In today’s increasingly fast-paced mobile and connected world, news agencies need to be able to broadcast from anywhere, quickly and easily, bringing up-to-date coverage to audiences across the globe. The TVU Networks range of wireless Electronic News Gathering (ENG) and professional quality IP-video solutions, now available from Graphic Image Technologies (GIT), is designed specifically to meet this challenge.
TVU solutions enable broadcasters of any size to overcome the limitations of traditional broadcasting infrastructure, expand their distribution, and capture and broadcast live video content in a cost-effective way by making use of advanced bandwidth management technology, The suite of solutions includes the award-winning TVUPack and TVU Grid as well as innovative solutions such as TVU Anywhere, TVU M-Link, TVU MARC-1 and the TVUPack Mini.
“Consumers today demand up to the minute news and events, and in order to stay competitive, television broadcasters need to cater to this demand. The TVU products deliver live news feeds from practically anywhere in the world without the limitations or cost of satellite trucks and broadcasting infrastructure.
“Using GSM infrastructure for communications, the TVU products deliver high quality broadcast signal for live Standard Definition (SD) or High Definition (HD) video transmission. These solutions are rugged and cost effective, providing easy coverage of newsworthy events at short notice, as well as in difficult to reach or remote areas,” says Mark Chertkow, MD at GIT.
The TVUPack offers the same functionality as an ENG van, in a lightweight, ultra-portable backpack format for enhanced speed of deployment and ease of use. This solution enables broadcasters to capture and broadcast live interviews and events in HD over multiple 3G/4G cellular wireless networks, WiFi, WiMax, and more. The TVUPack enables organisations to broadcast live SD and HD video from virtually any location in the world.
The TVU Grid is a powerful yet simple IP-video distribution, routing and switching system that gives broadcasters the ability to seamlessly switch live IP video content and share live video streams between multiple remote locations. This enables broadcasters to efficiently distribute or collect content at the click of a button using available, cost-effective networks as an alternative to satellite.
TVU MLink is a series of rack-mountable cellular uplink transmitters designed to deliver high quality, professional live video transmissions from an Outside Broadcast (OB) vehicle as well as fixed remote locations. Furthermore, by combining MLink with a powerful VBR encoding engine with TVU’s proprietary Inverse StatMux transmission technology, MLink is able to deliver superior reliability, resilience and picture quality to broadcasters.
For example, should a broadcaster make use of six modems with six SIM cards, Inverse StratMux will prioritise the SIMs with the best coverage, further ensuring quality images and faster speeds in both SD and HD while on the move.
TVU Anywhere enables users to capture news and events as they happen and broadcast live from a variety of smart mobile devices. TVU Anywhere instantly turns laptops or portable iOS and Windows devices into a transmitter, delivering a powerful tool for instant capture and transmission of footage from anywhere. This easy to use application need simply be downloaded and opened to begin transmission to a TVU Receiver using cellular connectivity.
The TVU MARC-1 is a flexible cellular uplink enclosure for the TVUPack TM8200’s detachable modem module. MARC-1 extends the flexibility of the TM8200, enabling users to move the modem enclosure to the roof of a vehicle for optimal Radio Frequency (RF) performance without requiring the use of additional cellular modems or antennas. The system can be permanently mounted to any standard ENG vehicle or can use optional magnetic connectors for safe and secure temporary use with multiple vehicles.
The TVUPack Mini delivers live HD video uplink transmission directly from the camera, enabling broadcasters to go live at the touch of a button. This solution fits a variety of camera setups including direct camera mount and belt mount configurations to deliver a stable, resilient transmission that results in superior picture quality.
Other products in the TVU range include the TVU Transceiver and Receiver and the TVUPack Cloud which enables broadcasters to deliver live streaming video from virtually any location in the world without the need for receiver hardware.
“The TVU solutions all use widely available cellular connectivity to transmit. To address the limited bandwidth and instability of these wireless networks, proprietary technology dynamically segments a live video signal and transmits the segments through multiple independent connections to ensure the most stable broadcast-quality live signal available.
“This not only makes outside broadcasting easier and more cost effective, it opens up new avenues for competitiveness in what can be a cut-throat business,” explains Chertkow.
“For even more convenience, we also offer a rental service on request, where local or international news agencies visiting South Africa are able to rent the TVUPacks from us for major news events. This service proved highly beneficial at the end of 2013, where international broadcasters rented five packs from us for the coverage of Nelson Mandela’s funeral and memorial services,” he concludes.
The entire TVU range is available on order from GIT.
