The World of 12G 4K/UHD Processing

Varun Patel

Author: Varun Patel

Published 16th July 2019

The World of 12G 4K/UHD Processing

Technology moves fast and when it comes to audio and video broadcasting, there is always room for improvements in audio and video quality and ease of production. One of the main goals of broadcasters and content providers today is to create an immersive experience for the viewers, giving them the feeling of being part of the viewed content. The 4K/UHD buzz has been in the consumer world for some time but what does that actually mean for the content producer?

What is 4K/UHD?
In 2012 the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) introduced the term Ultra High Definition, which partly defined a resolution of at least 3840 x 2160 pixels. With four times as many pixels as HD, 4K moves the level of visual details to a completely different level. Consumers are however always wary of new television technologies (thanks to 3D) from companies that try to entice them to part with their hard-earned money. But when it comes to 4K TVs, the initial price has dropped significantly making the technology affordable to many.

Then why a slow adoption of 4K?
4K has become an established format in the production sector as major over-the-top (OTT) players like Netflix and Amazon, demand content in UHD. Even though there is a huge demand for 4K content, there is a slow adoption of 4K in the broadcasting value chain. There are significant challenges for content producers in adopting 4K in the media production workflow. Major technical factors include:

  • Sheer volume of the digital data.
  • Post-production challenges like clean-up works, computing power and speed issues of hardware.
  • Broadcast bandwidth requirement: Delivering high-quality video content in 4K from point A to B over multiple existing cable types or single new higher bandwidth types or fibre.
  • Interfacing between various production Standards (SQD, 2SI, 12G, IP SMPTE 2022 and 2110)

As the Broadcast and Professional AV industries face the task of integrating new standards and multiple formats, LYNX Technik AG continues to offer the most advanced, innovated and reliable 4K solutions to overcome the challenges of ever-increasing complexity in the acquisition, production, post production and signal distribution environments.
Building on its worldwide reputation for no-compromise German design, manufacture, and support, LYNX Technik AG presents a range of yellobriks® and the already multi-award-winning greenMachine® titan, (the customer configurable ‘Super Brik’ modular processing platform) for 4K/UHD broadcast and professional AV signal conversion, fibre transport and advanced processing. LYNX Technik 4K products are designed and manufactured to solve the problems that are currently faced by content producers and broadcasters as they migrate to 4K/UHD. They reduce the complexity, cost of ownership and production resources, while providing state of the art video and audio quality.

greenMachine® - multi-purpose processor
The flagship greenMachine® titan hardware has been designed for 3G HD and 4K/UHD requirements. The hardware is a powerful processing platform for video, audio, and metadata that can perform many different functions using one of the available greenMachine® titan constellations (configurations). 3G HD or 4K/UHD (12G-SDI) constellations (pre-configured application sets) for greenMachine® include; Static and Dynamic HDR <> SDR conversion, audio embedding/de-embedding including MADI and DolbyE®, video and colour adjustment, frame synchronization, up/down/cross conversion, ROI scaling, audio/video test signal generation and a Bi-Directional Quad Transport system.

The functionality of the greenMachine® titan can be simply switched by deploying a different constellation and assigning a license via the free greenGUI control software. The perpetual licenses can also be moved between machines making them ideal for reconfigurable OB and fly away or temporary system applications.

greenMachine® titan is the future-proof reconfigurable ‘toolbox’ hardware base ideal for studios, OBs, fly-away, and remote production professional AV and other media facility that require 12G-4K/UHD AV signal processing, or are currently working in 1.5G-SD or 3G-HD and are looking for a cost-effective software licence only upgrade to 12G in the future.

yellobrik® - application specific modules
Alongside the trusted 3G modules, LYNX Technik AG continues to expand its yellobrik® range of application specific modules into the 4K arena. The compact size and innovative rackmount and redundant power supply options have found favour with users for whom quality and reliability over many years and in diverse environments are prerequisite. New 12G 4K/UHD models include:

4K Format Conversion: The CQS 1441 yellobrik® model provides a bridge between 4K UHD quad-link (2SI) devices and 12G SDI single-link devices. Conversion modes include: 12G SDI single link to 4x 3G Quad link (2SI); 4x 3G Quad link (2SI) to 12G SDI single link; 6G SDI single link to 4x 1.5G SDI and 4x 1.5G SDI to 6G SDI single link monitoring. A 12G fibre in/out SFP option is also available.

12G 4K/UHD Distribution Amplifiers: The DVD 1417 & DVD 1423 yellobrik® are re-clocking coax distribution amplifiers for up to 12G 4K/UHD and allow users to input any signal, whether SD/HD/3G or 12G SDI and feed multiple re-clocked outputs to devices across a facility.

12G 4K/UHD HDMI Monitoring, PMV 1841 Quad-Split yellobrik® is a compact, portable processor with an integrated down converter, for applications that require low cost, reduced resolution confidence monitoring or floor monitoring of 4K/UHD 12G, SQD quad-link streams on an HDMI display at 1080i resolution.

12G 4K/UHD Fibre Transports: OTX 1410 and ORX 1400 single channel 12G coax transmitter and receiver models are supplied with SFPs fitted or users can select from a range of CWDM types for multiplexing or up to 80Km range.
For the transport of either 12G on 4x3G coax format (2SI or SQD) or four discrete 3G signals, the OTR 1441 and 1442 offer a single box (at each end) solution. Modules may be ‘daisy-chained’ to transport either 8x 3G or 2x 4K/UHD over a single fibre or add Ethernet or RS232/RS422/RS485 signals to the multi 3G or 4K/UHD fibre link.

All yellobriks® and greenMachines® come with the intuitive, free of charge yelloGUI or greenGUI software which provide access to all advanced settings and adjustments within the units.

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