Rohde And Schwarz - IABM Member Company Details

StreamMaster PRIME is a turnkey appliance with SDI I/O that offers a flexible feature set to satisfy channel branding and simple integrated playout requirements. StreamMaster PRIME is aimed at broadcasters looking to replace legacy equipment nearing end of life whilst retaining existing automation and discrete playout infrastructure.

Designed for 24/7 operation in a transmission environment StreamMaster PRIME leverages Pixel Power’s renowned StreamMaster technology platform into a cost effective SDI connected appliance that fits seamlessly into existing infrastructure. Investment in StreamMaster PRIME is future proofed as the software licenced features can be transferred to a new architecture or deployment model as business needs evolve.

Rohde & Schwarz presents world’s first comprehensive 5G Broadcast solution at IBC 2019

The Rohde & Schwarz solution for the first complete 5G Broadcast transmission consists of the core network functionality provided by the new R&S BSCC broadcast service and control center and R&S Tx9 transmitters, which support FeMBMS. This all-in-one solution covers all entities from the content provider to the consumer and is fully compliant with 3GPP Release 14. R&S BSCC enables broadcasters for efficient distribution of high-quality video to the 5G ecosystem. The world’s first complete 5G Broadcast solution will be showcased at the Rohde & Schwarz booth B.21 in hall 7.

In recent years, media consumption has shifted significantly toward smartphones and other portable devices. Reaching the billions of smartphones around the world will be the future of broadcasting. 3GPP Release 14 is enabling this future by using FeMBMS (Further evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service). As a part of the Bavarian research project 5G TODAY, Rohde & Schwarz is investigating large-scale TV broadcasts in the FeMBMS mode. Using high-power high-tower (HPHT) transmitters allows broadcasters to distribute video over 5G networks in downlink-only mode with all the advantages of classic broadcasting. This provides the high quality levels known from HDTV broadcasting, low-latency live content as well as enormous spectrum efficiency and wide coverage. There is no need for a SIM card in the mobile device.

To help utilize all these benefits, Rohde & Schwarz is the first technology vendor worldwide to offer a complete 5G Broadcast solution for network operators. This solution covers all entities from the content provider to consumers. R&S Tx9 transmitters provide FeMBMS based on a unique software-based signal processing platform. The pure software-based signal processing platform gives network operators great flexibility and ideally prepares them for future signal processing requirements.

At IBC, Rohde & Schwarz is launching its new 5G Broadcast core network element, the R&S BSCC broadcast service and control center, which enables Rohde & Schwarz terrestrial transmitters to deliver LTE/5G Broadcast content. This element provides core network functionality so that network operators can distribute content over LTE/5G Broadcast. The main benefit of the R&S BSCC is that it reduces 3GPP core network entities’ complexity to meet broadcasters’ needs for a straightforward LTE/5G Broadcast experience. The overall Rohde & Schwarz solution makes it very easy to configure network parameters. Multiple Rohde & Schwarz FeMBMS transmission sites can be centrally configured in the R&S BSCC core network element.

Rohde & Schwarz launches its new Monitoring-as-a-Service (MaaS) solution R&S PRISMON.cloud in Europe

At IBC 2019, Rohde & Schwarz rolls out its cloud-based OTT monitoring solution PRISMON.cloud in Europe, making it now available in the US, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, the UK and Italy. New features first presented at this year’s show in Amsterdam corroborate Rohde & Schwarz´s aspiration in offering the ideal monitoring tool for broadcasters, content and streaming platform providers. R&S PRISMON.cloud can be deployed quickly and without dedicated hardware. A flexible and scalable pricing model allows users to reduce investment costs (CAPEX), therefore, provides a tailored monitoring solution also for event driven usage peaks.

R&S PRISMON.cloud was designed to enable OTT providers to permanently understand the current Quality-of-Service (QoS) but also to quickly and easily adapt their monitoring infrastructure, for example when peak loads during the transmission of large events require extended service.

A live multiview function, automated analysis of A/V data and error assignment in real time placed in an intuitive analysis dashboard make it possible to permanently measure QoS parameters, store it in a cloud environment and visualize it in a timeline format.

