When Imagine Communications announced last fall that it was acquiring Pixel Power from Rohde & Schwarz, the company said its main goal was to “broaden Imagine’s live production ecosystem and playout offerings via integration of Pixel Power’s software-defined, deploy-anywhere platforms.” This week, Imagine President Steve Reynolds updated TV Tech on how the integration is progressing.

Of particular importance to Imagine is Pixel’s playout and multiviewer solutions, two parts of the production workflow chain Reynolds thinks are key to expanding the company’s presence in these markets.

“Imagine has been in the playout business pretty much since the playout and automation business started all the way back to when we were Harris, and it's always been a really important segment for us,” he said. “We like to be in those mission-critical operational systems, the things that our customers depend on day in and day out in order to run their business.

“Those are the kind of products that Imagine has really focused on as we made the transition from a hardware centric company—which is what Harris really was—towards the software centric company that we are today,” Reynolds added.

The Power of a Combined Solution
The acquisition of Pixel Power, Reynolds says, will not only help strengthen its current playout solutions portfolio—which include ADC, Versio and in more recent years, the Aviator orchestration platform—but also expand its geographic footprint, Reynolds said.

“Pixel Power—which is a company that we have competed with for years—has built a really great solution for the European public broadcaster space, where they had a lot of success,” Reynolds said. “With customers like TV2 in Norway, SVT in Sweden, the work that they've done with the German public broadcasters, the work that they've done with TV5MONDE in France, they had a really great customer base around those public broadcasters.”

The two main products Pixel had built its success on in this market, according to Reynolds, were the company’s Gallium automated multiplatform content management solution and StreamMaster platform for realtime graphics and control. Combining automation plus a media server “really formed a nice bundle for anybody that's in that kind of public broadcast space,” Reynolds said.

“Pixel had done a good job of winning market share with those [national broadcast] customers, so the reason we wanted to acquire Gallium and StreamMaster was really aimed at that market segment,” he added. “We saw the success that they had in that segment, and as we continue to move forward with investments in Gallium and StreamMaster, it's going to be focused, at least initially, in Europe, to continue to build on that customer base.”

Reynolds said the combination of the two created a powerful and sophisticated graphics solution for Pixel Power, which was beating Imagine when it came to bidding for business with European broadcasters.

“Imagine was bidding on a lot of those same projects, and Pixel Power was winning,” Reynolds said, “And one of the things that we consistently heard is that the graphics package that is in StreamMaster is a top-tier integrated graphics package that a lot of those national broadcasters were leveraging because it had the capabilities that they needed not only to be able to do the 2D graphics—which Imagine already had—but they had some more advanced capabilities to be able to handle some 3D and to be able to handle a lot of the kind of the more advanced and more sophisticated on-air look that that those broadcasters were looking for.

“They had a sophisticated graphics package that was integrated into a playout system that met all of the criteria—it supports all the formats, it supports all of the different resolutions, it supports all the ingest workloads that those guys need,” he added. “So it had it checked all the boxes on kind of the basic set of competitive features. But it also added in that higher power graphics.”

Scaling Up
The second product Imagine was keenly interested in was multiviewers, specifically Pixel’s Prismon platform, which is designed to scale up to support hundreds of channels. This large-scale type of monitoring platform was high on Imagine’s shopping list, according to Reynolds.

"Imagine has always been in the multiviewer business, but we had a different focus—we were more on the production multiviewer side of things,” Reynolds said. “[Imagine’s] SNP was intended to be a production multiviewer, very low latency, very high quality, but not large scale.”

Integrating Prismon into Imagine’s multiviewer product line gives Imagine the ability to build facility-scale, multiviewers, especially in production facilities, turnaround facilities including satellite and cable operators, or in large scale, playout operations where there's dozens or even hundreds of channels being played out of the same facility, Reynolds said.

“So we now have multiviewer offerings for large scale and for smaller scale, low latency, and that would be in OB vans, production galleries, or control rooms at a sporting venue, where the number of feeds that you're dealing with is 10, 20 or maybe 30.”

Reynolds said Prismon helps Imagine respond to more market demands for integrated solutions. “What we realized was we really need to have a product in our portfolio that lets us create that fully bundled solution, because increasingly, that's what the market wants to buy,” he said. “It's the same thing as with the playout solution, right? The market wants an integrated solution, they don't want to have to build, or have to be their own systems integrator. They want to buy something that is integrated. And so Prismon filled that gap for us.”

The timescales for building new media production facilities has been declining for years, according to Reynolds, another reason for increased interest in integrated solutions.

“The idea of having these multi-year facility builds… that's in the past,” Reynolds said. “And in many cases now, we're looking at time frames that are measured in months between the time somebody acquires rights and they want to be on air. And that's what's really driving the demand for these fully integrated solutions. Customers want to know that it's already been tested, it's already been integrated, and you can deploy it quickly, easily and within a set of budget constraints to get on air.”

The acquisition of Pixel Power was completed at the end of 2025 and Reynolds said not a lot will change in terms of what existing customers should expect, including keeping the product names.

“That's why we bought them, we like the products, we like the differentiation of those products, they fit well within our portfolio, and they give us something new to offer to the customers that want to buy that kind of solution,” Reynolds said.

NAB Show Plans
Imagine’s booth (N1328 in the North Hall of the LVCC) at the NAB Show, April 19-22 in Las Vegas, will reflect this expanded market focus, according to Reynolds. Among the highlights will be the company’s cloud-based XVR playout engine, which was introduced at the 2025 IBC Show.

Gallium StreamMaster will be demonstrated running on COTS and its expanded multiviewer portfolio will be highlighted, including advanced automation features such as intelligent monitoring, automated audio/video issue detection, and “penalty boxing,” which elevates problem signals for immediate operator attention.

"The other thing you're going to see is this kind of fully integrated solution of gateways—the ability to use the SNP as the gateway between the SDI and IP world, and to do format conversion with JPEG access and things like that, directly into ingest,” Reynolds said. “And we'll be using the new XVR engine, which is the Linux-based ingest engine with multiple playout systems. So you'll see StreamMaster, XVR, and Nexio all sitting side by side in a kind of a multiserver environment.”

COLOGNE, Germany—Video systems integrator and consultancy Qvest Group has named Thorsten Sauer as CEO, effective Jan. 15.

Sauer, who succeeds Peter Nöthen, was most recently CEO of Pixel Power and vice president of media technology at its former parent company, Rohde & Schwarz. He will also be named CEO of RSBG Information Communications & Technologies, the majority shareholder in Qvest within the RSVG Group.

“Qvest has established itself as a trusted global partner for technology-driven transformation projects,” Sauer said. “Our next step is to bring the strengths of the individual group companies together even more consistently, enhance operational excellence and further improve profitability. I am very much looking forward to shaping this journey together with the leadership teams at Qvest.”

Sauer brings to Qvest more than 20 years of executive leadership experience in the information, communications and media technology sectors, Qvest said, with a strong track record in growth strategies, transformation initiatives, mergers and acquisitions and postmerger integration. “We are delighted that Thorsten Sauer, with his experience and knowledge, has been appointed to take over the management of Qvest,” RSBG SE CEO Markus Bohni said. “His strategic tasks will be to further integrate the group after years of international growth and to secure profitable growth.”

