Short Cuts

Digital Fountain will make its NAB debut, offering two new products based on the company's meta-content technology: Fountain servers and Download Fountain. According to the company, the technology allows for support of up to 4,000 near-DVD (700kb/s) video streams, 10,000 300 kb/s streams and up to 60,000 narrow-band streams from one Fountain server. The Download Fountain will support up to 20,000 dial-up users and 5,000 broadband users per unit. The units support Microsoft Windows Media Player, Real Networks' Real Player and Apple's Quicktime Player. The cost of the Fountain servers will begin at $40,000 and be available in May.

Innovision Optics is introducing the new High Definition Probe Lens System for HDTV video cameras. The new HD Probe lens is made specifically for hi-def production and has a lens speed of f2.8. The system's interchangeable straight and 90 degree periscope attachments allow the operators to shoot from an ultra-low perspective. The system also has underwater capability. It incorporates a 15-inch long lens barrel with a diameter of just 1.7 inches (42mm). Five prime lenses (5mm, 7.5mm, 9mm, 12.5mm and 18mm) are interchangeable at the front mount.

Hitachi Denshi's HV-D5W 2/3-inch three-CCD, 16:9/4:3 switchable digital camera will have D1 output and will make its bow at this year's NAB Convention. The color camera has a 2/3-inch 510,000 pixel CCD and features digital processing and a horizontal resolution of 750 TV lines and a standard sensitivity of F11 at 2000 lux and a low vertical smear. The HV-D5W has a suggested list price of approximately $12,000.

IBIS will introduce PreCue, an entry-level scheduling system for local, regional or head-end operations, or for rolling channels which do not need to make provision for complex program rights, amortization or multichannel management. Also on display will be SprinTx, a bundled set of PC-based applications designed to work with a range of broadcast video servers, including Omneon and Quantel servers, which will be demonstrated at the booth. SprinTx offers multiple methods of allowing the server to ingest the material, using IBIS ServerLoad/crash recording, line feeds or EDL loading.

MedioStream's CAMpeg Pro is a multi-format encoding product for the creation of production-quality compressed digital video in multiple A/V formats on desktop PCs from DV camcorders, live video feeds, or multiple-format video-file input from storage media. It supports MPEG1, MPEG2, Real G2 or Windows Media Player formats. MedioStream will also preview MedioPro, an integrated Digital News Gathering (DNG) system that runs on desktop or notebook PCs. It will feature a high-performance tower or laptop computer, input/output interface module, MedioStream's encoder/decoder software package, and 24/7 customer support.

Videotek's newest version of the VTM-200 multi-format on-screen monitor is now available with a composite PAL or NTSC video monitoring output encoded for viewing on non-SVGA monitors. The VTM-200's primary output on a SVGA is compatible with display on standard computer monitors and allows engineers to monitor and measure 601 and AES digital and composite analog (NTSC or PAL) video and audio signals. The series includes the VTM-180 composite on-screen monitor display, the VTM-183 composite and CAV on-screen monitor display, the VTM-190 serial digital on-screen display and the VTM-200 composite and 601 multi-format onscreen monitor display and the VTM-203 composite, CAV and 601 multi-format on-screen monitor display.