вЂњClassical music is generally the most demanding вЂ“ it needs the lowest delay. So, thereвЂ™s a difference in requirements for different kinds of music вЂ“ is classical music less demanding than say jazz? Generally, with classical music, you need a latency of no more than 20 milliseconds.вЂќ вЂњWith distances so large only some kinds of music can be played together. вЂњAnd some concerts over large distances, like between some place in Czech Republic and the New World Symphony in Miami. вЂњFor instance, in 2018 вЂ“ because it was 100 years since the founding of Czechoslovakia, we organised a concert between Prague and Bratislava. There were other interesting concerts after that. Sven Ubik | Photo: Brian Kenety, Radio Prague International Jaroslav TЕЇma was playing in Brno together with another organist in Trondheim, in Norway, some 2,000 kilometres away.вЂќ вЂњIn the end, it happened, so we organised several concerts in different countries connecting two organists вЂ“ Prof. вЂњWe were curious if we could make it fast enough that musicians could comfortably play together in different cities. вЂњSo, using my mobile phone, I recorded the broadcast and the actual sound, and there was almost a minute.

вЂњOnce I was at a concert that was broadcast on television, and I was curious about the delay between the live concert and the broadcast. You recorded it with a phone and saw that the delay was quite extreme вЂ“ is that right? I understand that you were actually at a concert when the idea came to you. вЂњIt started about eight years ago вЂ“ obviously, there were some previous versions in the development stages, so this particular device was developed over about two years, but the work started much earlier.вЂќ How long was this in development and how did the idea begin? I know that in 2020 you won the Europa Nostra award, and it was very timely because of the Covid pandemicвЂ¦ Video of Low-latency transmissions with MVTP devices вЂњIt allows special applications like connecting musicians together in different cities so that they can play together вЂ“ they can see and hear each other with very low latency.вЂќ

So, even when network propagation delay is added, the end-to-end latency is still very low.

вЂњThe added latency of the transmitter and receiver together is about 1 millisecond. вЂњThe official name is MVTP вЂ“ thatвЂ™s an acronym for Modular Video Transmission Platform, and itвЂ™s a device for low latency video and audio transmissions over a computer network. I visited Dr Ubik in his laboratory, packed with humming PCs alongside the whisper silent device, and began by asking him its official name. The ground-breaking technology allows musicians to play together, via an audio-visual hook-up, over vast distances with minimal latency вЂ“ just a few milliseconds delay. Dr Sven Ubik and fellow researchers within the Czech Education and Scientific NETwork (CESNET) developed the device over a number of years, in cooperation with the Music and Dance Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU).

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