OSLO, Norway—Appear will show how the combined power of its X Platform hardware and new VX software platform enables broadcasters to chart their own routes to the future of hybrid and software-defined live production during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Center.

Attendees visiting the Appear stand will see firsthand how the company is enabling a software-defined future in live production and how its future-proofed technologies have been engineered to handle the always-on world of services, content and data.

Appear will showcase the European debuts of its VX Media Gateway software solution and the X5, the latest addition to its hardware-based X Platform.

“Whether you’re backhauling UHD from a stadium or running a master control in the cloud, Appear’s new VX platform, its SRT solutions and ever-evolving X Platform features ensure that you can move pristine, low-latency, real-time media securely over any network and exchange it seamlessly between hardware and software services,” Appear Chief Technology Officer Andy Rayner said.

“These solutions demonstrate how Appear is enabling truly flexible live production so that operators can create high-quality programs entirely in software and do it wherever compute and storage are most cost-effective for their own individual business model.”

Appear’s new product launches and European debuts include:

• The latest addition to the X Platform, the X5, a compact, cost-effective solution engineered for high-value, smaller-scale live productions, delivering ultra-low latency, high-quality compression and superior IP media transport.
• The VX Media Gateway, a software solution for secure, scalable and future-proofed media processing on prem or in the cloud.  
• New capabilities for the X Platform, including the 100 Gigabits-per-second network card, a high-capacity module engineered for the next wave of bandwidth-hungry live production, seamlessly moving lightly compressed to fully uncompressed UHD or multi-HD feeds. It quadruples the X Platform’s network interface speed.
• The Appear Estate Manager (AEM), a new advanced tooling solution that gives users greater visibility and control of their X Platform deployments.

In addition to unveiling new hardware and software capabilities, Appear will use IBC 2025 to underline its role in evolution of the Media eXchange Layer (MXL). The VX Media Gateway has been designed from the ground up to support real-world media interchange between containerized software functions, enabling operators to deploy hybrid and cloud-native workflows that are low latency, vendor-agnostic and easy to orchestrate.

“MXL is simply the next logical step for live production,” said Rayner. “Broadcasters want to mix best-of-breed tools, and a lightweight exchange layer lets them do that without sacrificing latency or quality. Our VX platform is built for this world from day one, and all our software solutions will be MXL-compliant.”

See Appear at IBC2025 Stand 1.C61.

More information is available on the company’s website.

ATLANTA and LONDON—Synamedia today unveiled its Media Edge Gateway (MEG), an ATSC 3.0 software-based integrated receiver/decoder (IRD), with support for device security requirements specified by the ATSC 3.0 Security Authority (A3SA).

With MEG as a front-end device gateway, users can achieve cost savings of up to 80% when compared to a full system upgrade. The solution enables large broadcasters and station groups to take in over-the-air signals in one format, such as ATSC 3.0 or 1.0, and output in the other. Cable operators can use MEG to input ATSC 3.0 and output ATSC 1.0 in an existing facility. For remote monitoring needs, users can input over-the-air (OTA) signals and output IP, Synamedia said.

A3SA develops protocols for securing ATSC 3.0 services using IP-based encryption protocols, device certificates and rights management technology conforming to the ATSC 3.0 Security Standard. The device security approval process is a multi-party operational compliance effort, involving secure provisioning and thorough testing, it said.

“It’s been a privilege to work with innovators across the industry to bring secure, IP-based NextGen TV to life,” Joe St. Jean, managing director of A3SA, said. “Synamedia’s MEG makes it easier for broadcasters to meet content protection standards and supports broader adoption. It’s a strong contribution to the growing NextGen TV ecosystem.”

Synamedia purpose-built MEG as an all-in-one OTA, satellite and IP receiver. The solution can take in an ATSC 3.0/HEVC signal feed and output it as an ATSC 1.0/MPEG-2 signal, allowing users to prepare in advance for a full conversion to 3.0 streams, as well as robust remote monitoring, the company said.

“Security has always been at the heart of our business here at Synamedia, as has anticipating our customers’ future needs,” Elke Hungenaert, vice president of product management at Synamedia Video Network, said.

“When we originally launched MEG, it was one of the only IRDs on the market built with future proofing in mind because we knew the transition to ATSC 3.0 would be a marathon, not a sprint. These latest enhancements demonstrate our continued investment in our portfolio and we’re proud of the work we’ve done to support the ATSC 3.0 security ecosystem.”

More information is available on the company’s website.

OSLO, Norway—Appear has announced that it will introduce the VX Media Gateway at the 2025 NAB Show 2025 and that it will be showing the solution at its Booth W2042 between April 6 and 9.

