PBS Affiliates Transmit HD Video in Real Time with T-VIPS IP Video Solutions

New York City-based PBS station, WNET, has selected the T-VIPS TVG420 ASI to IP Gateway solution to transmit the stations’ locally-produced programming over an IP network to the PBS Network Operations  Center, in Alexandria, VA.

After encoding the HD video to a 30 Megabit MPEG-2 ASI transport stream, WNET uses the T-VIPS TVG420 ASI to IP Gateway to move the compressed digital video over a high-performance OC 3 IP network to PBS’ network operations center in Alexandria for HDTV broadcast nationwide.  At the PBS network operations center, the video enters the facility-wide workflow where it’s decoded back to ASI-HD video for broadcast.

“We’re extremely pleased with the reliability and performance of the T-VIPS TVG420 Gateway solution,” says Jeff Dockendorff, associate director of engineering for WNET, the PBS affiliate serving the New York Tristate area.  “Our goal is to deliver a very high-quality product to PBS, and with the TVG420, the picture quality is exceptional.”  Since the TVG420 was installed during the summer of 2010, WNET has used it to transmit many high-definition PBS productions to the network, including the weekly newsmagazine show “Need To Know” and “From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 2011” — an annual “Great Performances” event featuring the Vienna Philharmonic in concert.

Boston PBS affiliate, WGBH, employs the T-VIPS CP510 Transport Stream Processor to filter select services from the WGBH-DT transport stream for delivery to Thames Valley Communications, a cable television, high-speed Internet, and digital phone service provider in Groton, CT.  The T-VIPS CP510 enables flexible adaptation and filtering of MPEG transport streams and component filtering, as well as PSI/SI/PSIP table updates.

“WGBH looked at dedicated circuits for delivery to Thames cable but the cost was prohibitive,” says Michael Foti, Director of Engineering for WGBH.  “I’d seen a demo of video over IP using the TVG420  and was impressed with its performance over the public Internet. We had to put something together fast with little budget, and the T-VIPS demo came to mind.”

While Thames Valley had been able to receive WGBH’s signal via satellite in the past, that feed became unavailable in the spring of 2010. The communications provider terminated the signal at that time, along with the Boston-area NBC, ABC, and CBS affiliates.

“We could still receive WGBH’s signal through a fiber connection but that was prohibitively expensive,” says Carl Andersen, director of programming for Thames Valley Communications, Inc. “To be competitive in our market, we needed to find a more more cost-effective way to get WGBH back onto our service. Representatives from WGBH demonstrated the TVG420 ASI to IP Gateway for us, and we realized that it solves our problem very affordably because it sends a high-quality video signal in real-time over IP.”

WGBH produces many top-rated PBS shows from its Brighton, MA studios, including “NOVA,” “Antiques Roadshow,” “Frontline,” and “Masterpiece Theatre.”  With the T-VIPS TVG420, WGBH has found a cost-effective ASI to IP transport solution that preserves the high-quality HD image.

According to Joe LoGrasso, VP and GM of T-VIPS America, “While broadcasters such as WNET, WGBH and Thames Valley have a legacy of relying upon satellite, telco, and dedicated fiber connections for real-time, professional video transport solutions, our technology is ushering in a revolutionary shift to transporting and viewing video over IP networks in real-time, cost-effectively, and with the Quality of Service (QoS) the broadcast industry demands.”

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