PlayBox Neo has launched a new Media Gateway that allows the reception, transmission and conversion of a wide range of broadcast signals to simplify the everyday tasks of content delivery and distribution. Signals can be sourced from and converted to SDI, NDI, SRT, UDP or RTP. Media Gateway also has a Screen input which allows video and audio content to be grabbed from a desktop and delivered as live feed.
All uncompressed outputs and the encoder allow frame-rate, Up/Down and Cross conversion as well as aspect ratio conversion plus generation of black, bars and freeze on the output when there is no signal. Video can be delivered with an alpha channel where supported. Every input can be delivered to one or many outputs in the same domain. The IP decoder supports both Multiple and Single Program Transport Streams.
"Media Gateway is a software solution, based on the PlayBox Neo Suite platform, which can be installed on-premises or in the cloud," says PlayBox Neo CTO Stanislav Petkov. "It is designed to maximize efficiency by simplifying the daily tasks of media delivery and distribution companies.”
Media Gateway is equipped to perform a wide range of delivery and distribution tasks:
- SCTE-35 and SCTE-104 interstitial insertion cues are cross-converted and transmitted to the output.
- Closed captions are cross-converted between CEA608 and 708 and the frame-rate converted when required.
- Active format description data can be inserted into the baseband SDI video signal or compressed transport stream when required.
- Switching between uncompressed inputs or any uncompressed output is clean of any artifacts.
- A browser-based multiviewer displays video with audio bars for all inputs, including visual and audible alarms alerting operators to black frame, freeze frame and lost signal.
- Automatic changeover of the compressed transport stream, can be activated based on missing signal, under or over bitrate. Signal switching can also be performed automatically if black or freeze is detected on the decoded output.
- Black, bars or freeze frame can be generated on an output when there is no signal on an input.
- Automatic or manual switching of MPEG transport streams can be performed via switch groups including the ability to switch multiple streams at the same time. Every switch in an assigned group has multiple inputs and one output which can be sent to multiple streaming destinations. This allows switching of all main sources to backup sources or to an external feed, for example. Each switch group can have multiple switches.
- All inputs, outputs, encoders and decoders can be adapted to user needs through license update.
"Media Gateway extends our long-established ethos of maximizing broadcast playout efficiency by allowing as much as possible of the channel management process to be handled within a unified and operator-friendly graphic interface," adds CEO Pavlin Rahnev. "It allows the entire process of playout routing and decoding to be handled within a single workflow, removing the need for third-party signal processors which in turn saves on cost and frees up space in on-premises equipment bays."
Playbox Neo will demo the new gateway at Stand 8.C74 at the 2022 IBC Show at the RAI Amsterdam, Sept. 9-13.
