…NAB NEWS…
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DELIVERY—Digital Rapids has just unveiled a new version 2.5 of their StreamPro and StreamEnterprise software. Version 2.5 offers expanded compression and file format support, enhanced video processing plug-ins, and extended DVD publishing features. A new option for version 2.5, powered by technology from OpenCube, adds the ability to output encoded media in an MXF (Material eXchange Format) container. A new 3GPP/Mobile option rounds out Digital Rapids’ existing mobile format support with live streaming and formats required by older phones. The 3GPP/Mobile option incorporates H.263, H.264, and MPEG-4 Part 2 video with AAC-LC and AMR (narrow band and wide band) audio. The new version bolsters the SMPTE VC-1 encoding capabilities of StreamPro and StreamEnterprise with the incorporation of the Microsoft VC-1 Encoder SDK. Other new abilities include multiplexing Closed Caption information into VC-1 based outputs and dynamic complexity balancing (dynamically optimizing encoding settings against CPU usage for maximum quality during live encoding). There’s also optional input support for GXF files from Grass Valley servers, input and output of QuickTime-based Omneon server media, and new multi-channel, surround sound MP3 technology from Thomson. Video processing plug-ins including de-interlacing and color space conversion enhancements, while integration with Rimage disc publishing systems extends the automated DVD output capabilities of StreamPro and StreamEnterprise into multi-copy DVD production. Encoded DVD output can be directed to a connected Rimage Producer or Professional server for the production of multiple copies complete with disc label artwork printing, creating a powerful automated workflow from ingest through encoding and disc publishing. Digital Rapids Stream software is available in three configurations — Stream LE, StreamPro (with expanded workflow automation capabilities), and StreamEnterprise (adding remote control and enterprise-oriented functionality). Stream LE is included with DRC-Stream ingest/encoding hardware bundles, with StreamPro and StreamEnterprise available as software options. StreamEnterprise is also included with StreamZ and StreamZHD encoding servers. The new MXF output, GXF input, and 3GPP/Mobile options are available for StreamPro and StreamEnterprise as separately priced options, with the latter two also available as options for Stream LE. Thomson MP3 support is included with purchases of StreamEnterprise and StreamPro 2.5 after April 14, 2008, and is optional for Stream LE and existing users. The version 2.5 update will be available as a free download for registered owners of StreamPro and StreamEnterprise version 2.0 or higher, and as chargeable upgrades for users of version 1.5 or earlier—Las Vegas, Nevada
- CONTENT—Microspace Communications Corporation, a subsidiary of Capitol Broadcasting company, offers satellite services for digital signage, business communications, and digital cinema. The company has announced its Expert Resource Network (ERN) has added hundreds of new subject matter experts from around the country, including Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Atlanta and Boston. ERN streamlines the liveshot production process for news producers in nationwide media markets. Since the 2005 launch, ERN has added thousands of experts on critical issues important to today’s consumers, from the housing market to banking to public health, to top leading media outlets including: Fox News, Bloomberg, CNN, ABC and MSNBC. To stay competitive in today’s market, broadcasters need to be able to provide their viewers with the latest breaking news and analysis immediately. As a result, broadcasters have increasingly turned to ERN to quickly book nationally recognized experts to discuss the economy, presidential race, healthcare and other timely topics. Learn more here…—Raleigh, North Carolina
- DELIVERY—Vision Quattro from Ross Video is debuting at NAB ’08. This is a family of production switchers and offers a choice of seven different control panels, two rackframe sizes, and three configurations. The control panel models include the Vision 1 1 MLE 16 crosspoint button panel, Vision 1M 1 MLE 24 crosspoint button panel, Vision 2 2 MLE 16 crosspoint button panel, Vision 2M 2 MLE 24 crosspoint button panel, Vision 2X 2 MLE 32 crosspoint button panel, Vision 3 3 MLE 32 crosspoint button panel and Vision 4 4 MLE 40 crosspoint button panel. The small chassis, Quattro MD, is a compact 3RU, offering four full 4-keyer MEs and 48 Multi-Definition inputs. The large chassis, Quattro MD-X, offers four full 4-keyer MLEs, 6 keys downstream, and 96 multi-definition inputs. The 3 configuration options are – full 4 keyer per MLE system, Vision Quattro Multi-Definition – 2 Keyer per MLE system, and Vision Quattro Standard-Definition – 4 keyer per MLE system. Ross video has also announced the MLE for Free promo on the Vision Quattro Series. Customers buying this new series switcher will have their rackframes upgraded with an additional MLE of processing electronics at no extra charge!—Las Vegas, Nevada
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DELIVERY—Strategy & Technology is showing at NAB its new system supporting ETC streaming and playout via the company’s TSBroadcaster 2 system. 1 is part of the interactive TV initiative in the U.S. cable industry designed to allow iTV apps to be run on millions of existing set-top boxes in US cable nets. One of its modes of operation is for broadcasters and cable channel providers to deliver apps alongside their existing digital content feeds. To enable this, S&T’s TSBroadcaster2 can now be used to inject the ETV apps and data into digital TV streams for distribution to cable ops. The company’s ETC support takes the app data and transmits it on a data carousel. The signaling necessary for ETV is also generated, along with ‘stream event’s used to trigger apps to operate at particular moments, for example, to prompt a user during an interactive ad—Las Vegas, NV
