Media Links has offered a solution for the transmission of 4K video through IP with its MD8000 codec. The MD8000 can act as a bi-directional interface between the IP world and all the current formats of SDI. Because the MD8000 is modular, and can aggregate SDI interfaces, it’s practical to be operating with multi-line UHD (e.g. 2x3G-HD-SDI) and single line (6G) within the same unit.
Each Media Links MD8000 frame can aggregate up to 240G in each direction – 80x1080p at 50/60fps channels, or 2x8K at 120fps plus 16 x 1080p at 50/60fps channels, all without compression.
When an SDI format for 8K at 120fps appears, Media Links will aim to offer a plug in module to accommodate it. In some cases, switching between multi-line and single line input, for example, this change could be accommodated with a simple software upgrade without having to change modules.
Karsten Winterberg, technical director of Media Links Systems, said, “When the original design of the MD8000 was undertaken, UHD was still only a laboratory concept. We knew it would move out of the lab in time, so we designed the MD8000 to have the ability to process UHD when that happened. That’s proper future-proofing”.
