PlayBox Neo, a leading provider of media playout solutions, has announced that it will participate in the Next Best Thing (NBT) Media Tour hosted by Broadcasters General Store and Second Opinion Communications, Inc.
NBT hosts Dave Kerstin, owner of Broadcasters General Store, and Gregory Dahl, owner of Second Opinion Communications, Inc (SOCi), will present three of the latest innovations from PlayBox Neo. During the NBT Tour, PlayBox Neo will showcase the core applications of its Channel-in-a-Box with the Capture Suite network-based, ingest controller, and the newly enhanced Multi Playout Manager.
Van Duke, PlayBox Neo’s U.S. Director of Operations, will be on hand during select NBT Tour stops, and the NBT is hosting 50 events this year in various locations throughout the U.S., from television stations to vendor facilities and broadcast industry organization headquarters. The NBT tour began on May 9 in Albuquerque and was held at the New Mexico Broadcasters Association. The tour includes 50 dates in 48 cities throughout the U.S, and the schedule with location details and registration is available here.
The 2022 NBT Tour features over 25 technology products for the broadcast, education and H.O.W. industries. In addition to PlayBox Neo, other companies participating in the NBT Tour include Electro-Voice (Bosch U.S.), EditShare, Enco Systems, and Yellowtec.
“We’ve always believed in the power of showcasing our solutions live and in-person,” Duke said in a statement. “After three years of largely online interaction, we feel even more strongly that this is a crucial part of our approach. NAB was a big success for us in terms of connecting with existing customers and with potential new ones. We want to build on the momentum we established at NAB. With the experienced show hosts and complimentary brands on the tour, we’re confident the NBT Tour is exactly the way to do that.”
This is the third year of the NBT Media Tour, which began in 2020 with a schedule of 40 broadcast market visits. In 2021, the NBT Tour grew to 70 broadcast markets, with several vendors taking part in the live events.
“PlayBox Neo is a leader in the next generation of playout solutions,” said Kerstin. “They have the most flexible and reliable playout system we’ve seen. It keeps channels on-air in a seamless workflow that combines scheduling, ingest, playout, and CG – in one box. It can output in SDI or IP. We’re very eager to showcase the latest from PlayBox Neo to our attendees. I’m positive it will garner considerable attention.”
PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box is a turnkey playout server solution for broadcasting a single or multiple TV channels in HD or UHD. It provides a seamless workflow to keep a channel on-air by combining scheduling, ingest, playout, CG and interactive graphics within one box and remote tools to enhance QC checks, preparation and monitoring. The output can be SDI or IP streaming and is suitable for a variety of applications including traditional broadcast TV, pay-TV, playout centers, satellite operators, etc.
By leveraging on the SaaS in the cloud or traditional platforms on-premises, PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box offers media ingest with Capture Suite, playout automation with AirBox Neo-20, interactive CG and graphics with TitleBox Neo-20, and scheduling with ListBox Neo-20.
On display at the NBT Tour, the new Multi Playout Manager (MPM) broadcast playout monitoring and control system allows multiple AirBox Neo-20 channels to be operated via IP from any network-connected location. Latest-generation enhancements include an updated user interface and integrated playout preview. The revised UI matches those across the entire PlayBox Neo series. MPM now includes a future-playlist editor, support for custom metadata from AirBox Neo-20 plus a library module for fast access to MAM.
PlayBox Neo’s Capture Suite enables multiple ingest channels to be managed across multiple servers. Functions such as input selection, ingest presets, file-naming rules, assignments and auto-transfer can be performed from a single graphic interface. Features include: a multiviewer with black-frame and frozen-frame alarms plus loudness audio level monitoring, as well as manual, scheduled and compliance, ingest modes with automated input switching. Content can be edited before the completion of ingest.
Meanwhile, Playbox Neo is heading to Singapore for Broadcast Asia following successful showings at NAB Show in Las Vegas and CABSAT in Dubai. Exhibiting on stand 5F2-01 in the ASME Pavilion, PlayBox Neo will demonstrate its latest channel branding and playout systems and services including enhancements to the industry-leading Cloud2TV UHD/HD/SD playout system.
“We are seeing strong growth in broadcast media business as channel managers emerge from three years of Covid lockdown,” says CEO Pavlin Rahnev. “Many are looking to replace legacy hardware with high-efficiency latest-generation systems. Scalability and automation continue to be priorities. Many television networks, telcos, and independent playout service providers are exploring the relative advantages of server-based, software-based, and cloud-based playout. We make the choice easy with a unified user interface across many of our products and services, straightforward integration with third-party deliverables, plus the ability to accommodate additional program channels at very short notice.”
“Satellite, terrestrial and online broadcasters around the world are looking increasingly for off-prem cloud-based services to save space in their headquarters and to achieve maximum operational flexibility,” added Desmon Goh, General Manager of Singapore-based PlayBox Neo Asia Pacific. “Our SaaS-based Cloud2TV solution offers scalability without limit in the number of channels it can accommodate and the amount of MAM storage that can be accessed by authorized staff. Like our core AirBox Neo-20 series, Cloud2TV gives operators the freedom to implement full automation or switch to live feeds for late-breaking news.”
Also on show at Broadcast Asia 2022 will be PlayBox Neo’s AirBox Neo-20 server-based channel branding and playout system, Multi Playout Manager (MPM) broadcast playout monitoring and control system and Capture Suite ingest management system.
Designed for onsite or IP-linked offsite operation, AirBox Neo-20 is a complete server-based television channel branding and playout system supported by a wide range of software modules. Available in 1U channel-in-a-box and 3U multichannel versions, it is suitable for local or IP-linked remote control.
Multi Playout Manager (MPM) is a broadcast playout monitoring and control system that enables multiple AirBox Neo-20 channels to be operated via IP from any network-connected location. Latest-generation enhancements include an updated user interface and integrated playout preview. The revised UI matches those across the entire PlayBox Neo series. MPM now includes a future-playlist editor, support for custom metadata from AirBox Neo-20 plus a library module for fast access to MAM.
PlayBox Neo’s Capture Suite allows multiple ingest channels to be managed across multiple servers. Functions such as input selection, ingest presets, file-naming rules, assignments, and auto-transfer can be performed quickly and easily from a single graphic interface. Features include a multiviewer with black-frame and frozen-frame alarms plus loudness audio level monitoring, as well as manual, scheduled, and compliance, ingest modes with automated input switching. Content can be edited before the completion of ingest. MXF and transport stream files are available for immediate playout via AirBox Neo-20 automation without having to wait for the ingest process to complete.
Building on 22 years of successful innovation, PlayBox Neo pioneered the development of high-efficiency server-based and cloud-based playout to support every scale and type of one-to-many communication. PlayBox Neo broadcast products and cloud solutions cover everything from full live playout to round-the-clock unattended transmission. They today power over 19,000 TV and branding channels in more than 120 countries. Users include national and international broadcasters, start-up TV channels, webcasters, interactive TV and music channels, film channels, remote TV channels, corporate information channels, and disaster recovery channels. For more information about PlayBox Neo, click here.
