New Operational Features And Expanded Connectivity For PlayBox Neo’s Range

PlayBox Neo announces new additions to the operational capabilities and connectivity of its TV Channel-in-a-Box, AirBox Neo-20 and Capture Suite.

PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box provides all the facilities needed to create and maintain single or multiple television channels within a seamless workflow for local or remote control. Based on AirBox Neo-20 playout automation, the system can be configured to any required scale from optional elements such as Capture Suite media ingest, TitleBox Neo-20 interactive character generator and graphics, and ListBox Neo-20 scheduling. Terrestrial, satellite, cable and IP-streamed transmission are all fully supported.

AirBox Neo-20 can be configured for round-the-clock automated operation on any scale from a regional station or corporate TV service up to a global network broadcasting to multiple timezones in multiple languages. Playlist scheduling can be performed weeks ahead of actual transmission while retaining the freedom to trim, edit or reschedule content or integrate with live production. Safeguards are provided to ensure uninterrupted operation if content files or even entire schedules are missing or conflicting timed events are present. Six new features have been introduced:

  • Transport Stream and XDCAM MXF file clips can now be played back while still being ingested, saving time as operators no longer need to wait until the ingest process is complete.
  • GPU acceleration can now be used to achieve fast file decoding, again saving time.
  • Picture-in-Picture digital video effects can be created within AirBox Neo-20.
  • Real-time loudness compliance ensures the audio output level remains within a preset safe dynamic range to conform with national and/or international standards.
  • Operators are now alerted to absent or frozen video feeds via a web-based multiviewer, allowing service interruption to be checked and corrected quickly.
  • Input/output configuration can now be performed using a web-based resource monitor connected via a secure link.

AirBox Neo-20's connectivity is expanded with support for NDI input. This is additional to the existing compatibility with SDI (AJA Corvid and Blackmagic Decklink); MPEG-2 TS (UDP/RTP) and HTTP(S), RTMP, MMS(H) IP streams. NDI output is also now provided, supplementing the existing SDI (AJA Corvid and Blackmagic Decklink), SRT/UDP/RTP stream and RTMPS outputs.

Capture Suite was developed for use within the UHD/HD/SD production workflow of television networks, post-production facilities or playout service-providers. It allows users to control multiple ingest channels across multiple servers from a single web user interface. Functions such as input selection, ingest presets, file-naming conventions, assignments and auto-transfer can be performed quickly and easily. Five new features are announced:

  • Manual, Scheduled and Compliance ingest modes with automated input switching.
  • Editing in Adobe Premiere and Grass Valley Edius Workgroup 9+ can now be performed while ingesting.
  • MXF and TS files being ingested are available for immediate playout via AirBox Neo-20 Automation without having to wait for the ingest process to complete.
  • Loudness audio meters are now included to allow precise audio level adjustment.
  • A web-based multiviewer with black and freeze frame alarms is now included.

You might also like...

Monitoring & Compliance In Broadcast: Monitoring Cloud Infrastructure

If we take cloud infrastructures to their extreme, that is, their physical locality is unknown to us, then monitoring them becomes a whole new ball game, especially as dispersed teams use them for production.

Neutral TV Operating Systems

TV OSs have become pivotal to both smart TVs and streaming services as consumers continue to cut the cord. There is growing interest not just among TV makers but also major streaming and advertising platforms in neutral TV OSs independent…

Sweden’s Accelerating Journey From DTT To OTT

2025 may be a watershed year for the broadcast delivery switchover from DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television) to IP (Internet Protocol). We know that an increasing number of viewers of broadcaster content are turning to their favorite streaming apps to watch the…

Microphones: Part 9 - The Science Of Stereo Capture & Reproduction

Here we look at the science of using a matched pair of microphones positioned as a coincident pair to capture stereo sound images.

Monitoring & Compliance In Broadcast: Monitoring Cloud Networks

Networks, by their very definition are dispersed. But some are more dispersed than others, especially when we look at the challenges multi-site and remote teams face.