CBT - Certified Broadcast Technologist Broadcast Networking Basics Questions and Answers

Question 1

A broadcast facility is implementing a new IP-based video system to distribute a single live camera feed to 25 separate monitoring destinations within the plant.
Which IP transmission method is the MOST efficient for this purpose?

Accepted Answer

Multicast

Answer

Unicast

Answer

Broadcast

Answer

Anycast

Question 2

Which of the following statements best describes the fundamental principle of the SMPTE ST 2110 suite of standards for professional media over IP networks?

Accepted Answer

It separates video, audio, and ancillary data into individual, independently-timed essence streams over IP.

Answer

It encapsulates the entire SDI signal, including video, audio, and data, into a single IP stream for simplified transport.

Answer

It uses a proprietary compression algorithm to transmit 4K video over standard 1 Gigabit Ethernet networks.

Answer

It is primarily designed for transmitting compressed video over the public internet to consumers.

Question 3

In a broadcast IP network carrying real-time video and audio, what is the primary function of Quality of Service (QoS)?

Accepted Answer

To assign priority to critical media traffic, ensuring low latency and minimizing packet loss.

Answer

To scan all network traffic for viruses and malware.

Answer

To automatically assign IP addresses to new devices on the network.

Answer

To encrypt all data packets to prevent unauthorized viewing.

Question 4

A broadcast engineer is setting up a new SMPTE ST 2110 facility. What is the critical role of the Precision Time Protocol (PTP / IEEE 1588) in this environment?

Accepted Answer

To provide a high-accuracy, common time reference for synchronizing all separate media essence streams.

Answer

To manage user access and security credentials for network equipment.

Answer

To compress video and audio streams to conserve network bandwidth.

Answer

To monitor the network for hardware failures and send alerts.

Question 5

When streaming live, real-time video over a managed IP network, why is the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) typically preferred over the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) for transporting the media packets?

Accepted Answer

TCP's guaranteed delivery mechanism introduces latency that is unacceptable for live video.

Answer

TCP is an older protocol that is not compatible with modern video formats.

Answer

UDP includes native, high-level encryption which is required for broadcast content.

Answer

UDP has a much larger packet size, allowing for higher video quality.

Question 6

Which network switch feature is most critical for efficiently managing multicast traffic in a media-over-IP environment by preventing streams from being sent to all network ports unnecessarily?

Accepted Answer

IGMP Snooping

Answer

Power over Ethernet (PoE)

Answer

Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)

Answer

Link Aggregation (LACP)