The xeatre.broadcast module enables scheduled streaming according to a program rundown, much like an IPTV channel. Xeatre.tv is therefore evolving from a pure recording and archiving system into a universal IPTV platform that opens entirely new fields of application. In a company, for example, xeatre.broadcast can eliminate elaborate coaxial cabling by carrying television over the corporate IP network. It also creates attractive new options in hospitality, such as designing hotel television services individually and flexibly.
At the heart of xeatre.broadcast is a playlist editor in which users create interactive program schedules. Recordings or live television channels are arranged in the playlist by drag and drop. To make operation as familiar as possible, the developers modeled the interface on Microsoft Outlook. Users can build a personalized broadcast schedule for each day step by step.
In the channel editor, users define where programs from the schedule will be sent. A schedule is assigned to a freely named channel whose properties can then be configured, including multicast MPEG-2 streams, unicast streams to a specific IP address, and selected codecs. xeatre.broadcast supports point-to-point unicast streams and, where the corporate network is configured accordingly, multicast streams.
The module supports a variety of receiver clients, including PCs running VLC, Flash in a browser, Windows Media Player, and various set-top boxes. Its stream-codec support includes MPEG-2 transport and program streams, H.264, FLV, DivX, and many other codecs. Like the other Xeatre.tv modules, xeatre.broadcast is designed for intuitive operation through a straightforward graphical interface.
The system has a broad range of applications. Large corporate networks can operate internal channels with preselected material played on a schedule. Publishers and media companies can establish editorial television over their existing network infrastructure using IP multicast, eliminating expensive coaxial cabling. Xeatre.tv sits at the headend, after which programs travel to clients solely as IP streams.
Another increasingly important field is digital signage, where screens in companies, department stores, supermarkets, museums, or events are supplied with different content according to schedules. In hotel television, programs are sent to rooms by multicast, while an internal channel can carry information, advertising loops, or trailers.
The xeatre.broadcast module is available immediately, with prices starting at €14,800.
About Xeatre.tv
Xeatre.tv is a highly scalable, browser-based broadcast-recording and archiving system designed specifically for production companies, television broadcasters, press offices, and advertising agencies. It is based on open-source technology from Open Source Factory GmbH, a Munich specialist founded in 2004.
The modular recording system captures television and radio channels as well as native IPTV sources. It can scale to several hundred parallel recording streams, limited only by storage-system bandwidth. Programs are recorded without loss of quality, while optional software transcoding into arbitrary formats adds flexibility.
Users can access Xeatre.tv from any location through a web browser. Standard hardware provides greater vendor independence. The system is based on the open-source VDR solution. It already supports the iPhone, and the xeatre.mobile module has been available since January 2007.
Xeatre.tv is used by numerous media companies, press offices, and archives. Customers include Endemol Germany, the Vorarlberg State Library, Bayerischer Rundfunk, the Federal Office of Languages, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics.
More information is available at http://www.xeatre.tv.
