As the media industry increasingly leverages the benefits of IP-based remote and distributed production workflows, the challenge it faces is pushing a relentlessly growing amount of data through a fiber-optic pipe with a fixed bandwidth while preserving broadcast-grade quality.

Support for the lossless JPEG XS compression technology in HD, 3G and UHD video-format resolutions will allow users of Lawo’s new HOME-managed Apps, which run on standard servers, to encode, process and decode compressed IP streams.

Lawo’s aim is to provide broadcasters with the ability to encode and decode compressed streams as and when required in order to accelerate high-quality distributed content creation. JPEG XS support is built into the HOME Apps – Multiviewer, UDX conversion with HDR processing, and Stream Transcoder – which will be officially introduced at NAB 2023.

JPEG XS delivers broadcast-grade compression ratios of up to 12:1. This makes it ideal for WAN-based IP networks where bandwidth is typically limited, while the number of camera feeds and video streams keeps rising. JPEG XS (ISO/IEC 21122) provides visually lossless quality with sub-millisecond (<1 video frame) delay and is designed for latency-critical applications, such as live remote event productions over wide-area networks.

“intoPIX’s JPEG XS content production codec is a lightweight image coding system that processes video at the microsecond level,” explains Katty Van Mele, Director Business Development at intoPIX. “Real-world testing confirms that compression ratios in the range of 4:1 to 12:1 can deliver lossless video quality while considerably reducing bandwidth consumption. Higher compression ratios up to 36:1 for less critical applications are also possible.”

“For Lawo, support of JPEG XS has become essential to give operators the flexibility to maximize their bandwidth usage,” states Phil Myers, Chief Technology Officer at Lawo. “Increasingly, IP signals travel from one remote location to two or more destinations—and sometimes even back. This would require 100GbE or higher fiber-optic bandwidths for uncompressed signals, which come at an increased cost. Our HOME Multiviewer, UDX conversion with HDR processing and Stream Transcoder apps natively support JPEG XS input and output. We obviously intend to provide the same convenience at the edge for maximum agility and flexibility in the future.”

About intoPIX

intoPIX creates and licenses innovative image processing and compression solutions. We deliver unique IP-cores and efficient software solutions to manage more pixels, preserve quality with no latency, save cost & power and simplify storage and connectivity. We are passionate about offering people a higher-quality image experience. Our solutions open the way to new imaging workflows and new devices, reducing costs in HD, 4K or even 8K, replacing uncompressed video, and always preserving the lowest latency with the highest quality. See also www.intopix.com.