Digital Rapids to showcase new technology and share expertise at IBC 2009

Digital Rapids, is bringing advanced technology to IBC Conference and Exhibition, September 11-15, 2009 in Amsterdam. In addition to the IBC debuts of new and enhanced solutions in stand no. 7.G41, Digital Rapids will be sharing its expertise with attendees both at the stand and in free sessions in the IBC Training Zone. Digital Rapids systems will power the encoding of content for the IBC TV news website and mobile delivery for the sixth consecutive year. For first time, IBC TV News will feature live streaming of news updates on the web, complementing their on-demand news clips.

Digital Rapids' award-winning TouchStream portable live streaming appliance will also be featured alongside the Datpresenter rich media webcasting service and software from Datmedia in stand IP511 in the IBC IPTV zone.

Clive Vickery, Managing Director, EMEA and Asia at Digital Rapids said that it is important to offer IBC attendees more than just the chance to experience company's technology and products. Robust, versatile and efficient solutions are as important as ever with customers' shrinking budgets and increasing audience expectations, but technology is just part of what media organisations need to meet these challenges. He further added that with a range of activities to share solutions and knowledge both in and beyond company stand, Digital Rapids can help attendees learn how to maximize new revenue opportunities with the flexibility, efficiency and cost effectiveness they need to come out of the economic storm stronger than ever.

Advanced Solutions to connect content with opportunity.
Featured solutions at IBC will span the critical points in the content value chain, from content acquisition and repurposing to distribution:

Delivery. The new MediaMesh digital media distribution system will debut at IBC. Building on the Digital Rapids C2 delivery framework, MediaMesh enables content ranging from ad spots to long-form programming to be transferred between content providers, contributors and distribution partners efficiently, automatically and at substantial cost savings using terrestrial IP networks or satellites. The MediaMesh RX receiving appliance combines integrated inventory management, visual QC, repackaging and output with an intuitive graphical interface.

Live Streaming. New capabilities will be featured across Digital Rapids comprehensive range of live streaming solutions for the web, mobile devices and IPTV. Enhancements to the StreamZ Live family of encoders include support for adaptive streaming technologies such as Microsoft IIS7 Smooth Streaming. The enterprise-class Digital Rapids Broadcast Manager live encoder management software provides centralised control, automation, monitoring and fault tolerance for multiple encoders. New features will also be unveiled in the TouchStream portable appliance, winner of three awards in IBC 2008.

Ingest, Encoding and Transcoding. Digital Rapids' StreamZ and StreamZHD ingest and encoding systems create content in multiple formats simultaneously for both live and on-demand applications. The latest generation of software for StreamZ and StreamZHD will be showcased, further closing the gap between broadcast television operations, production workflows and new distribution platforms. New features include expanded format support, enhanced capabilities for Closed Captioning and ad insertion workflows, and more. The latest version of the Digital Rapids Transcode Manager distributed media transcoding software will also be showcased, featuring expanded formats and direct support for leading third-party Quality Control analysis tools for automated verification of output files.

Barco commences rugged console and computing production in Noida

Visualization specialist Barco has started up the production of rugged consoles and computers in its facility in Noida, located near New Delhi. Barco, Noida will be responsible for producing Barco's Vista console series and Modular Rugged Display Stations. Design and support services for these two products will remain in Barco's Duluth (USA) and Toulouse (France) facilities. Barco Noida is ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 certified.

Robert Sanders, Vice President of Barco's Defense and Avionics Division said that in 2006 Barco's Noida-based operations were expanded with a new building, in order to support the successful growth of the company's security and monitoring division. He also added that with the increased capabilities for the manufacturing of rugged consoles and computers and their planned production of rugged displays in Noida, the company will be able to better respond to the needs of our Asian-Pacific customers.

The Barco Noida facility covers some 9,000 square meter and employs 426 people in R&D, manufacturing, sales and operations. The production facility is fully equipped for in-house testing and manufacturing of rugged products, and includes a clean room and automated burn-in chamber. The facility is also ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 certified, underscoring the fact that Barco has implemented advanced quality and environmental management systems on site. The two products now in production at the Noida facility are purpose-built for demanding military applications. The modular Vista console family offers highly functional, ergonomic workstations and consoles for naval Command and Control applications. Barco's MRDS family combines a state-of-the-art display processing module with a full range of rugged displays, already developed and proven in military applications worldwide.

