We have all grown up with Blackburst reference in our facilities and the only change we might have had to manage is the introduction of tri-level sync when facilities started migrating to HD. 

The expansion of Blackburst tri-level sync reference systems was relatively simple. Either daisy chain the new device with the loop-through genlock output from an existing device or use a distribution amplifier to split the Blackburst /tri-level sync reference signal. What could be simpler? 

Broadcasters are now faced with a new reference: Precision Time Protocol or PTP as we call it. Fortunately, this reference is already being used in other industries like finance, power utilities, telecommunications, and has standards associated with it. 

Every industry sector claims to be unique, and the broadcast business is no exception. However, for PTP the broadcast industry is very much unique. The standards authorities have created a broadcast specific profile for PTP and understanding how that profile is applied to the broadcast industry will ensure that your existing SDI infrastructure can integrate with your new video over IP infrastructure without QoS issues being introduced.

In this paper you’lll get a look at the new challenges broadcasters are facing and find out about pitfalls that can easily be avoided.