Archive for the ‘Storage & Networking’ Category
by Michael Grotticelli May 16th, 2012
Dish Network, the direct-to-home satellite operator, has introduced a new DVR feature called “Auto Hop.” It allows viewers to skip past commercials in most recorded HD programs shown on ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC a day after the program airs.
Nicknamed the Hopper, Dish’s DVR allows subscribers to record all network shows with a single click. Auto Hop, Dish said, is an extension of the operator’s Primetime Anytime capability launched last March. It does not work with live or cable programming. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: auto hop, digital video recorder, direct-to-home, Dish Network, DVR, Hopper, NBC, satellite operator, skip commercials
Related Topics: HDTV, Infrastructure, News, Products, Storage & Networking |
by Michael Grotticelli May 15th, 2012
Looking to capitalize on the well-established user base of SeaChange Broadcast Servers used for the storage and delivery of audio and video content as digital files, XOR Media, a newly established company announced in April, has officially taken over the business and customer support activities of the former division of SeaChange International.
 XOR Media will look to leverage the large installed base of SeaChange Broadcast MediaLibrary archives around the world. XOR Media is based on Greenville, NH. It is being run as a privately held independent company and led by Zheng Gao, Chief Executive Officer and former president of SeaChange Broadcast. The new company said it will continue to development of media-centric, cloud-capable storage systems and associated video codec servers that address ingest and playout, production, digital media factories, media asset management, disaster recovery, and active near-line archives.
Gao said the new XOR Media, with over 150 design and support engineers, will provide media storage solutions that feature the company’s MediaClient codecs embedded into its simultaneous SAN/NAS Universal MediaLibrary storage architecture. The company will also continue to support legacy SeaChange MediaCluster server customers.
“We are taking an existing profitable business and enhancing it with increased investments in engineering and customers services,” said Gao, adding that all existing customer support agreements with SeaChange Broadcast will seamlessly transition to the new entity.
To ensure success, XOR Media will look to leverage the SeaChange Broadcast installed base of over 300 top-tier customers; 12,000 on-air channels; and 11 petabytes of managed media-centric data. The company has sales, services, and support facilities around the globe.
“The feedback we have from the industry on the institution of XOR Media as an independent company has been very encouraging,” Gao said.
Tags: architecture, codecs, compression, MediaClient, SeaChange International, servers, storage, Universal MediaLibrary, XOR Media
Related Topics: HDTV, Infrastructure, News, Production, Products, Storage & Networking |
by Michael Grotticelli May 14th, 2012
KCET-TV, once the powerhouse PBS affiliate in Los Angeles, is now in its second year of independence from PBS with new production studios in Burbank, a new slogan and new promises about the great programming it will produce in the future about Southern California.
 Led by KCET technical staff, the station’s move was “a Herculean undertaking” that spanned more than 12 months. The moves are all part of the station’s attempt to break away from PBS (announced in January 2011) and go it alone as one of the nation’s largest independent public television stations. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Burbank, HD production, independent station, Infrastructure, KCET, Orad, PBS, SeaChange International, Studios, Technology, virtual sets, XOR Media
Related Topics: HDTV, Infrastructure, News, Newsrooms, Production, Products, RF and Mobile TV, Storage & Networking |
by Michael Grotticelli May 10th, 2012
NBCUniversal has announced it will make a $190 million investment in its New York City operations, including 30 Rockefeller Plaza and other facilities.
The upgrade includes high-definition technical facilities for many of its most popular news programs ( and flagship O&O WNBC-TV) that will use “best-in-class, state-of-the-art technology,” the network said. New construction includes building a new state-of-the-art studio control room, and updating critical components of the company’s technical infrastructure. That will also include replacing the existing underlying broadcast origination technology,” as well as implementing a new studio and production-related “fiber highway.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 30 Rock, broadcast engineering, HD production, Infrastructure, investment, NBCUniversal, Studios, technical facilities, Technology
Related Topics: HDTV, Infrastructure, News, Newsrooms, Production, Storage & Networking |
by Michael Grotticelli May 9th, 2012
Online television is creating new opportunities for the makers of television programs, creating new competition for broadcast networks and other content providers. Among the latest is Amazon Studios, the program development division of Amazon.com, which has announced that it is expanding into episodic comedies and children’s shows for prime time.
Independent TV writers and producers have been invited to upload series proposals that will be reviewed by the Amazon Studios team and, potentially, added to the company’s development slate. The best series will be distributed online via Amazon Instant Video. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Amazon Studios, Broadcasters, competition, content creation, distribution, episodic comedies, Internet, Online television, Production, streaming, TV creators, Web
Related Topics: HDTV, Infrastructure, News, Production, Products, Storage & Networking |
by Michael Grotticelli May 1st, 2012
In a move that surprised even some company insiders, Harris Corp. will divest its Broadcast Communications business and find a buyer by the summer (when it begins its fiscal 2013 year). After years of lackluster earnings due to a general slowdown in equipment sales from TV and radio stations, as well as other organizations that Harris supports, the decision to sell off the division was announced in a filing note on April 27th and make public on May 1st, 2012.