Dalet to introduce Dalet Enterprise Edition Version 3.3

Dalet Digital Media Systems will release the new Dalet Enterprise Edition Version 3.3 with significant technology enhancements at IBC 2009. Dalet Enterprise Edition is an enterprise media asset management (MAM) solution designed to manage and facilitate complex HD production, archiving and repurposing workflows for news, sports and programs. Dalet Enterprise Edition Version 3.3 features WebSpace, a new web client based on the latest technologies including Flex, Ajax, H.264 streaming and REST-based API. Dalet WebSpace provides a comprehensive set of functionalities for MAM and incorporates a fully featured web-based client for newsroom operations.

DaletPlus 3.3 also offers a new enterprise multimedia search engine based on Lucene/ Solr technology. This strategic development is the first step toward providing a discovery approach to searching.

Panasonic AJ-HDX900 makes its mark in Indian television production

A development in the HD wave engulfing the IndianBroadcast industry today is the beginning of production of Indian episodic television in HD, with the introduction of Panasonic DVCPROHD AJ-HDX900 camcorder. The camera has been adopted by many production houses & producers in the industry in the recent past. Production houses & producers like Sphere Origins, Sagar Arts, Balaji Tele-films & Sri Siddivinayaka in Mumbai and Jishu Dasgupta, Blues & Tron Video in Kolkata have started using HD Camcorder and DVCPROHD videotape recording format for their projects. Today there are over 10 serials on air at prime time on different channels which are being shot on Panasonic AJ-HDX900. Meera, Jyoti, Basera, Bandini& Kitni Mohabbat Hai; telecast on prime time slot from 8:00pm to 10:30 pm on NDTV Imagine and Shaurya & Suhani on the weekend prime time slot at 8:00pm on Star Plus are all being shot by using DVCPROHD camcorder AJ-HDX900.

Besides episodic television, Panasonic has been ushering in a new era of HD Independent films, music videos, commercials & new media projects abroad and is now creating waves in India as well. Tamil movies; Thalai Keezh by Madha Creations & Karunai by Ram Sai Ram Films, both of which are currently in production, are shot using the Panasonic AJ-HDX900 camera. The Panasonic HD camcorder accepts ordinary DVCPRO tape. It does not require a special HD tape and cuts down the recurring expenditure. At this point in time, when the move to solid-state, hard-drive, and disk-based capture appears to be inexorable, the HDX900 may well be amongst the minority of tape-based HD broadcast cameras which is IT-focused. It is the first DVCPRO HD shoulder-held camera recorder with IEEE 1394 digital output, offering simultaneous output via FireWire which integrates into a web streaming or hard drive recording environment. It has one-shot and interval recording, and seven-second pre-record functions.

AJ-HDX 900 camera is a video camera version of the Panasonic Varicam camcorder for film production. It produces a fine picture tonal quality matching to film with natural shading and rich colors give HD pictures which can be down converted to give SD pictures for transmission. With a new film like gamma curve with three choices and a newly developed Dynamic Range Stretching (DRS) function, it meets the requirement of all types of high-end production. The AJ-HDX900 is also compatible with a newly developed Remote Control Unit, for added operational and functional flexibility and can also be used as studio camera for multi-camera production.

Panasonic, AJ-HDX900 multi-format DVCPRO HD camcorder can record HD in 1080/50i, 720/50p, 1080/25p and 720/50p formats. It records full production-quality (4:2:2) video at 100Mbps by using DVCPRO HD compression codec one quarter inch width metal particle tape. Camera has 2/3inch three progressive CCDs of 1 Mega pixels each which capture the pictures in native progressive mode. It is a 14 bit A/D camera. With exceptional sensitivity of F10 at 2000 lx, camera captures pictures in lighting as low as 0.032 Lx. Combination of AJ-HDX900 and AJ-HD1400 compact recorder from Panasonic offers HD production system at the cost of almost SD production.

HDX900 brings serious production capability to prospective owner/operators, rental houses, and production companies who derive the bulk of their income from cable, news magazine, and corporate programming indeed anyone with an eyepiece on the bottom line.