WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—PlayBox Neo has shared new updates to its AirBox broadcast playout system’s 1U and 3U Neo servers and the IP-based Cloud2TV that are designed to provide additional operating features and increased connectivity.

As part of the update, AirBox Neo has added SRT output support. SRT is designed for fast and reliable file transmission at the application layer with User Datagram Protocol (UDP) as an underlying transport layer. This enables reliable and secure streaming of high quality content via the public internet, PlayBox says. SRT support also offers new Caller, Listener and Rendezvous modes that support connection to the AirBox Neo playout server for more than one location. There are also latency parameter controls and 128/256 bit AES encryption.

An integrated in/output application is also being introduced, which can be shared between AirBox Neo servers and Capture Suite. Connectivity features include NDI output, AJA output plug-in and AJA input plug-ins plus an HLS input. Simultaneous outputs can be delivered in a choice of video standards and frame rates. On the fly interactive control over any input/output plug-in is also provided.

In addition, PlayBox is offering a web-based multiviewer for AirBox Neo that accepts UHD/HD/SD sources and provides support for AJA, BMD and NDI protocols. The multiviewer includes a dashboard with a built-in resource monitor. Other new features include an NDI input plug-in, internal clock handling and a new device manager for handling live feeds.

PlayBox has also announced seven new enhancements for its Cloud2TV software-centric virtual channel playout system. They include:

• Auto import function updated with the ability to recognize files that are still under upload; 
• Auto import function automatically recognizes each media file and places it in a related container; 
• Purge task implementation automatically clears all deleted assets and media files from “default storage;” 
• Improvements to transcoding of files, with all newly created media files becoming “default” automatically; 
• Clear labeling of playlists that contain media files that have not been QC checked; 
• Audio normalization after QC check is now implemented for AirBox Neo playout; and 
• Password history implementation to prevent prolonged use of one password 

For more information, visit www.playboxneo.com.  

NAIROBI, KENYA & NEW YORK—Starting a television network is not for the faint of heart, even during economic boom times. But launching one during a global pandemic as a start-up in a country with frequent power outages takes “guts” to another level.

Yet that’s exactly what founders Jeff Schon and Jesse Soleil did with the New York City and Nairobi-based Akili Network. Kenya’s first and only 24/7, free-to-air educational kids network launched on March 31.  Akili Kids! broadcasts a mix of programming for the country's school-age and pre-school children.

CEO Schon and Soleil (president) moved from the United States to live full-time in Nairobi. The company’s CTO, Vincent Grosso, steers the technology direction for the start-up from upstate New York and Manhattan.

Akili Kids was conceived as a global operation from the start, with the team sharing programming and technical tasks. With input from multiple countries with multiple video file formats from multiple time zones, the executive staff at Akili knew their playout system had to be flexible, reliable and easy to use with headroom for creativity. And because of the sometimes unstable IP infrastructure in Kenya, the system had to withstand power outages and remain autonomous online if communication to the server broke down. 

With those parameters in mind, Akili selected the Cloud2TV virtual channel playout system from PlayBox Neo. Cloud2TV is a cloud-based software-as-a service system that enables broadcasters to operate their playout channels from any location on the globe via an easy-to-use web interface. 

One determining factor in the decision was the SaaS model and virtualization of server functions. With core engineering support for the server in Bulgaria (PlayBox Neo headquarters), Akili doesn’t need an engineering staff on site in Nairobi. The platform at a local data center in Kenya has full system redundancy and master control capability, which can be remotely managed from desktops in any Akili office. 

“Cloud2TV was designed, as our operations were, as a virtual remote operation from its inception,” said Grosso. “The data center in Nairobi where our Cloud2TV server is located, has power and internet outages, and it can be 58 hops from our New York City office. The command and control functions of the PlayBox Neo platform use little bandwidth and set the server to work autonomously for days or weeks at a time if necessary.  

“If this server and its software can work in Kenya, with the outages and unreliable internet, it’ll surely work in any location in the U.S.”

Van Duke, director of U.S. Operations for PlayBox Neo, was closely involved with the implementation. Grosso credits Duke’s integrity and communication skills for the successful product configuration and installation: “When you have a highly functional product from the minds of extremely bright engineers, you need a way to relay the customers’ needs back to the engineers so they can unlock the necessary functionality. Van put the Akili team together with the PlayBox Neo engineers to find the easiest way to use the software to do necessary station tasks quickly.”

The Akili Network team uses Slack, Zoom and Skype to communicate globally and instantly as a virtual team. The Akili Network’s tasks are well defined. Weeks before a scheduled broadcast, Soleil logs onto the New York content server to transcode files from content providers. Days before the content is to go on air, the scheduling manager in Nairobi, Anne Sato, completes playlists for the following week. At 10 p.m. Eastern Time, the night before each broadcast day, Grosso logs on to the PlayBox server to check tomorrow’s playlist one last time before air.

