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Satellite Industry Intelligence Since 1983

digiGO! — The Digital (R)Evolution™

  • Blackmagic Design DaVinci homepage Blackmagic Design has purchased all of the assets of DaVinci Systems LLC. This purchase means Blackmagic Design will now offer DaVinci Resolve DI colour correction systems and DaVinci Revival film restoration products for sale worldwide. Since 1984, DaVinci has been a key supplier to the post production market. There are thousands of colorists worldwide who understand the performance, quality, and workflow of DaVinci colour correction systems. DaVinci is the name behind more feature films, television commercials, documentaries, episodic television production and music videos than any other grading system. Blackmagic Design has initiated a wide ranging restructure of the DaVinci business. The new focus will now be on the DaVinci Resolve colour correction and DaVinci Revival film restoration products. The company believes these products represent the future of colour correction and film restoration and the company has many exciting ideas for future developments. DaVinci Resolve already has the power to handle complex colour grades in real time even at native 4K resolutions and in stereoscopic 3D. These are the features that are vital on modern post production workflows. To accelerate development, DaVinci Resolve and DaVinci Revival engineering teams have already been expanded and further expansion is currently underway. Due to the age of the DaVinci 2K systems which were originally launched in 1999, Blackmagic Design will cease marketing 2K systems immediately. Support for 2K systems will continue and plenty of spare parts are available for customer repairs. Engineering will be dedicated to bug fix updates and small feature releases. Annual support contracts will also immediately cease, and a new ‘pay as you go’ system will be initiated so customers only need to pay if a fault occurs. Blackmagic Design believes this will save customers thousands of dollars of unused support payments.


  • Edgeware WTV server page STREAMING VIDEO: Edgeware AB and Inlet Technologies have announced interoperability between Edgeware’s Web TV servers and Inlet’s Spinnaker™ live streaming appliance for the delivery of Microsoft® Smooth Streaming and Apple Live HTTP Streaming video over the Internet. Adaptive streaming dynamically adjusts the bit rate based on various display parameters. Microsoft® Smooth Streaming and Apple Live HTTP Streaming are two variants that use standard Internet protocols for delivery, providing a wealth of scalability, cost, and management benefits for network operators. Inlet’s Spinnaker encoders can provide as many as four simultaneous streams per encoder from the same input channel, each with different bit rates. Spinnaker can also segment these encodes and provide the required Microsoft®  and Apple indexing needed for selection of the appropriate bit rate. Inlet’s patent pending technology allows the encoders to be in sync down to the frame level, which is a requirement for smooth transitions across streams from different physical encoders. Inlet’s Spinnaker Management Console can configure, synchronize, manage, and monitor multiple Spinnakers. Edgeware’s WTV server system distributes adaptive content by delivering as much as 32,000 concurrent streams with up to 6 TB of built-in storage for time-shift or video on demand and requiring the lowest power, rack space and maintenance on the market. The servers can either cache and deliver popular Microsoft®  and Apple adaptive streaming segments or, in the case of Apple, they can cache complete, synchronized encodes, which are segmented and indexed by the server “on-the-fly”. Product demos can be seen at IBC2009 at the Edgeware stand (Hall 4, stand A59) and at the Inlet stand (IPTV Zone, stand 513).


  • Miniweb homepage WebTV: Miniweb announced at IBC an initial line-up of video content aggregators who have committed their content to broadband enabled TV devices supported by the Company. The content aggregators include AlltheContent, blinkx, Diva, Film 24 and The Vu Group. Miniweb allows TV viewers to search, discover, and recommend video from content owners and aggregators using only their remote control and a broadband-connected TV device. The Miniweb services platform ensures that content owner branding, community functions, interactive options, commercial models, distribution restrictions, and payments are preserved seamlessly across a range of TV devices.


  • Ripcode logo VIDEO TRANSCODING: RipCode, Inc. has partnered with AccessU2 to deliver on-demand property videos to virtually any mobile device, allowing for ‘anytime, anywhere, any device’ viewing of agent profile and virtual tour property videos. AccessU2 Mobile Solutions, LLC and its patent pending product, Property By Phone, are revolutionizing property information delivery by providing the same experience to a buyer’s cell phone that virtual tours have delivered to websites. The Property By Phone application lets clients dial a toll-free number listed on the property sign or in print advertising, entering a displayed property code. After making a language selection and confirming the cell phone number, an SMS text message description of the property, as many as 10 photos, and a streaming video link are presented nearly instantly. Agents receive a text message of the cell phone capture at the same time. Should the client select the video link, RipCode’s TransAct solution automatically discovers the mobile device type, retrieves the source video file, transcodes the file for the best video playback experience for that particular mobile device, and streams the content within seconds of request. This is all managed through the Company’s unique On Demand Transcoding technology. Clients may even set an appointment instantly to view the listing by connecting with a live operator 24/7, who can book an appointment, and text the confirmation and full contact info back to the consumer and agent.