Cobalt Digital Unveils Card-Based 4K And HDR Workflow Solutions

Cobalt Digital displayed its card-based 4K and HDR workflow solutions for openGear® frames at IBC2019 in Amsterdam.

Product highlights included its new decoders and encoders, RIST Main Profile, bi-directional SDR/HDR conversion solution for live production, and new multiviewers and distribution amplifiers. The company also showed a new 12G openGear router and RIST gateway solution.

The new 9992-DEC Series of HEVC/AVC/MPEG-2 decoders for openGear frames were introduced at the show. Like the company's 9992-ENC series of encoders, the flexible 9992-DEC features pay-as-you-go licensing, so users only pay for required features when needed. Designed to meet the most stringent requirements for today's broadcasters, the 9992-DEC supports up to 4K resolution and offers a full complement of audio decoding capabilities. The series also includes the 9992-2DEC dual-channel decoder, as well as the 9992-DEC-4K-HEVC with single-channel 4K or dual-channel 2K and support for H.265.

Earlier this year, Cobalt was one of several companies to receive an Emmy® Award for its collaborative work on ARQ, the underlying technology powering RIST. At IBC, Cobalt showed support for the RIST Main Profile, which adds features such as encryption (DTLS or PSK), tunneling, NAT traversal, point-to-multipoint distribution, low bit rate optimization, and reliable ST-2110 transport.

New advancements in HDR at the show included a complete end-to-end HDR workflow within Cobalt’s 9904-UDX-4K up/down/cross converter. Utilizing Technicolor's suite of HDR tools, which can be bundled into a single ordering option, the 9904 can generate dynamic metadata when converting from HDR to SDR and back to HDR, preserving the full HDR picture information.

Cobalt is also continuing to develop its popular 9971 Series of multiviewers, adding dual outputs and user controls. Delivering uncomplicated monitoring of asynchronous 4K and HD signals, all three models accommodate a variety of signals and applications. All models also include HDMI outputs for economical viewing on consumer-grade 4K monitors. One-button template presets simplify setup, but users can also create and save customized layouts. Up to five 9971 can be installed in one 2 RU openGear frame – and multiple cards in a cascaded chain can provide multiviewer layouts of up to 64 sources.

The new 9915 Series of DAs support 4K 12G-SDI sources and allow for copper runs long enough to reach most equipment within master control. One of four models in the series, the 9915DA-4x16-XPT-12G, includes four input channels that can be crosspoint-routed to 16 DA outputs in several configurations. Up to 10 cards can be installed in one openGear frame, allowing for up to 40 channels of input and distribution to up to 160 outputs.

"Broadcasters now accept 4K as the production norm, and Cobalt has an extensive menu of openGear-based solutions for studios and mobile production," Chris Shaw, executive vice president of sales and marketing, Cobalt Digital. "Our products provide flexible and affordable ways to process, monitor, and distribute 4K and HDR content."

www.cobaltdigital.com