Real time switching and streaming transmission of uncompressed 4K motion pictures

In this paper we describe the world’s first Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic real-time switching and streaming transmission of uncompressed 4K motion pictures. This demonstration, of an advanced networked media application, conveyed the 23rd Kyoto Prize events, held on Nov. 10 and 11, 2007, from Kyoto, Japan to Stockholm, Sweden in real-time with life-like image quality. Multiple live 4K streams from different cameras were switched over the network into a single uncompressed stream at the director’s request, and transmitted to Stockholm via 10 Gbit Ethernet connections over 21,000 km using the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF). We introduce several new technologies, including an uncompressed 4K video streaming system using Internet Protocol (IP) transmission and a shared line approach to gap-less video switching control. The Kyoto Prize 2007 demonstration proves the feasibility of using the IP infrastructure for next generation video switching and distribution networks, even at very high speeds across great distances.