Video Disk Control Protocol (VDCP) is a proprietary communications protocol primarily used in broadcast automation to control hard disk

video server {{refimprove, date=September 2014 A video server is a computer-based device that is dedicated to delivering video. Video servers are used in a number of applications, and often have additional functions and capabilities that address the needs of p ...

s for broadcast television.

VDCP Video Disk Control Protocol (VDCP) is a proprietary communications protocol primarily used in broadcast automation to control hard disk video servers for broadcast television. VDCP was originally developed by Louth Automation and is commonly called ...

was originally developed by Louth Automation and is commonly called the Louth Protocol. At the time it was developed when Hewlett Packard (eventually sold to

Pinnacle Systems Pinnacle Systems, Inc. is a California-based American manufacturer of digital video hardware and software for the mainstream and broadcast markets. The company was founded in 1986 by Ajay Chopra (CEO), Mirek Jiricka and Randall Moore. The compa ...

) and

Tektronix Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent ...

were both bringing to market the first of the VideoFile Servers to be used in the broadcast industry. They contacted Louth Automation who then designed the

communications protocol A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any kind of variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics and synchr ...

basing it on Sony protocols of both the Sony LMS Storage Device and the Sony VTR. The principal work was carried out by Ken Louth at Louth Automation. VDCP uses a tightly coupled master-slave methodology. The controlling device takes the initiative in communications between the controlling broadcast

automation Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...

device and the controlled device (video disk). VDCP conforms to the

Open Systems Interconnection The Open Systems Interconnection model (OSI model) is a conceptual model that 'provides a common basis for the coordination of SOstandards development for the purpose of systems interconnection'. In the OSI reference model, the communications ...

(OSI) reference model. VDCP is a

serial communications In telecommunication and data transmission, serial communication is the process of sending data one bit at a time, sequentially, over a communication channel or computer bus. This is in contrast to parallel communication, where several bits are ...

protocol based on

RS-422 RS-422, also known as TIA/EIA-422, is a technical standard originated by the Electronic Industries Alliance that specifies electrical characteristics of a digital signaling circuit. It was meant to be the foundation of a suite of standards that ...

. It is derived from the

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

9-Pin Protocol The Sony 9-Pin Protocol or P1 protocol is a two-way communications protocol to control advanced video recorders. Sony introduced this protocol to control reel-to-reel type C video tape recorders (VTR) as well as videocassette recorders (VCR). It ...

, an industry-standard protocol for control of professional broadcast VTRs that is used in online editing. Full details of the protocol are available from Harris Broadcast, who acquired Louth in 2000.

External links

Harris Broadcast

NDCP Launch press release
Broadcast engineering Television technology Digital television Film and video technology Television terminology {{tv-tech-stub