CoreEL Technologies are now shipping their new H.264/MPEG2 decoder module VDMS6HD. Designed to fit right onto your own base card, this module provides ASI or IP inputs / SDI or parallel video outputs (you can implement HDMI very simply from there) with simultaneous H.264/MPEG2 decode up to HD (1080P/30) 4:2:2 10bit broadcast quality. Full details available on our website http://www.l2tek.co.uk/

Award win for Stagebox Technology from BBC R&D

Stagebox was the recipient of the InTECH (Technical Developments) Award at NAB 2012.

Stagebox technology licensed from BBC research & development by L2tek and being manufactured by Bluebell Opticom, is the world's first camera accessory streaming bi-directional HD SDI / Audio / Genloc /Tally / Camera control, over a time synchronised IP network. Using standard low cost networking components, Stagebox employs 100Mbps AVCi compression from CoreEL Technologies and interfaces directly to editing suites to allow remote production such as in Distant Outside Broadcasting (DOB) applications.

http://www.inbroadcast.com/Editors_Awards.asp

Latency in compressed systems is a big thing and intoPIX have just the solution with their JPEG2000 CODEC capable of less than 1 frame latency. intoPIX is a leading supplier of compression technology with FPGA IP cores and board level solutions. They are also a passionate group of people dedicated to this business and so a great bunch of people to work with!

These suppliers will have stands at IBC 2011:

Gennum Corporation - Hall 9 Booth 9.A45 - New long range equalisers, crosspoints and SFP modules
CoreEL Technologies - Hall 1 Booth 1.F96 - Demonstrating AVCi Encode and Decode FPGA cores
Phabrix Ltd - Hall 8 Booth 8.E25 - Presenting new rack mount version of their world leading video testers
intoPIX - Hall 10 Booth 10.D31 - J2000 compression technology

Call us to make an appointment, Geoff, Tim, Mark and Tina will be at the show this year.

In what represents a significant step-up for L2tek, this year we have booked the Amstel Botel for IBC 2011. No more camping for us, but I hope we don't get sea-sick! See you there.

Thanks you to Graeme Kelly (Now of Snell Ltd) for sending the following link regarding Apple's Thunderbolt cables.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/30/apple-thunderbolt-cable-gutted-a-dozen-other-things-found-withi/

I recognise the logo on that chip!

Panasonic DMR-BW780EBK
For a long time I have wanted a hard disk recorder for terrestrial TV recording. Panasonic released the above model last year with a feature rich set of functions, including a 250Gb HD, Bueray recorder, twin DVB-T2 tuners and H.264 encoding engine. Originally the price was high at over £600 but I eventually got it for around £400 fro Amazon...a bargain for the technology!
After the excitement of receiving my Amazon delivery I plugged my unit into my Sony Bravia 40"......then the disappointement set in.
Connecting the HDMI port to the TV, killed the TV's digital tuners. Also the Panasonic would not tune to any channel. After some fiddling around, I disconnected the HDMI cable and inserted the Scart cable (yuk!)...magically all the tuners started to work. However, the Scart only supports analog SD....not much good considering the £400 price tag for the HD performance.
I spent a good few hours playing around with the RF cables, convincing myself that the problem was interference or a ground loop problem. The next task was to replace all my cheap RF cables with noise suppressed ones and inserting an isolation transformer....checking the antennae amp etc. To my dismay, this made no difference.
I started to conclude, that the problem could only be due to the HDMI radiating and interfering with the tuners. But I had already purchased a good quality HDMI cable. I made another investment in an HDMI cable (by Panasonic) that had zinc molded connecters ("to stop leakage"). Instantly the problem disappeared!!
I am now enjoying an excellent image quality.....the decoding / and the SD to HD upconversion is far supperior to the Sony Bravia with very few artifacts and great detail.I am now awaiting for the analog switch off in 2012 so that I can enjoy free terrestrial HD.
My next job is to open the Panasonic unit to see what image processor they use....I suspect I-Chips.