Streambox Announces Avenir

Small Side Pack Mobile Solution Enables High-Quality, Low-Bandwidth IP Transport of HD as Well as SD Video Over Bonded 3G/4G, Wi-Fi, Satellite, BGAN, and Internet for Field Newsgathering and Other Mobile Applications

SEATTLE(31 Mar 2010)

Streambox today announced the launch of the Streambox Avenir, the newest member of the company's industry-leading family of portable video transport solutions. Designed for field newsgathering, sports broadcasting, and other mobile live and file- based video applications, Avenir is Streambox's first hardware-based encoder to offer both 3G/4G wireless network bonding for high-quality HD or SD in a fully portable form factor, enabling live or file-based video acquisition over a variety of low-data-rate networks. 

"The Streambox Avenir is the first battery operated mobile encoder designed for a reporter to file HD/SD live and file-based video content over a variety of IP networks. The full set of built-in features in a single small device offering DBN (Dynamic Bandwidth Negotiations) technology allows broadcasters to replace traditional SNG/DNG systems that can be used by a single person or a small crew," said Bob Hildeman, chairman and CEO of Streambox. "The new system takes all of the features of our ACT-L3™ product line for SD, adds the ability to transport full-resolution HD video at speeds up to 20Mbps, and delivers it all in an extremely portable and easy-to-use device that can be carried in a side pack."

The Avenir harnesses Streambox's award-winning ACT-L3 codec to capture and encode high-quality HD content in 1080i or 720p format, at data rates up to 20Mbps, and SD content in NTSC or PAL from 64Kbps to 8Mbps. This makes the system ideal for mobile newsgathering as well as a wide variety of other field video acquisition applications, such as emergency response, law enforcement, or military mobile command centers. 

The Avenir's compact, lightweight, and rugged chassis can be deployed in minutes with a range of power options including AC and DC connectors as well as a Li-Poly battery system. With the Avenir's intuitive touch-screen interface, non-technical users can connect quickly and easily via their choice of network connections, ranging from dual Ethernet to Wi-Fi platforms including bonded 3G/4G mobile broadband devices (via browser-capable smartphones), and low-bandwidth portable satellite devices such as BGAN. The Avenir also features a wireless user interface for browser-capable PDAs such as the iPhone^®, iPod touch^®, and BlackBerry^® devices, which enables users to control the encoder from a separate location. 

Fully integrated with the Streambox Store, Forward Server, and the Streambox Live™ Server for centralized management of field-generated video, the Avenir is designed to shorten and streamline workflows for both live and file-based acquisition. For instance, the system includes a set of field editing tools that enable mobile news crews to remove unnecessary video from pre-recorded content, thereby reducing file uploading time for pre-recorded content. Editing functions include play/pause, trim to selection, file deletion, and file uploading. 

More information about the Avenir and other Streambox ACT-L3 encoding solutions is available online at www.streambox.com.    

About Streambox, Inc.

Streambox focuses on IP-based, end-to-end newsgathering and contribution services. It delivers SD and HD software and hardware for video compression, transmission, management and playout. The Streambox Live™ service supplements the Streambox platform with free encoding software and server-based services for scalable newsgathering and contribution.

Streambox solutions are based on the industry-leading ACT-L3™ codec, which provides unrivaled performance, reliability, and quality over low data rate IP networks for fast transmission and playout of video streams in HD and SD. The company's platform enables broadcasters, government agencies, enterprises, and other users to enhance content ownership, simplify operations, and increase operational efficiencies.

More information is available at www.streambox.com.