In Broadcast - August 2015 - 64


64

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 5 - Issue 8 | August 2015

InMedia

iphrame Suite Expands
Beyond Production Into
Playout And Publishing
Ed Calverley, Vice President Products, Suitcase TV Ltd, discusses the latest offerings
from Suitcase TV coming to IBC 2015...

I

BC 2015 sees the launch of a range of
products to further expand the range
and capabilities in the established
iphrame Suite from Suitcase TV.
iphrame Suite is an IP-based
production system that effectively
dispenses with much of the elaborate
equipment traditionally required for
live broadcasts. This is made possible
because it can run on any standard IT
hardware from a COTS entry-level PC
right up to dedicated rack-mounted
hardware or cloud-deployed VM's.
A significant turning-point in the
evolution of live event broadcasting,
the new iphrame Vision Remote
architecture
lets
broadcasters
drastically decrease their expenses
by enabling many aspects of the
production process to be managed
at a location or range of locations
away from the event. This could be
the broadcaster's main office, the
operator's home, even the table of a
beachfront café; anywhere, in fact,
where there is an available Internet
connection.
By reducing the amount of
proprietary broadcast equipment used,
broadcasters can also save on the time
it takes to set such systems up. As a
result, the only essential on-site staff
are the camera operators and very few
others. For broadcasters seeking ways
to provide more high quality content

while reducing their costs, it is clear
that this solution can help save on
the expense of transporting staff and
equipment. Live events can now be
covered with IP connections a fraction
of the speed of traditional links, with
support for new IP standards such
as SMPTE 2022 and built-in support
for ZiXi - a proprietary solutions for
transport over unreliable IP links.
Playout has seen many changes
over the last 10 years. Whilst the
hardware
architectures
have
changed significantly, the operational
workflows are still very familiar, albeit
with increased channel to operator
ratios. All rely on the heavy lifting
being done in real-time when any error
or issue has an immediate impact onair and therefore require constant
monitoring and supervision.
With the launch of iphrame
Publish, a solution for the complete
pre-rendering of playout channels,
Suitcase TV is set to radically
transform linear channel playout so
that it can be treated in much the same
way as publishing for VOD. iphrame
Publish was born out of the realisation
that the majority of today's channels
are non-reactive and schedules are
known well in advance of transmission.
iphrame Publish brings together all
the disparate assets required for the
finished channel and pre-renders them

iphrame Vision & Remote allows for centralised production of OBs & other live events

to the emission format complete with
all graphics and aligned subtitle and
caption data, generating a file-based
output (chunked) of a complete linear
channel. The rendered chunks can then
be moved to the playout streamer for
output over IP or ASI either directly
over IP in the case of OTT, or into a
MUX for DVB transmissions. As the
entire solution is CPU based, it can
be run in a virtual environment on
local or cloud-deployed systems,
further reducing costs and providing
more options for global distributed
architectures.
iphrame Publish significantly reduces
the risk associated with the reliance on
real-time processing currently found in
playout whilst maintaining the ability
to handle last minute changes to
programming and commercial content.
Suitcase TV will also be launching
smaller packaged solutions to assist
people who are looking to work more
in the IP domain. iphrame Encoder and
iphrame Decoder are new software
services providing simple conversion
between SDI and IP domains with
a range of options for providing
enhanced monitoring and control. The
new iphrame Surface allows any PC
to be re-purposed as a multi-viewer
capable of displaying a mix of IP and
SDI signals, and to act as a control
interface for iphrame Vision Remote
deployments.

iphrame User Interface

The iphrame suite is the latest
in a long line of products to come
from Suitcase TV, which is currently
celebrating 15 years in the business.
We continue to develop our existing
product categories by increasing
functionality and efficiency, while
also working hard to maximise
interoperability. We are looking
forward to meeting up with existing
customers and new ones to tell
them about the latest changes and
improvements we have made across
our entire range.
Those who are interested in
moving over to a file-based Media
Asset Management solution or those
considering upgrading their current
MAM, can be confident that Suitcase
TV continues to develop its popular
MediaStor product.
Supported by the Aqua suite of
modules, MediaStor is a scalable
enterprise class system with built
in HSM and a wide range of media
manipulation functions, that go well
beyond most people's expectations
of what Media Asset Management can
achieve. Proven and relied upon by tier
1 broadcasters worldwide, MediaStor is
a must-see system for anyone looking
to take control of their media, become
more efficient and ultimately increase
the monetisation capabilities of their
assets.
http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.suitcasetv.com/iphrame-vision.html http://www.suitcasetv.com/iphrame-vision.html
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of In Broadcast - August 2015
