Harris Corporation has introduced the XHD-3903 HD converter for its NEO advanced application modular platform. Said to be the world’s first HDTV converter available with built-in 3Gbps 1080p 50/59.94 processing and conversion capabilities, the XHD-3903 provides a future-proof upgrade path, writes David Fox.
“As broadcasters continue to build out their facilities to support the increasing demands of HDTV, they’re beginning to consider 3Gbps-capable infrastructure to manage the increased bandwidth requirements and prepare for emerging standards,” said Tim Thorsteinson, president of Harris Broadcast Communications.
“By adding 3Gbps capability to our router offering and now introducing the first 3Gbps HDTV converter, Harris is providing practical solutions that enable broadcasters to support HDTV today and also future-proof their facilities for migration to this emerging technology down the road.”
The XHD-3903 is available in multiple configurations, including up-, down- and cross-converters, SD/HD aspect ratio converters and dual-channel HD conversion variants. In order to support the advanced audio processing HDTV applications frequently require, the feature-rich, modular converter offers optional 8 AES processing for multichannel audio. In addition, it is the only modular HDTV converter that features integrated Dolby decoding and encoding to handle compressed Dolby streams; existing converters require a separate, standalone module to handle this task, requiring additional capital expense and valuable facility space.
