MediaKind has announced the launch of its new next-generation media contribution encoder based on Cloud-ready software.
The company is hailing CE1 as a “world first” for contribution video processing.
Combined with MediaKind’s multi-codec and multi-service professional decoder, the RX1, the CE1 enables an end-to-end media contribution workflow that the company said is more resilient and future-ready than existing professional media contribution processing and delivery solutions.
The solution provides an immediate response to anticipated changes in professional media contribution, enabling broadcasters, operators, and service providers to transition to all-IP and the Cloud, integrate existing and future codecs and standards, and embrace new flexible business models.
The CE1 is available as a Cloud-native deployment model and can integrate with public Cloud providers to enable broadcast quality contribution to the Cloud. CE1 software is also available within a hardware platform.
It delivers low latency, HEVC, or MPEG-4 AVC encoding of HD and UHD video content for premium live events, as well as supporting 4:2:2 10-bit content contribution into the Cloud.
The solution accommodates SMPTE ST 2110, Secure Reliable Transport (SRT), and BISS-CA.
According to Stuart Boorn, vice president of product management at MediaKind, the CE1 is unlike most previous generation contribution encoders, which are based around application-specific hardware, as the CE1 is based around an X86 server platform. “This platform makes the CE1 an inherently future-proof appliance as it is far easier to add support for new standards, new codecs, etc,” he tells TVBEurope. “The CE1 does use hardware acceleration for some tasks, but the philosophy is only to do this where necessary, i.e., it provides a significant performance advantage. High quality, low latency, high bit-rate UHD HDR 4:2:2 10 bit HEVC being an example.”
While CE1 is an appliance, Boorn says that the company does see a move over time to software-based solutions. “The development of the CE1 is part of MediaKind’s portfolio evolution to Cloud-native software solutions,” he adds.
Without revealing details, Boorn says that MediaKind has already sold a “significant number” of the encoders to its customers.
