Tying it all Together—A Watershed Moment in the Media Industry

Abstract

In July of 1998, the joint SMPTE/European Broadcasting Union (EBU) Task Force for Harmonized Standards for the Exchange of Program Material as Bitstreams published its Final Report: Analyses and Results. Now some 13 years later, the basic framework outlined in this report is becoming a reality. However, more than this, the framework allows innovative media companies and manufacturers to expand the power and possibilities of the framework well beyond what was envisioned when the report was published. This paper connects the dots among serial digital interface (SDI), image compression, the invention of the Advanced Authoring Format/Material eXchange Format (AAF/MXF) data model, the MXF wrapper format, the subsequent development of AS-02, AS-03, and other MXF application specifications, developments in high-speed networking technology and network security, the SMPTE 2022 Standard for Professional Video over IP transmission, the recent activities of the Hollywood-based ETC's Interoperable Mastering Format (IMF), which has recently moved into SMPTE, and the Advanced Media Workflow Association/European Broadcasting Union (AMWA/EBU) Task Force on the Framework for Interoperable Media Services (FIMS), concentrating on service-oriented media workflows. I posit that we are at a watershed moment in the industry, which will create new opportunities, and even perhaps new media businesses that do not exist today.