Sneak Peak At A New Product In Development

VBrick’s low latency H264 encoder appliance with MPEG 2 Transport stream support has opened up some new application possibilities. Compressing video to 500 Kbps and utilizing new broadband bonding technology that can aggregate multiple 3G wireless networks makes it possible to transmit reasonable quality video from remote locations back to TV stations for live playback on air. This technology will also enable first responders to provide situational awareness to dispatchers and headquarter operations via low latency live video. Broadcasting via cellular networks and small, portable, kits or backpacks will soon be a viable alternative to satellite broadcasting and microwave backhaul.

We have developed a prototype that is contained in a small rugged case, which can be placed in a backpack for mobile broadcasting from any location with cellular coverage. Multiple simultaneous carriers are supported to provide more bandwidth and redundancy. The prototype uses two Anton Bauer batteries and can run for more than four hours continuously. External HD-SDI video and XLR audio inputs provide locking cable support directly from broadcast cameras. Video is decoded with our enterprise video decoder which supports component and composite video output in both SD and HD resolutions.

I recently had a successful demonstration at a TV station. My goal is to productize the prototype with the help of our expert mechanical engineering and operations team. If all goes well we should have our first set of units ready for beta testing this year.

Please stay tuned here for updates on this product. If you would like to talk with me about this product directly, please feel free to drop me a line at erikh@vbrick.com. Thank you!