Sauer will continue to be supported by a pair of long-serving Qvest managing directors, Chief Financial Officer Christian Boris Hönig and Chief Technology Officer Thomas Müller. The three executives will form Qvest’s leadership team and steer its strategic development, the company said.

Former CEO Nöthen resigned from the company’s management board in the fourth quarter of 2025, Qvest said.

DENVER and MUNICH—Imagine Communications today announced its plans to acquire Pixel Power Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Rohde & Schwarz. Financial terms of the transaction were not made public.

The transaction “represents a strategic alignment for both companies, enabling Imagine to offer broadcast customers the most extensive portfolio of live production and playout solutions on the market while allowing Rohde and Schwarz to focus on its core operations in Test & Measurement, Technology Systems, and Networks & Cybersecurity,” Imagine said.

The acquisition is expected to close in 2025 and is subject to customary closing conditions.

Imagine and Pixel Power have a shared vision for the IP- and cloud-based future of broadcast and digital streaming markets, Imagine said.

“This strategic acquisition enables Imagine to immediately broaden its live production ecosystem and playout offerings via integration of Pixel Power’s software-defined, deploy-anywhere platforms — bringing together complementary approaches, technologies, and engineering expertise that will provide customers with deeper integration possibilities and a broader set of tools to meet every need,” the company said.

The addition of Pixel Power’s PRISMON multiviewer, which delivers powerful master control and cloud capabilities, will complement the ultra-low-latency production capabilities of Imagine’s popular SNP Multiviewer and enable Imagine to offer the most comprehensive portfolio of IP and IP-hybrid multiviewer solutions available on the market.

With a development team based in Cambridge, England, Pixel Power has a rich history in graphics and playout workflows and advanced multiviewer and monitoring systems. Imagine will maintain the Cambridge facility, combine Pixel Power’s existing support with Imagine’s care and services team, and support all current global customers and the installed base for Pixel Power’s PRISMON, Gallium, and StreamMaster platforms, Imagine said.

“We are proud of the achievements of Pixel Power, and we are confident that Imagine is the right home for their continued growth and expansion," said Thorsten Sauer, CEO of Pixel Power and VP Media Solutions of Rohde & Schwarz. “This move allows us to focus more deeply on our core operations and customer base while ensuring that we pass the reins to a new owner who cares deeply about our customer base and will take the business to the next level.”

"We’re excited to welcome the talented Pixel Power team to the Imagine family," said John Mailhot, Senior Vice President, Product Management at Imagine Communications. "This acquisition enhances our ability to deliver innovative, business-driving solutions for our customers, and we’re proud to continue building on the strong foundation established under Rohde & Schwarz."

“This alignment not only opens up exciting new opportunities to scale our innovation but also ensures customers benefit from more tailored solutions, improved support, and a stronger foundation for evolving workflows,” added James Gilbert, Deputy CEO of Pixel Power. “Our team is energized by the possibilities ahead and ready to help in shaping the next chapter of broadcast technology.”

Pixel Power, a Rohde & Schwarz company providing broadcast playout solutions, has announced five new hires:

Aurelia Znakowa has joined Pixel Power as chief financial officer. A qualified accountant with a degree in business with law and an MBA from Cranfield University, she was most recently director of finance at Blacktrace and helped oversee the company’s acquisition by California biotech brand Unchained Labs.

Stuart Russell joins as the company’s new marketing manager. Russell has 13 years of marketing expertise in the media production industry, with high-profile brand, marketing and communications roles with Videndum (formerly the Vitec Group) and Ross Video.

Asad Shah was hired as project engineer, bringing extensive practical knowledge on delivering premium content. He has spent 15 years leading teams in major playout and master control centers for large service providers and holds a degree in media technology from the University of Salford.

Stephanie Leroux is Pixel’s new project manager, tasked with keeping her team on track with project and development deliverables. Originally from Metz, France, Leroux has a master’s degree in applied physics from Metz University. She has lived in the U.K. for 20 years and has about as many years of experience working in the media industry in both engineering and project management roles.

Ehren Stowers was hired as product manager for Pixel Power’s automation and monitoring lines. Stowers started his career as a presentation director in his native New Zealand before moving to London and holding equivalent jobs with BBC and Red Bee Media, before taking on the role of product manager at Red Bee.

“Our mission is to help our customers gain competitive advantage by using our technology to optimize their content creation and delivery,” Pixel Power CEO Thorsten Sauer said of the new hires. “Given his expertise, Stuart will help tell our story as Pixel Power embarks on this new chapter. Asad and Ehren each have invaluable experience in what our customers do and can talk on equal terms, helping us to focus our products and continue developing the right solutions. Stephanie’s project management expertise will ensure we meet our key development deadlines. Welcome, too, to Aurelia, whose financial acumen and detailed business experience will be vital to the ambitious growth plans we are putting in place.

“The reorganized and rebranded Pixel Power is already showing new energy and agility, and I’m sure our customers will be excited by this new direction and the innovative solutions that will accompany it,” Sauer said.

MUNICH, Germany—Regional German broadcaster Südwestrundfunk (SWR) has deployed the Rohde & Schwarz Pixel Power graphics and playout solution.

Based in Baden-Baden, Germany, SER is part of the German federated ARD consortium. It provides the primary playout facilities for its own channels and other southern German broadcasters, including Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR), Hessischer Rundfunk (HR) and Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR).

SWR chose a software-defined playout replacement for its existing playout infrastructure as it reached its end-of-life. Having graphics and branding integrated into the solution was a key part of SWR’s strategy.

“In our search for a modern playout solution, we wanted a solution that is truly future-proof, flexible and highly scalable,” said SWR project matter Udo Fettig. “Gallium and StreamMaster are our chosen solutions providing all necessary information in one graphical user interface, without restrictions. We could lay the system out to suit all our operational workflows.”    

The broadcaster required the ability to manage live events and schedule breaks as well as add live graphics, ranging from lottery results to severe weather warnings. The new system also offers a text-to-speech function to meet the needs of the visually impaired in emergencies, Rohde & Schwarz said.

The Rohde & Schwarz Pixel Power Gallium and StreamMaster software applications run on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. They can operate on premises, in the cloud or as a hybrid, the company said.

They also support remote access. SWR has already run output with the solution’s channel controller from a home office location without sacrificing the flexibility and interactivity needed for live breaks and unscheduled events, it said.

More information is available on the company’s website.

MUNICH—Rohde & Schwarz will spotlight integrated end-to-end media workflows and software-upgradable transmitters during IBC 2022 in Amsterdam at the RAI, Sept. 9-12.

The company will conduct multiple live demos of its platform-agnostic studio production, playout and transcoding capabilities to underscore its support for customers with a clear migration path from SDI through IP and the cloud, it said.

The company with Pixel Power, which R&S acquired in 2018, will demonstrate its studio production, post-production, delivery and distribution solutions with the agility to adapt to changing market dynamics, it said.

