[HN Gopher] Sofie: open-source web based system for automating l...
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Sofie: open-source web based system for automating live TV news
production
Author : rjmunro
Score : 248 points
Date : 2025-05-09 13:18 UTC (9 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (nrkno.github.io)
(TXT) w3m dump (nrkno.github.io)
| eddyg wrote:
| _Very_ cool. You can even control the prompter using a Joycon!
|
| https://nrkno.github.io/sofie-core/docs/user-guide/features/...
| tdhz77 wrote:
| Cool, going to create my ai tv station.
| stephen_g wrote:
| Very cool they decided to build this and release it to the world
| instead of just buying an extremely expensive commercial system.
| The backend play out server is CasparCG which is also open-source
| [1] (they run their own fork, for stability reasons I expect).
|
| Another similar related automation system (shares some parts and
| libraries) is SuperConductor [2].
|
| 1. https://github.com/CasparCG/server
|
| 2. https://github.com/SuperFlyTV/SuperConductor
| Joel_Mckay wrote:
| Looks more practical, as when dealing with hardware access
| C/C++ is the only way to get the latency issues into tolerable
| playback stream formats.
|
| Cool that it also supports OBS Studio by the way =3
| chriscjcj wrote:
| As a live television newscast director in a major market, I would
| be very interested to see a feature comparison between this
| product and its main competitors: Ross OverDrive, Sony ELC, and
| Grass Valley Ignite.
|
| Due to the substantial complexity of these automation systems,
| they tend to have a lot of inertia. But if anything could drive a
| station group to make a change, the "free" part can be effective.
|
| I did take a look at the supported hardware (1). I think that's
| the pain point for many shops. Free open source production
| software is great, but being forced to choose form hardware
| products you don't prefer is a pretty tough tradeoff.
|
| Historically, I suppose that's been one of FOSS' big challenges.
|
| (1) https://nrkno.github.io/sofie-core/docs/user-
| guide/supported...
| delfinom wrote:
| That's the thing though, this isn't really "free" software as
| much as open. NRK is funding it and created it for their use,
| that's cost money. They spent money on supporting the hardware
| they clearly had and wanted to for their production. Any other
| user with their own setups they want supported will have to
| spend money on developer time as well.
| simonw wrote:
| Free software has a well established meaning at this point,
| and it's not "didn't cost any money to produce".
|
| Looks like this is MIT licensed
| https://github.com/nrkno/Sofie-TV-automation
| Joel_Mckay wrote:
| Indeed, people usually contribute to FOSS by supporting the
| authors group or nonprofit directly, and contributing
| features and bug reports/fixes.
|
| However, from a maintainability standpoint it is important
| that a project solves their own needs first. The "eat your
| own dog food" advice is important, or groups end up
| fragmenting a project into every pet use-case.
|
| Best regards =3
| rjmunro wrote:
| It was mostly developed for NRK by Superfly.tv. They are
| available to extend the system to other hardware or customise
| it in other ways if the broadcaster doesn't have the
| expertise to do it themselves. It's already used by several
| other broadcasters, for example, the BBC use it for their
| Newsround program:
| https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ryanwmckenna_great-to-see-
| new...
| sitkack wrote:
| It looks like great support (Blackmagicdesign) for building a
| small broadcast studio from scratch tho.
|
| I could see BMD embracing this. There are lots of studios that
| are not commercial broadcast that could really use a system
| like this.
|
| Isn't one of the problems with hardware support is that
| hardware vendors have agreements with the competitors you
| listed?
|
| Computers are fast enough now that once you can get the signals
| into a machine, many of the special functions that previously
| required dedicated hardware can now be run in software? With
| proper timing signal distribution of course.
|
| Seems like 12G SDI to SFP+ would enable server class machines
| to subsume most of the special function hardware.
| randall wrote:
| bmd is in a decent position to help with this. making davinci
| be the nle that ties into this like avid / airspeed or
| whatever ppl use now, seems pretty cool.
| chriscjcj wrote:
| Disclaimer... I am a director and not an engineer. I can only
| give you my relatively limited understanding....
|
| > It looks like great support (Blackmagicdesign) for building
| a small broadcast studio from scratch tho.
|
| Agreed!
|
| > I could see BMD embracing this. There are lots of studios
| that are not commercial broadcast that could really use a
| system like this.
|
| Also agreed. Black Magic definitely makes a lot of
| reasonably-priced and very capable gear. They're not a major
| player in the TV automation space, but perhaps with the help
| of Sofie, they could make inroads.
|
| > Isn't one of the problems with hardware support is that
| hardware vendors have agreements with the competitors you
| listed?
|
| That's not a topic I'm knowledgeable about. It is my
| understanding that most shops who have a particular vendor's
| automation platform will also have that vendor's hardware
| running at its core. In all the shops I've seen, the switcher
| that's controlled by the automation system is made by the
| same company. Or if its another vendor's product, it's sold
| and provisioned along with the automation system when its
| purchased. Other stuff like audio mixers, robo-cam products,
| clip players, and CG/graphics platforms can be from other
| vendors.
|
| > Computers are fast enough now that once you can get the
| signals into a machine, many of the special functions that
| previously required dedicated hardware can now be run in
| software? With proper timing signal distribution of course.
|
| > Seems like 12G SDI to SFP+ would enable server class
| machines to subsume most of the special function hardware.
|
| For audio, I think that would be a relatively easy lift with
| technologies like Dante. However, in most TV stations, you're
| going to need to literally plug upwards of 100 HDSDI video
| cables into a piece of hardware so that those sources can be
| switched to on TV, mixed and keyed on multiple mixed-effects
| banks, and viewed on multiviewer screens in the control room.
