Bridge Live supports a wide variety of audio stream and codec choices from AAC to uncompressed PCM, with the ability to apply gain and sample rate conversion and remap channels.
AJA, a manufacturer of digital video recording solutions and cameras, has unveiled Bridge Live. The solution is a new plug-and-play 1RU streaming gateway that simplifies moving UHD or multi-channel HD uncompressed baseband SDI video to/from a wide range of streaming and contribution codecs (H.265, H.264, MPEG-2 and optionally JPEG 2000), including secure reliable transport with SRT over the public internet.
The company has also announced a 12G-SDI to Dante audio bridge, a new openGear-compatible card-based scan converter and released Ki Pro Ultra 12G v2.0, a free firmware update.
Bridge Live combines AJA’s I/O technology with Comprimato’s encoding, decoding and transcoding software, to provide high-quality, cost-effective video processing, with SDI encode or decode for one channel of UltraHD up to 60p, or up to four channels of 1080/60p simultaneously, via four 12G-SDI connections that are also backwards compatible to 6G, 3G, and 1.5G SDI.
It can be used as a ‘set and forget’ resource, working in the background to convert baseband video to and from live compressed streams, including multiple outputs and destinations from SDI inputs.
Bridge Live supports a wide variety of audio stream and codec choices from AAC to uncompressed PCM, with the ability to apply gain and sample rate conversion and remap channels. It also includes deep metadata support, with closed captioning, ad insertion markers and the ability to embed subtitles.
AJA has also announced its first partnership with Audinate, developers of Dante IP-based audio networking, to launch the first 12G-SDI embedded audio to Dante audio bridge. The new OG-Dante-12GAM is an openGear, Dante IP audio embedder and disembedder, with dual 12G-SDI ports, 64-channels of audio and DashBoard control software integration. It provides a high-density infrastructure that bridges Dante to SDI and back simultaneously and allows for up to 640 channels of SDI/Dante audio bridging within a single 2RU frame housing 10 cards.
AJA has also introduced the OG-ROI-SDI scan converter. The openGear-compatible card enables high-quality conversion of 3G-SDI input and Region of Interest selection to 3G-SDI and HDMI mirrored outputs. RoI support allows users to easily extract video source signals for scan convert, scaling and conversion to HDMI and SDI from SDI sources. It supports Ross Video DashBoard remote control and monitoring software.
AJA’s new firmware update Ki Pro Ultra 12G v2.0 introduces new input frame sync for genlock-free recording, and 8K link VPID to power 8K/UHD2 workflows when four Ki Pro Ultra 12G devices are used in tandem in 12G- or 6G-SDI mode. Ki Pro Ultra 12G is AJA’s single-channel 4K/UHD recorder and player or four-channel HD recorder, with flexible connectivity options including 12G-SDI, HDMI 2.0, optional fibre input and outputs, and Apple ProRes and Avid DNx codecs.
Commenting on the release, Nick Rashby, AJA’s President said: “Live production is booming as streaming becomes standard, more events pivot to a virtual format, and educational institutions implement distance learning. Developing a pipeline to support all the necessary requirements has historically proven costly and often inefficient, which is why we’ve developed Bridge Live in partnership with Comprimato.
“Combining AJA’s production-proven I/O hardware with the encoding/ transcoding power of Comprimato’s software, Bridge Live provides a more efficient way to manage end-to-end live production and delivery, while paving a simpler path to maximise content distribution revenue.”
Jiri Matela, CEO and co-founder, Comprimato added: “Bridge Live delivers one of the most cost-effective and feature-rich enterprise-level offerings on the market for live video encoding, decoding, transport and streaming. With the ability to encode and decode, rich metadata support and intuitive design, Bridge Live opens up new workflow efficiencies and content monetisation opportunities, among a host of other advantages.”