Pixel Power will feature playout, branding and automation workflows on the show floor via the AWS public cloud and also demo its on-premise solution. A portfolio for playout and transmission suites with integrated, software-defined, virtualizable PRISMON monitoring and multiviewing is now available in one system, the company said.

Rohde & Schwarz also will partner with Qualcomm Technologies to illustrate how the companies are advancing 5G Broadcast/Multicast with a full end-to-end live streaming demonstration during the show. The demo will deliver content to smartphone devices and highlight advanced live Broadcast/Multicast capabilities over 5G, it said.

R&S will present its software-upgradable TV transmitters along with new 5G Broadcast technologies and also will unveil a new transmitter, it said.

See Rohde & Schwarz at stand 7.B21.

More information is available on the company’s website 

CAMBRIDGE, U.K.—Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting Company will deploy 19 Pixel Power StreamMaster software-defined graphics, playout and channel branding systems to replace its existing Pixel Power Clarity and LogoVision systems.

A Rohde & Schwarz company, Pixel Power offers StreamMaster BRAND as a virtualizable, software-defined unit for playout branding along with a single CREATE device, a virtualizable software application for creating graphics templates, the company said.

“We needed updated graphics capabilities that allowed us to tie into our asset management system to create dynamic and fully automated graphic overlays for our national networks. After testing against two other Tier 1 graphics vendors, StreamMaster was the only platform that gave us a complete workflow, including master control for channel branding, within one platform,” said Weigel vice president of technology Kyle Walker.

“We know firsthand just how robust and reliable Pixel Power’s technology is, and with these StreamMaster BRAND devices we now have the capability to take our branding to a new level of sophistication," he continue. "Being a software-defined solution also gives us future-proof flexibility to add new features as they come along or move to the cloud.” 

StreamMaster BRAND is easy to deploy in single or multi-channel broadcast playout environments. Built to support a wide range of automated graphics playout and channel branding needs, StreamMaster BRAND enables live lower-thirds, bugs, promos and other branding, the company said. 

Requiring no operator intervention, StreamMaster BRAND can be triggered by station automation, relying on a set of defined rules to determine what content is inserted. The new StreamMasters will integrate seamlessly with Weigel’s proprietary automation system, which was modified to control them, the company said. .

More information is available on the company’s website. 

CAMBRIDGE, UK—Pixel Power has announced that it has joined the SRT Alliance, the open-source initiative dedicated to overcoming the challenges of low-latency video streaming, and that it has integrated SRT into its StreamMaster suite of software products.

“We have fully integrated Open SRT into our StreamMaster integrated playout software,” said James Gilbert, CEO of Pixel Power. “SRT does what its name suggests – it provides a secure way to transport content over the public internet, minimizing the effects of packet loss and other impacts on the circuit. That is why it has rapidly become a mainstay of online connectivity for professional video. As a codec-agnostic standard, it gives Pixel Power complete flexibility to match our solution to the requirements.” 

The SRT Alliance, founded by Haivision in April 2017, already has more than 500 members. 

StreamMaster is a suite of software products that allow a user to build master control playout and automation solutions to their precise needs. It includes pre-packaged offerings for specific tasks like branding and promos, or allows the user to configure up to a complete channel playout system. StreamMaster is software-defined and can be deployed on-premise, in a data center or in the public cloud, using the same software, same license and with identical performance. 

“By joining the SRT Alliance, Pixel Power is part of an industry movement to improve the way the world streams video,” said Suso Carrillo, director of the SRT Alliance for Haivision. “This provides active support to the movement for the world’s biggest broadcasters and enterprise streaming workflows, recognizing it as it becomes the de facto standard for low-latency internet streaming.” 

CAMBRIDGE, U.K.—Pixel Power has supplied WFMJ, the NBC and CW affiliate for Youngstown, Ohio, with its StreamMaster PRIME platform to assist with a graphic rebrand. WFMJ is swapping one Pixel Power platform out for another, replacing its previous LogoVision graphics generator with the StreamMaster PRIME. 

StreamMaster PRIME is a turnkey appliance that is implemented in software running on COTS hardware. It can provide replacement for individual devices in a traditional master control and playout architecture, it also supports SDI I/O for integration with existing infrastructure.

At WFMJ, StreamMaster PRIME runs largely automated, taking data from the station’s BTI system and displaying news ticker, Lotto results, school closure information and election data. The StreamMaster Control Toolbox, a software application included with StreamMaster PRIME, is used for control and template design.

Pixel Power says that StreamMaster PRIME can be updated as needed, with the possibility of serving as part of a virtualized, IP connected playout system when WFMJ is ready to make that transition.

“StreamMaster PRIME is precisely what we needed,” said Bob Flis, chief engineer at WFMJ. “We could unplug the old system, plug in the new and it carried on working perfectly. We were used to high-quality graphics from our old Pixel Power system, and this keeps up the great look. StreamMaster is software defined so it is future proof, we can add new functions as our need evolves.”

CAMBRIDGE, U.K.—Pixel Power has introduced StreamMaster Prime, a turnkey appliance designed to replace individual devices in a traditional broadcast architecture, such as master control switcher, video server and graphics inserter.

“Many of the broadcasters we talk to have told us that they are not yet in a position to move to an all new, software-defined playout architecture, but that individual items in their legacy systems need replacing,” said Pixel Power CEO James Gilbert.

StreamMaster Prime provides a single appliance, connecting via SDI, as a plug-and-play replacement for end-of-life hardware, he added.

Software licenses for the new product can be transferred so that when a broadcaster migrates to a new architecture the license can be transferred at no added cost, said Gilbert. 

Available now, StreamMaster Prime can operate autonomously, with hardware or via software UI control panels.

The product is “a standard appliance” with enough processing power to run software that’s likely to be needed, he said.

More information is available on the company’s website.

CAMBRIDGE, U.K.—Pixel Power has brought Sarah Deas onto its head office team to provide internal sales support to sales teams at the Cambridge headquarters as well as regional offices in North America, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

Pixel Power says that Deas’ expertise in sales support is imperative during the customer consultation process and all the way through deployment.

“I am delighted to be joining Pixel Power right now as the business grows in the playout automation and non-linear content delivery market,” said Deas.

For more information, visit www.pixelpower.com.  

New product specialists join from broadcasters to enrich customer understanding

Cambridge, 7 October 2019: Underlining the importance of its solutions business, Pixel Power has added two new product specialists to the team. Tanya Schurawel and Toria Farrell both come direct from broadcasters, and will use their unique insights to help customers develop optimised solutions for automated production, graphics and playout.

Tanya Schurawel joins from Univision in the US, where she was most recently technical supervisor, animator and designer. With her strong technical and creative background, Tanya – who will be based in Florida– will engage with customers during the pre-sales period, ensuring their complex requirements are identified and satisfactorily met with Pixel Power’s virtualizable, modular systems.

Toria Farrell was previously a transmission controller at Red Bee Media/Ericsson. Toria began her career at the BBC as an EPG scheduler, and her career has seen her act as network director and playout director. Toria was a key member of the transmission launch team for the BT Sport launch in 2013, and became a senior playout director in 2015. She has worked within many client transmission areas from uktv and ITV to Channel 4, BT Sport and BBC World News. Based in the Pixel Power headquarters in Cambridge, she will work with customers to define software and virtualized playout solutions which enhance their businesses.

