NAB 2007: Real-Time H.264 Compression Options Abound at NAB

Combining a software-based compression core with server-based hardware, XEC technology delivers both a toolset and a mechanism for delivering the highest picture quality in the lowest available bandwidth on the market.

"XEC technology is the most advanced encoding core on the market. It surpasses the current capacity of ASIC/SOC based encoding solutions and will continue to do so," said Julien Signès, President and CEO of Envivio Inc. "Operators using XEC-based encoders can offer their subscribers a better quality viewing experience."

Visionary Solutions, Inc.
Visionary Solutions, Inc., which turned heads at last year’s NAB with a low-cost, high-density MPEG-2 blade server, is also getting into the real-time H.264 encoding game, albeit only on the standard definition front. The company’s new AVN420 SD encoder delivers on the bandwidth efficiency promise of H.264 compression, and up to 17 of these encoders can be placed in the company’s 3U blade server, allowing high-density encoding solutions ideal for head-ends, houses of worship and educational institutions.

EDBoX
KIRNexus GmbH, a small player from Germany that makes 1U rack encoders and decoders, announced its "EDBoX". The oddly-named product provides real-time encoding of H.264 (specifically, ISO/IEC14496-10/ISMA-compliant, low-latency baseline & main profile level 3) at up to full D1 resolution (720x 576/480) in PAL or NTSC. Designed for 24/7 broadcast applications, including set top boxes (STBs), the EDBoX boasts dual gigabit Ethernet ports.

According to Martin Weber, sales manager of EDBoX Systems, the EDBoX-decoder has a unique feature called "stream forwarding" that allows the encoder to send a unicast transmission for point-to-point transmission across the WAN, while at the same time using its second gigabit Ethernet port for in-house previewing as a multicast transmission. The decoder, upon receipt of the unicast transmission on one Ethernet port, can also multicast across its LAN via the second Ethernet port. This allows the encoder box to act as a local (LAN) distribution system, eliminating the need for a local decoder, while also allowing the encoder to transmit a unicast stream across the WAN to another decoder.