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DELIVERY—T-VIPS AS will demo at NAB ’08 their advanced transport solutions for the backhaul of broadcast quality video signals over fiber, local loop, and wireless networks. The T-VIPS booth (SU7730) will include the complete range of T-VIPS Video Gateways, ideal for sports and news backhaul over IP and 270 Mbps video circuits. The T-VIPS Video Gateways are advanced solutions for the backhaul of HD and SD video over IP and ASI networks and their range includes TVG410 – (backhaul of uncompressed SDI over IP networks), TVG415 (standard definition backhaul utilizing JPEG2000), TVG420 (MPEG-2 transport streams over Gigabit Ethernet links), and TVG430 (high definition backhaul utilizing JPEG2000). They will also be demo’ing T-VIPS Connect, their management solution for easy operation of complex backhaul systems for sports and news projects involving multiple venues and occasional traffic. As well as monitoring equipment status, T-VIPS Connect also checks the health of backhaul connectivity and service status—Oslo, Norway
- ANALYSIS—While a large number of phones today still use browsers with very limited web browsing capabilities, many smartphones are incorporating browsers that support the latest capabilities such as AJAX and RSS, as well as websites optimized for viewing on a mobile device. ABI Research sees this segment of the mobile browser market accounting for the vast majority of growth over the next five years, as the open-Internet browser (OIB) segment for mobile grows from 76 million in 2007 to nearly 700 million browsers delivered in 2013. It’s important to note that, despite the best efforts of browser vendors and handset manufacturers, web usage on mobile devices has a significant distance to go in closing the gap with PC-based browsers. The absence of important plug-ins such as Flash on many handsets and the constraints of many phones compared to the PC mean that even OIB browser vendors such as Skyfire continue to see a need for server-assisted architectures for transcoding and web acceleration. ABI Research’s new study, “The Mobile Browser Market” analyzes the market for mobile browsing, examining the primary commercial offerings from independent browser vendors as well as evaluating the growing important of open-source solutions such as Webkit. The report also looks at the push towards web applications and the use of widgets for mobile devices. More info here….—New York, New York
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digiBITZ—Expect a firmware upgrade for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) that will bring into the system DTS-HD Master Audio (24.5 Mbps) as well as DTS-HD High Resolution Audio (6.0 Mbps bit rate) features for Blu-ray flicks. Also en route via the firmware—the newly tossed and redesigned PlayStation Store where consumers may leave their money in exchange for Sony products. — The music-focused socnet, Last.fm, has claimed their partner sales of CD and downloaded tunes has climbed approximately 119 percent since the free music streaming addition to the site. Album and singles purchases have climbed 66 percent and usage has also increased 188 percent since January. The site also links songs for purchase from Amazon.com, iTunes, and 7 Digital. —
RTW is going to offer a comprehensive software update that will provide multiple new display options and functional enhancements for SurroundControl 31900/31960 and SurroundMonitor 11900. These are the company’s flagship products for visualizing, monitoring, and controlling audio signals. Key upgrades include an ITU-compliant loudness display with data logging and chart recording as well as an integrated signal generator with BLITS mode for easy identification of individual surround channels. — Snell & Wilcox have released QC Station. This is an automated quality assurance system that leverages the intuitive algorithms of the company’s Hyperion content monitoring technology to provide alarms and on-screen display of faults or anomalies in audio, video, and metadata. This is a stand alone system easily incorporated into any type of system infrastructure. As a result, operators can be confident that the correct content is airing properly on the right channel. More info here…— STMicroelectronics and NXP Semiconductors are entering into a joint venture that’ll combine their wireless units, with all major handset manufacturers in their product sites thanks to existing relationships. The resulting technology, which will include the integration of GloNav‘s GPS ops as well as Silicon Labs‘ wireless, will supply UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), 3G Chinese, and other cell, multimedia and connectivity standards. —
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CREATION, CONTENT + DELIVERY—Axia Audio, the IP-Audio networking division of Telos, has just sold its 1,000th radio console. Congrats! Axia Audio was launched in 2003, introducing radio broadcasters to the then-revolutionary concept of using standard switched Ethernet to transport real-time, linear, broadcast-quality audio. Since then, Axia’s product line has expanded to include Element, a highly-configurable modular broadcast console, a family of “audio nodes” that allow easy mixing and matching of digital, analog and microphone audio, a wide variety of studio control panels and selectors, and a comprehensive suite of network administration and routing control software. The Axia IP-Audio system allows broadcasters to build audio networks of any size using standard switched Ethernet to connect a few rooms, or an entire facility. Axia networks have a total system capacity of more than 10,000 audio streams, and can carry hundreds of digital stereo (or nearly a hundred surround) channels over a single CAT-6 cable, eliminating much of the cost normally associated with wiring labor and infrastructure—Cleveland, Ohio
- ANALYSIS—The IABM has published its latest Industry Index, just in time for NAB Convention in Las Vegas, and the patient is healthy with a strong pulse. The IABM is the international trade association that represents suppliers of products and services to the broadcasting and media technology industries. Statistics reveal global sales in the broadcast technology market have increased by 11.4 percent year on year, reflecting similar excellent growth figures previously reported. The studies were conducted from a total of 73 companies. In addition, aggregate profitability is still improving to the tune of 19 percent year on year, and at a faster rate than global sales. The final figures are the global index for profit to sales ratio stands at 12.7 percent making it the highest figure since the index began. Almost 80 percent of the companies in the index are profitable, with 15 percent moving into profit column compared to taking losses in the previous 12 months.