“As playout moves from large hardware installations to the almost infinite capabilities of software-defined, virtualizable solutions, broadcasters need to look at their operations and workflows afresh,” said James Gilbert, CEO of Pixel Power. “Vendors have an important role here, in translating a broadcaster’s business needs into innovative, practical and affordable technologies and workflows.

“Tanya and Toria, because of their extensive and current experience in broadcast and online transmission, are great assets in these discussions,” Gilbert added. “I’m delighted they have joined the Pixel Power team, helping us – and our customers – go from strength to strength.”

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About Pixel Power, a Rohde & Schwarz Company
Pixel Power develops software-defined, virtualizable, solutions for broadcast playout, automation, master control, graphics & branding used in linear television channels, OTT and VOD. Our award-winning branding and promotions systems, graphics-enabled master control switchers and sophisticated switchable graphics production systems allow producers to deliver dynamic live and pre-recorded content for any SD, HD, 4k, mobile, online or interactive application.

Pixel Power has 30 years’ experience of engineering prowess and dedication to customer support that has made it the industry’s first choice in graphics, branding and playout. With more than 2500 installations worldwide, customers including market-leading broadcasters such as BBC, Ericsson, ITV, SWR, WDR, TV2 Norway, Danmarks Radio, TV5 Monde, CBC, Disney, Discovery, ESPN, ViaSat and Sky.

Recently acquired by Rohde & Schwarz GmbH, Pixel Power corporate headquarters are in Cambridge UK with regional offices in Grass Valley California and Dubai UAE.

Pixel Power can be contacted online at www.pixelpower.com.


Pixel Power Contact:
Name: Ciaran Doran
Title: Exec VP
Email: cdoran@pixelpower.com
Tel: +44 7775 581301

PR Contact:
Name: Jennie Marwick-Evans
Company: Manor Marketing
Email: jennie@manormarketing.tv
Tel: +44 7748 636171

IBC2019, 13-17 September, Stand 7.A05:Pixel Power has today announced it will be adding uncompressed IP playout capability, based on the SMPTE ST 2110 family of standards, to its already well established StreamMaster playout technology. The development comes as a natural progression of incorporating new standards within its software defined technology platforms: StreamMaster Media Processing and Gallium Workflow Orchestration. Like all StreamMaster and Gallium functionality, SMTPE ST 2110 will be supported as software solutions whether on-premise or virtualized in a data centre.

“While we believe SMPTE ST 2110 is certainly the right long term direction, there is still mileage in standards such as ST 2022-6, since broadcasters like the similarity to existing SDI architectures,” said James Gilbert, CEO, Pixel Power. “Our new generation of playout and delivery products, including automation, graphics and branding are based on the StreamMaster Media Processing technology platform that can be easily updated using only software. The flexibility of IP-based, software defined playout and automation platforms are really showing their worth – that’s why we are currently deploying them with major national broadcasters around the globe.”

The SMPTE ST 2110 Professional Media Over Managed IP Networks suite of standards is a major contributing factor in the movement towards one common IP-based connectivity protocol for the professional media industries. The foundation for the SMPTE ST 2110 standards is Video Services Forum (VSF) Technical Recommendation for Transport of Uncompressed Elementary Stream Media Over IP (TR-03). The SMPTE ST 2110 standards suite specifies the carriage, synchronization and description of separate elementary essence streams over IP for realtime production, playout, and other professional media applications.

Pixel Power has a history of breaking new ground and was responsible thirty years ago for taking broadcasters into the world of PC-based graphics systems as they rapidly grew their channel count. As a first to market with live virtualized playout in the cloud in 2015, Pixel Power also took the first steps in showing broadcasters the power and convenience of workflows based on IP transport streams and application virtualization. At IBC2019, Pixel Power will show how broadcasters can benefit from moving to fully software defined solutions for production, playout, automation, branding and graphics.

Pixel Power can be found at IBC2019 (Amsterdam, 13 – 17 September) in its regular position in Hall 7, Stand 7.A05.

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About Pixel Power
Pixel Power provides innovative graphics production and integrated playout delivery systems for broadcasters, outside broadcast truck companies, playout facilities, post production houses, venues and sports complexes. Our award-winning branding and promotions systems, graphics-enabled master control switchers and sophisticated switchable graphics production systems allow producers to deliver dynamic live and pre-recorded content for any SD, HD, 4k, mobile, online or interactive application.

Pixel Power has 30 years’ experience of engineering prowess and dedication to customer support that has made it the industry’s first choice in graphics, branding and playout. With more than 2500 installations worldwide, customers including market-leading broadcasters such as Al Jazeera, BBC, CBC, Disney, Discovery, Ericsson, ESPN, Sky, ViaSat and WDR.

With corporate headquarters in Cambridge, UK, and with regional offices in Grass Valley, California and Dubai, UAE, Pixel Power has a global organisation and is supported by a well-trained and focussed distributor network.

Pixel Power can be contacted online at www.pixelpower.com.

Pixel Power contact:
Name: Ciaran Doran
Title: Exec VP
Email: cdoran@pixelpower.com
Tel: +44 7775 581301

PR Contact:
Name: Jennie Marwick-Evans
Company: Manor Marketing
Email: jennie@manormarketing.tv
Tel: +44 7748 636171

Recognising that the transition to highly automated, software-defined broadcast and media solutions can be challenging, Pixel Power has added to its head office team two new staff with enormous practical experience to provide support and guidance to achieve the optimum result for customers. Malorie Delaporte joins as solution manager; Neil Wren joins as pre-sales product specialist.

Malorie Delaporte has more than 20 years’ experience in broadcast, having worked on the operational side of presentation and playout as well as in engineering. Her most recent role was as head of system engineering and head of contribution at global channel TV5 Monde, based in Paris.

Neil Wren joins from Screen Subtitling, where he was international sales manager. At Pixel Power he will engage with customers during the pre-sales period, ensuring their complex requirements are identified and satisfactorily met with Pixel Power’s virtualizable, modular systems.

“We have to acknowledge that the move from bespoke hardware to software-defined architectures, and from SDI connectivity to IP, can be challenging, and it is vital that key vendors are closely engaged with their customers, ensuring that the proposed solution does what they want, in a way which they can operate it,” said James Gilbert, CEO of Pixel Power.

“For the vendor, this means having the resources in place to provide the reassurance to our customers, from initial enquiry through the lifecycle of the system,” he added. “Malorie comes to us from the French-speaking global television network, TV5 Monde, where she implemented a sophisticated Pixel Power playout network. Neil brings a wealth of technical and commercial experience that puts customers at ease when discussing highly advanced projects.

“I am delighted to welcome Malorie and Neil to Pixel Power, and to the new levels of support and understanding they will provide our customers,” Gilbert said.

Pixel Power will be presenting its IP-connected, fully virtualized playout and automation systems at IBC2019 (Amsterdam RAI, 13 – 17 September) on stand 7.A05.

