theibcdaily Saturday 08.09.2012 95 We’re mad about MADI
Chris Shaw, EVP Sales & Marketing outlines Cobalt Digital’s wide range of loudness processing options and why customers are asking for MADI products
The Skymaster TX is lightweight and designed for news helicopters
Downlink from air
IMT By Ian McMurray
The new SkymasterTX is described as a
lightweight, full-featured digital COFDM video downlink transmitter designed to address the unique requirements of airborne downlink operations in news helicopters. With a built-in H.264 (MPEG-4) encoder and optional MPEG-2 encoder, it caters to users with legacy receive systems. Its ability to support both MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 systems protects Integrated Microwave Technology’s customers’ investments in earlier technologies while enabling them to take advantage of the newest encoding. MPEG-4 requires a bit rate of 50% less than MPEG-2, improving the reliability of the transmission. It also allows users to transmit high definition video without sacrificing performance.
The airborne downlink transmitter has secure BCRYPT AES 128/256 encryption, which is said to ensure integration and interoperability with any standard-compliant equipment that customers may already have in their inventory. The chassis design features ARINC
mounting, with all of the connections and controls located on one side of the unit. This allows users to remove SkymasterTX from one aircraft and install it in another with ease. 1.D40
This is an amazing time for Cobalt Digital to exhibit at IBC. The worldwide need for exceptional quality loudness processing, provision of logging, graphing and long- term records to verify regulatory compliance, plus the convergence of the SDI/IP and ASI technologies all make this prime time for Cobalt Digital’s product lines. Cobalt offers a wide range of loudness processing options, from multi-channel transport- based MPEG streams to the card-based baseband requirement of smaller, local facilities. The availability of first class solutions for Dolby 5.1 or stereo loudness processing to meet both EBU R128 or ATSC A/85 is of uppermost importance for most broadcasters worldwide. Using the well accepted Linear Acoustic Aeromax technology, the Cobalt LMNTS engine, or Fusion3G and Compass cards provide an extensive choice of solutions to meet all needs. Manufacturers and
equipment developers have to widen their thought process to include the MVPDs and MSOs, where a large number of diverse source programming
must be simultaneously controlled and logged, and at the same time consider the smaller broadcaster with lesser channels but identical needs to comply with current and emerging regulations. It’s also vital during these economic times to offer excellent quality yet cost-effective options. Transport-based processing
Opinion
via Cobalt LMNTS over IP/ASI provides a practical transport- level loudness management solution without the complexity of external codecs transferring between baseband and MPEG external interfaces. At the other end of the spectrum is the sudden resurgence of MADI audio (a format that has been around for years) for providing economic and non-destructed audio in multi-channels over copper.
OB vehicles and production companies have again recognised MADI as an efficient means of transporting up to 64 channels down a single cable between vehicles.
Chris Shaw: ‘Cobalt has always listened to the needs of its customers’
Cobalt has developed, at customer request, a MADI Embedder/De-embedder card with a 192 x 192 crosspoint switch for a 2RU frame solution. Cobalt has always listened to the needs of its customers and the growing sports broadcast industry is a vital catalyst for future development. Cobalt provides a complete
loudness processing solution to meet all broadcasting needs. Our LMNTS Loudness Management accommodates ‘N’ transport streams for IP/ASI based applications, and the Fusion3G and COMPASS cards provide solutions for baseband. Demonstrations of all of these are available on the Cobalt stand.
In addition we are
demonstrating SpotCheck, another server based solution that provides an organised system of logged data and records for verifying EBU R128 or CALM compliance (or any other standard specified by a broadcast body or government). Our ever-growing range of signal processing cards in a 2RU frame, includes a MADI DA, MADI embedder and de-embedder, MPEG encoder, and a series of Fusion3G cards providing baseband loudness processing for Dolby 5.1 and stereo.
Cobalt’s advanced technology gives even the most savvy and experienced engineer numerous reasons to visit and examine our extensive product line. 10.B27