Q: What kind of products or services does your company offer for broadcasters?
PESA is celebrating its 40th anniversary as one of the leading providers of audio/video connectivity for broadcasting and other professional AV applications. We offer a wide selection of routers, matrix switchers, extenders, converters, control systems and signal processing gear. Our range of products cover everything from large-scale Cheetah routing switchers (coax and/or fiber optic) to single channel in-line media extenders.
Q. What do you anticipate will be the most significant technology trend at the 2013 NAB Show?
We believe there will be a lot of 2K and 4K buzz at the show. It’s certainly the hot topic right now; in fact, some folks are already calling it the new HD. Of course, like HD just a few short years ago, we as an industry are still sorting out workflow and other details as we go along. 4K and other large raster video options offer significantly higher resolutions, and that’s great, but they also require an awful lot of data, which is going to continue to be a challenge. By the way, PESA already offers a 4K routing solution, which uses four ports on our 64NEX 3G-SDI coax and fiber routers. We’re continuing to develop additional 4K-compatible products.
Q. What’s new that you will feature at the NAB Show?
We are very excited to introduce PESA XSTREAM at the 2013 NAB Show, which we think is the new standard in streaming. PESA XSTREAM takes almost any source from your router, including HD video and PowerPoint slides, and converts it to H.264 for the Web. What’s really amazing is that it processes five video sources simultaneously, as well as eight audio channels that can be assigned to any or all of the five video sources. And it produces six simultaneous and individually addressable streaming IP outputs, including a user-defined quad-split multiview.
PESA will also introduce new easyPORT modules to support HDMI signals and a new technology that allows 3G signals to be transported over longer distances via coax.
Q. How is your new product different from what’s available on the market?
PESA XSTREAM is so much more than a multichannel codec. It handles all lip sync and latency issues, so it’s a synchronizer, too. Perhaps most importantly, it’s a self-contained solution, so you don’t have to worry about compatibility with equipment from other manufacturers — and you’re not running software that’s at the mercy of your laptop’s processing power. PESA XSTREAM uses embedded firmware built around an advanced hardware engine to deliver secure IP streams for internal and external networks. Our intuitive Web-based GUI makes it easy to setup and operate. That’s a lot of functionality in 1RU. We look forward to demonstrating how broadcasters can use PESA XSTREAM as part of a low-cost news bureau and more at the NAB Show.
Q. What is it about the NAB Show that brings you back every year?
The NAB Show helps us see trends in the broadcast market so we can learn where the industry is going, which gives us an advantage for developing our next generation of products. It’s also one of the largest professional video trade shows in the world, which allows us to showcase our products to nearly 100,000 video professionals.
