MONTREAL—Grass Valley has announced the latest version, 2.8, of its iTX Integrated Playout platform will premiere at IBC 2015. Among version 2.8’s new features are compressed IP input/output and full Softel subtitling/captioning functionality.
The iTX 2.8 platform allows broadcasters to migrate to video-over-IP without having to change playout hardware. The IP I/O is based on H.264/MPEG-2 compressed IP inputs and outputs and is implemented on Appliance 2 hardware without additional hardware changes. The compressed IP I/O is available in addition to the existing SDI I/O.
The compressed IP inputs enable direct feeding of iTX via IRDs and content delivery devices, while the compressed IP outputs enable modern multiplexers or OTT services to be fed without a downstream encoder. The system includes content ingest and media management tools.
The Softel Inside option supports OP43/47/WST/EIA-608/CEA708 and DVB via IP and offers up to 20 languages per channel. The subtitling/captioning provides integration with caption files from other media vendors. Subtitles and captions can be previewed on the desktop.
In addition, iTX Delivery Manager now supports a wide number of asset delivery partners, which automates ingest of media and metadata as well as saving time and improving accuracy by eliminating repetitive, manual ingest tasks.
Grass Valley will demonstrate iTX 2.8 at their booth, 1.D11, at IBC 2015, which runs from Sept. 11-15 in Amsterdam.
