Fujitsu Announces IP-9500 For Real-Time HDTV Transmission Over IP And DVB Networks

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc., one of the world’s leading suppliers of innovative computer products including hard disk drives, peripherals and 10Gb Ethernet switches, today introduced the IP-9500, a new line of video encoder/decoders from Fujitsu which enables broadcast-quality high-definition video over Internet Protocol (IP) and Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) networks. Utilizing advanced H.264 video encoding, the IP-9500 enables live transmission of high-quality HDTV at approximately half the bit-rate of typical MPEG-2 encoders.

The IP-9500 offers real-time HDTV content transmission over both IP and DVB networks. Fully featured for existing broadcast applications and networks, the device also features robust Forward Error Correction (FEC) for IP network deployment for exceptional rendering of decoded images on networks with large error rates, thus ensuring very high Quality of Service (QoS). The unit is also renowned for its best-in-class picture quality at low bit-rates and low latency, the result of using innovative H.264 compression algorithms developed by Fujitsu Laboratories. With its compact construction and low latency encoding mode, the IP-9500 can be used in remote sites for Electronic News Gathering (ENG), as well at most contribution and distribution applications. In addition, the IP-9500 can be directly connected to the latest HDTV cameras and displays via popular HD-SDI and HDMI interfaces.

“Fujitsu has been active in the video encoder market in Japan for more than 20 years. With this announcement Fujitsu is now making available its cutting-edge industry products for the US broadcast market,” said Dan Dalton, director, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. “The IP-9500 delivers state-of-the-art HD encoding in a compact product design. By utilizing the latest innovations in H.264 technology, the Fujitsu IP-9500 achieves best-in-class picture quality with a broad range of video bit-rates for both DVB and broadband IP networks. In fact, the IP-9500 was recently used to enable Japan’s Nippon TV to successfully transmit a live HDTV broadcast of the Super Bowl using H.264 compression”.


Interoperability with Third-Party Decoders

While the IP-9500 is unique in that it has both encoding and decoding capabilities allowing it to be used in both transmit and receive sites, it also supports existing third-pary HD decoders with industry-standard DVB protocols and ASI interfaces such as the Sencore MRD 3187. “We have tested the IP-9500 with our MRD 3187 H.264 HD decoder module and are happy to report that the two devices worked seamlessly together at multiple bit-rates right out of the box,” said Chuck Robertson, general manager, Sencore.


Specifications

With the IP-9500, Fujitsu addresses market-leading specifications for today’s real-time, high-quality video streaming. It will feature:

· Video input/output: 1 x HD-SDI; 1 x HDMI; 1 x NTSC/PAL down-converted (output only)

· Audio input/output: 4 x AES pairs embedded in HD-SDI (48Khz); 1 x HDMI; 1 x analog stereo pair (balanced)

· Network interface: 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX/1000BASE-T, DVB-ASI

· Video coding: H.264 HP@L4

· Video bit-rates: 4Mb/s to 20Mb/s

· Latency: 300ms to 1.6s

· Audio coding: MPEG-1 L2, MPEG-2 ACC, Dolby D, Dolby E Pass-Through


Pricing & Availability

Customers can buy the Fujitsu IP-9500 through authorized distributors in the third quarter of 2007. The appliance is priced at $49,950 (U.S. list). For more information about Fujitsu products, including the new IP-9500, call 800-626-4686 or visit: http://us.fujitsu.com/fcpa