Haivision @ 2011 AHECTA Conference... SES ASTRA pumps up download speeds... SMPTE's new intiatives... Softel to speak @ BroadcastAsia2011... Spot LLC brings the world of messaging comes to the App Store... Wohler gets the Starz Entertainment nod...
Haivision will be showcasing the following products at the 2011 AHECTA Conference. Their latest Makito™ Decoder, an H.264 decoder that supports video up to 1080p60, will debut. When paired with the Makito HD H.264 encoder, this system provides low-latency decoding and efficient delivery of HD video via HD-SDI or HDMI output. Sharing the space-saving, mini-blade form factor and low power requirements of the Makito encoder, this new product is an optimal solution for medical and military applications seeking a professional-grade, low-latency, high-performance video decoding solution. Haivision will also showcase the latest ZiXi ready™ Makito™ HD video encoder, which dramatically reduces HD transmission costs. Haivision's Makito is an ultra-compact, low-power, easy-to-set-up-and-deploy appliance that can now be ordered with ZiXi ready™ capabilities at a very competitive price point. The Makito encoding system delivers low-latency, full-frame-rate H.264 encoding of HD video up to 1080p60, or computer graphics resolutions up to 1280x1024 75Hz (SXGA). The Makito incorporates HiLo-Streaming™, the ability to encode once and emit both high- and low-bandwidth streams simultaneously, and MultiStreaming™ — the ability to send streams with different IP encapsulation to different destinations. When integrated with the Furnace IP video system, the Makito distributes 100-percent secure and robust video. The Makito offers the most efficient and affordable distribution, capture, and rebroadcast of HD video. Also set for demos are Furnace 6.0, Including MultiStream™ Recording and Advanced Publishing, and Haivision's CoolSign digital signage solution.

Following a comprehensive global survey to assess how it can best serve broadcast, broadband, and cinema professionals, the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has unveiled a comprehensive and multi-faceted expansion of the scope and reach of its offerings, one designed to bridge the gap in the motion-imaging workforce between audiovisual (AV) and information-technology (IT) professionals. Key elements of this announcement include a new conference on emerging-media technologies to be held in Geneva May 13-15 of 2012 and co-produced by SMPTE and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU); a strategic relationship to co-locate the Society’s upcoming stereoscopic 3D conference with NewBay Media’s DV Expo East exposition in June in New York City; and the selection of Stanford University’s HighWire Press to create a SMPTE digital library. SMPTE survey respondents spoke repeatedly of a shift in the motion-imaging workforce from one dominated by AV experts with engineering degrees to one composed increasingly of professionals from the computer science, image processing, and IT sectors — and an industry landscape that is being remade by new IP-based content consumption, delivery devices, business models. To help industry leaders keep pace with these changes, SMPTE will convene the SMPTE Forum on Emerging Media Technologies May 13-15, 2012, in Geneva, Switzerland. The gathering will bring together thought leaders and business decision makers to examine key emerging technologies, from those likely to come onto the market in three years to those whose commercialization is a decade away.

SES ASTRA, an SES company (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), will increase the download speed for ASTRA2Connect to beyond 10 Mbit/s by providing additional capacity from its 28.2 degrees East orbital position. ASTRA2Connect is expected to serve more than 80,000 end-users in Europe by the end of May from its 23.5 degrees East orbital position and is Europe's largest satellite-based broadband network. With the decision to provide additional capacity from 28.2 degrees East, SES ASTRA brings its successful service to the next level of development. In June 2011, SES ASTRA will start to provide higher download speeds of up to 6 Mbit/s in its existing Ku-band offerings. All new terminals deployed are “Ka-band ready” allowing end users to easily migrate to ASTRA’s Ka-band services once they will become available in 2012. In September 2012, SES ASTRA will start to bring Ka-band capacity at 28.2 degrees East into use supporting download speeds of 10 Mbit/s and more. The ASTRA2Connect Ka-band capacity will become available on SES ASTRA’s 2E, 2F and 2G spacecraft, scheduled for launch between 2012 and 2014. ASTRA2Connect is offered via 27 distribution partners to end-customers and businesses in more than 50 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. SES ASTRA most recently introduced a new technology to provide ASTRA2Connect to entire communities without end-users having to install their own satellite antenna.

Softel's chief sales officer, Gordon Hunter, will deliver a talk on Subtitling and Captioning for Next-Generation Broadcasting at BroadcastAsia2011 on Sunday, June 24th, at 9.15 a. m. Part of BroadcastAsia2011's TV and Technology Advancements conference theme, Hunter's session will deliver an overview of the changes currently affecting the broadcast industry and the business challenges these changes present as broadcasters strive to meet subtitling and captioning requirements. The talk will cover ways of generating new revenue streams and reducing operating costs when planning for the transition to tapeless operation, upgrading to HD delivery, building multiplatform services or serving multiple-language audiences. Subtitling and captioning are essential components in this diversifying media environment. However, many broadcasters have yet to take advantage of state-of-the-art subtitling and captioning technology now available, which can deliver very significant savings and operational efficiencies. Against a background of increasingly diverse and complex media operations, new subtitling and captioning systems provide simple yet extremely flexible and reliable workflows, and deliver rapid ROI. Hunter will explain scenarios for efficient subtitling and captioning across multiple languages, in multiple formats and over multiple platforms, through tight integration with workflow and automation systems — all while maintaining alignment with broadcast schedules.

Wohler Technologies has announced that Starz Entertainment has selected the award-winning Presto video switcher as part of its comprehensive new confidence recording, compliance, and logging infrastructure. Starz Entertainment recently completed a migration to a new IT-based playout environment for its 16 distinct movie channels, including the company's flagship STARZ and ENCORE brands. The Presto video switcher works in tandem with the facility's existing Volicon monitoring and logging system, which continuously records the network's 44 unique HD and SD return confidence feeds. A compact 1RU solution, Presto provides quick at-a-glance monitoring for all of the inputs going to the Volicon servers — making up to 16 sources readily available for monitoring and straightforward switching via integrated OLED push buttons. As each of the 16 OLED screens on the Presto serves as a switching button that displays an SDI stream from any source, Starz operators can easily see that all of the inputs to the Presto unit have active video. To route the input video and embedded audio to downstream QC monitoring and scopes for verification, operators simply press the button displaying the appropriate stream. Downstream from the Presto video switchers, Starz has upgraded all of its BOC and Media Encode stations with Wohler's operator-friendly AMP2-E16V modular audio/video processing monitor. The AMP2-E16V provides dual 4.3-inch OLED displays that make the system ideal for dedicated video monitoring, loudness metering, audio routing and mixing control, and Dolby® Zoom functions. In the Starz operation, the AMP2-E16V's user-defined presets enable operators to monitor simple AES stereo pairs, Dolby E, and 12-channel embedded feeds with ease.