Working with SMPTE 2110

Elemental Live supports both inputs and outputs that are compliant with the SMPTE 2110 suite of standards.

The Elemental Live implementation of SMPTE 2110 provides an effective way to handle uncompressed and lightly compressed video content. SMPTE 2110 uses standard IP networking to send and receive content, which means it uses a cheaper and more readily available network infrastructure than the traditional SDI protocol.

This section provides general information about the capabilities that SMPTE 2110 offers. For detailed information about setting up SMPTE 2110 inputs, see Ingesting SMPTE 2110 content. For detailed information about setting up SMPTE 2110 outputs, see Configuring SMPTE 2110 outputs.

Separate streams

SMPTE 2110 separates the key media—video, audio, and ancillary data—into separate streams, or essences. This architecture cuts down on the transmission costs compared to a transport stream, for example. This architecture also means that there is less wasted processing (unnecessary demuxing) when ingesting the content. Elemental Live only receives the specific video, audio, and ancillary data required for a specific event.

Uncompressed and lightly compressed content

Elemental Live supports both video that is uncompressed, and video that is lightly compressed using the JPEG XS codec. The JPEG XS codec reduces the bitrate of the video content, typically without visible loss of video quality after multiple transcodes.

SMPTE 2110 and SDP files

The SMPTE 2110 specification relies on SDP files to describe the contents of the SMPTE 2110 streams. There is one file for each individual SMPTE 2110 stream. For more information about SDP files, see About SDP files.

Support for NMOS

Elemental Live supports NMOS IS-04 and IS-05 with both SMPTE 2110 inputs and outputs.

You can use NMOS to manage SMPTE 2110 streams. You can't use NMOS to manage other types of streams. For more information about NMOS, see Support for NMOS IS-04 stream discovery.

Conductor Live and SMPTE 2110 inputs with NMOS

You can use Conductor Live to set up SMPTE 2110 inputs either with or without NMOS. If you're using NMOS, the recommended procedure is to create a profile that includes a parameter for a device input. Then when you create the channel, you set the parameter to either an SDI device (for an SDI input) or to a SMPTE 2110 Receiver Group.

Conductor Live and SMPTE 2110 outputs

You can't use Conductor Live to produce SMPTE 2110 outputs that use NMOS. You can use AWS Elemental Conductor Live if you're not including NMOS.

Support for SMPTE 2022-7 – seamless protection switching

Elemental Live supports seamless protection switching (conforming with SMPTE 2022-7) for both SMPTE 2110 inputs and SMPTE 2110 outputs. Elemental Live uses SMPTE 2022-7 to implement resiliency via redundant streams.

For more information about SMPTE 2022-7, see Support for SMPTE 2022-7 – seamless protection switching.