Cambridge, UK 28 May 2019 : Pixel Power, the global automation, branding and graphics innovator, is working with with Qvest Media, the leading global media systems architect, to bring its playout and automation systems to Qvest.Cloud, a multicloud management platform for media.

“Qvest.Cloud from Qvest Media is an ideal environment for our virtualized approach to automation”, said James Gilbert, CEO of Pixel Power. “For many reasons, broadcasters are keen to adopt hybrid workflows that blend cloud and on-premise hosting of fully integrated systems. That is precisely what Qvest.Cloud brings to the table: it means our clients can create their own bespoke workflows and use whichever cloud providers deliver the right service for them.”

Pixel Power, with its 30-year dedication to the media industry, has used its experience to develop a uniquely powerful and flexible approach to automation. It is built around two key elements: StreamMaster for video and graphics processing, and Gallium for workflow and playout automation. Their functional block architectures mean implementations can be fine-tuned to achieve optimal performance for each specific use case. StreamMaster and Gallium together build solutions which are inherently virtualizable and cloud-agnostic.

As well as fully-featured channel playout, the Pixel Power architecture also allows for powerful functionality such as the automated creation of VOD assets for catch-up channels, and the automated creation of trailers and promos. The company has long offered its automation technology on pay-as-you-go and pay-per-feature licensing models, which fit perfectly with Qvest.Cloud.

Qvest.Cloud radically simplifies the implementation and management of fully virtualized architectures using best-of-breed products. By networking third-party applications into a single, integrated workflow in a multicloud environment, it makes it simple to operate rich solutions from a single dashboard, breaking down the barriers between on-premise installation and private and public clouds.

“Pixel Power playout and automation solutions are designed to take full benefit of the cloud, and therefore fit perfectly in the Qvest.Cloud ecosystem”, said Thomas Müller, CTO at Qvest Media. “Our aim is to offer customers from the broadcast and media industry a platform that is scalable and cost-efficient, with proper ready-to-use packages and custom-tailored enterprise solutions.”

James Gilbert of Pixel Power concluded: “We have always believed that the transition to IP was simply an enabler on the road to tailored, operationally significant and extremely cost-effective solutions for our customers around the world. We are excited to be working with Qvest Media to offer broadcasters and media companies the chance to transition to modern, software-centric technology supporting their own requirements and their own pace of change.”

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About Pixel Power, a Rohde & Schwarz Company

Pixel Power develops software-defined, virtualizable, solutions for broadcast playout, automation, master control, graphics & branding used in linear television channels, OTT and VOD. Our award-winning branding and promotions systems, graphics-enabled master control switchers and sophisticated switchable graphics production systems allow producers to deliver dynamic live and pre-recorded content for any SD, HD, 4k, mobile, online or interactive application.

Pixel Power has 30 years’ experience of engineering prowess and dedication to customer support that has made it the industry’s first choice in graphics, branding and playout. With more than 2500 installations worldwide, customers including market-leading broadcasters such as BBC, Ericsson, ITV, SWR, WDR, TV2 Norway, Danmarks Radio, TV5 Monde, CBC, Disney, Discovery, ESPN, ViaSat and Sky.

Recently acquired by Rohde & Schwarz GmbH, Pixel Power corporate headquarters are in Cambridge UK with regional offices in Grass Valley California and Dubai UAE.

Pixel Power can be contacted online at www.pixelpower.com.


Pixel Power contact:
Name: Ciaran Doran
Title: Exec VP
Email: cdoran@pixelpower.com
Tel: +44 7775 581301

PR Contact:
Name: Jennie Marwick-Evans
Company: Manor Marketing
Email: jennie@manormarketing.tv
Tel: +44 7748 636171

Content management is a key part of the broadcasting workflow and nowhere is this more apparent than in the operation of playout. Ensuring the right content is played out at the correct time and with accurate details is essential. Reliable, virtualized broadcast playout solutions are critical—and they’re here.

One company that has been developing the software for such virtualization is Cambridge, U.K.-based Pixel Power. Originally known for its powerful graphics and branding solutions, the company had the foresight some years ago to appreciate how its technology could be used beyond the production of on-screen content.

“The transition from the graphics side is about how we perceived an industry trend in terms of a need,” explains Ciaran Doran, executive vice president, sales and marketing for Pixel Power. “Take promo production as an example. There is often a need to produce a large number of variants. Maybe up to 50 versions of the same promo. The old way would have seen post-production produce all the finished versions and then place them in a queue for playout. Using our technology, that operation is automated, which allows the production of multiple versions of trailers and promos with accuracy and high productivity.”

The technology allows a broadcaster’s team of graphics designers to concentrate on creative work, designing new campaigns and brand material rather than repetitive, manual end-board re-works.

This switch to the new way of working involves building a graphics template—that had been agreed to by all departments—that contains all relevant elements. Those elements—visual content, voice over, time, day—can be pulled automatically from the relevant files and drawn into the template and the resultant file inserted into the playlist.

“By using an agreed template, the material will appear in the right format, the right font, the right color, the right position on the screen and so on,” says Doran. “What’s more, by retrieving the information from data in the EPG or schedule, then you have actually pulled what is coming up next with its date, time and any relevant information. So, if what is ‘coming up next’ changes, then you are displaying the correct information at that right time. In effect, you have evolved from a post-production function to a just-in-time function.”

POWERFUL HARDWARE

So, how has this technology evolved?

“When we first started doing graphics and branding software there wasn’t the computer power available off the shelf. So, we built our own powerful hardware to drive the software applications. Now, with the huge expansion in the IT world, we’ve got COTS (commercial off the shelf) hardware that is powerful enough for us to simply buy-in and drive our software.”

“But,” Doran adds, “there is more to consider. If there’s COTS hardware available, then software has to be developed that can run on anyone’s server, and the server can be in the broadcaster’s facility, in a remote office or it can be run in the public cloud.”

Doran explains that by building the software from the ground up, functionality could be included that allows broadcasters freedom to use specific features or blocks of features as required with flexibility that was never possible before.

“For example, it’s the same software regardless of whether you have the machine sitting in the rack next to you or in the public cloud. It’s the same license. And we do not discriminate in any way between where you use that software and that license.”

If a broadcaster wants to start off with its own hardware, Pixel Power will charge the same for the license even if later there is a move to COTS hardware or deployment in the public cloud, they will even help with the transition.

Doran continues: “Replacing bespoke hardware with COTS and using a pure software platform offers very real benefits to before. New features can be more easily deployed over the lifetime of an installation as they are needed. As one example, we deployed the latest NDI codec within a short period at the end of 2017 for a customer who said we’d really like this facility. That’s one benefit of our common platform—we don’t have to worry about what hardware is being used—and, more importantly, neither does the customer.”

FLEXIBLE FACILITY

Another significant benefit of the Pixel Power technology is the provision to acquire or use specific features of the software as and when required.