Thanks to the easy-to-use setup wizard, it only takes minutes to add new virtual IoT sensors around the globe and connect them to the dashboard. The cloud solution has been extended with an API interface to integrate current data into network management systems and now provides configurable incident notifications.

In combination with the widely used on-premise monitoring solution R&S PRISMON, OTT data from both physical and virtual sensors can be displayed in a single dashboard. As a new feature, SMPTE 2110 data from R&S PRISMONs can now also be viewed in the PRISMON.cloud dashboard.

The resulting end-to-end transparency quickly and easily reveals errors such as deterioration of video or audio quality or poor CDN performance as a cause of churn. PRISMON.cloud sensors are available in two service packages: silver and gold. These packages can be ordered in the Rohde & Schwarz App Store as three-month and twelve-month subscriptions. There is also a free trial that enables customers to try out R&S PRISMON.cloud with no obligation. For more information about the service packages, visit www.prismon.cloud.

R&S SpycerNode represents the first in a new breed of storage systems that harness the latest advances in High Performance Computing (HPC), a term that refers to the system’s performance, scalability and redundancy. HPC is a combination of hardware, file system and RAID approach. HPC employs redundancy using software “RAID” technologies called erasure coding in combination with declustering to increase overall performance and reduce rebuild times. Also, system scalability is almost infinite and expansion is possible during operation.

The most compelling aspect of R&S SpycerNode is its building-block characteristics. It provides the ability to build a single global name space with different speeds of storage node.

In developing R&S SpycerNode, Rohde & Schwarz engineers have looked at many of the key issues that impact on media storage systems within high-performance video editing environments from annoying maintenance requirements – such as defraging – to much more serious system failures including dying disk drives, which can have catastrophic consequences to a project that is being worked on.

R&S SpycerNode features Rohde & Schwarz‘s device manager web application which makes it much easier to set up and use Rohde & Schwarz solutions in an integrated fashion. Device manager helps to reduce setup times and simplifies maintenance and service due to its intuitive web-based UI operated through a single client.

A critical requirement of any high-performance video storage system is proven data security. In developing R&S SpycerNode, Rohde & Schwarz has introduced data protection systems based on erasure coding and declustering. Erasure coding means that a data block is always written including parity.

Declustering is a part of the data protection approach of HPC setups (formerly known as RAID). It is software based and in comparison to a traditional RAID setup the spare disk is spread over all other disks and is not a dedicated disk. This will decrease rebuild times and reduce performance impact. Also, there are no limitations with the RAID controller, which results in much higher IOPS (Input/Output operations per second). Importantly, there is no impact on system performance over time due to declustering.

R&S SpycerNode comes in multiple 2U and 5U chassis designs, which are available with NL-SAS HDD and SAS SSDs in different capacities. An additional 2u24 chassis design is a pure flash system. There are main processor units and JBOD units. A main unit is always redundant, equipped with two appliance controllers (AP). Each AP features two 100 Gbit interfaces resulting in four 100 Gbit interfaces per main unit.

The combination of different chassis systems makes R&S SpycerNode applicable to a very broad range of applications. The 2u system represents a compact, lightweight unit that is ideal for application within mobile productions as well as offering a very dense, high speed storage device for on-premise applications. A larger 5u system offers sophisticated large-scale storage facilities on-premise within broadcast production centres and Post facilities.

Rohde & Schwarz presents its R&S SpycerPAM production asset management hall 7, booth B21. The software extension of the R&S SpycerNode storage platform simplifies project management and integration of a multitude of video processing tools. This makes workflows more efficient, especially for post production companies.

Managing access rights, proxy administration and avoiding multiple storage of assets are just a few of the challenges that complex film projects may face. The R&S SpycerPAM project asset management solution addresses these issues and significantly simplifies project handling. It offers functions such as asset management, rights management, metadata management and proxy generation as well as many features that simplify collaboration, allowing users to focus on being creative.

