Bridge Technologies VB440 production probe enables frame-accurate sync assessment across multiple delivery paths of the same service, supporting redundancy in live IP productions.
Bridge Technologies VB440 production probe has a new multi-service comparison feature as part of its AV sync functionality. It enables frame-accurate synchronisation assessment across multiple delivery paths of the same service.
Designed for live IP production environments where redundancy is critical, the new capability can be applied in a range of contexts. Engineers can assess and compare multiple flows carrying the same service – for instance, across satellite, SRT or other IP routes – and be assured of smooth, undetectable switching at all times.
First Line of Defence
The new functionality builds on the core of the VB440’s AV Sync Generator feature, which was introduced at the beginning of 2025 and took a ‘first line of defence’ approach to synchronisation between audio and visual components within a single service. Rather than relying solely on packet timestamps, the system embeds machine-readable electronic markers directly into the audio and video signals themselves.
When the complete service is reconstructed at the client end, these physical markers are analysed to assess alignment between audio and video in real time. Through this method, synchronisation is measured on the content itself, not just the transport layer.
More recently, this capability was expanded to include ancillary data synchronisation, allowing the client to precisely visualise the delta (difference) between video and audio and the metadata, including immersive audio. Further visualisation tools – such as rolling shutter simulation, blink-and-beep reference cues – increase ease-of-use and confidence in synchronisation for operators.
Visualising Compliance and Consistency
All of these tools are critical for accessibility, compliance and consistent start and end points across complex workflows. The new multi-service comparison capability builds on this foundation. In typical sport and premium broadcast scenarios where the same service may be delivered via multiple, genuinely independent paths for resilience, those paths inevitably arrive with different timing characteristics.
Using the VB440, users can now place multiple incoming services onto a shared timeline within the sync client, visually stacking and comparing them against a chosen reference. Engineers can instantly see frame-accurate offsets between flows, and use this information to adjust delays accordingly, while switching between sources without interruption.
The UI is designed to facilitate in-the-moment decision making with a straightforward workflow – new services are added to the timeline and stacked into the workspace so that engineers can undertake complex multi-path alignment very quickly. The inclusion of APIs means that users can develop further tools to automate alignment, drawing frame-accurate data from the probe to facilitate other sync-related processes.
Multiple Transport Methods
Commenting on the development, Bridge Technologies Chairman Simen K Frostad said, “The use of multiple transport methods to carry the same service is a practical reality in modern IP production, particularly when expenditure and resilience are both priorities. What matters is not eliminating that reality, but giving engineers the tools to manage it precisely and predictably, without compromising the end delivery.
“By consolidating what were once multiple standalone tools for audio, video and engineering into one browser-accessible system, the VB440 reduces the cost, space, energy use and operational complexity associated with maintaining disparate single-function appliances, along with their screens and cabling.” www.bridgetech.tv