“Many users of traditional hardware only use about 60 percent of the features for 40 percent of the time,” states Doran. “So why install a solution that’s a permanent feature when it’s either never used only just used occasionally? With a flexible software solution like ours, a broadcaster can get access to a feature that is not needed all of the time, it can add on that facility for a determined length of time—whether that is by the quarter or by the hour. Our software is very granular and very flexible—indeed our pricing models include pay-as-you-go, pay-per-feature, OPEX or CAPEX.”

One broadcaster that has seen the benefit of the Pixel Power developments is Virgin Media Television (formerly TV3) in Ireland.

“In an increasingly competitive market, the broadcaster wanted to increase the vigor and prominence of its branding and promotions across all its portfolio including SD, HD and multi-platform outputs,” says Doran. “Recognizing that this could best be accomplished through automated conforming and fulfilment of graphics, the company investigated our solution.”

The result was the introduction of Pixel Power StreamMaster BRAND. The system, which comprises the latest software solution running on COTS hardware, manages content across multiple channels and formats and delivers the power of the graphics engines. Using a single workflow and schedule, the system enables the automatic selection and insertion of the right graphics version at the right time and the right channel, as well as managing the squeeze-backs, and allowing different branding content in the SD and HD streams.

“Virgin Media purchased StreamMaster BRAND to enable it to deliver graphics and branding right at the point of playout. So instead of preparing a fully finished graphic, or sequence, the creative department creates a template on which all the elements are then built moments before going to air. This ensures that any changes in the schedule results in new graphics prepared accordingly.”

Another customer is Sky Creative Agency within Sky Television. It implemented Pixel Power’s Factory automated production technology using the well-known Clarity graphics platform and Gallium Workflow Orchestration.

Sky’s commissioning tool provides all the data required for Factory to track and produce promo versions from the assets provided by the broadcaster’s creative and design teams. Using its own compositing, DVE and graphics capabilities, Factory generates all the versions completely automatically. Because it is driven by the information entered into Sky’s commissioning tool, which in turn is linked to their scheduling system, errors in transmission times, channels, sponsors and so on, are eliminated.

“Sky started out with its simpler promotions, but were soon able to include the highly complex Sky Sports promos and other services,” reveals Doran.

Once Factory receives a set of instructions it generates all the versions, faster than real time, and delivers them as technically compliant files to the broadcast MAM system.

“Using Gallium FACTORY, Sky can create hundreds of different versions of the same promo,” explains Doran. “Once the ‘creative’ completes the compelling promo in 10, 20, 30, 45 second versions, Gallium FACTORY uses a database to fetch all the correct and relevant information to create the multiple versions of Now, Next, Later promos.”

SECURITY

Although all Pixel Power software solutions can be used on hardware at the broadcaster’s facility, it can also be deployed at a remote data centre or be used in the pubic cloud. And that raises the question of security.

“Broadcasters have taken this seriously and are continually bringing in that expertise. Look at the number of jobs that are being advertised for both IT engineers and cybersecurity individuals. Cybersecurity is a very real issue in many fields and broadcasting is no different. In many parts of the world, broadcasting is political power and we have seen in recent times how hacking into those systems can do an awful lot of damage,” points out Doran.

Although Pixel Power doesn’t currently offer cybersecurity, the company which recently acquired the business—Rohde & Schwarz—has built up a huge cybersecurity division to support customers in all its markets.

The two companies will remain separate entities, with the Cambridge operation now known as “Pixel Power Ltd. – A Rohde & Schwarz Company.”

“Rohde & Schwarz wants to protect the Pixel Power brand and benefit from it,” notes Doran. “What we are achieving is way ahead of others and we have strong sales growth these last few years. But despite being technically advanced and having a long and trusted reputation, it is sometimes difficult for a major broadcaster in one part of the world to say, ‘yes you are ahead of the game, but you are a small company based on the other side of the globe.’ Rohde & Schwarz helps us to give us that stature to move into new markets.”

WAY FORWARD

Doran concludes: “The transition from SDI to IP in the last few years is simply changing from one form of transport stream to another—but the key is that it enables us to virtualize the software applications. All our solutions, whether a simple graphics tool or a full master-control/automation/playout suite with sophisticated branding can be virtualized. Virtualizable software applications enable new opportunities, such as hardware on your doorstep or in the private or public cloud. And using the cloud creates a paradigm shift because it changes the way in which broadcasting can take place.

“If you can operate applications from the cloud, then you don’t need a bespoke facility. You can use less expensive office facilities and as long as you have a fast-enough pipe to wherever your data is, wherever your content is, wherever your playout system is, then you can manage all of that in a cloud-based system. This will be the major transition in broadcast playout over the next 10 years. Broadcasters are already discovering the enabling potential of virtualizable solutions and preparing to move to less expensive locations. With technology like ours, you can manage content from just about anywhere.” 

LAS VEGAS—Pixel Power will arrive on the NAB Show floor this year ready to introduce the North American market to two of its virtualizable software products: CREATE and StreamMaster PRODUCE.

CREATE is designed to create graphic templates, while PRODUCE helps deliver graphics in real time and can support multiple channels and operators. The two products are based on Pixel Power’s two technology platforms, StreamMaster Media Processing and Gallium Workflow Orchestration. These platforms allow for live cloud and fully integrated automation systems for linear channel playout, OTT and VOD.

Utilizing the StreamMaster Media Processing for video, audio and graphic processing, and Gallium Workflow Orchestration for automated asset creation or playout, the new software can support multiple Pixel Power products. Among these is the Gallium PLAYOUT, an integrated and scalable platform for scheduling, asset management and playout automation, and StreamMaster DELIVER, an integrated playout engine for linear and OTT channels, which together assist with content delivery and can be implemented in the machine room, the data center or the cloud.

Other Pixel Power products using the new software include the StreamMaster BRAND branding and graphics playout engine and Gallium FACTORY, the file-based content packaging platform that generates clips, promos or trailers through intelligent graphics templates.

Pixel Power will display these products at its booth, SL7613.

To register for the NAB Show, visit www.nabshow.com.

MUNICH, GERMANY—Rohde & Schwarz today announced the acquisition of Pixel Powel Ltd., a step in its plan to expand its position as a leading source of broadcast playout solutions.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Pixel Power CEO James Gilbert and CTO Nick Wright will remain in their current roles.

Pixel Power’s product lineup includes broadcast graphics, master control and integrated playout systems for use by linear TV broadcasters and playout facilities delivering mobile, online and OTT video-on-demand content.

While playout, branding and master control technology complement R&S’s existing product portfolio, it’s Pixel Power’s development in recent years of IP-based solutions that virtualize those functions in a public or private cloud that seems to have motivated the acquisition.

"We've introduced more software-based IP products that can be virtualized, and that's really caught the imagination of the market. That starts to paint a picture of why an organization like Pixel Power became attractive to a company like Rohde & Schwarz," said Ciarán Doran, Pixel Power EVP global sales and marketing to Jenny Priestley, a reporter with sister publication TVBEurope.com.

According to R&S, its acquisition means existing Pixel Power customers can be confident an established, highly stable technology group stands behind the company, an essential element of forging long-term partnerships and protecting the investment of customers in Pixel Power products.