Developed in direct response to customer needs, the VX Media Gateway enables broadcasters to optimize their media workflows by leveraging the power of hardware and the flexibility of software. This versatile, scalable, and highly secure software solution—part of the broader VX Platform—integrates seamlessly across on-premise hardware, cloud, and hybrid architectures, maximizing efficiencies and flexibility in media processing, the company reported.

“The VX Platform is a step-change for the industry, offering exceptional capabilities for handling the complexities that broadcasters are facing when it comes to balancing hardware, software and hybrid workflows,” said Thomas Bostrøm Jørgensen, CEO at Appear. “We know that our customers need efficient and future-proofed technology. The VX Platform gives the industry the assurance that investment today is also an investment for the future. We are developing industry-leading solutions in both hardware and software, ensuring our customers can build workflows that are scalable and can be tailored to all their needs, today and in the future.”

In announcing VX, Appear explained that it is a ‘living platform’ that has been engineered to evolve with the industry’s needs, delivering resilient and adaptable software-defined media processing capabilities. With a deep understanding of the shifting balance between hardware and software adoption, Appear has prioritized the development of the right solution at the right time. This strategic focus has ensured that the VX Media Gateway delivers unmatched reliability and scalability, seamlessly integrating with both existing infrastructure and next-generation workflows, the company said.

More specifically, the VX Media Gateway addresses the challenges of modern IP-based and cloud-driven media workflows with these features:

• Advanced Stream Resilience: Built-in seamless healing, AB failover, and alarm attributes ensure uninterrupted signal integrity.
• True Hybrid Workflow Enablement: Effortlessly moves media between on-premise data centres, private/public clouds, and distributed production environments.
• OpEx and CapEx Licensing Flexibility: Subscription-based OpEx and perpetual CapEx models, to better fit any business model and operational strategy.
• Optimized Network Utilization: Efficient bandwidth management and routing minimize costs while maximizing performance.
• Modular and Future-Proofed: Designed to evolve with future enhancements such as transcoding, NDI, JPEG XS, ST 2110 and the emerging cloud-native media exchange formats.

Mirroring the inherently flexible design of Appear’s X Platform, VX has been developed as a modular, API-first, compute-native software platform that can be rapidly configured and expanded, the company added.

As media workflows continue to shift towards cloud software environments, VX enables customers to future-proof their operations, providing a foundation for continued innovation in media transport, processing, and distribution.

“VX is more than just a product - it’s a living platform that will evolve as broadcasters’ requirements change,” said Andy Rayner, CTO at Appear. “It reflects the industry’s movement towards next-generation, software-native media workflows and, when combined with our X Platform, gives our customers an ecosystem that is unparalleled in its robustness, unwavering performance and adaptability. Service providers can now transition to IP workflows with complete confidence when the moment is right for them.”

Appear will showcase live demonstrations of the VX Media Gateway at Booth W2042 at NAB Show 2025. Visit www.appear.net for more details.

KAWASAKI, Japan—Media Links will highlight its 4K JPEG-XS version of the MDP3020 MAX IP Media Gateway at NAB New York 2022, Oct. 19-20, at the Javits Center.

Leveraging JPEG-XS’ high-quality image compression and ultra-low latency processing characteristics, the MDP3020 MAX is well-suited for live, remote production broadcast applications in which network edge bandwidths are typically constrained and time-sensitive, immediate interaction between the studio and venues is a necessity, Media Links said.

The MDP3020 MAX is a SMPTE standards-based gateway device designed to address the need for cost-effective, remotely configurable and protected 4K video-over-IP services at the network edge. The MDP3020 MAX processes up to two incoming 4K, 12G SDI video/audio streams by first applying JPEG-XS compression and then encapsulating this content into packets for transport over an IP network, it said.

Other features include:

• 10GbE/1GbE data port
• dual 10GbE optical interfaces to support network redundancy along with seamless protection switching (aka hitless media processing or SMPTE ST 2022-7)
• redundant power capability
• integrated frame synchronizer.

The seamless protection/hitless switching function operates on all media, including video, audio and data, and prevents signal disruption in the event of intermittent problems in any one of the two diverse IP network paths, it said.

TV media service providers and broadcasters are using the MDP3020 MAX IP Media Gateway around the world for sports and remote production environments. 

See Media Links in NAB New York booth 715.

More information is available on the Media Links website.

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.

MONTREAL—Video streaming and media management system provider Haivision has announced that its Media Gateway system is now available on Microsfot Azure.

Now on Azure, organizations can utilize the cloud to scale live video workflows with minimal IT intervention. The system provides ease of setup and commissioning, without putting a strain on the network at the source location.

The Media Gateway can be used in the cloud for transporting high-quality video using Internet connections; enterprise video distribution and broadcast backhaul and distribution.