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CREATION—Nikon Corporation has intro’d their COOLPIX P80, a new high-performance camera model tooled to satisfy enthusiasts. Built on a custom application of Nikon’s innovative EXPEED digital image processing concept, and incorporating the precision optics of a NIKKOR lens, the COOLPIX P80 offers extended reach and advanced shooting functions for satisfying performance in a wide variety of shooting scenes. The camera offers 10.1 effective megapixels of sharp resolution and a new digital image processing engine that faithfully reproduces fine details and subtle tones, delivers quick response, and maintains image quality and clarity when taking advantage of extended light sensitivity settings as high as ISO 6400*2. To this is added the clarity, precision, and broad range of an 18x Zoom-NIKKOR lens covering focal lengths from 27-486mm (35mm format equivalent). Image sensor shift VR (Vibration Reduction) image stabilization rounds out the set by adding extra reassurance that the results will be sharper and clearer. A new electronic viewfinder enables accurate composition while providing important information under all lighting conditions—Tokyo, Japan
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DELIVERY—Omneon, Inc. has been selected to provide Omneon MediaDeck media servers, MediaGrid active storage systems, and ProCast CDN transport engines to NBC during the network’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics from Beijing, China, August 8th through 24th. The workflow begins with 20 MediaDeck servers located in China used to digitize and ingest SD and HD feeds. Each MediaDeck contains high-resolution and low-resolution codecs to simultaneously create full-resolution IMX or XDCAM HD files and low-resolution proxy files of all recordings. The resulting files are actively transferred, while still being recorded, to the MediaGrid. Then, using ProCast CDN, the proxies are transferred over 6,000 miles from the MediaGrid in Beijing to a second MediaGrid in the USA, where using BlueOrder‘s MediaArchive DAM solution, producers can search, browse, view, and edit the files. The EDLs created using the proxy files are then used to request only the desired SD and HD high-resolution footage over the network for final production editing. This intelligent use of proxy-based EDLs ensures that only the actual high-resolution footage needed for each new content package is transferred from Beijing to the USA, thereby saving network bandwidth and improving the efficiency of the workflow—Sunnyvale, California
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DELIVERY—Pinnacle Systems, Inc. has unveiled the nexgen of their Pinnacle PCTV HD Stick, and Pinnacle PCTV HD Pro Stick. In addition to delivering free digital HD and SD TV over-the-air (ATSC), these new Pinnacle PCTV HD and HD Pro Sticks now support unencrypted digital cable (ClearQAM) channels. They also include a nexgen tuner/demodulator with more sensitive reception of analog and digital TV signals and, in the case of the PCTV HD Pro Stick, FM radio. About the size of a flash drive, the new Pinnacle PCTV HD Sticks provide consumers with the brilliant sharpness of digital HDTV with resolutions up to 1080i. The device is simply plugged into a USB port on a PC. The Pinnacle PCTV HD and HD Pro Sticks are for laptop users, travelers, and students who wish HD-quality TV at home or on-the-go without having to pay expensive service fees. They are also compelling solutions for Windows Vista and XP MCE owners who did not purchase a PC TV tuner with their systems. The Pinnacle TVCenter Pro software bundled with the new tuners delivers fully functional PVR capabilities that make it easy to watch, TimeShift and record SD and HD TV. Plus, users can view programs in full-screen mode or in a scalable window while other applications are used. An integrated Electronic Programming Guide (EPG) is included to locate programs and schedule recordings. Shows can be recorded to the user’s hard drive or direct to DVD for playback on a DVD player. The device supports the DivX format and includes a trial version for MPEG-4 support which enables output to an iPod or PSP—Mountain View, California
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CONTENT—Revision3 has partnered with VideoClix to expand usability and interactivity for its viewers. The partnership will enable the Revision3 audience to click on different objects within a video, including show hosts and products, for more information and interesting facts. “Diggnation” was the first Revision3 show to debut interactive episodes with this technology on April 11th. at 18:00 hours. New clickable content will arrive each week from Revision3 including “Internet Superstar”, “Tekzilla” and “The Totally Rad Show.”
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