"With the acquisition of Pixel Power we are significantly expanding our Broadcast & Media portfolio with new and exciting solutions,” said Cornelius Heinemann, R&S head of transmitter and amplifier systems, file-based media solutions. “Together we can combine the software-defined technologies and virtualized environments to offer customers the very real benefits that they provide in broadcast playout and VOD markets."

With the purchase, R&S has renamed the company Pixel Power Ltd. – A Rohde & Schwarz Company. 

AMSTERDAM—The Pixel Power Factory software will take up space on the IBC 2017 show floor, as the automation, branding and graphics developer has come out with a new application for it.

The new Factory automated file-based production software will demonstrate the creation of all assets required for a multi-platform video on demand or catch-up service. Factory allows for a VoD service to be created in advance, with each version tailored to a specific rule set.

Pixel Power built Factory on its Gallium workflow orchestration platform. This interrogates the playout automation system to determine what content needs to be prepared for VoD, the pulls the assets from archive or secondary storage. The resulting content is prepared and loaded into the VoD server for immediate access at the pre-set time.

Factory can also be used to create additional broadcast assets like trailers and marketing content.

Pixel Power will demonstrate Factory from its booth, 7.A31, during IBC 2017.

LAS VEGAS—Virtualized playout and automation systems from Pixel Power will be on hand at the 2017 NAB Show, including its Stream Master media processing and Gallium workflow orchestration for virtualized and cloud implementations. These systems integrate Pixel Power’s sophisticated graphics, DVE and channel branding capabilities to maximize audience engagement and retention.

Stream Master

Pixel Power’s Factory, which adds a layer of intelligence to its Clarity graphics engine can also be expected. Together, these systems work with media management processes to automatically generate large quantities of promos, trailers, and other promotional and marketing content, saving considerable production time and effort.

With Pixel Power products, users can choose between capital and operating expenditures, purchasing licenses or a pay as you go model, and having discreet appliances versus virtualization in a data center or in the public cloud.

The 2017 NAB Show takes place in Las Vegas, April 24-27. Pixel Powerwill be in boothSL8320. For more information, visit www.nabshow.com.

Pixel Power is demonstrating the StreamMaster virtualized playout platform, its new approach to graphics and automation. StreamMaster is a 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 broadcast and live streaming playout applications, from premium channels to pop-up services and trials.

The system is accompanied by Gallium Automation playout software from Pixel Power. It also incorporates a full suite of graphics and effects, including real-time 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 graphics capabilities offer full functionality of Promote, the Pixel Power software application that automates the creation and delivery of dynamic branding and promotions. The automatic generation of 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.

Pixel Power is exhibiting in booth 316.

GRASS VALLEY, CALIF.—Pixel Power has set up shop in Grass Valley, Calif., opening a new office—which includes sales, pre-sales and support—to boost its support to the U.S. market.

Mike O'Connell

“This new headquarters for American operations brings us closer to our markets’ broadcasters and producers who need rich, real-time graphics for sport, automated content production and virtualized IP playout,” said Mike O’Connell, executive VP at Pixel Power.

O’Connell will lead the team in the new office, which is located at 13457 Colfax Highway, Grass Valley, Calif., 95945.

TORONTO—Pixel Power is heading off to ASPEN, the growing industry coalition on IP, not the popular ski resort. The manufacturer of broadcast automation, playout and graphics technology is the latest company to join the ASPEN Community, which features more than 30 companies that have adopted the ASPEN framework.

ASPEN stands for Adaptive Sample Picture Encapsulation and is a standards-based, open format that moves uncompressed UHD, 3G, HD and SD signals over MPEG-2 transport streams. The ASPEN framework helps transport separated video, audio and metadata as independent IP multicast streams.

Pixel Power joins fellow ASPEN Community members like AJA, Broadcast Pix, ChyronHego, Edit Share, Evertz, For-A, Hitachi, I-Movix, Matrox, Neutrik, Ross Video, Tektronix, Time Warner Cable SportsNet, TV2 and Vizrt.

HAMILTON, N.J.—Integrated production systems offer an easy and affordable way for virtually anyone to produce multicamera HD show and even stream live to online viewers.

Since they pack the functionality of a control room—such as multicamera switching, robotic camera control, keying, effects, audio mixing, CG, multiviewers, virtual sets, video playout, encoding and streaming— into a compact, user-friendly system that one person can operate, they’ve taken hold in non-traditional video settings like education, corporate and worship.

INTEGRATING THIRD-PARTY TECHNOLOGY
With powerful new features—like automatic camera switching, IP-driven workflows and seamless integration with Skype and cloud storage—these systems are starting to make inroads in the broadcast space.

One reason that adoption by broadcasters has been slow is that—with end-to-end functionality in one box—they haven’t been able to integrate best-in-class third-party products the way they’ve always done in video control rooms.

Discovery Channel uses Mobile Studios PortaCast HD flypack consoles. But with the introduction of NDI (Network Device Interface) by NewTek at the 2015 IBC Show, third-party integration is now possible with some integrated production systems. NewTek, which offers its flagship TriCaster and other integrated production systems, offers the license for free to any developer who downloads the SDK to make their products NDI-capable.

In doing so, any NDI-enabled device can now see any other NDI-enabled devices that are plugged into a standard Gig-E network, such as graphics systems, replay devices, storage devices, laptops, switchers and cameras. Switchers can select any of these sources as part of a multicamera production. A TriCaster, for example, will be able to choose sources between physically connected cameras and/or other video sources available over IP on a local area network. Companies ranging from AJA and Blackmagic Design to Matrox and Chyron-Hego have announced compatibility with the protocol.

“NDI is bidirectional, so all NDI-enabled sources on the same LAN are equal,” said Scott Carroll, director of public relations for the San Antonio-based company. “They can see and be seen to create interoperability between third-party systems and connect via a single Ethernet cable. Whether they’re next door or miles away, it’s frame-accurate, with less than a frame of latency.

NDI also lets production facilities maximize their SDI investments, such as broadcast cameras, while migrating to an IP workflow, according to Carroll. “We believe that IP workflows are the future of multicamera video production, and with NDI, we’re enabling that reality sooner rather than later.”

INTEROPERABILITY
Australian vendor, vMix, integrates NDI into its 4 and 8 input Go integrated production system. The Go enables switching, processing, recording and streaming of up to 4K-video. This turnkey system integrates built-in graphics, replay, text, DVR, and virtual sets, in a case small enough to fit in the overhead storage on a plane.

“NDI is an open technology that’s leveling the playing field for all of us,” said Eric Pratt, Sales Engineer for US Broadcast, which is the North American Distributor for vMix. “It’s making life easier by enabling interoperability without occupying an I/O connector.”

“Having a single operator control the entire production may not be best for every production,” Pratt says, “NDI lets our users break out various vMix functions, like replay, titling, and graphics, and put them on separate laptops so other operators can run them.”

“Then their graphics, replays or titles show up automatically as a source,” Pratt added. “You don’t have to be using a NewTek device to make this work, any NDI compatible product will integrate. A lot of companies are jumping on the bandwagon, and I expect big buzz about it at NAB.”

