IBC2024: Cobalt Digital expands line of encoders, decoders and converters

Cobalt Digital is putting ST 2110 in the spotlight at IBC with an expanded platform that provides ST 2110 support for encoders, decoders and converters.

The Cobalt Indigo 2110-DC-01 is a factory add-on option for openGear cards that adds native SMPTE 2110 support with 25G Ethernet interfaces and a complete native ST 2110 stack (including NMOS IS 04/05) to audio/video processing elements. Adding native ST 2110 interfaces provides for an easy-to-manage, fully integrated and cost-effective solution with all advanced processing now available with IP inputs and outputs. The need for error-prone and expensive multiple devices in the data path is circumvented and the need for an external gateway is eliminated. When mated with a host card, a processing-dense product is created that is capable of natively processing HD, 3G and 4K IP streams with no quality compromises.

The Cobalt Indigo 2110-DC-01 ST 2110 interface is now available as an add-on to Cobalt’s 9905-MPx and 9904-UDX-4K openGear processing cards.

The Cobalt Indigo OG-2110-BIDI4-Gateway is a bidirectional quad-channel native ST 2110 interface to SDI I/O available in the openGear form factor. The transmit and receive paths of the Gateway can operate simultaneously. It includes support for ST 2022-7 seamless redundancy switching, as well as IS 04/05 NMOS for automatic discovery and configuration.

Cobalt Digital’s newest software definable encoding platform, Pacific 9992-ENC-Indigo, will be making its European debut at IBC2024.  This openGear card incorporates Cobalt’s factory-installed option for SMPTE ST 2110 input, the Indigo 2110-DC-02, to its existing Pacific 9992-ENC encoder card. The option supports up to four inputs at 3G and lower resolutions, or one input at 4K resolution, with full NMOS support. Each encoder channel can be individually configured for SDI or ST 2110 operation.

The combination of the Pacific 9992-ENC with the ST 2110 input interface option creates an integrated solution that can be directly deployed in a ST 2110 facility for local encoding, low-latency transport over the internet using RIST, or to drive a traditional ASI workflow, without having to deploy separate gateway devices. The ability to mix traditional SDI and ST 2110 feeds in the same device provides even greater flexibility.

The Cobalt Pacific ULL-DEC HEVC upgradeable AVC/MPEG-2 software defined broadcast decoder is a professional multi-standard decoder designed to meet the most stringent requirements for today’s broadcasters. It supports MPEG-2 and AVC (H.264) (4K support available), as well as offering a full complement of audio decoding capabilities. It is an industry standard openGear card and provides an ideal platform for transitioning to state-of-the-art decoding capabilities.

Cobalt Digital will also be showing several units of its Sapphire converter family that deliver high-quality design, function and reliability in a small package. These converters are part of Cobalt’s Blue Box Group (BBG) series intended to be mounted behind the monitor. They include single or dual 25Gb/s ports (for ST 2022-7 redundancy) and full NMOS support for ease of configuration.