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Entone Inc. is now making available its Amulet 400-series hybrid DVR and the Kamai 400-series streaming receiver for the North American market. The new 400-series offers manageability and administration functionality while giving operators the opportunity to cost-effectively deliver a differentiating TV service that blends linear TV with cloud-based services and over-the-top (OTT) content. The 400-series update also drives more efficiency into the form factor and adds a sleek, new stylish design. Both Amulet and Kamai easily integrate with existing home networks and allow subscribers to blend and connect to a variety of broadcast and cloud-based services—all from a single device, for a seamless user experience. They also support personal media sharing throughout a subscriber’s home via a wired or wireless network connection. Both products feature 2D and 3D graphics acceleration to support increasing demands of sophisticated user interfaces. The 400-series is compatible with popular third-party DRM and middleware. The management and administrative enhancements include:
- Automatic Configuration Server (ACS) automates the configuration and management of devices and supports flow- through provisioning of services, reducing workload and streamlining workflow
- Quality of Experience (QoE) monitoring tools provides deep inspection of video as it’s received at subscribers’ homes, allowing operators to identify and correct network and equipment issues before they become customer complaints
- Entone’s Ensight™ remote diagnostic application enables customer service agents to remotely observe and control customer devices, allowing agents to more quickly diagnose and correct troubles thereby shortening the duration of support calls and enhancing customer satisfaction
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Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT) has announced that Palmetto Rural Telephone Cooperative (PRTC) of Walterboro, S.C., has selected the Harmonic ProStream™ 1000 with ACE™ high-density, real-time transcoder to power HD and SD video for its 290-channel IPTV service, based on the Microsoft® Mediaroom® platform. The ProStream 1000 with ACE “any-to-any, any-to-many” real-time transcoding solution provides PRTC with Microsoft picture-in-picture (PIP) capability and support for HD and SD, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) video and audio transcoding of up to 20 HD or 60 SD channels in a compact and power-efficient 1-RU chassis. The platform’s industry-leading density enables PRTC to meet the growing demand for digital TV services. A Microsoft Mediaroom ecosystem partner, Harmonic powers the video headends for a majority of Microsoft’s IPTV customers. Harmonic currently delivers more than 13,000 IPTV channels around the world and counts more than 100 telco operators as its customers. The ProStream 1000 with ACE will be on display at Harmonic’s booth 533 during TelcoTV 2011 in New Orleans, Louisiana, October 25-27.
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Sencore has announced that Dr. Tom Lookabaugh, CTO of Entropic Communications, Inc., has joined the Sencore board of directors. Dr. Lookabaugh has more than 20 years of experience in developing communications technology solutions for satellite, cable, telcocommunications, and broadcast industries. As CTO of Entropic, he is responsible for supporting the company’s business strategy by defining and driving the company’s technology and advanced architectures roadmap. Prior to joining Entropic, Dr. Lookabaugh held a variety of executive positions including CEO at PolyCipher, a cable industry joint-venture owned by Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox Communications, where he led development of new cryptography and security systems for the U.S. cable industry. Prior to that, he was associate faculty director for the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program and on the faculty of the Computer Science Department at the University of Colorado. Dr. Lookabaugh also served as president of Harmonic‘s Convergent Systems division, as well as president of the DiviCom division of C-Cube Microsystems. He holds a Ph.D in electrical engineering and master’s degrees in statistics, engineering management, and electrical engineering from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics from the Colorado School of Mines.
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Telestream® has released Episode® 6.2 multiformat video encoding software. New and improved API features expand Episode integration and control capabilities with third-party systems.The free version 6.2 update adds high-end ProRes 4:4:4:4 and AVC-Intra format support for professional workflows. New Microsoft Smooth Streaming and Apple HLS streaming formats improve the viewing experience for end users through a new Developer API Kit. In addition, Mac-based Episode video encoding products are now OS X Lion compatible. A new XML-RPC interface for Episode Engine and a faster, more robust Command Line Interface for all Episode products expand third-party integration and control capabilities. The Command Line Interface includes new functions and significant speed improvements when submitting jobs and requesting job status. These improvements enhance Episode system integration and increase responsiveness and stability, which is especially important in high-volume video transcoding environments. The new XML-RPC interface for Episode Engine provides a standards-based network interface for easy integration with third-party systems. The Episode Developer API Kit is a new service offering that gives Episode Engine users access to technical engineering support for their API integrations. The Developer API Kit also provides early access to the latest Episode features. Episode 6.2 is available as a free update for existing users and is now available for online purchase at as well as from Telestream’s worldwide network of resellers and distributors. For more in-depth information regarding this offering, head over to this direct product infolink.
SatBroadcasting™ — This report includes new information from Entone, Harmonic, Sencore, Telestream
[SatNews] For those involved in the SatBroadcasting™ environment, here is important market segment news that could well be of interest to you…
