Harmonic will showcase the new Electra X advanced media processor family and the Spectrum X advanced media server system, two game-changing solutions that are making their IBC debut. In addition to demonstrating the significant space and cost savings afforded by the new Harmonic MediaGrid ContentStore 5840 storage node, Harmonic will feature the ProView 7100, the […]
Harmonic will showcase the new Electra X advanced media processor family and the Spectrum X advanced media server system, two game-changing solutions that are making their IBC debut. In addition to demonstrating the significant space and cost savings afforded by the new Harmonic MediaGrid ContentStore 5840 storage node, Harmonic will feature the ProView 7100, the industry’s first single-rack, multiformat integrated receiver-decoder (IRD), transcoder and MPEG stream processor to support the HEVC standard, as well as the Harmonic VOS, a powerful software-based, fully virtualizable platform that unifies the entire media processing chain for broadcast and multiscreen distribution.
NEW Electra X Advanced Media Processor Family
At IBC2015, Harmonic will showcase its new fully converged platform for broadcast and OTT delivery of SD, HD and Ultra HD/4K content. As the world’s first encoder family to support graphics, branding and playout functionalities, as well as industry-leading video quality and full-frame UHD/4K live encoding, Electra X revolutionizes video delivery.
Featuring real-time encoding of SD, HD and UHD/4K media; integrated high-quality branding and graphics; and reliable transport stream playout, Electra X offers content and service providers market-leading video quality, unparalleled function integration and increased operational flexibility in a cost-effective appliance.
The family includes the 1-RU Electra X2, ideal for all SD and HD media processing applications, and the 2-RU Electra X3, designed specifically for UHD/4K encoding supporting formats up to 2160p60 (HEVC Main 10). Powered by the Harmonic PURE Compression Engine, the Electra X boosts video compression efficiency across an extensive range of formats and codecs including MPEG-2, AVC and HEVC codecs over CBR, VBR and ABR encoding schemes to support a broad array of devices, from handhelds to UHD/4K TVs.
NEW Spectrum X Advanced Media Server System
At IBC2015, the Spectrum X advanced media server system makes its European debut. Spectrum X elevates the industry’s most trusted server platform to new levels of flexibility, efficiency and reliability. Designed for production and playout applications, the Spectrum X media server system eases the transition to IP broadcast workflows by integrating SDI and IP I/O on the same chassis. The software-based system leverages Harmonic’s VOS technologies and combines file, baseband and transport stream ingest with comprehensive integrated channel playout capabilities, including graphics and branding, DVE, master control switching and audio mixing.
Supporting a broad range of SD and HD formats, and upgradable to Ultra HD, the Spectrum X system can operate as a true channel-in-a-box solution, as an integrated channel playout server or as a conventional I/O server connected to Spectrum shared storage infrastructure or internal storage.
The Spectrum X server is an easy-to-deploy, 1-RU ingest and playout system for up to four channels, that fits seamlessly into any existing broadcast infrastructure, and it can be operated as an SDI server within a conventional SDI infrastructure, an IP-based system or a hybrid of the two.
ContentStore 5840 for Harmonic MediaGrid Shared Video Storage
The new Harmonic MediaGrid ContentStore 5840 allows users of large-scale Harmonic MediaGrid shared storage systems to reduce rack space by two-thirds and achieve 30 percent cost savings on equivalent storage capacity. By integrating ContentStore 5840 storage nodes into new or existing MediaGrid installations, users can build larger, faster video file systems within a smaller footprint using fewer cable connections.
With the release of the new ContentStore 5840 storage node, Harmonic enables the largest media customers in the world to realize the performance and efficiency of the MediaGrid shared storage system in a low total-cost-of-ownership package. The ContentStore 5840 provides the bandwidth and capacity of five MediaGrid ContentStore 3000 nodes and offers users significant cost savings per terabyte.
The Harmonic ContentStore 5840 storage node compresses 15 rack units’ worth of conventional MediaGrid storage into just 5 RU and supports up to 360 TB of usable storage per chassis. The new 84-drive MediaGrid enclosure features redundant controllers, SAS fabric and power supplies; supports a choice of RAID 4 or RAID 6 configuration; and uses 4 TB and 6 TB SAS drive technology.
Harmonic VOS Virtualized Video Delivery Platform
The Harmonic VOS is a powerful software-based, fully virtualizable platform that unifies the entire media processing chain for broadcast and multiscreen distribution. Enabling the key functions of video delivery infrastructure including ingest, compression, graphics and branding, packaging and delivery on common hardware platforms, the VOS architecture leverages IT economics to enable content and service providers to simplify workflows, maximize flexibility, gain operational efficiency and lower their total cost of ownership.
The first products to take advantage of the VOS platform are the Electra XVM virtualized media processor and ProMedia X Origin multiscreen media server. At the heart of the VOS is the Harmonic PURE Compression Engine, an encoding module that provides groundbreaking video quality and bandwidth efficiency for SD, HD and Ultra HD formats; MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and HEVC compression over CBR; and VBR and ABR streams. By providing video content and service providers with increased operational flexibility, scalability and efficiency, VOS makes it easier and more cost-effective to deliver video content to a wide range of devices, while maintaining exceptional video quality.
ProView 7100
Harmonic’s ProView 7100 is the industry’s first single-rack, multiformat, integrated receiver-decoder (IRD), transcoder and MPEG stream processor to support the HEVC standard. As part of an end-to-end HEVC-based video transmission solution offered by Harmonic, the ProView 7100 enables video content and service providers to decode HEVC compressed streams up to 1080p60 resolution, maximizing bandwidth efficiency for broadcast service delivery while maintaining pristine video quality.
From a high-density 1-RU chassis, the ProView 7100 IRD platform offers broadcast-quality SD/HD MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC and HEVC decoding, in addition to MPEG-2 and AVC transcoding, to streamline workflows and decrease operating costs for video content and service providers. For applications where preserving the highest possible video quality is paramount, the ProView 7100 supports AVC HD and HEVC 4:2:2 10-bit decoding up to 1080p60. The HEVC decoding capabilities are available to new and existing ProView 7100 customers via a simple software update and license key.
