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.

AMSTERDAM—Qvest has introduced a new version of its clipbox studio server designed for ingest and playout with full support for the new renderless workflow the relies on the Web Render Engine (WRE) from Arvato System’s Vidispine brand at IBC 2024, which concludes here today.

The latest version of clipbox will give video editors, journalists and others in the newsroom a tighter collaborative workflow and reduced production delays, the company said.

The new version offers users greater customization flexibility for their ingest and studio playout workflows, especially in fast-turnaround news workflows where every second counts. It also provides full support for real-time rendering with transition effects, so users can play out sequences directly without requiring a video switcher, it said.

Other benefits include clipbox’s ability to create proxy files in parallel to either HD or UHD recording that can be opened and edited during ingest. These files are also fully synchronized with the full resolution assets, saving editors time otherwise spent waiting for the recording to be finalized before it can be edited.

“Customers all over the world are already using clipbox for their studio ingest and playout. It’s exciting to think about how much more efficient we’ll be able to help make their workflows with this latest version, while of course continuing to be the most cost-efficient newsroom studio server available,” said Frank Mistol, managing director of Qvest.

The renderless workflow created by the Web Render Engine was developed by Arvato Systems’ Vidispine team. It is designed to save editors time regardless of where they are. With this in place, multiple editors can work on the same content at the same time without needing to wait for any assets to render, the company said.

With clipbox supporting WRE sequences natively, a unique fast-turnaround workflow is created with no videos needing rendering in advance. Even transitions can be executed in real time. The workflow enables video clips to play out from shared memory, removing the need to copy them at the expense of time or costs. It also supports playout of sequences while content is still being recorded, which allows time delay playback, it said.

“Vidispine’s Web Render Engine revolutionizes production by allowing content to be stored and managed efficiently without creating new files for every sequence. Only metadata is generated when users edit a sequence, eliminating the need for file movement or rendering. This enables multiple editors to work simultaneously on the same content from anywhere,” said Karsten Schragmann, head of product management at Vidispine.

See Qvest at IBC 2024 Stand 10.C24.

See Vidispine at IBC 2024 Stand 7.A15.

More clipbox information is available on the Qvest website.

More Web Render Engine information is available on the Vidispine website.

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

BOTHELL, WASH.—Three isn’t a crowd for the Alliance for IP Media Solutions, as the organization has announced the addition of three more companies as members.

Qvest Media will join AIMS as a full member, while Phabrix Limited and ProSiebenSat.1 Produktion are joining as associate members.

AIMS is an organization representing a group of broadcast and media companies with the goal of assisting the transition from SDI to IP through industry standards and interoperable technology. Currently, the organization officially endorses an IP transition that includes support for SMPTE 2022-6, AES67, VSF recommendations TR-03 and TR-04, and AMWA NMOS IS-04.

COLOGNE, GERMANY—The Digital Production Partnership (DPP), a business change network that connects companies and industry professionals across all areas of the media content supply chain, has a new member in Qvest Media.

The DPP network is made up of production companies, manufacturers, suppliers, service providers, post production facilities, consultancies, broadcasters, distributors and not-for-profit organizations. The three main areas of focus for the DPP include generating insight from member’s expertise, enabling change through the identification of business requirements, and creating market opportunities. According to DPP, Qvest is the first systems integrator to join its ranks and will be able to provide expertise in the areas of media and technology consulting, systems integration and support.

“The DPP is extremely pleased to welcome Qvest Media as a DPP member,” said Mark Harrison, DPP managing director. “We are sure that, with their wealth of experience in consulting for the media industry, they will provide critical insight into our key areas of interest for 2017, including broadcast IMF (Interoperable Mastering Format), IP and supply chain, all of which are currently hot topics for our members.”