“The sun never sets on Akili. When the team in Kenya is asleep, we’re working in the U.S. and vice versa,” reports Grosso. “I can see this as a model for virtual broadcast teams in different time zones in the U.S.”

NEW YORK—After a European showcase at IBC 2019, PlayBox’s latest technology will find itself under the bright lights of New York City with a spot on the exhibit floor of the 2019 NAB Show New York, Oct. 16-17 at the Javits Convention Center.

PlayBox will demonstrate its complete PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box television branding and playout system with its latest software modules.

The Neo Channel-in-a-Box is available in 3U and 1U sizes, with the former able to support two HD channels or four SD channels, and the later supporting one HD or two SD channels. It can also be configured from a wide range of Neo-series software modules and optional accessories. The system enables users to perform tasks like content scheduling, promos, commercials, graphics preparation, subtitling and billing.

PlayBox also has the Cloud2TV, a system for content owners to create broadcast channels for transmission over digital terrestrial, satellite, cable or online media. In addition, both the Cloud2TV and Neo Channel-in-a-Box products support UHD, HD and SD and can be fully-automated.

PlayBox’s booth will be located at N246.

AMSTERDAM—PlayBox Neo is marking the European debut of its Cloud2TV channel branding and playout software at the 2019 IBC Show in Amsterdam, Sept. 13-17.

Available on a competitive subscription basis, Cloud2TV comprises a range of software modules that can be mixed and matched to handle any desired combination of channels, languages and time zones, according to PlayBox Neo CTO Stanislav Petkov.

“Cloud2TV is a coordinated solution meeting every conceivable playout challenge from a single-event channel right up to a round-the-clock global network,” he said. “Scalability and ease of operation are built in right from the start."

"Cloud2TV takes playout up to the next level in terms of new-start-up flexibility," adds CEO Pavlin Rahnev. "Fast and easy to deploy, it gives network operators the freedom to scale their activities with unprecedented precision while side-stepping the cost of holding reserve equipment on standby. Cloud2TV is also the perfect platform on which to deploy a disaster-recovery facility without the rental and staffing costs entailed in equipping and operating an off-site studio.

PlayBox Neo will also demonstrate the latest updates to its Channel-in-a-Box system, which comes complete with a dedicated server in a choice of 3U and 1U sizes. The server can be used on its own or in combination with others to support any desired number of channels. Each Channel-in-Box installation can be configured from a range of Neo-series software modules and optional accessories. Content scheduling, promos, commercials, graphics preparation, subtitling and billing can all be handled under fully automated control while retaining the freedom to insert live content after any currently airing file or, for a big-breaking story, to switch instantly to live pass-through.

PlayBox Neo's Cloud2TV and Channel-in-a-Box both support UHD, HD and SD and can be operated in round-the-clock fully-automated mode. Operators retain the freedom to make schedule alterations or insert live content between prescheduled content.

PlayBox Neo will be in stand 8.B71 at the IBC Show. For more information, visit https://show.ibc.org/.

LAS VEGAS—PlayBox Neo will arrive at the 2019 NAB Show ready to demonstrate the latest in its Channel in a Box range of modular channel branding and playout products, which will be highlighted by the U.S. debut of Cloud2TV.

Cloud2TV is an IP-based, software-centric media playout and branding system that can be deployed as a standalone device or to extend the scale and versatility of PlayBox Neo’s product range. The system is designed to allow channel owners to expand from traditional SDI delivery to hybrid SDI and IP streaming, to fully functional cloud transmission. Assembling, scheduling and transmitting content via terrestrial, satellite, cable or CDN can be done by a single operator.

The system is designed with the same modularity of other PlayBox Neo products to configure for a standalone OTT streaming channel to a multi-language, multi-timezone TV network. Specific application modules are assigned to content ingest, graphic editing, media browsing with metadata handling and clip trimming, quality control and verification, transcoding, playlist management and audit logging.

Additional features include the ability to transmit in fully automated mode while still being able to schedule alterations or insert live content; an intuitive, web-based user interface with administrator-adjustable rights assignment, channel management, action-logging and notifications; fast and on-demand channel launch; web-based access; and IP workflow.

PlayBox Neo is offering the Cloud2TV in three forms: Platform as a Service on a private cloud with CDN; Software as a Service on public clouds; and an on-premises turnkey system.

PlayBox Neo will showcase the Cloud2TV at its booth, SL11216, during the NAB Show. To register for the NAB Show, visit www.nabshow.com.