Text:/ Derek Powell

1200 x 600 VIRTUAL MATRIX ANYONE?

The SVSi line includes videowall processors, a network recorder and even audio-over-IP products. But most interest has been in the N-series encoders and decoders that allow video, audio and control to be transported and switched by simply plugging into an existing network – bypassing the need for audiovisual matrix switchers and extenders.

There are three product families, which between them can cover any network link – local, LAN or WAN (including internet) transport. Andy described the N1000 range of products as an “in-room, or single-switch solution”. He claims that its high bandwidth of 800 Megabits per second (Mbps) and proprietary 4:2:2 colour-space compression provides near-lossless transport that is visually indistinguishable from wired Cat6 solutions such as HDBaseT. The advantage he stresses is that the SVSi encoders and decoders are true IP devices that can be part of the client’s existing gigabit data network, monitored and controlled using standard IT toolsets.

Expected to cause most interest is the N2000 line up, based on cinema-grade JPEG2000 4:2:2 compression. The compression is user-adjustable between 20 and 200Mbps, making them suitable to carry video, audio and control signals through multiple switches to anywhere on a typical LAN. These could prove enormously flexible solutions for meeting rooms, collaborative classrooms and in a range of overflow applications.

Rounding out the N-series is the N-3000. These products extend the reach of networked video all the way across the WAN and out onto the internet. The 3000 series use the H.264 compression codec and offers user-adjustable bit rates from an internet-friendly 50kbps right up to 10Mbps.

There’s no doubt that IP switching makes possible certain applications that otherwise would either be impossible or stratospherically expensive using conventional matrix switchers. SVSi’s largest installation to date is a 1200 x 600 virtual matrix for Juniper Networks’ massive new corporate headquarters in California. Video, audio and control to every projector, display, videoconference codec and DSP across 300-plus conference rooms in the campus is transported and switched on the network, with the savings from cabling alone reportedly paying for all the SVSi encoding equipment used on the job.

Not surprisingly, Andy Whitehead sees the future of audiovisual very much through an IT lens. He regards the migration of video onto the network as inevitable, just as voice-over-IP has almost completely replaced the corporate PABX. “IT has never lost a convergence war,” he insisted. “I don’t believe they are going to lose this one. It’s just a matter of time until network architectures are seen as the distribution platform of choice.”

MAKING THE TRADEOFF

While agreeing that networked video will play a huge role in all our futures, AMX head of product management for Australia & New Zealand Graham Barrett sees the new products as very much complementary to conventional audiovisual solutions. “SVSi has positioned itself as the product which bridges the two technologies, or the two worlds, of AV and IT,” Barrett says.

He believes the education market in Australia is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the lower cost and increased flexibility offered when the IP network takes on the role of switching and distributing video to multiple destinations.

“Most universities have a very large, robust and well maintained network,” Barrett explains. “Along with that, there are new forms of teaching, like collaborative classrooms, with the requirement to get video economically from lots of places to lots of other places. Many of those applications are ‘un-square’ – you’re talking about one presenter and lots of displays, or lots of student-generated input coming back to a single switching point at the lectern. 

“So with a large distribution system based on, say DGX [the premium AMX hardware switcher] you are generally constrained by a square matrix – 8×8, 16×16, or whatever. The beauty with a network-based solution is it can be completely non-square – it can be 1:16, it can be 2:16, etc. And you’re not paying for the full 256 crosspoints – there’s a huge benefit there. In those situations, things like a small loss of video fidelity and latency are perfectly acceptable compromises.”

KNOW YOUR LIMITATIONS

While there is plenty of optimism about the benefits of using an existing data network to provide flexible and relatively inexpensive switching, no-one is shying away from the limitations either.

“You need to be fully informed of when you consider a networked distribution system,” Barrett points out. “The reality is that SVSi is, by its nature, a compressed video solution. So as with any compressed video solution you have loss of fidelity and in just about any compressed video solution you have latency. Now depending on the level of compression, the loss of fidelity and latency will be more or less important, relating directly to the type and level of compression,” Barrett continued.

