In anticipation of their presence at NAB2025 (Booth N315) Bridge Technologies today announces its transformative AV synchronisation solution with the VB440, addressing one of the industry’s most persistent challenges at the point of production. This innovation ensures that live broadcasts, especially those distributed across multiple networks from a centralised OB production point, maintain seamless, frame-perfect alignment of audio and video.
The issue of AV synchronisation has long plagued digital broadcasting – both through the process of de-embedding and re-embedding when using SDI, and through the separation of audio and video essences inherent in ST 2110 transport. Traditional approaches rely on manual cues or packet transport timestamps, both of which lack a content-driven methodology. Whilst the VB440 has for many years closely monitored and regulated packet-related sync issues, it now introduces a ‘first-line’ defence by embedding synchronisation data within the physical content itself, allowing for both intuitive manual alignment and UI client-driven correction. With the addition of Bridge’s APIs to allow third-party access to the technology, Bridge’s AV Sync Generator represents an advancement which introduces the potential for automated correction in the future, allowing other platforms to leverage this embedded sync data to power their own sync-capable tools.
The VB440’s AV Sync Generator features an on-screen rolling shutter with early and late zones, accompanied by a visual and auditory signal (‘blink and beep’) to facilitate manual synchronisation. It also displays a range of different colour bar types and allows for the insertion of broadcaster logos on the sync screen. However, its most significant advancement is in its visualisation of synchronisation. A built-in sync client in the VB440 displays, in real-time, the all-time deltas between video and individual audio channels or groups with high precision, enabling speedy correction of sync issues. With the ability to see up to 64 individual channels in a stream, and with stream groups which include immersive audio and even multiple streams, this means that there is no practical channel limit to resyncronisation of audio. In this way, rather than relying on packet-based timestamps, the VB440 embeds machine-readable electronic markers directly into the audio signals and uses a client to read the synchronisation points of the video, thus enabling real-time detection and correction, and ensuring frame-accurate synchronisation with minimal intervention.
Where content-sync correction in the industry has previously struggled with issues of update frequency (with frames being updated sporadically) and clarity (with sync errors presented as numerical values), the VB440 works to refine and improve this, delivering the information needed for seamless synchronisation on a constant basis. It continuously updates and presents the timeline coordinates and sync metrics visually. This real-time functionality brings perfect synchronisation within reach for day-to-day productions – eliminating the historical disparity where only the most high-profile productions could afford precise AV alignment. With support for more than 40 resolutions and frame rates, including PSF, the VB440 offers an adaptable and future-proof solution for broadcasters worldwide.
Crucially, as part of the VB440, this AV sync functionality – just one tool of a multitude designed to improve the performance of creatives and engineers alike – is entirely browser-based, and can be accessed by eight simultaneous users from anywhere in the world.
Speaking of the new development, Chairman of Bridge Technologies Simen Frostad said: “This content-based approach to AV sync is a true innovation, particularly in light of its precision and usability. The VB440 comes with an exhaustive list of tools and functionalities, all of which allow production professionals from a wide range backgrounds and job roles to work collaboratively on remote and distributed production tasks – from camera shading to audio mixing. whilst almost completely eliminating the need for additional hardware, complex cabling, and excessive power consumption. It allows production teams to do more with less – with higher precision, quality and creativity, in a shorter time frame, and with significantly reduced complexity and environmental impact”.
He continued: “By embedding synchronisation directly into the content, Bridge Technologies is setting a new standard in live production workflows, ensuring that broadcasters can deliver perfectly synchronised audio and video without guesswork or compromise”.