Omneon Video Networks today announced the introduction of the Omneon Spectrum™ HD, the latest configuration of the company’s industry-leading scalable media server. The Omneon Spectrum™ HD provides integrated playback of high-definition video content, and when configured with other components in the Omneon Spectrum™ family, it allows broadcasters to ingest, store, and play back both SD and HD content simultaneously from a single system, using a common pool of shared storage. The new system is being demonstrated for the first time at IBC2004 in Amsterdam, Sept. 10-14.

Omneon Spectrum™ HD incorporates two new real-time media interface adapters to provide a complete system configuration for HD material acquisition and playback. Media ingest is based on the new MediaPort 4010, which combines HD MPEG-2 ingest with MPEG Transport Stream (MTS) demux in a single device. The MediaPort 4010 demultiplexes MTS into independent video and audio elementary streams while maintaining frame-accurate synchronization.

HD playout is based on the new MultiPort 4002 playout interface adapter, which features built-in decoding capability for MPEG-2 high definition video, thereby eliminating the need for external HD decoders. The MultiPort 4002 offers playout for two independent channels of MPEG-2 HD video — each with up to 16 embedded audio channels — within a single 1-RU device, and multiple MultiPort 4002 devices can be combined to create multi-channel systems as large as required. Additionally, the MultiPort 4002 can be combined with other Omneon Spectrum™ I/O devices to create multiformat video server systems to support both SD and HD playout in a broadcast operation.

“The Omneon Spectrum™ HD embodies all of the benefits of our ‘smart scalability’ philosophy,” said Omneon’s Vice President of Marketing Geoff Stedman. “Unlike any other video server on the market, the Omneon Spectrum™ gives broadcasters the freedom to choose not just storage capacity and bandwidth, but also the video formats they need, and even to combine multiple formats within one system. It gives broadcasters the kind of flexibility they need as the industry continues its transition to digital broadcasting.”

All Omneon Spectrum™ components feature plug-and-play operability, which means users can easily add the MediaPort 4010 and MultiPort 4002 to their existing Omneon Spectrum™ server systems. In addition to the integrated HD capabilities available with the new components, Omneon has recently introduced enhancements to its SDTI media interface adapter, the MediaPort 1002, to enable support for Panasonic’s compressed HD format, DVCPRO-HD. With this new capability, the Omneon Spectrum™ system became the first media server capable of supporting all leading HD formats simultaneously, including HD MPEG, HDCAM, and DVCPRO-HD.

The MultiPort 4002 includes redundant power supplies with failover capability for maximum reliability. For multilingual HD programming requiring multiple audio tracks, the MultiPort 4002 supports 16 channels of audio for each video channel. Each channel on the MediaPort 4010 and MultiPort 4002 provides standard connectors for output of video and audio, as well as a connector for input of RS422 control signals using either VDCP or BVW protocols.

Learn more about Omneon’s server solutions at www.omneon.com.

About Omneon
Omneon is a leading provider of flexible media server and active storage systems that optimize workflow productivity and on-air reliability for the production, distribution, and management of digital media. Omneon is a pioneer in the use of advanced IT technologies and open systems for broadcast applications, producing a modular and expandable video server architecture in the Omneon Spectrum. The company's MediaGrid active storage system delivers centralized content storage that is scalable in capacity, bandwidth, and media-processing power. The company has an extensive global presence with customers in 45 countries on six continents. Omneon is on the Web at www.Omneon.com.

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