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digiGO! — The Digital (R)Evolution™

  • BeeSmart Solutions logo Smart Com, an interactive TV solution provider, has released and made immediately available their session resource manager, BeeSRM. The solution delivers interactive video services with high bandwidth demands over the HFC infrastructure and is a fit for cable operators looking for an interactive TV solution for cable environments. BeeSRM is part of BeeSmart Solutions product portfolio and is designed specifically for cable TV service operators to enable them to deliver interactive video services over the HFC (Hybrid Fiber/Coax) infrastructure. It provides Edge QAM and VOD session resource management by using standard protocols and open interfaces. As the requirements for interactive TV services are increasing, an efficient bandwidth sharing and resource management in cable network becomes very important. The solution, which follows the CableLabs Modular Architecture (MHA), is compatible with a broad range of Edge QAMs as well as with BeeSmart TV application platform.


  • Softel logo The Softel Group announced ahead of the official launch of the vFlex HD single unit, multipurpose ancillary data inserter at IBC2009 that the Company has collaborated with Harmonic to verify OP47 and SMPTE2031 insertion with Harmonic Inc.’s (NASDAQ: HLIT) DiviCom Electra® 7000 MPEG-4 AVC HD encoder. This integration provides a turnkey solution to system integrators and broadcasters and allows for the insertion of Teletext subtitles or even full Teletext services into any HD service with complete compatibility with other elements of the transmission chain and receivers. Users benefit from the high quality that HD or other premium services provide. The Softel vFlex provides a complete solution for ancillary VBI and VANC data insertion, including VPS and WSS, opt cue encoding and decoding, and uniquely animated or static graphics such as clock and tickers.


  • TruePosition logo TruePosition, Inc. (Berwyn, PA), a provider of wireless location technologies and solutions and a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, has been awarded a multimillion dollar contract for its TruePosition Location Platform to be used for national security purposes. The TruePosition Location Platform is a wireless location determination system, which can be tailored to meet the performance needs of the customer or application. For this national security solution, the location technology being deployed is Uplink Time Difference of Arrival (U-TDOA). With its ability to accurately and reliably locate any mobile phone in any environment, including indoors, U-TDOA is currently used across the United States to locate emergency 9-1-1 phone calls dialled by mobile subscribers. Today, U-TDOA protects more than 100 million citizens and locates more than five million wireless 9-1-1 phone calls each month.


  • Telestream Pipeline Quad ingest Telestream announced Studio Hamburg Media Consult International (MCI) selected its Pipeline and Episode products for a major tapeless IT workflow project that was recently completed for Studio Berlin Adlershof (SBA), the new technical operator of TV.Berlin and Hamburg 1 in Germany. Telestream‘s Pipeline Quad network video capture system and Episode Engine Pro transcoding server software provide the speed, quality and automation needed for time-critical news workflows at these facilities. Installation was completed at new premises for TV.Berlin which began operation in May 2009. Hamburg 1 underwent a complete facility redesign which went live in July. The tapeless IT workflows at both facilities are virtually identical, incorporating an Apple XSAN production environment and a high degree of automation. The central component for ingest is Telestream’s Pipeline Quad four-channel network video capture system, which is automatically controlled by various ingest workstations via standard LAN technology. Pipeline control software provides scheduled recording or crash recording of live sources as well as log and capture from tape sources. A key Pipeline advantage is that all four channels can be accessed from any computer on the network. The ability to record open QuickTime files is an important feature, allowing edit while ingest for time-critical workflows. Episode Engine transcoding also plays an important role in these tapeless workflows for editing in different formats and providing the required DV format for the playout servers. Raw material and reports are transcoded on a largely automated basis with the help of Episode presets and watch folders. A low resolution browse copy is created in parallel for the editorial system. Episode provides a variety of input interfaces such as file monitors, FTP monitors and watch folders which allow easy integration in mixed Windows and Apple network environments.