R&S SpycerPAM supports numerous video processing tools, including Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, Final Cut Pro, Avid Pro Tools and Avid Media Composer. R&S SpycerPAM seamlessly integrates the tools and creates its own "project mounts" for project management on R&S SpycerNode. Users can be assigned different access rights and see only assets and projects for which they have permission. Previewable proxies are generated automatically for the assets used, regardless of type – videos, complex Photoshop files, etc. Previews can be accessed with a single click. Smart mirror mechanisms prevent redundant storage of assets from various projects in R&S SpycerNode memory and sustainably reduce the storage capacity needed. In addition, rough cuts can be created quickly with the integrated web-based Preditor and then linked in the user's preferred processing tool.

The R&S SpycerNode storage solution was unveiled at IBC 2018. It represents a new and radically different approach to a wide variety of requirements for media file storage solutions. R&S SpycerNode features high availability, scalability and redundancy.

Rohde & Schwarz presents its new DAB+ transmitter platform at IBC. The R&S TMV9evo air-cooled medium-power transmitter (350 W and up) and the R&S THV9evo liquid-cooled high-power transmitter (1.3 kW and up) ensure smooth and reliable operation designed for simplicity and longevity.

The biggest challenges for network operators are the various operating costs: energy costs, costs to ensure service quality, the devices’ limited operating life, and even transmission downtime penalties. DAB+ transmission has never been so easy and yet secure as with the two new transmitters R&S TMV9evo and R&S THV9evo. They offer both the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) and a high safety of investment.

The new DAB+ transmitter platform is characterized by efficient operation at all levels. It is based on a tried-and-tested platform, thousands of which are in use worldwide and proving their reliability day in and day out. Rohde & Schwarz continues to put priority on ensuring the new transmitters a long product life of 15 years or more, thus offering network operators a longer-than-average investment profit phase. Backed up by service level agreements with a term of up to ten years, this ensures constant operational readiness while facilitating planning of operating costs.

The new R&S TMV9evo and R&S THV9evo transmitters feature an outstanding VHF band III amplifier design, providing network operators an extremely high energy efficiency of up to 49 percent in each of the band’s channels. This reduces energy consumption while making operation very cost-efficient. Rohde & Schwarz can draw on years of experience with Doherty technology to achieve exceptional Doherty efficiency. The DAB+ amplifiers also have such a solid thermal design that even continuous operation at 45 °C outdoor temperature and full output power does not limit operation. Rohde & Schwarz DAB+ transmitters ensure broadcasting distribution and reliable operation even under adverse environmental conditions.

With the R&S TMV9evo and R&S THV9evo, the latest features of the recently introduced R&S Tx9evo transmitter platform are now also available for VHF band III. For example, excellent adaptive digital precorrection from Rohde & Schwarz ensures consistently high signal quality over years of broadcasting operation. R&S efficiency optimization is another new feature. It ensures maximum energy savings even after adjusting the output power or changing channels: an intelligent algorithm, which is activated at the press of a button or adaptively, optimizes the amplifier parameters so that the transmitter operates at maximum energy efficiency. Until now, transmitter experts were needed for this purpose, in order to adjust the station’s transmitter to its new parameters. Today, R&S efficiency optimization does this at the touch of a button – even via remote control, thus ensuring the most cost-efficient system operation at all times.

Simple and problem-free transmitter operation is achieved thanks to clear diagnostic information and a high degree of automation. The new R&S TMV9evo and R&S THV9evo DAB+ transmitters are equipped with the functions this requires. The integrated performance analysis gives operators instant feedback on key operating parameters such as shoulder attenuation, efficiency, signal quality and more without additional test equipment. This ensures them a quick and comprehensive overview of the current operating status at all times. The detailed definition of the transmitter’s desired operating point also allows continuous monitoring of the transmitter without any complicated special routines of a network management system. This allows DAB+ network operators to set their limits for shoulder attenuation or MER, for example. In doing so, they can be sure that the new DAB+ transmitters continuously remain within these operating parameters, as long as the transmitters do not give off a warning or an alarm signal. This enables both easy operation and maximum operational reliability.

The R&S TMV9evo air-cooled medium-power transmitter and the R&S THV9evo liquid-cooled high-power transmitter for DAB+ are now available from Rohde & Schwarz.