SMPTE Publishes ST 2110-40 Which Addresses Ancillary Metadata for Professional Media Over Managed IP Networks

SMPTE has extended the SMPTE ST 2110 Professional Media Over Managed IP Networks standards suite with the publication of SMPTE ST 2110-40. This new document maps ancillary data packets into Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) packets that are transported via User Data Protocol/Internet Protocol (UDP/IP) and enables those packets to be moved synchronously with associated video and audio essence streams.

“SMPTE ST 2110-40 maps ancillary data into RTP packets, complementing the existing video and audio portions of the SMPTE ST 2110 suite,” says SMPTE Director of Standards Development Thomas Bause Mason. “This advance is momentous because it means that, thanks to the ST 2110 standards suite, every element that has been part of the traditional SDI studio can now be put into an IP studio.”

The SMPTE ST 2110 standards suite specifies the carriage, synchronization, and description of separate elementary essence streams over professional IP networks in real time for live production, playout, and other professional media applications. SMPTE ST 2110 separately routes the individual essence streams (audio, video, and ancillary data), which simplifies, for example, the addition of captions, subtitles, and Teletext, as well as tasks such as the processing of multiple audio languages and types. It also enables the efficient carriage of next-generation image formats with new features, such as HDR over IP, that may require metadata.

The new ST 2110-40 standard will join previously published documents in the SMPTE digital library, which is hosted on the IEEE Xplore platform:

• SMPTE ST 2110-10/-20/-30 — addressing system concerns and uncompressed video and audio streams
• SMPTE ST 2110-21 — specifying traffic shaping and delivery timing of uncompressed video

During NAB 2018, the new SMPTE ST 2110 standard suite was a primary focus of the IP Showcase, supported by SMPTE, Audio Engineering Society (AES), Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA), European Broadcasting Union (EBU), IABM, and Video Services Forum (VSF).

SMPTE is offering a Virtual Classroom course on ST 2110, and the newly published ST 2110-40 standard will be a focus of the course. The course assumes a basic understanding of IP and associated terminology. The SMPTE Virtual Courses “Introduction to Networks,” “Routing and Switching Essentials,” and “Essentials of IP Media Transport for Broadcasters: Moving Real-Time Video and Audio over Packet Networks” are not required to register for “Understanding SMPTE ST 2110.” However, these courses enable a deeper understanding of IP, internetworking, and many essential concepts that are referenced in the ST 2110 suite of standards and are recommended to be completed before enrolling in “Understanding ST 2110.” SMPTE Virtual Classroom course descriptions and registration are available here.