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NewswireToday - /newswire/ -
London, United Kingdom, 04/15/2008 - Cabletime, a leading manufacturer of TV/AV and multimedia delivery products over Cat-5/UTP and IP infrastructures, has launched a new product in its MediaStar Evolution family, the LAN-Caster – Digital Terrestrial or Satellite TV to LAN (IP) Gateway.
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The new solution, which will be revealed at Infocomm 08 on Booth N5669, allows an organisation to connect live digital terrestrial broadcasts (DVB-T) or digital satellite broadcasts (DVB-S2) directly into a LAN to deliver TV and radio to any networked PC or display device such as a plasma or LCD to view live news, sports and entertainment channels.
Paul Reeves, Sales and Marketing Director at Cabletime, said: “As the number of TV channels available to an organisation grows through new services on both digital terrestrial and satellite services, we are enabling organisations to combine encrypted channels alongside free to air channels DVB-T and DVB-S2 services. We are now able to offer those customers wishing to combine all of their TV over the IP delivery requirements within a convenient 19” rack mount chassis.”
About the LAN-Caster
The LAN-Caster is accompanied by a 3U, 19” chassis that will allow users to incorporate a “mix and match” scenario that delivers digital terrestrial TV (DVB-T) and digital satellite TV (DVB-S2), as well as MPEG-2/4 streams from local sources. One LAN-Caster blade can be connected to a digital video terrestrial or satellite source to deliver up to eleven channels of live TV and radio, while additional MediaStar Evolution blades can be added to allow users to receive further channels from other sources such as a satellite decoder, or even MPEG-2/4 streams from cameras or DVD players. Up to 9 blades can be housed in the chassis to enable a potential 99 channels from just one chassis in a ‘plug and play’ manner. Any networked PC using the MediaStar Evolution desktop viewing software, or video display device using the MediaStar Evolution EvoNet IPTV decoder, will gain access to the myriad of new channels and services offered by digital TV.
The LAN-Caster receives the digital off-air DVB-T and DVB-S2 signals and extracts the digital data out of the MPEG-2 streams, re-packetises the data in a format suitable for transmission over an IP based network. Channels can be selected or deselected depending on viewing preferences and are controlled via an easy HTML browser interface.
The Audience
Designed to suit a myriad of applications from banking and corporate to retail and hospitality, any organisation with an IP network requiring access to terrestrial or satellite TV and radio channels would benefit from this solution. Amongst the many applications suitable for MediaStar Evolution are corporate communications, which often require a one-to-many multicast to local, national or international audiences. This may involve the delivery of live TV channels, specific training programmes and messaging. It brings the potential of visual communication to every desktop, every screen and every display within an organisation. Staff will feel better informed, empowered and involved with information delivered right into the heart of an enterprise quickly and efficiently.
“For over 10 years Cabletime’s MediaStar product range has been recognised as a world leader in the delivery of TV and Multimedia over Cat-5/UTP,” continued Paul Reeves. “In 2005 we introduced the MediaStar Evolution range of MPEG-2/4 Encoders and IPTV Decoders to further augment our already comprehensive range to the financial, corporate, education and sporting market place. We have a unique offering in the market, able to provide the most appropriate TV and multimedia delivery technology, Cat-5/UTP and IP, depending on the requirements of the customer. This hybrid approach, whereby customers have the choice of both Cat5/UTP and IP methods of transporting TV and multimedia to screens and desktops, has been a real winner with our clients. The introduction of the LAN-Caster, part of the MediaStar Evolution IP system, further enhances our offering.“
Linux based for consistent, robust performance, the LAN-Caster supports both Standard Definition and High Definition, and features an RF loopthrough for connection to additional DVB-T/DVB-S2 LAN-Caster units. Management and control is easily achieved via a 10/100 Base-T interface to the unit’s on-board HTML browser, an RS232 serial port interface, or USBv1.1 for configuration. The LAN-Caster can scan through available DVB-T/DVB-S2 multiplexes and different ‘mux’ addresses can be selected for output as a MPEG-2 video stream, using unicast, multicast, UDP, RTP, or RTSP protocols. Password protection and enablement coding for the secure addition of features is also included, as well as the ability to field upgrade.
The MediaStar Evolution DVB-T/DVB-S2 LAN-Caster comes in two models: the MediaStar Evolution 776 DVB-T and the 777 DVB-S2 LAN-Caster are standalone units; the chassis-mounted MediaStar Evolution 773 DVB-T and 774 DVB-S2 LAN-Caster blades utilise a MediaStar Evolution 770 chassis with integrated power and ventilation that is able to house 9 MediaStar Evolution 773 LAN-Casters (DVB-T), 774 LAN-Casters (DVB-S2) or MediaStar Evolution 772 MPEG-2/4 Encoder blades.
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