Harris supports broadcasters’ multifaceted future
Feb 6, 2006 12:36 PM, Beyond The Headlines e-newsletter
 Among its new NAB product introductions, Harris will introduce the Leitch Platinum large-scale SD/HD router. |
Through a series of acquisitions and R&D funding that has cost some $800 million over the past three years, Harris has taken great strides to reposition itself as a supplier of equipment and services that address the entire content creation, distribution and transaction chain. After purchasing the assets and technology of Inscriber Systems, Leitch, Louth and Videotek, it’s clear that Harris is not just about RF TV transmitters —its bread and butter for many years and an image it is trying to shake — anymore.
At a pre-NAB press conference in New York City last week, company executives outlined new SD and HD features for virtually all of its product lines while announcing what it will show at NAB2006, April 24 – 27 in Las Vegas. This includes the immediate availability of several software modules within its new H-Class content delivery platform and application suite; the new Leitch Velocity XNG laptop edit system; Velocity NX, a craft editor for shared-storage environments based on the Leitch NEXIO server; the Inscriber G-Series of CG and graphics systems; the Icon SD/HD master control and branding system; the Platinum large-scale SD/HD router; the Nucleus control panel that helps centralize the operational control of Harris processing, branding and routing products; and the new Videotek VTM series of monitoring devices. Products will be showcased within two separate exhibit booths in Las Vegas this year.
The H-Class facilitates the delivery of content as digital files, and also addresses such traditional business and traffic issues as rights usage, revenue, cost, audience and channel destination associated with a specific piece of content. For broadcasters this process has heretofore been time consuming and labor intensive. H-Class automates most of these processes, to enable multichannel operations to run reliably and smoothly while generating the most amount of revenue.
Proving that it has not abandoned its transmitter roots, at NAB2006 Harris will show enhancements to its existing lines of analog and digital transmitter systems. The PlatimunCD digital transmitter will get a new control cabinet that features an integrated Harris eCDi transmitter network monitoring and control system. This enables network-wide monitoring of numerous transmit sites from a single location, anywhere in the world. Harris will also debut the Atlas series UHF ATSC transmitter that will be available in five different power levels. The PowerCD high-power UHF ATSC transmitter will also be shown in a single-cabinet configuration, for space-limited installations.
Harris said it has fully integrated its various acquisitions into a cohesive group of companies that complement each other. The Leitch products provide the hardware platform on which the H-Class software resides and takes full advantage of. The Inscriber graphics systems work well with the Leitch Nexio servers, and the Videotek monitoring products keep track of all incoming and outgoing signals created/generated by them all. The company has moved from a number of point products to an enterprise solution that brings broadcasters into the HDTV, IPTV and Internet broadcasting future.
For more information, visit www.harris.com.
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