NAB Show

NAB Show

Session.

JPEG XS as the mezzanine format for mixed file- and IP-based production workflows

Tuesday, April 21 | 10:20 – 10:40 p.m.

Broadcast Engineering and IT Conference

In recent years, the boundaries between live- and post-production have blurred. Many shows combine live capture with pre-recorded cinematic segments (e.g., the Paris Olympics). Broadcasters now publish short clips online in real time during events catering to social media audiences. Many sporting events (e.g., F1) are not only aired live, but footage is later repurposed in scripted television documentaries. Modern media workflows therefore integrate file-based production at every stage—before, during, and after events.
Maintaining visual consistency between live and pre-recorded content is challenging. Cinema camera-based content offers shallow depth of field (for a more filmic aesthetic), high dynamic range (for richer images), and RAW recording (for flexible & consistent editing). These features are typically absent from broadcast cameras. 
This explains the growing interest in cinema cameras for live production workflows. To enable these hybrid file- and IP-based workflows, cinema camera manufacturers are now offering native streaming capabilities. Yet, each workflow remains distinct from its application. Mezzanine files transmitted over IP (for remote storage) use proprietary protocols distinct from the ST 2110 / ST 2022 protocols used for live production. Multiple transmission paths (file & live) thus coexist. 
JPEG XS is uniquely positioned to take this workflow integration further. It already has a proven track-record in broadcast cameras, being supported and widely adopted in ST 2110 (TR-08) and ST 2022 (TR-07). Furthermore, JPEG XS is highly suited for storage as a mezzanine format (high image fidelity, proxy decoding, multi-encoding robustness, software efficiency), particularly compared to existing CODECs.
As a result, several cinema camera manufacturers have been supporting or have announced upcoming support for JPEG XS, both as a streaming transport and storage medium. JPEG XS feeds can easily be stored as MXF & IMF by directly extracting JPEG XS payloads from live feeds (TR-07/TR-08), without needing any decompression.
This paper and presentation provide an overview of how JPEG XS takes this integration of file- and IP-based workflows further. It also offers a status update of all the supporting specifications and standards that use JPEG XS. Finally, it provides insight into the plans to further improve and leverage JPEG XS in various file repository platforms based on specifications like MXF and IMF.