NEWARK, N.J.—Panasonic has announced Kairos, its next-generation live production platform offering an open architecture for live video switching, input and output flexibility, resolution and format independence, maximum CPU/GPU utilization and nearly unlimited ME scalability.
The COTS-based Kairos system offers native SMPTE ST 2110 IP support and enables live IP workflows. It can eliminate dedicated hardware constraints, the company said.
“Kairos is introduced as the content creation industry transitions to live IP workflows, requiring broadcast and event producers to think about how they will future-proof their productions and facilities,” said Michael Bergeron, Panasonic senior product manager for live production systems.
“With an ever-growing set of tools and hardware, producers need a comprehensive solution for multiple applications to break free of the boundaries of traditional hardware. As an IT/IP platform based on an open software architecture, Kairos takes the various components of a broadcast program and virtualizes them, so productions are flexible, dynamic and powerful.”
In television applications, Kairos integrates seamlessly into a facility’s existing ST 2110 infrastructure and requires no added IP gateways. At sports and entertainment venues and in live production situations, it enables staff with limited training time to deliver compelling content and set up complex systems via its customizable, user-friendly GUI, the company said.
Kairos features standardized IP connectivity rather than one-to-one video inputs and outputs, making it possible for the device to support baseband and IP signals in any combination. It offers uncompressed processing of SDI, ST 2110 and NDI streams of any resolution and in any format, including nontraditional formats like 32:9 for an LED display, Panasonic said.
The platform is GPU-based and allows users to allocate processing power with complete efficiency to achieve performance on par with larger hardware systems. Processing latency can be as low as a frame. Kairos also supports Precision Time Protocol (PTP) synchronization.
Kairos allows users to manage an unlimited number of layers and effects with ease via its GUI. Because video mix processing is GUI-based, there is no limit on the number of MEs or keys, as is the case with a traditional switcher.
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The new platform is centered on the KAIROS Core main frame, which is responsible for all video processing. The Version 1 main frame manages video I/O through a Deltacast gateway card and/or a Mellanox 100 GbE NIC (Network Interface Card) connection to COTS IP devices and SDI and HDMI gateways. Control is managed on devices operating over a separate Gbit Ethernet, including Kairos Creator, GUI software for set up and software-based control panel and Kairos Control, Panasonic’s premium quality 2ME style hardware control panel, the company said.
Panasonic also announced it has established a Kairos Alliance Partners program, which includes IP COTS hardware manufacturers and leading vendors of graphics, automation and media servers.
More information is available on the Panasonic website.
