In Broadcast - March 2015 - 52

52

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 5 - Issue 3 | March 2015

InMedia

Harmonic Electra X Advanced
Media Processors Raise The Bar
Harmonic has transformed video delivery - bringing UHD and intelligent function integration
to its new Electra X Advanced Media Processor family...

H

armonic, a worldwide leader in
video delivery infrastructure,
has launched the latest generation
of its market-leading Electra product
line, the Electra X family of advanced
media processors for broadcast and
multiscreen content delivery.
As the world's ﬁrst encoder family
to support graphics, branding, and
playout functionalities, as well as
industry-leading video quality and
full-frame UHD live encoding, Electra X
revolutionises video delivery.
Powered by the Harmonic PURE
Compression Engine, Electra X
appliance-based media processors
boost video compression efﬁciency
across an extensive range of formats
and codecs - including MPEG-2, AVC,
and HEVC codecs - over CBR, VBR, and
ABR encoding schemes to support a
broad array of devices from handhelds
to UHD TV.
Already deployed by Harmonic
customers, the multicodec and
multiformat nature of Electra X
makes it well suited to solve the video
processing challenges of broadcast,
cable, satellite, and telco operators
today and in the future.
"Building on the success of our
industry-leading compression family,
the Electra X media processors offer a
dramatic new approach to encoding,"
said Bart Spriester, Senior Vice
President, Video Products, Harmonic.
"The Electra X simpliﬁes content
delivery operations, enabling video
content and service providers to offer
linear and multiscreen services from
low bandwidth proﬁles all the way up
to UHD. Plus the additional function
integration can have a profound
impact when deploying new services."
Integrating real-time SD and HD

"...the Electra X
media processors
offer a dramatic new
approach to encoding"
Bart Spriester
Harmonic

Harmonic Electra X Advanced Media Processor family

encoding,
high-quality
graphics,
branding, and playout functionality,
the Electra X2 media processor
uniﬁes market-leading video quality,
unparalleled function integration, and
increased operational ﬂexibility in a
single 1RU appliance.
Utilising this next-generation media
processing system, video content and
service providers can dramatically
simplify their infrastructures, reduce
costs, and drive new revenuegenerating services, while delivering
superior video quality at the lowest
possible bit rate.
"By converging broadcast and
multiscreen encoding with the
graphics
and
branding
from
Harmonic's Spectrum ChannelPort
integrated channel playout system,
plus transport stream playout
functionality, into a single, compact
appliance, Electra X2 reduces the
number of devices required to build
a broadcast transmission chain.
This approach lowers capital and
operating expenditures, resulting
in exceptionally low total cost of
ownership (TCO)," continued Spriester.
With the Electra X2 media
processor, multiple encoding and
playout operations can be controlled
from a single interface, making
operations easier to set up, manage,
and maintain, thereby dramatically
lowering TCO.
Through
its
pay-as-you-grow
approach to scalability, the nextgeneration media processor assures
that users pay only for media
processing capabilities they need,
enabling them to add new capabilities
in the future as business requirements
change.

The Electra X2 media processor
is managed via Harmonic's NMX
Digital Service Manager, a video
network management solution that
encompasses a powerful set of
tools for monitoring and managing
compressed digital media services.
When paired with other NMXcontrolled systems, such as Harmonic's
ProStream 9100 high-density stream
processor and ProMedia X Origin
multiscreen media server, the Electra
X2 media processor becomes part of
a highly scalable, converged solution
for the deployment of linear broadcast
and OTT video services.
For operators and service providers
that want to deliver UHD video quality
at the lowest bit rates, Harmonic also

announced the Electra X3 advanced
media processor.
This media processor exploits
the power of the Harmonic PURE
compression engine to also deliver
real-time, broadcast-ready content,
supporting UHD formats up to
2160p60 (HEVC Main 10 proﬁle).
Unlike other UHD compression
solutions on the market, which contain
multiple logical encoders, the Electra
X3 is the industry's ﬁrst productionready, full-frame UHD encoder in a
single 2RU appliance.
Consequently, the Electra X3
integrates
easily
into
existing
workﬂows and boasts lower power
consumption for additional TCO
beneﬁts.

HEVC - The Next Video Wave
High Efﬁciency Video Coding
(HEVC) is the latest compression
standard that promises to improve
the efﬁciency of video streams.
A joint ITU/ISO standard, HEVC will
ﬁnd applications in various multiple
video delivery areas, including
satellite, cable, Over-The-Air and
Over-The-Top (OTT), for both linear
and nonlinear content.
The key beneﬁt is bandwidth
efﬁciency savings of some 50% in
bitrate versus current MPEG-4 AVC
coding at similar video quality.
HEVC can also signiﬁcantly improve
video quality at similar bitrates
to AVC and will be the technology
that enables delivery of 4K / UHD
content.
According to Harmonic, the
efﬁciencies of HEVC mean that it will
ultimately be used throughout video

delivery infrastructures, but this will
not happen overnight.
Initial deployments will focus on
OTT/multiscreen applications where
bandwidth is often restricted and
the infrastructure is more ﬂexible.
Linear TV deployment will begin with
IPTV/OTT VOD applications, followed
by the broadcasting of live Ultra HD
content.
Harmonic has blazed a trail in HEVC
deployment with initial support for
the codec in its ProMedia multiscreen
software solutions.
The ProMedia Xpress ﬁle-based
transcoder supports HEVC and AVC
transcoding of Ultra HD video on
demand content.
The ProMedia Live real-time
transcoder makes HEVC and AVC
compression of Ultra HD material
available for real-time delivery.
http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.harmonicinc.com/product/encoding-transcoding-distribution/electra-x
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