Macnica To Demonstrate New IPMX Media Workflow

Macnica is returning to InfoComm with new IPMX media workflow demonstrations that place emphasis on content and performance.

Macnica will for the first time show integration with real-time 3D creation tools and a broader array of network interface cards (NICs), with Macnica’s M2S media streaming SDK a common denominator across all related demos.

The M2S SDK is designed as a very simple and generic interface for real-time video streams. Ideal for developers of real-time AV over IP applications, the M2S SDK today enables the implementation of software-based ST 2110 systems on general-purpose servers, and visitors to Macnica's booth (2954) can preview support for the emerging IPMX suite of standards. This versatility makes the M2S ideal for users that operate "All-IP" workflows across many variations, further empowered by Macnica's "multi-gig" workflow capabilities across AV over IP networks ranging from 1Gb to 100Gb.

Macnica will demonstrate how the M2S can interface with Unity and Unreal Engine to support of AV over IP applications. Unity and Unreal Engine both offer high-performance engines widely used in the gaming industry for real-time creation of graphics and special effects. The media and entertainment industry has increasingly adopted these engines for live production and high-bandwidth video workflows.

"The developer has two choices when creating applications that process video, graphics and special effects for video and streaming workflows," said Andrew Starks, Director of Product Management, Macnica. "They can program everything from scratch or use a framework that provides the tools they need to build their very specific application. Unity and Unreal Engine are found in an increasing number of professional video applications because they include tremendously powerful visual effects and tools for creating immersive experiences and interactive applications. Our M2S can bring low-latency SMPTE ST 2110 and IPMX into these processing engines, letting the developer focus on the part of their application that gives value to their customers."

The M2S SDK also gives developers the flexibility to build products with optimal specifications thanks to its interoperability with many NICs. InfoComm marks the North American debut of a demo that shows the first-ever combination of an Intel N6000 100GbE SmartNIC with the M2S SDK, supporting Macnica's "multi-gig production workflow demo" introduced at ISE. The demo will show the full range of Macnica's SMPTE ST 2110 and IPMX technologies working seamlessly together. Macnica will also demonstrate interoperability with NVIDIA's ConnectX SmartNICs for this first time. ConnectX SmartNICs excel in high network performance for media workflows.

"SMPTE 2110 and IPMX flows are bandwidth-intensive with real-time constraints, which means they use a generous amount of a computer's resources," said Starks. "When either of these SmartNICs are added to the system, our M2S solution can decrease latency while reducing CPU load. This is because M2S utilizes the acceleration available on the NIC. This can be a dedicated on-board SoC that we have integrated or Macnica’s IP Core managing packets and converting them into video buffers for streams inside the FPGA, instead of the CPU. Whether it's a ConnectX, N6000 or a generic NIC, M2S will optimize performance."

Starks, who is actively involved in the IPMX standards development community as Marketing Work Group Chair for the AIMS Alliance, notes that IPMX’s evolution is reaching an important juncture as the industry heads to the InfoComm show. "We are now preparing to transition from IPMX-ready to IPMX-reality, as the standards have moved into draft mode and changes are becoming rare. In this new stage, Macnica's IPMX development kits are shifting from being used for testing experimentation to prototype and development. In fact, we will show our own reference design for a fully complete IPMX to HDMI gateway transceiver device."

Macnica's two demo stations will highlight how the company's broad array of hardware and software components meet any IPMX product development strategy. In addition to the combined SMPTE ST 2110 and IPMX demo covering signals flows from live production to presentation, Macnica’s 1Gb demo will feature Macnica's ME10 SoC, a 4K AV over 1Gb component that supports complete, interoperable solutions for high-volume product developers. This demo also includes a pure IPMX software implementation that uses M2S to multicast UHD 4K60 video from a laptop to two destinations using the JPEG-XS codec from intoPIX.
InfoComm takes place June 14-16 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.

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