Optibase, a provider of advanced digital video solutions, is showing for the first time a real-time professional MPEG-2 HD encoding for the PC, known as the MovieMaker 200 HD. It's designed for professional quality ingest of HD for broadcasting, video on demand (VOD), ad insertion, program initiation and post-production studios (and also for integrators on high-resolution military simulation of surveillance projects, but keep that to yourself).
Optibase is developing the HD hardware encoder in response to the rising demand for high-quality HD compression solutions from its existing client-base who have been tapping Optibase's encoding platforms for various services. ThirdWave Productions, an Optibase customer, said all of its productions for the past year have been HD, but the biggest bottleneck in the workflow is getting the HD video onto DVD or into a SD broadcast.
ThirdWave's normal procedure involves getting a down-res version of the HD content onto a Digibeta. Tweaking the video and using a real-time encoder comes next and that's time consuming and often expensive. The company said the MovieMaker200 HD will mean no more down resolution, no more transfers, and it will get to do the HD encode in-house on its own schedule.
The MovieMaker 200 HD board supports both HD and SD video input, with MPEG2 compression support at up to 80 Mbps.
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