Andy Whitehead is also quick to acknowledge the trade-off compression inevitably brings, noting it is important to understand the proper application for each of the N-series products. “Compression costs money; it adds latency; and degrades video quality, so an optimised system will only compress when it has to,” Andy notes. “But depending on your platform and bandwidth you absolutely have to compress for certain applications and the more you compress the further the reach of the video distribution system.”

Graham Barrett certainly sees a continuing role for dedicated audiovisual distribution and switching hardware alongside these new options. “When you compare a compressed solution to something like AMX’s Enova platform or Crestron’s 8G platform or the Extron XTP solution, all of those are designed to deliver content that is pixel perfect, with full resolution and zero latency. So in quality terms, that’s the starting point. The downside with those solutions though, is cost and flexibility.”

Diving a little deeper, it is crucial to consider the other benefits provided by a modern matrix switcher, such as end-to-end EDID management. SVSi has some quite capable EDID management integrated within the solution but acknowledge it is nowhere near as powerful as you will find in the case of the AMX Enova or competing hardware solutions. Right alongside EDID comes the need to consider scaling to cope with varying end points. There is certainly scaling capacity built into SVSi products, but the considerable investment AMX has made into Smart Scale technology in its DXLink product makes it a much more capable and flexible solution in demanding applications.

GAME CHANGER?

So could this be the iPhone moment for AMX? If video really does migrate to the network as quickly and completely as HDMI replaced VGA, then an awful lot of current traditional Pro-AV product is on shaky ground. 

While acknowledging there are some mission critical applications that certainly warrant direct video and audio connections, it seems likely there are many really large installations (such as the Juniper Networks example cited earlier) and absolutely huge numbers of relatively simple meeting rooms and collaboration spaces will find the scalability and plug-and-play promise of video-over-IP irresistible.

Matrix switchers, both large and small could disappear altogether and the vast range of HDMI extenders won’t be needed either. We may even find that encoders start to be built-in to many source components. Any PC-based equipment or networked storage devices are prime candidates to have an extra network port replace their HDMI socket as the primary video and audio output. On that score, we are likely to see many more displays plugging directly into a network feed (smart TVs already do!) just as many projectors are already appearing with direct HDBaseT inputs.

HOW LONG HAVE WE GOT?

Pundits from both sides of the AV/IT fence at least agree the winds of change are beginning to howl. But taking a quick straw poll of the industry, I found (as you might expect) a diversity of opinion as to when the change will arrive. Some operators of very capable data networks have said privately that they will be testing network video product as soon as they can get it and don’t intend to be investing in audiovisual matrix switchers ever again. Others are more cautious, agreeing that streaming video for motion pictures is a no-brainer but pointing out that content even as mundane as spreadsheets can quickly degrade under even light compression. For them, HDBaseT still has plenty of legs.

The official line from AMX with its new owner Harman, could best be summed up as “Keep Calm & Carry On”. Here’s what head office wrote when I asked them about the potential for networked video to supplant much of the traditional audiovisual product line.

“We do see a significant trend towards the delivery of video-over-IP networks and the SVSi product line and development team positions us well for the future, however, the tipping point for technology trends sometimes takes longer than we think it will. Having both distribution technologies in the portfolio allows us to effectively meet our customer’s needs both today and into tomorrow.”

It’s a fair point and I don’t want to be seen as some kind of audiovisual prophet of doom. However, AMX has just invested heavily into this each-way bet and my guess is that others will be quick to follow suit. When that happens, the tipping point might shift rather rapidly.

The point is that every audiovisual consultant, designer and buyer that I spoke to is now keeping a very close eye on video-over-IP products.

We are certainly not yet at a situation where video over the network is the right answer for every – or even most – new designs. And it’s really important to understand up front that there are compromises – both the obvious ones of quality and latency but also the less obvious limitations where it comes to sophisticated EDID management and the subtleties of scaling – and that’s without even mentioning HDCP!

But from 2015, for each new corporate, education or even residential audiovisual system, every designer must now consider whether video-over-IP is the right option.

That’s what’s new. That’s what’s important. We are a long way from the end game, and there’s going to be plenty of new product to wrestle with from all directions. But AMX’s decision to embrace disruptive technology gives all audiovisual professionals new opportunities – and new challenges.