output."
System integrators and others are invited to attend one of three training sessions to be held February 8 at ISE. Attendees can register at the SDVoE Alliance website.
SDVoE Alliance: sdvoe.org
