Grass Valley Group's Aqua Internet Encoder Takes Tools-Not-Toys Approach To Streaming VideoCompany leverages Emmy award-winning video expertise in design that offers signal conditioning, multi-rate, multi-bit, real-time streamingAnd it's winning praise from one of the best-known names in the IT industry. "The Grass Valley Group's Aqua Internet encoder promises the kind of high-quality experience that broadcasters and other premier content providers need to make broadband content delivery and commerce a success," said Dave Fester, general manager, Digital Media Division at Microsoft Corporation. Today's announcement marks a significant, evolutionary step in the on-going convergence of broadband and video technologies. With near-universal recognition of the power and potential of high-quality streaming video, there is also a growing understanding that the expertise for delivering on that promise lies outside the IT industry. The Grass Valley Group's history spans that of television itself: from black-and-white to high-definition broadcasting. With four technical Emmy® awards to its credit, the company works with preeminent content producers worldwide, including ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC, HBO, Echostar, DISH TV, USA Cable, ESPN Regional Television in the United States, the BBC, B-Sky-B, NTL, TV 4, and Emirates Media /Abu Dhabi TV in Europe and the Middle East, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, WIN TV, China Central TV, Zhejian Television, and Jiangsu Telecom in the Pacific. "We're getting phone calls from companies outside our traditional markets because of our work and reputation in the broadcast arena—and what they're saying is that they need tools, not toys for high-quality streaming video," said Tim Thorsteinson, president of the Grass Valley Group. "The Aqua encoder is the gold-standard technology they've been demanding." Tackling Technical Shortcoming, Boosting Workflow EffecienciesThe emergence of the Aqua encoder comes as streaming users face two different but interrelated challenges: overcome the technical shortcomings of conventional streaming approaches, and find a way to efficiently and economically integrate new technologies into existing workflows. On the technology side, today's users have three general-yet-unappealing choices: build a streaming system from scratch and incur the costs of finding professional-level expertise and components and of maintaining and operating a custom solution; invest in point products that address only part of the content-delivery process, whose capabilities and throughput are often limited, and which require integration into an existing infrastructure; or purchase an expensive service package that offers little customization and requires additional integration. The Aqua encoder combines support for the latest streaming formats of Microsoft, RealNetworks, and Apple with the Grass Valley Group's unique signal processing distribution technology and an innovative, simplified, and highly customizable user interface. The result is a system that fits established workflows, doesn't require expensive integration, offers high uptime and fault tolerance, and produces the best quality output possible. "As breakthrough technologies such as Microsoft Windows™ Media Audio and Video 8 set benchmarks for the delivery of the highest-quality audio and video in the smallest bandwidth, Aqua Internet encoder users can reap the benefits of improved quality and lower bandwidth costs," said Thorsteinson. One-Pass Encoding Technology Sets Aqua Encoder ApartThe key differentiator of the Aqua design is its One Pass Encoding™ technology, which provides comprehensive signal-cleaning tools during both pre- and post-digitization, including those for noise reduction, artifact removal, de-interlacing, and color correction. As a result, the Aqua encoder is capable of sustaining multiple, simultaneous, real-time, high-bit-rate encoding processes—and supporting streams from 28.8 kbps (simple audio) to 2 mbps (DVD-comparable video). Focused on real-time production, the Aqua encoder also provides some basic editing capabilities prior to encoding. Built for maximum flexibility and application-driven deadlines, such as those found in Web publishing and live environments, the Aqua encoder can operate in three distinct modes: lights on when a user is sitting at an interface, driving the controls; lights out, when the encoder is operating on its own, either executing jobs from the batch queue or looking for source material to appear and then encoding it; and crash encode, when it is being used in a pre-emptive mode for applications such as breaking news or high-priority, Web-based jobs which require the temporary suspension of normal operations. Anticipating the acute need for plug-and-play efficiencies, the Aqua design also features interfaces to rights management systems, the ability to increase throughput by using standard load-balancing software to distribute workloads, and the use of the Microsoft .NET framework to allow users to work directly with the encoder regardless of its location or the location of their materials. As well, the Aqua encoder will feature interfaces to various e-commerce and digital media publication and syndication applications. The Aqua encoder is based on hot-swappable, CompactPCI processors connected by a very fast 64-bit PCI backplane. Built to occupy no more than 12 rack units of a 19-inch rack, the Aqua encoder is designed for rugged transport. About The Grass Valley GroupThe Grass Valley Group knows more about high-quality video than anybody else—especially as video goes digital. The Internet. Digital cinema. Data-enhanced broadcasting. Interactive television. It's a world of Digicasting—one that demands Media Without Bounds™ solutions. Whether online or on the air, the Emmy award-winning Grass Valley Group, a privately held digital media leader, has the hardware, software, and new media technologies to get content wherever it needs to go. For the latest Grass Valley Group product information, visit www.grassvalleygroup.com. # |
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