[SatNews] A significant expansion of the company's industry-leading ICE channel-in-a-box, including two all-new models, will be on display at this upcoming event being held in Amsterdam.
The core ICE product now offers even greater functionality and horsepower in a more compact footprint. The new systems include ICE-LE, a low-cost 1U version that offers a streamlined feature set for smaller operations or simple video server refresh projects; and ICE SAN, which provides large-scale shared content storage to give multiple ICE units instant access to media.
Each ICE unit features multiple inputs and outputs with two DVEs and eight keyers per channel mixer, as well as routing and mixing functions, SD and HD format conversion, audio processing capabilities, and closed-caption/subtitle support. Despite a new, smaller form factor, the standard ICE system now offers twice the 2D or 3D graphics capabilities as before, for the same price as the previous configuration. Also, through the new version 4.0 software, ICE now offers powerful new features such as Nielsen audience-tracking capabilities, integrated loudness control for compliance with international regulations, and Variplay, an option that enables operators to speed up noncritical material to compress time and make space for more essential playout.
Occupying but a single rack unit, ICE-LE delivers the power of ICE technology at an exceptionally low price point. The unit comes complete with routing, mixing, audio processing, format conversion tools, and 2TB of storage. The 2U version has the full ICE functionality, including advanced graphics, Dolby® E decoding and encoding, loudness control, Nielsen monitoring, and Variplay. In addition, the 2U ICE offers additional inputs and outputs and 3.6TB of storage.
In partnership with Quantum, Snell has developed ICE SAN to address the media storage requirements of today's playout operations. ICE SAN uses the power of a storage area network (SAN) to centralize storage and streamline media workflows for multi-channel operations. The result is a less complex and costly operation that is guaranteed to deliver media when and where it is needed. ICE SAN is available in two versions: an enterprise model that offers premium levels of storage centralization and resilience, and a lower-cost option that provides high performance for smaller operations in which cost is a major factor.