 Harris is seeking a buyer for its flagging RF and video production business. With the transition to digital mainly finished among stations in the U.S. (although it’s still occurring overseas), revenue for the Integrated Network Solutions business unit (which includes the Broadcast Communications segment) for the third quarter of fiscal 2011 was $111 million, a decline of 14% versus the same period a year ago. The company’s Board of Directors apparently decided this was too much of a burden to carry forward.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: broadcast, company acquisitions, divestiture, Harris Corp., Harris Morris, sell
Related Topics: Automation, ENG, HDTV, Infrastructure, News, Production, Products, RF and Mobile TV, Storage & Networking |
by Michael Grotticelli May 1st, 2012
For content owners looking to develop new types of third-party and direct-to-the-consumer file delivery services (e.g., Amazon, Netflix, and Google) but not know exactly how to do it, a number of companies want to hold your hand and show you the way.
At the recent NAB Show, companies like Dell, GlobeCast, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Microsoft and Signiant (to name a few) all showed their versions of a “plug and play” architecture that, leveraging cloud-based equipment and file transfer/management software, could get an over-the-top (OTT), content delivery network (CDN) up and running within a matter of days. Other services allow broadcasters to distribute content created for TV to alternative platforms in order to expand their audience and (someday) generate new revenue. OTT services use packet-based Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructures already deployed to simultaneously deliver thousands of on-demand audio and video clips while cloud-based technology keep OpEx costs low and flexibility to expand and contract as required, high. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: architectures, broadcast engineering, content delivery, Dell, GlobeCast, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Microsoft, NAB, networks, over-the-top, plug and play, services, Signiant
Related Topics: HDTV, Infrastructure, NAB, News, OTT, Products, RF and Mobile TV, Storage & Networking |
by Michael Grotticelli April 25th, 2012
Last week’s NAB show was attended by 91,932 professionals from the worldwide broadcast and professional video production industries, up about 4.5 percent from the 88,044 that gathered in 2011. Dennis Wharton, the NAB’s Executive Vice President of Media Relations, said that an estimated $30 billion in commerce was generated by the show including the business done on the exhibit hall floor by the 1,600 exhibitors occupying 815,000 net square feet of exhibit space. The NAB Show has attracted more than 110,000 people in its heyday in 2007.
“The economy is getting better and the financial outlook for the broadcast industry in general, reflected by this year’s extremely positive show, is improving as well,” Wharton said, alluding to the increase this year in exhibitor participation and an almost 10 percent increase in size (up from 1,550 exhibitors occupying 745,000 net square feet) from 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: 4K, attendance, cameras, cellular, convention, exhibitors, lenses, media, NAB, OTT, over-the-top, Production, transmission
Related Topics: 3-D, Automation, ENG, HDTV, Infrastructure, NAB, News, Newsrooms, OTT, Production, Products, RF and Mobile TV, Storage & Networking, T&M |
by Michael Grotticelli April 23rd, 2012
With a wide array of products that address video production as well as signal processing and distribution seperately, Evertz is now combining some of those products into integrated solutions that are pre-configured to work together and save broadcasters on resources and operational costs. The company is also offering the largest HD-SDI router, at 2,304 x 2,304 I/O matrix, on the market today.
This, according to Mo Goyal, director of product marketing at Evertz, means products like its Mediator (asset management), MAGNUM and MAGNUM VUE (routing and master control functionality from a single software-based interface) and VistaLink Pro) SNMP monitoring and control) are now able to reach into and manage—and control—more parts of a station’s facility and allow a single user o have virtual control at their fingertips. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Centralcast LLC, centralcasting, Evertz, HD-SDI, Magnum, master control, Mediator, PBS, routers, signal processing, signals, software, stations, VistaLink Pro
Related Topics: Automation, HDTV, Infrastructure, NAB, News, Products, Storage & Networking |
by Michael Grotticelli April 19th, 2012
Wohler Technologies has acquired the assets and technology of RadiantGrid Technologies, a Redmond, Wash.-based developer of transcoding, transformation and new media automation service platforms. No financial details were provided.
 The RadiantGrid software platform has built-in intelligence that automates the entire workflow for managing file-based ingest, preparation and distribution of digital media content. The RadiantGrid software platform has built-in intelligence that automates the entire workflow for managing file-based ingest, preparation and distribution of digital media content. Uniting Wohler’s modular monitoring and processing solutions with RadiantGrid’s advanced parallel processing technology, the acquisition will enable the two companies to streamline IT-centric workflows with a full range of video, audio, data and QC solutions that support broadcasters’ rapidly evolving needs. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: company acquisitions, file-based technology, RadiantGrid Technologies, signal processing, transcoding, Wohler Technologies
Related Topics: HDTV, Infrastructure, NAB, News, Production, Products, Storage & Networking |
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