The Broadcast Engineering Pick Hit Awards are the longest-running and most prestigious technical awards in the industry. With a 23-year history, (the first Pick Hit Awards were conferred at NAB in 1984), it has become the most coveted technology award at both IBC and NAB. The judges are readers of Broadcast Engineering World Edition magazine and working professionals in the broadcast, post and network, and satellite industries. To protect the integrity of awards, they remained anonymous throughout the judging process as they searched the show floor for products that promise to positively impact the intended user's everyday work or represent a substantial improvement over previous technology. And the winners are:
The 2007 IBC Pick Hits judges:
Joe Barhoush,
CEO, General Electronic Services
Pierre Jaspar,
SVP, technology and operations, HBO Latin America
Lars Rickart Jensen,
Technical manager, Danmon Group
Ingino Manfre,
Broadcast video consultant
Keith Nicholas,
Broadcast consultant
Ian Nock,
DTV technologist and consultant, Blackarrow Consulting
Scientific Atlanta
PowerVu D9858
+32 56 445 445
www.scientificatlanta.com
The integrated receiver/decoder receives DVB-S and DVB-S2 MPEG-4 H.264 HD transmissions and transcodes to an MPEG-2 output for use in existing MPEG-2 equipped headends; includes PSI/SI regeneration and Dolby Digital decode for audio monitoring.
Sony
PMW-EX1
+44 1256 355 011
www.sonybiz.net
New to the XDCAM range, this SD/HD camcorder records to SxS ExpressCard media; uses 1/2in 1920 × 1080 sensors, and records long GOP MPEG-2 up to 35Mb/s; includes a 14x Fujinon zoom lens; offers IT-friendly MP4 file recording to advanced creative features, such as selectable gamma curves and “Slow & Quick Motion” capability.
BEL Digital Audio
BM-A2-E8SHD
+44 20 8644 4447
www.beldigital.com
This 2RU audio monitor is capable of monitoring both discrete HD/SD multichannel audio and decoding Dolby E and Dolby Digital sources; the eight demuxed audio channels can be selected directly from front-panel rotary controls; the monitor also displays Dolby metadata; accepts 2xSDI and 2xAES sources; automatically detects between SD or HD video, displaying the video format on the LCD display.
SAMMA Systems
Solo
+39 6 87201495
www.sammasystems.com
A compact turnkey system for the migration of videotape archives to digital files; in real time, it can simultaneously create four digital files, including Motion JPEG2000, MPEG-2, H.264 and Windows Media; for larger libraries, up to 16 systems can be coupled.
Miranda
JAZZ-800
+44 1491 820000
www.miranda.com
A single/dual-channel universal signal processor; provides up-, down-, cross/ARC and HD/SD standards conversion, plus A/D and D/A, in a 1RU chassis; signal processing includes motion adaptive noise reduction and Dolby E decoding; features options for logo insertion and DVI monitoring output.
Harris Videotek
QuiC
+44 118 964 8000
www.broadcast.harris.com
The media analysis server is a fully automated, filebased test and measurement platform that verifies the quality of compressed digital content; it can automatically detect, report and repair audio and video content files within the server network without human intervention, providing measurable, improved quality standards.
Grass Valley
Ignite
+33 1 34 20 70 00
www.grassvalley.com
The integrated production solution handles everything from news to live event programming; provides a central management point that links the newsroom and control room; includes a robotic camera system, broadcast automation, and optional audio and video switchers.
RED Digital Cinema
RED ONE
+1 949 206 7900
www.red.com
The modular camera features super35mm-size sensor with 12 megapixels; can capture RAW 4K RGB images at 12-bit resolution at frame rates up to 60fps; outputs include 4K, 2K plus 1080p/720p HDTV formats; the PL mount allows a standard cine lens to be used.
Leader
LV58SER04
+31 40 2 645 345
www.elquip.nl
Allows the Leader LV5800 multimonitor to decode and display MPEG-2 compressed DVB-ASI signals as a video waveform, video vector or rastered image; can decode HD and SD signals and display the transport stream bit rate, ETSI ETR-290-compatible errors, PSI, PAS and PMT.
Grass Valley
Infinity
+33 1 34 20 70 00
www.grassvalley.com
The HD/SD digital media camcorder captures using three 2/3in CMOS imagers and records to integrated REV PRO and CompactFlash media or external devices; supports DV25, Infinity JPEG2000 and MPEG-2 compression schemes; features USB and FireWire ports to connect standard IT peripherals and a GigE port allowing file transfers into a storage and post-production network while the camera is recording.
Teranex
mini
+44 1296 424510
www.teranex.com
A DTV format converter that can convert SD video to and from HD in real time; its small form factor enables applications such as HD field monitoring and conversion of SD camera and graphics sources to HD; processing includes aspect ratio conversion, deinterlace and noise reduction.
CloseVU
Producer
+1 617-418-3477
www.closevu.com
This mobile content producer provides a complete toolbox for the processing of SD or HD video to suit the requirements of mobile phones and video podcasts; it can zoom in to frame the action and transcodes to mobile formats; Smart Zoom advanced technology computes all the proper framing parameters, focuses on the action, and fine tunes and stabilizes the images for a natural camera view that fits a mobile screen.
Harris
HD-STAR
+44 118 964 8000
www.broadcast.harris.com
A portable, battery-powered, handheld HD-SDI and SD-SDI video and embedded audio generator, and video and audio monitor; the 320 × 240 color LCD display uses a touch screen and stylus to control and configure; designed for field troubleshooting of HD and SD signals paths; includes a video test signal generator, color monitor, waveform monitor, vectorscope, serial data analyzer, and an audio analyzer and monitor.
Mirifice
Mirimon
+44 1225 460 126
www.mirifice.com
Monitors service quality as delivered to the viewer; parameters measured include audio and video quality, user operations (channel change, EPG navigation), and channel bearer quality; information is reported via standard network management systems and stored in a relational database for comprehensive report creation.
Snell & Wilcox
iCR 2.5
+44 23 9248 9000
www.snellwilcox.com
Automatically repurposes content for distribution on multiple platforms; introduces real-time QC functionality; can automatically verify video and audio quality and create comprehensive QC reports; enables users to create high-quality, error-free digital masters of their content and then repurpose these for distribution on multiple, revenue-generating platforms.
TSL
MDU-12PM series
+44 1628 676 200
www.tsl.co.uk
A power manager mains distribution unit with Ethernet control, latching relays and e-mail alerts; provides the systems administrator with the ability to monitor remotely over a LAN or WAN the status of all broadcast equipment housed within a rack, no matter how geographically remote the hardware.
MOG Solutions
Toboggan MediaTransfer
+351 22 940 8224
www.mog-solutions.com
An automated solution to move MXF files to an Avid workgroup; a standalone version can be used with laptop editors; the workgroup version ingests directly to Avid MediaManager or Interplay; offers its users a simple one-touch solution, with hot-folder and hot-swap modes that trigger the transfer process in a fully automated way.
eventIS
CAPTIS
+31 40 248 8176
www.eventis.nl
The transport stream recorder can capture and store seven days per transport stream with a capacity of five streams for later analysis of problems; recordings can be exported to a variety of media, such as DVD, local network and the Internet, for offline analysis with any MPEG/DVB transport stream analyzer.
