Pixel Power, the innovative supplier of broadcast graphics, playout and automation solutions, is using the celebration SMPTE technical conference to demonstrate its radical new approach to graphics and automation. The Pixel Power StreamMasterTM virtualized playout platform is already being implemented at leading broadcasters worldwide.
StreamMaster is a powerful new, software-defined playout platform, capable of running on dedicated devices on-premises, in data centers or in the cloud. Its flexible and scalable design makes it applicable to all broadcast and live streaming playout applications, from premium channels to pop-up services and trials.
The system is accompanied by the proven GalliumTM Automation playout software from Pixel Power. It also incorporates a full suite of graphics and effects with the Pixel Power signature quality and creative control, including realtime DVE and 3D graphics. Pixel Power uses the Amazon Web Services cloud to demonstrate the power of live mixing and graphics directly from the cloud.
The power of the graphics capabilities is further enhanced with the full functionality of PromoteTM, the Pixel Power software application that automates the creation and delivery of dynamic branding and promotions. The automatic generation of attractive and engaging promotional content can be applied to a single channel or it can boost a broadcaster’s branding by applying common design elements and look and feel across multiple channels. That gives the broadcaster the ability to update corporate elements or add special designs for seasonal campaigns or different languages quickly and securely across a network, with the minimum of operator intervention.
Promote reads data from the traffic system and realtime schedule to automatically populate graphics templates for promos and menus. These graphics are then rendered in real time with unrivalled image quality, along with associated audio. This is a business transformation in delivery: no longer do broadcasters have to create and plan every single event, involving complex work from multiple users. Now a single schedule dynamically controls not only content playout but also all the branding and promotion on the channel, and all the secondary events such as squeezebacks and coming next slugs.
“The real benefits from moving to a software-defined architecture come when you step back from the traditional way of doing things and take a fresh look,” said Mike O’Connell, executive VP of Pixel Power Inc., the company’s Grass Valley-based US operation. “That is how you achieve the real operational efficiencies.
“The Pixel Power approach – taking our market leading applications and building software-defined systems which really meet the practical needs of our customers – is gaining traction with broadcasters across the US and around the world,” he added. “The three days of the SMPTE event will give us time for detailed discussions to explain how virtualisation and the cloud will provide real, quantifiable benefits.”
