Cobalt Digital and Lawo Integrate Multiviewer Products

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- April 15, 2016 -- Cobalt Digital today announced a partnership with Lawo that combines Cobalt's 9970-QS openGear(R) multiviewer card with theWALL, Lawo's mobile app for setting up and controlling multiviewers. The integration vastly reduces configuration and operation time when controlling the 9970 multiviewer.

"We're bringing together Cobalt's award-winning openGear multiviewer card and Lawo's award-winning control app to create a smart multiviewer system that can be configured quickly and efficiently," said Bob McAlpine, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Cobalt Digital. "Thanks to this partnership, operators can control and view their monitor walls in a studio or OB truck with one seamless solution, and both companies will be able to promote and sell an integrated system."

Cobalt's 9970-QS 3G/HD/SD-SDI/CVBS quint-split multiviewer card for openGear frames integrates five discrete 3G/HD/SD-SDI or CVBS inputs onto a single 3G/HD/SD-SDI quint-split output, with each input image being flexibly inserted into the output image area. Users can perform custom layout changes in real time and, by cascading the devices, can expand the system to provide multiviewer layouts of up to 8 x 8 (64:1). A master output up/down/cross-converter scales HD- or 3G-SDI formats for the combined multiviewer output, which also includes an HDMI output (with audio embedding), to feed directly to a specific wall monitor.

Lawo's theWALL is a multiplatform, hardware-agnostic app that lets users configure any monitor wall, route signals, change mosaic layouts, or save and load user presets with unprecedented flexibility -- all from the comfort of a touch-enabled mobile device. Its elaborate reformatting algorithms talk directly to the multiviewer hardware and enable easy access through a comprehensive GUI with drag-and-drop functionality. Anyone working in front of a monitor wall can change its layout on the fly, including altering the design of patterns and controlling parameters such as borders, colors, and spaces. theWALL ensures that any layout is perfectly rendered to any output format, and users can save and load presets to or from a database, swap productions from one OB truck to another, or designate preferred multiviewer setups in any control room. Changes are stored in a user-managed environment and, if required, hosted in the cloud.

Together the 9970-QS card and theWALL app provide an integrated multiviewer/control system that offers reduced setup and control time and an intuitive operation scheme.

"With its quint-split system, Cobalt offers a highly attractive and scalable multiviewer solution to the market. We consider theWALL to be the perfect addition to that system because it brings together the flexibility of the quint-split with theWALL's own highly flexible user interface and control," said Axel Kern, senior product manager at Lawo. "Using Lawo's theWALL, quint-split users will have access to immediate layout changes with flexibility unlike anything the industry has seen."

Cobalt and Lawo will demonstrate their integrated solution at the 2016 NAB Show in Cobalt Digital booth N1418 and Lawo booth N1822. The systems will be available for order at NAB.

More information about Cobalt Digital and its products is available at www.cobaltdigital.com. More information about Lawo and its products is available at www.lawo.com.

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About Lawo
Lawo designs and manufactures pioneering network, control, audio and video technology for broadcast and post production, as well as live performance and theatrical applications. Products include control and monitoring systems, digital audio mixing consoles, routers, video processing tools as well as solutions for IP-based A/V infrastructures and routing systems. All products are developed in Germany and manufactured according to highest quality standards at the company's headquarters in the Rhine valley town of Rastatt, Germany. For additional information, please visit the company online at www.lawo.com.

About Cobalt Digital
Cobalt Digital Inc. designs and manufactures award-winning 3G/HD/SD conversion, terminal, throwdown, and multiviewer technology for the broadcast television environment. As a founding partner in the openGear(R) initiative, Cobalt offers a full range of openGear video and audio processing card solutions for applications such as closed-caption compliance monitoring, OB production, master control, HD news production, signal transport, audio loudness, and color correction. Cobalt's Blue Box Group" line of interface converter boxes streamlines and simplifies a wide range of 3G/HD/SD conversion and signal transport tasks. The company's multi-image display processors enable multiviewer capabilities in the most demanding studio and remote broadcasting environments. Distributed through a worldwide network of dealers, system integrators, and other partners, Cobalt Digital products are backed with a five-year warranty. More information is available at www.cobaltdigital.com.

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Visit Cobalt Digital at the 2016 NAB Show, Booth N1418