Abekas Introduces Mira Universal Format Multi-Channel HD Server

Abekas has
announced the introduction of a new four-channel digital video server which is
making its industry debut at the NAB Show. Mira began shipping recently to
high-profile customers such as Turner Studios, Fox Speed Channel and the Golf
Channel.

Mira is
designed for use in live television broadcast applications in which superior
image quality, high reliability and ease of use are of critical importance. Mira’s
primary target market segments are animated graphics transitions using video,
key and audio; live sports instant replay and slow motion; and on-set plasma
monitor graphics feeds.
Highlighted
at the NAB Show is Mira’s capability to record and replay “3X Super Slow Motion.”
By definition, this feature uses three times the storage of normal video
recording. Mira’s large capacities, ranging from 15 to 60 hours of HD video are
ideal for this feature by ensuring the entire event can be recorded without
using “loop recording” and over-writing valuable content. The combination of high temporal resolution and
Mira’s vertical interpolation delivers super smooth and clear slow motion
replays.
For
applications that are audio intensive, Mira offers up to eight AES and up to 16
embedded channels of audio per video channel.
With its aggressive
pricing, the Mira solution for this HD super slow motion application is priced
at one fifth that of the most popular
competing server. Mira provides superior image quality, a much more reliable
platform with RAID-6 parity protection, hot-swap media disk drives, dual-redundant
hot-swap power supply modules and redundant hot-swap fans. And Mira is housed within
a chassis measuring half the rack height of the competing super slow motion server.
With its rich feature set, Mira welcomes all to the future of truly flexible,
ultra high-quality HD digital video recording.
Combining video/audio
processing hardware with the latest RAID.6 disk drive technology, Mira has a competitive
price point and is available in three storage capacities: 15-, 30- and 60-hours
of recording time for HD digital video, audio and timecode — all housed inside a
3RU chassis. When recording in SD, the three storage capacities are 32-, 41-
and 82-hours. Ultra high-quality J2K wavelet compression technology with bit
rates up to 200Mb/s is used to record the 10-bit HD digital video; or up to
175Mb/s for SD digital video. There are ten presets to dial down the bit-rate
from 200M/b down to 75Mb/s for HD; and from 175Mb/s down to 25Mb/s for SD.
Access to the
RAID.6 media disk drive array is provided at the front of the machine, with the
RAID.6 parity protection allowing up to two disk drive failures at the same
time—without interruption to user operations. Simple “hot-swap” media disk
drive exchange is achieved without the use of hand tools, with provision for
stand-by “hot spare” disk drives with automatic swap and parity rebuild in
cases of disk drive failure.
The feature
set of Mira includes a graphics file import utility which imports QuickTime MOV
files that include RGB, alpha and audio to create video+key+audio animation clips;
four RS422 serial control ports with Sony, Louth VDCP and Odetics protocols
(providing precise control from third-party controllers, including those from Sony,
Thomson Grass Valley, Lance Design
and DNF Controls); eight tracks of
uncompressed digital audio with 24-bit resolution/48kHz sampling (with optional
16-track digital audio available); LTC & VANC timecode record and playback;
a unique graphical user interface with integrated video/audio/timecode displays;
a built-in multi-paned viewer on 1.5Gb/s HD-SDI for live video/audio/timecode “video
wall” monitoring; and transport controls with instant response.
As a
standard feature, Mira can record or play back one or two sets of video, key,
audio and timecode (VKAT) within a single operation under a single clip identity.
VKAT storage capability streamlines many production and post applications and
greatly simplifies media management. 2X and 3X Super Slow Motion recording and
replay capability is available as an optional feature. Mira hardware can be
reconfigured by the user to record and play simultaneously using the shared
storage, with any combination of the four video streams. These features, along
with the aforementioned feature set, provides a powerful HD and SD recording
platform for use in live, on-air broadcasting environments.