Archive notice: This article was originally published on April 14, 2010. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
At this year’s NAB, DVS is presenting, among other things, an advanced feature set for its flagship Clipster that includes support for numerous RAW formats and performs 4K DCI mastering in real time. There are also numerous new features for the Venice video server, including current native processing of all major codecs, extensive playlist features and a new transcoding mode. For the first time, DVS is launching Atomix, the newest member of the video-board family, as well as Fuze, a workstation developed specifically for digital-cinema delivery.
DP interviewed Bernhard Reitz, Head of Product Management at DVS, about the numerous NAB innovations.
DP: DVS flagship Clipster has become firmly established not only in many German studios, but is now also an integral part of numerous international high-end production facilities. One reason is certainly the successive expansion of feature sets and DVS’s good support.
Bernhard Reitz: the quality of our products should also be reflected in the quality of our service: our customers can benefit from individual support, expert assistance and precisely tailored training. Thanks to the successive expansion of its feature set, Clipster has now earned a worldwide reputation as the standard DI tool. At NAB, Clipster offers real-time DCI mastering in 4K with 3D subtitling and support for intermediate formats in JPEG2000 RGB 500 Mbit, such as the IMF format, to create different multimedia deliverables. For generating RAW dailies, in addition to RED, Arri and Phantom, we are introducing support at NAB for the Silicon Imaging SI-2K camera using CineForm RAW – as is tradition in Clipster, all in real time.
DP: what advantages do DVS products offer with regard to the new requirements of stereoscopic workflows?
Bernhard Reitz: roughly speaking, stereoscopic work requires twice the performance, twice the bandwidth and twice the capacity. This high performance requirement can be achieved only when software and hardware are optimally coordinated. Together with our expertise in storage and system development, we can meet this performance requirement for stereoscopic work. With Clipster, postproduction houses benefit particularly from the latest DCI capabilities: our DI workstation generates 3D DCPs (Digital Cinema Packages) in real time, offers subtitling with depth processing likewise in real time, and permits quality control of a 3D DCP, also in real time. Clipster’s hardware also provides further possibilities for optimally processing stereoscopic material. At IBC, we then intend to present further 3D tools for the stereoscopic workflow.
DP: DVS is announcing exciting additions to the Atomix video-board range. For which fields of application are the boards primarily suited – and what special features do they offer?
Bernhard Reitz: the new Atomix card processes uncompressed 4K image material in real time. It is optimally tailored to the requirements of high-end postproduction and the presentation business. Atomix also handles stereoscopic 2K material and enables uncompressed 4K to be played out in real time. An up- and downscaler and a 3D LUT are also available. Further key features include recording and playback via dual-link 3.0 Gbps SDI, real-time 1D LUT, 16 embedded audio channels and 16 AES/EBU channels. Because of its two channels and 2K capability, Atomix LT is an excellent fit for the broadcast market. Atomix LT outputs material at resolutions from SD to 2K in real time. The PCIe video board offers an extensive feature set that includes two independent channels and 3 Gpbs on both SDI inputs and outputs.
Migration from other DVS video boards, such as Centaurus II, is greatly simplified by retaining the SDK. Customers who already use the DVS SDK for video boards can therefore deploy the new functions of the Atomix and Atomix LT cards in their products quickly and rapidly, and thus remain at the latest state of the art.
