On performance of broadcast, cable, and satellite industry in the year 2009

In 2009, the broadcast, cable and satellite industry faced many challenges and earned many rewards, in India and across Asia. In India, specifically, the industry saw a wider range of customers seeking a broader array of products with an ever-increasing interest in return on investment and lifetime usage of that equipment.

The market's increased awareness of product value and the corresponding demands of customers correlates directly to the corporate philosophy of Wohler, which also emphasizes the total value of the products/services and their long-term utility. Over the course of the year, this evolved perspective translated to proportionally increased sales over the entire market. In Wohler's experience, customers' tendency to research their purchases more thoroughly and to be more careful with their budgets served to make the inherent advantages of Wohler products become more apparent. Wohler audio/video/data monitoring units are packed with features and benefits, combined with quality/reliability and ease of use that makes them extremely popular for all broadcasting applications across the entire broadcast, cable and satellite industry.

On contribution of your company to the industry in 2009

In 2009, Wohler Technologies made great strides in the area of closed captioning and metadata encoding/decoding/transcoding. This area has garnered significant interest industry-wide over the past year as greater focus has been placed on the public service nature of broadcasters and their ability to serve a wider range of needs and applications in the marketplace.

While closed captioning and metadata oftentimes serve two different and uniquely defined applications, the Wohler HDCC-200A dual-channel HD/SD closed caption/subtitle/metadata encoder/decoder/transcoder is an extremely powerful one-card solution to all the demands of these two applications. The card supports all world standards (OP47, WST, EIA608/708), and it can encode/decode/transcode in the VANC/HANC/VBI, which has two unique channels per card, where each channel includes one clean program output and one monitoring output with burnt-in display.

The HDCC-200A card is specifically designed for mission critical on-air environments with bypass relays, dual redundant PSUs and incredible stacking densities of more than 20 channels in a 2RU frame. However, it is equally well suited for edit suites, head ends or other monitoring-only situations in which the program outputs can also be configured for burnt-in displays.

On effect of recession on sales

The needs of broadcasters in India and across the Asian market are very diverse, requiring a wide array of audio/video monitoring solutions, but the global recession has had a common impact on how broadcasters choose those solutions. Knowledgeable users within the broadcast, cable and satellite industry have grown even more interested in evaluating monitoring products from a system standpoint, assessing each product's value and utility based upon overall system design.

Customers in this market have tended more toward monitoring solutions that offer a robust feature set and the reliability and flexibility to continue supporting quality monitoring operations down the road. Looking to make smart short- and long-term investments, broadcasters addressed specific applications by purchasing systems that offer just the right combination of inputs and outputs and format support. For more complex and evolving monitoring applications, they sought scalable and modular solutions that may be equipped with all possible formats–analog, AES balanced/unbalanced, Dolby E, Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Digital Plus, and SDI (SD/HD/3G) to accommodate a wide range of applications.

On equipment procured, and major customers

Designing small OBs, flyaways, SNGs and portable production systems, broadcasters largely invested in combination video/audio monitoring units that offer flexibility along with the durability, low weight, portability, simplicity, power efficiency, and serviceability so vital to mobile production environments. In building out studio control rooms, master control rooms, headends and MSOs, broadcasters procured highly customizable modular, card-based audio monitoring systems, which offer short- and long-term ROI benefits.

In multiformat audio monitoring applications, the Wohler Dolby-capable range of products attracted many new customers requiring systems with the flexibility to handle new formats while supporting legacy audio and video. Among these products is the Wohler AMP1-E16-3G, a compact (1RU), cost-effective, and complete solution that features 3G/HD/SD support with 16 channels of simultaneous multi-format audio monitoring. This audio/video monitoring unit is fully equipped with Dolby D/E support, a built-in down converter for SDI, and support for embedded, AES, and analog audio formats.

Wohler's modular audio monitors were also popular choices for complex fixed-installations because they support all types of formats and a large number of inputs (as many as 80 multi-format channels in some configurations). They provide graphical interfaces and programmable presets that may be tailored to specific monitoring applications.

The Wohler Touch-It Digital was a popular choice, largely for confidence monitoring applications, both in mobile and fixed facilities. This touch-screen router and audio monitor is a compact solution that combines a live video mini multi-viewer with up to 16 SD/HD video sources and audio monitoring of the selected video source.

On growth prospects for 2010

End users are keen on receiving premium HD content and have begun to demand the finest in audio formats to complete their in-home HD experience. As a result, there is a strong impetus within the broadcast industry to address the associated Dolby E, Dolby Digital and HE AAC 5.1 audio formats that accompany the HD video signal. Wohler offers a complete range of products that meet the exacting requirements of broadcasters for multi-channel audio monitoring applications.

Wohler expects 2010 to be another strong year with traditional monitoring products and with recently released products, as well as new products that will be launched throughout the year. Demand for the full range of solutions again is expected to be strong, and the company anticipates that investment in high-end products will represent a higher proportion of customers' overall expenditures as HD and Dolby/HE AAC 5.1 become more widely accepted.