| I don't know that a regular-ol' PC has what it takes to take
| in and simultaneously process that amount of video. But just
| because don't know about it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
| ;-) Just haven't seen it yet.
| claudex wrote:
| >For audio, I think that would be a relatively easy lift
| with technologies like Dante. However, in most TV stations,
| you're going to need to literally plug upwards of 100 HDSDI
| video cables into a piece of hardware
|
| I don't know the TV stations requirements, but you can
| maybe have 10 interconnected servers that manage 10 HDSDI
| flux each (and can send them on another if required for
| processing) ?
| chgs wrote:
| Sofie drives the matrix (black magic videohub for small
| ones like the 120 squared, but ours are 1000+ which black
| magic won't do), the audio mixers, the video mixers, the
| graphics and by machines (Caspar), etc. your mixers don't
| need that many inputs - a typical one might be 24 or 32
| inputs with a few ME banks.
|
| All these devices use standard protocols, or it's just a
| new plugin for sofie ti drive it.
|
| Of course increasingly the industry is using 2110 on spine
| and leaf networks rather than SDI. I don't know if there
| any COTS mixers aside from the vmix/obs level, I believe
| some 2110 controllers will provide video matrix style
| interfaces. Nmos seems challenged in this area from what I
| hear.
| chgs wrote:
| > Computers are fast enough now that once you can get the
| signals into a machine, many of the special functions that
| previously required dedicated hardware can now be run in
| software?
|
| I'm a big fan of the Richard Cartwright view of asynchronous
| signal processing
|
| https://creativecow.net/matrox-video-announces-
| nab-2023-line...
|
| But I don't think it has the traction isn't deserves. Too
| many people in the industry are still wedded to ptp timing
| their packets to arrive in the same 30us windows.
| basch wrote:
| I fall pray to this often. Internal complexity and growth over
| time lead to great giant feature charts and comparison
| matrixes. But sometimes you just need a tool that gets a job
| done.
|
| It's one thing for something simple to not be a drop in
| replacement. But simplicity and minimalism can also be a
| virtue. Can this complete the task in an environment designed
| around using it?
| randall wrote:
| how are you still a director??? i miss tv fondly but the pain
| they inflict on everyone and the hours / pay / etc make the
| best people bounce.
|
| someone on hn surely could use their talents for good elsewhere
| haha
| chriscjcj wrote:
| Thank you for the vote of confidence. :-)
|
| I do ask myself that sometimes. It sounds weird, but I think
| it's what I was put on this earth to do. Yes, it is a cruel
| industry at times and pain is indeed inflicted just as you
| assert. I guess I'm just built for it. And I've been doing it
| for so long that I've built up a really thick skin and I'm
| just not that fazed by its unpleasant aspects. I can honestly
| say that it's a fun job. It's the job I always wanted when I
| was a kid and I still absolutely love it. (I'm fortunate
| enough to be compensated at a reasonable level, so that
| helps.)
|
| People think it's stressful and I suppose it is. But the nice
| thing about it is that when the newscast is over, I'm
| completely done. And I have the luxury of knowing, down to
| the exact second, when that moment will be. I don't take my
| work home with me. There's nothing to stress out about (until
| the next day.)
|
| Another thing... unlike an airline pilot or a surgeon, no
| matter how poor a job I might do, no one dies. That's kind
| nice too. :-)
| fitsumbelay wrote:
| meteorjs' an interesting choice ...
| codetrotter wrote:
| Meteor got a lot of attention and hype on HN a few years ago.
|
| _Looks at Wikipedia article_
|
| Well, 12 or 13 years ago probably actually.
| rjmunro wrote:
| According to Google Trends meteor js was popular from about
| 2012 to 2018. Sofie was started in about 2018, so when Meteor
| was established enough to have all the kinks worked out, but
| still popular.
| arboles wrote:
| Can you write real-time shaders in it?
| rjmunro wrote:
| That's not what it does. You would have your real time shaders
| running on a server somewhere, and Sofie would activate them at
| the right moment in the show.
|
| It's a tool that lets you drag and drop news stories in to a
| rundown and it will automatically play them. The news stories
| may have parts that are read from a teleprompter, parts that
| are pre-recorded video, live parts from outside broadcasts,
| interviews, graphics that need to be shown etc. Those are
| mostly provided by services or hardware that Sofie controls,
| not that are part of the show. Sofie is an automation tool.
| revskill wrote:
| Ruby code is always a joi to read.
| bee_rider wrote:
| Is joy vs joi a Ruby pun of some sort?
| hiatus wrote:
| How does this handle things like replays that are queued
| dynamically during airing? For instance on a talk show there may
| be occasions where the host wishes to replay a section of a guest
| interview or to pull up a clip to play while talking over it.
| Would the operator override an existing Part or updating a piece
| in a part? Typically this is handled live with EVS.
| myself248 wrote:
| From a skim of the docs, it looks like those are handled as
| "adlib pieces", and can be pulled from what's currently playing
| or from other buckets.
| kfarr wrote:
| May seem a bit niche but man I wished we had this 20 years ago
| when trying to start a student TV station on a budget. The pro
| tools at the time were ridiculously expensive.
| k1rcher wrote:
| How does one break into this industry? I recently started playing
| the video game Not For Broadcast and have fallen in love. I'm
| sure it's a very romanticized and simplified experience but I've
| been having a blast at perfecting the "art."
|
| Very cool coincidence to see this on the front page right after a
| sesh with the game.
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(page generated 2025-05-09 23:00 UTC)