OFFERING A CHOICE
James Gilbert, CEO of Pixel Power, points out that integrated production systems limit customers to buying just the tools that have been built-in, so they’re locked in to buying everything from a single vendor.

“If you don’t like the graphics tools that have been built in to the integrated production system, it’s hard to swap that out for something you like more,” Gilbert said. “Broadcasters are used to choosing best-of-breed systems, but if you go down this integrated path, if something isn’t working well for you, you need to make sure there are hooks that allow you to substitute something else into your workflow.”

Offering choices to integrated production users is a key part of Pixel Power’s strategy, according to Gilbert. “We’re making our core graphics technology available as a plug-in that can work within integrated production systems,” he said.

Graphics, including live, multilayered 3D and channel branding, has been Pixel Power’s core competence for nearly 30 years. Its latest software products, Pixel Factory and StreamMaster are suitable for IP file-based workflows. Pixel Factory, which delivers the impact of Clarity, is software that runs on standard IT servers in file-based workflows. StreamMaster, which is integrated playout software with graphics and branding capabilities, can be virtualized on servers at data centers or in the cloud.

Grass Valley Ignite is a software-based integrated production system that allows a single operator to manage a control room full of devices for live newscasts and event programming.REMOTE CONTROL OVER IP
At Broadcast Pix, Product Manager Tony Mastantuono says that operational and labor cost pressures are driving the higher end of the video business to take a closer look at their multiconfigurable Flint and other integrated production systems.

“As our systems get more powerful, economical, and compact, they’re realizing they no longer have to move a 50- foot trailer with a skilled multiperson crew for every event,” Mastantuono said. “They can leave Flint at their master control, and just send a small crew with a flypack to shoot the video and send it back live to the studio. Then Flint can be used to remotely control the production over an IP network, which is one of the ways it helps keep production costs down.”

With its multitiered IP approach, Flint also streams directly to the Internet while simultaneously recording, allows access to media and files from cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft One Drive, as well as the ability to incorporate Skype calls and PowerPoint presentations into live productions. The system also offers wireless control via a tablet.

Earlier this month, Broadcast Pix announced that it had joined the ASPEN Alliance, an IP-based protocol backed by Evertz.

VIDEO TO GO
With its PortaCast HD flypack consoles— which house components by such vendors as NewTek, Ross, Panasonic, For-A and Sony—Mobile Studios makes it easy for integrated production systems to be set up quickly.

“We’re seeing growing demand for our systems as people in many vertical markets—such as corporate and education—recognize the importance of producing and distributing their own video content,” said Rich Rubin, president of Mobile Studios, in Deerfield Beach, Fla. “In the age of IP video distribution, even small to mid-sized companies need to use video strategically to promote themselves and their products and services in order to stay relevant and competitive.”

PortaCast Deluxe features a hinged lid that supports multiview monitors, a pullout drawer that provides a switching control surface, a bench that doubles as storage for cables, and built-in storage for up to 22 rack units of components.

The waterproof, shockmounted case can be wheeled over steps or into a van using an optional aluminum PortaRamp for easy transport.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES
Integrated production systems are breaking down barriers and allowing talented video producers—regardless of budget—to enter the live production market, according to Rush Beesley, president of RUSHWORKS, in Dallas.

“When you factor in affordable cameras, lightweight LED lighting panels, green-screen and channel-in-a-box playout, you now have much of what you need to run a robust, 24/7 TV channel for under $75K,” he said.

RUSHWORKS offers VDESK multicamera pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) production systems with 4, 8 or 12 SDI/analog inputs starting at $7,500. It also offers control of most PTZ cameras, HD/SD production and streaming, remote control using a tablet over a wireless network, and Talk- Take automated video switching intelligence based on active microphone detection.

RUSHWORKS is integrating the Blackmagic Design Micro Studio 4K camera with its next generation PTX pan & tilt head. The solution will be on display at the NAB Show, controlled by VDESK and also by a DMX lighting console.

SOFTWARE-BASED
Continuing the trend towards crew consolidation, Grass Valley Ignite is a software- based integrated production system that allows a single operator to manage a control room full of devices for live newscasts and event programming. When Ignite automation is paired with the GV Stratus Digital Media Platform (DMP), broadcasters have an integrated production workflow for distributing content efficiently across multiple platforms, such as TV, Web and mobile.

“DMP automates the newscast beyond traditional on-air TV, and eliminates the need for human intervention to prepare complex, ad-supported content for multiplatform delivery,” said Ed Casaccia, senior director of product management/digital media and workflows for Grass Valley in Montreal.

“When a news story airs during a live newscast, it may consist of many elements, such as an on-camera intro, field report, Broll with a voice-over, graphics and an on-camera wrap-up,” Casaccia added. “DMP marks the in and out points of that entire news report, treats all of those components as a single segment, and then automates its delivery to the Web and mobile.”

There are also additional processing capabilities, such as the ability to replace embargoed content, like a few seconds of sports action with a suitable alternative, such as a scoreboard graphic. It’s also possible to dynamically insert different ads into the online versions, and even “hyper-localize” the ads based on zip codes or other criteria.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIF.—As the industry readies itself for the move to IP, Pixel Power is focusing on this transition with its StreamMaster software playout platform. On display at SMPTE 2015, the StreamMaster is designed to work with both IP and SDI infrastructures.

StreamMaster

The StreamMaster system provides all the requirements of a channel playout device in a software package that runs on standard IT hardware, including multi-level 3D graphics, squeezebacks and hot starts, and secondary events. The software can run in a virtualized environment in a data center or can be hosted on a dedicated hardware with video I/O cards to fit into an SDI environment.

Pixel Power will also show its graphics and branding products at SMPTE 2015 at booth 316.

NEW YORK—Focusing on how channels can be packaged, delivered and branded, Pixel Power is planning to highlight its StreamMaster software at the upcoming Content & Communications World event in New York.

StreamMaster

Pixel Power’s StreamMaster software provides all the requirements of a channel playout device—including multi-level 3D graphics, squeezebacks and hot starts, and secondary events—in a software package that runs on standard IT hardware. The software can run in a virtualized environment in a data center or hosted on a dedicated hardware with video I/O cards to fit into an SDI environment. StreamMaster’s open software basis allows it to readily integrated with third-party automation, asset management and workflow systems.

In addition, Pixel Power will host a demonstration from Chyro that will show how its traffic and planning software can be integrated with StreamMaster.

Other graphics and branding products will also be on display from Pixel Power.

CCW 2015 takes place Nov. 11-12 in New York. Pixel Power will be located at booth 1307.

CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND—The new shopping channel Hochanda used broadcast graphics and automation supplier Pixel Power in the launch of its channel and website. Using Pixel Power’s LogoVision 3D graphic device, Pixel Power supplies data-driven graphics to Hochanda.

With two LogoVision devices, Hochanda is able to create an L-shaped graphic overlay that contains the necessary information like price and ordering information for products when they are on screen. The information is derived directly from the channel’s product database. Pixel Power also installed a preparation workstation to design and refine templates and prepare special-purpose graphics.

Pixel Power is headquartered in Cambridge, England.