Tektronix Delivers Comprehensive Solution for ST 2110 Generation and Analysis

Tektronix announced that its PRISM media analysis solution now includes support for the recently published SMPTE ST 2110 suite of standards for professional media over managed IP networks. In addition, Tektronix introduced new low-cost, field-upgradable signal generation capabilities for PRISM that will give customers more confidence when testing IP and 12G-SDI for hybrid/SDI networks.

With the publication of the ST 2110 standard, the direction for the broadcast industry has been set for the transition from SDI to IP infrastructure. However, broadcast engineers and IT professionals face the challenge of managing complex hybrid SDI and IP environments during the transition period. With its ability to connect to any broadcast signal in a facility and new ST 2110 signal generation capabilities, PRISM provides the comprehensive measurement, network analysis and troubleshooting solution needed for a smooth transition to the full IP-based infrastructure and workflows of the future.

“The release of ST 2110 is accelerating the IP transition, but the transition is never going to happen if broadcasters lack confidence in their network’s stability and performance,” says Charlie Dunn, general manager, video product line, Tektronix.

“With PRISM, we’re delivering exactly what our customers need to move forward into the ST 2110 world — assurance and confidence.”

A major challenge when commissioning or debugging issues in a new network is figuring out where connectivity errors or other issues begin. One of the most effective methods of finding these errors is to inject known good signals into the network to check signal paths and system redundancy. The new MP-GEN option module for PRISM does just that by providing ST 2110-20, -30 and ST 2022-7 test patterns for use on IP networks and on12G-SDI for hybrid/SDI networks.

With the latest updates, PRISM now supports generation, connectivity, and analysis of the following:

• ST 2110-10: System Timing
• ST 2110-20: Uncompressed Active Video
• ST 2110-30: Uncompressed PCM Audio
• ST 2110-40: Ancillary Data
• ST 2110-21: Traffic Shaping Uncompressed Video

With a broad range of measurements and trend graphs and session displays, PRISM gives engineers visibility into network or content issues including intermittent loss of video, audio, or data content in ST 2110 networks. In addition, the new ST 2110-21 support, enables engineers to test the performance of senders and receivers under different traffic flow conditions on their IP network. Tektronix has also extended its Precision Time Protocol (PTP) timing analysis for system setup and maintenance and added NMOS Discovery and Registration/Session Description Protocol (SDP) support to simplify system integration. PRISM can perform both IP and SDI (12G/3G/HD/SD) measurements and offers simple ways to switch between either type of input.

The new MP-GEN option is available now and priced at $2,000 US MSRP and the new support and measurement of SMPTE ST 2110 are included in the MP-IP-STD, MP-IP-MEAS and free to existing option owners (firmware update, which are also now available globally.