VxScaler, a field-upgradeable module that transforms VertigoXmedia's VertigoXG graphics system into the industry's first broadcast graphics engine with built-in standards conversion, is now shipping. By providing high-quality upconversion and downconversion, the new module enables simultaneous HD/SD output from a single box for simplified production and reduced equipment costs.
"We're proud to be the first in the industry to combine standards conversion with graphics production in the same unit, freeing broadcasters from having to purchase, integrate, and maintain two different systems to achieve the same results," said VertigoXmedia Broadcast Solutions President Darin Crosby. "In addition, we've eased the transition from SD to HD by addressing the concerns of broadcasters who need to update their SD character generation capabilities now, but want to make sure that their investments won't become outdated when they are ready to switch to HD output in a few years."
The VertigoXG, VertigoXmedia's full-featured graphics system, provides an easy way to create data-driven, templated broadcast graphics in HD and SD simply by dragging and dropping from a customizable library of common broadcast elements. Its graphics rendering and playback performance in HD in a single- or dual-channel configuration is unsurpassed. With VxScaler installed, the VertigoXG can downconvert an HD source to SD, upconvert SD to HD, capture an SD source as an HD clip for inclusion in an HD project, and capture an HD source as a clip in SD or a different standard. The module uses a three-step process that includes motion estimation, de-interlacing, and scaling at 10-bit YUV 4:2:2 to produce the highest-quality conversion.
