NAB Briefs

Modulus, the upstart encoder/decoder manufacturer that specializes in MPEG-4 AVC compression, will team with Motorola to develop a line of Motorola-branded MPEG-4 AVC encoders based on Modulus technology. Partnering with Motorola “gives us tremendous credibility in the marketplace,” says Bob Wilson, Modulus Video chairman/CEO. “We're already working on six or seven products with them.”

Motorola will resell Modulus gear, including the ME1000 AVC standard-definition encoder and the MD1000 AVC standard-definition professional decoder. Terms of the deal were unavailable, but it is a non-exclusive agreement.

CBS will use Accom's Dveous digital video effects system and its ProServ MX.8 HD/SD video production server with EasyClip for completing effects and playing back HD stills and clips for live telecasts from a new production-control room. The system has 54 hours of storage with four symmetrical HD video channels and eight tracks of uncompressed audio per video channel. Accom's EasyClip software is a Windows-based graphical user interface that can run on a networked PC and allows the system to play back clips even as they're being recorded.

Wohler Technologies introduced an LCD-based video monitor that it says gets around a simple problem: Its Daylite series can be viewed in the sunlight. The company says the trick is that the monitors have a precision lens bonded to the front of the unit, eliminating glare. The Daylite series is available in 6.5-inch and 10.4-inch form; Wohler also offers rugged models that come with a hard waterproof case. SDI composite and S-Video inputs are also standard.

Snell & Wilcox is adding to its Kudos Plus line of timebase correctors, synchronizers and standards converters with four compact, stand-alone units. The goal is to give broadcasters a portable solution for stabilizing video signals, and even NTSC/PAL standards conversion. The new Kudos Plus TBS150 and TBS150D are SDI and composite synchronizers, while the CVR400 and CVR400D provide stabilization capabilities as well as conversion to and from NTSC and PAL. Each has an area just one-half rack unit wide, making them small and light enough to travel in field kits for remote newsgathering operations. If used in a broadcast facility, two can be placed side by side in a broadcast facility rackframe for stabilizing incoming satellite feeds. All of them have 12-bit sampling and 10-bit processing.

Videotek's latest is the TVM-950HD, a multi-format, high-definition SDI monitor. It lets users display single or multiple test and measurement functions, including waveform, vector, gamut, audio, picture, timing and data analyzer in quadrant or full-screen views on a high-resolution color LCD display. It also has front-panel controls and a quiet cooling system with a modular platform design for easy field upgrades.

A new universal input/output device and HD synchronizer were rolled out by Prime Image. The Universal I/O handles conversion between all standards and formats, while the synchronizer, dubbed HD/SYNC+, is useful when only synchronization and A/D conversion is required. All digital data rates—including 270 megabits per second (Mbps), 360 Mbps, 540 Mbps and 1.485 Gbps—are also supported.

Leitch debuted nine additions to its 6800+ modular product line at NAB. Eight new HMX6800+ multiplexers and one HDX6800+ demultiplexer accommodate two or four balanced or unbalanced AES signals and all common 1080, 720 and 1035 interlaced and progressive video standards. Leitch says the modules provide extensive flexibility in audio-group configuration, so broadcasters can handle multiple languages and compressed data such as Dolby E; they can also correct common audio-channel problems.

Also new is the HFS6800+ video frame synchronizer/processor, which handles ingest and retiming of HD-SDI video in any broadcast/professional facility. Up to eight frames of delay can be added for 1080i standards, up to 16 frames for 720p. Pricing for the modules is to be announced.

Axcera introduced a dual-use transmitter modulator that can be plugged directly into Axcera's modular Innovator Series exciter chassis. The DM8 card-based DTV modulator for 8-VSB transmission allows a single Axcera broadband transmitter to back up both a main analog and a main DTV transmitter simultaneously, eliminating the need for separate analog and DTV standby transmitters.

For low-power broadcasters approaching the digital transition, it allows Axcera transmitters to “flash-cut” between analog and digital operation on-demand, at the touch of a button. The company says an Axcera transmitter can even be switched between DTV and analog operation during the programming day.

Fujifilm demonstrated a 200-GB Holographic Versatile Disc (HVD) that uses a new process called collinear holography to help content owners meet archive and storage demands. Fujifim says that the process will eventually give standard DVD-sized media the capacity to hold from 300 GB to several terabytes of data on a single disc and also to transfer data at a rate of 1 gigabit per second.

Fujinon introduced a new ENG lens designed for Sony's HDC-X300 half-inch HD camera: the HSs18x5.5BRD-D18. It has an 18x zoom ratio, a focal length range of 5.5 to 100 m and an angular field of view of 64 degrees at 5.5 mm.

Other features include a full servo and a maximum relative aperture of 1:1:8 at 100 mm, as well as an M.O.D. of 0.6m from the front of the lens.