Tightrope aims at small broadcast ops with latest HD server

The new Cablecast SXHD LE is a single-box, 1RU solution for video playout that includes 4TB of storage, built-in branding functions, and a host of other time- and money-saving features at an attractive price, making it suitable for small-scale broadcast operations such as public, educational and government-access TV stations; campus television; local origination cable channels; hospitals; and cruise ships.

The new server plays all common video formats, including MPEG-2, WMV, H.264, AVI, DVCPRO HD, and ProRes, with no transcoding required, and it encodes MPEG-2, DV, DVCAM, DVCPRO, DVCPRO HD, and ProRes formats up to 220 Mbps in the full 4:2:2 profile. Besides having built-in support for all of those formats, the SXHD LE plays video files back-to-back on the same output. Channel branding is made easier with video overlay features such as a station bug, bug text and crawls with both foreground and background images, possibly eliminating the need for a downstream key. The server also automatically downconverts HD files to SD for playout on an SD channel, and upconverts SD to HD for playout on an HD channel.

As with all Cablecast video servers, the SXHD LE comes with Cablecast station automation and scheduling software, which allows users to ‘write once, publish everywhere.’ They simply enter the programme information into the system one time and then drag programmes onto the schedule, and Cablecast automatically publishes the schedule to the channel, the website, TV Guide’s format, and station programming reports. Cablecast also automates file conversion for Web-based video on demand.