Entertainment Technology News

Abekas introduces �Mira�� Universal Format multi-channel HD digital video production server

By Abekas
posted Apr 30, 2009, 20:59

Abekas, Incorporated announced the introduction of a brand new four-channel digital video server which is making its industry debut at the NAB Show 2009. Mira began shipping recently to high-profile customers such as Turner Studios, Fox Speed Channel and the Golf Channel.

Mira is designed for use in demanding live television broadcast applications in which superior image quality, high reliability and ease of use are of critical importance. Mira�s primary target market segments are: animated graphics transitions using video, key and audio; live sports instant replay and slow motion; and on-set plasma monitor graphics feeds.

Highlighted at the NAB Show is Mira�s capability to record and replay �3X Super Slow Motion�. By definition, this feature uses three times the storage of normal video recording. Mira�s large storages capacities, ranging from 15 to 60 hours of HD video are ideal for this feature by ensuring the entire event can be recorded without using �loop recording� and over-writing valuable content. The combination of high temporal resolution and Mira�s vertical interpolation delivers super smooth and clear slow motion replays.

For applications that are audio intensive, Mira offers up to eight AES and up to 16 embedded channels of audio per video channel.

With its very aggressive pricing, the Mira solution for this HD super slow motion application is priced at one fifth that of the most popular competing server. Mira provides superior image quality, a much more reliable platform with RAID-6 parity protection, hot-swap media disk drives, dual-redundant hot-swap power supply modules and redundant hot-swap fans. And Mira is housed within a chassis measuring half the rack height of the competing super slow motion server.

With its rich feature set, Mira welcomes all to the future of truly flexible, ultra high-quality HD digital video recording.

About Mira
Combining state-of-the-art video/audio processing hardware with the latest RAID.6 disk drive technology, Mira has an extremely competitive price point and is available in three storage capacities: 15-, 30- and 60-hours of recording time for HD digital video, audio and timecode�all housed inside a compact 3RU chassis. When recording in SD, the three storage capacities are 32-, 41- and 82-hours. Ultra high-quality J2K wavelet compression technology with bit rates up to 200Mb/s is used to record the 10-bit HD digital video; or up to 175Mb/s for SD digital video. There are ten presets to dial down the bit-rate from 200M/b down to 75Mb/s for HD; and from 175Mb/s down to 25Mb/s for SD.

Access to the RAID.6 media disk drive array is conveniently provided at the front of the machine, with the RAID.6 parity protection allowing up to two disk drive failures at the same time�without any interruption to user operations. Simple and fast �hot-swap� media disk drive exchange is achieved without the use of any hand tools, with provision for stand-by �hot spare� disk drives with automatic swap and parity rebuild in cases of disk drive failure.

The rich feature set of Mira includes: a high-speed graphics file import utility which imports QuickTime MOV files that include RGB, alpha and audio to create video+key+audio animation clips; four RS422 serial control ports with Sony, Louth VDCP and Odetics protocols (providing precise control from third-party controllers, including those from Sony, Thomson Grass Valley, Lance Design� and DNF Controls�, to name just a few); eight tracks of uncompressed digital audio with 24-bit resolution/48kHz sampling (with optional 16-track digital audio available); LTC & VANC timecode record and playback; a unique graphical user interface with integrated video/audio/timecode displays; a built-in multi-paned viewer on 1.5Gb/s HD-SDI for live video/audio/timecode �video wall� monitoring; and highly reactive transport controls with instant response.

As a standard feature, Mira can record or playback one or two sets of video, key, audio and timecode (VKAT) within a single operation under a single clip identity. VKAT storage capability dramatically streamlines many production and post applications and greatly simplifies media management. 2X and 3X Super Slow Motion recording and replay capability is available as an optional feature. Mira hardware can be reconfigured by the user to record and play simultaneously using the shared storage, with any combination of the four video streams. These features, along with the aforementioned feature set, provides a powerful HD and SD recording platform for use in live, on-air broadcasting environments.

About Abekas
Abekas, Incorporated (www.abekas.com) is a privately-held company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. Abekas designs, manufactures, sells, and supports a complete line of digital video/audio delay devices, disk recorders, digital special effects and editing tools for use in the worldwide professional television marketplace � encompassing the production, post production, broadcasting and computer video markets.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.