The What: Analog Way is introducing Picturall Mark II series, its next generation of Linux-based media servers. Engineered around a new professional hardware platform, the new Picturall Mark II series is capable of supporting large-scale events and installations from a single server unit. 

[Analog Way Aquilons Drive Massive Screens at Circa Resort & Casino]

The What Else: The Picturall Mark II media servers have been designed with high-grade hardware components to provide a robust platform and deliver optimized uptimes and durability for mission-critical applications. The Picturall Mark II media servers are based on the Linux software engine by Picturall, which is a result of 15 years of R&D and field experience. Additionally, the Picturall Mark II features a redundant, hot-swappable power supplies option to achieve high fault tolerance.

The Picturall Mark II media servers can receive up to six low-latency input cards to capture either up to 24 1080p60 or six 4K60 sources. A wide selection of input interfaces is available supporting one or more channels of 3G-SDI, HDMI 1.4, or HDMI 2.0.

The Bottom Line: With the ability to drive up to 16 4K60 LED video wall controllers or video projectors from a single server unit and enough power to play back media up to 16K60 or uncompressed image sequences up to 8K60, the Picturall Mark II series is well suited for challenging video playback for fixed installations, museums, broadcast, houses of worship, video rentals, and live events. 

The new line replaces the current Picturall media servers and includes four products: Picturall Pro Mark II, Picturall Quad Mark II, Picturall Quad Compact Mark II and Picturall Twin Compact Mark II.

The What: Modulo Pi is releasing the Modulo Kinetic version 4 fully integrated media server solution featuring a revamped user interface, improved 3D engine and new extensive capabilities dedicated to virtual productions.

The What Else: The Modulo Kinetic Designer offers a revamped user interface with new icons, optimized views, toolbars, timelines, nodal programming editor, and more. Special attention was paid to the 3D scene viewer to offer users a smooth navigation and polished experience with the software. Version 4 includes the support of Notch Block, 10-bit Apple ProRes, and 10-bit GoPro Cineform. Modulo Kinetic also supports LUT format, allowing creative filters and real-time color grading. Modulo Pi’s media server further expands its interactivity possibilities. With support of the WebSocket protocol, it is now possible to create custom web applications, and interact with shows created in Modulo Kinetic from a smartphone, a touch screen or any other computing device.

[Panasonic KAIROS Upgrades Enhance Live Video Production]

Modulo Kinetic V4 includes a large series of improvements to its embedded 3D engine. The already existing internal database of video projectors has been updated to reach +680 references. Projectors can be easily imported into Modulo Kinetic Designer from a CSV file. Their distribution in 3D scenes is faster and easier thanks to a new clone and symmetry tool. Detailed study documentation can be created directly in Modulo Kinetic. Users are offered the ability to add measures or annotations to 3D scenes and effortlessly export any view and information required: 3D view snapshots, lux and pixel density views with captions, PDF list of video projectors with their information and more. In addition, Modulo Kinetic upgrades its rendering with the support of spotlight and pointlight shadows. It is also possible to render camera, projector or mesh instance in a timeline layer with post-process Reflection, Ambient Occlusion (SSAO), Depth of Field (DOF), Glow and advanced Antialiasing.

The Bottom Line: Modulo Kinetic V4 offers a series of new features and enhancements to address the need for virtual and hybrid events in the context of COVID-19. Compatible with green screen and LED screen configurations, these new capabilities are tailored to pro AV companies considering XR projects.

The What: Panasonic has announced upgrades to KAIROS, its next-generation live production platform, to improve functionality for video production, rendering, and distribution. New features include a more powerful mainframe option doubling the processing capacity for twice the total available layers/Keys, an expansion in standard HD and 4K inputs/outputs, and increased video and still image recording capacity.

[The Integration Guide to Streaming]

The What Else: The new KAIROS Core 1000 (AT-KC1000) mainframe option offers a higher performance CPU and GPU, thereby increasing the system’s video processing capacity and expanded HD and 4K inputs/outputs and enabling the platform to be utilized in a wider range of more complex productions. Additionally, the new KAIROS core 1000 mainframe offers 4K support and a CANVAS function as standard feature, and the Version 1.1 software allows less restricted use of the multi-layered video composition, output in high resolution including 8K video.

With the increase in demand for hybrid remote video production, KAIROS Core 1000 expands RTP/SRT/RTMP streaming from six to eight inputs with two outputs. Furthermore, the platform features an increased recording capacity of video to 64 GB uncompressed RAM player capacity, 180 GB uncompressed clip player capacity and 12 GB of still images can be saved.

The Bottom Line: With an intuitive and user-friendly interface, KAIROS is fully customizable, encompasses the essentials needed to adapt to live production scenarios and provides the tools needed to create a highly engaging and visually stimulating production—right on time for the return of in-person events.

The What: RGB Spectrum has expanded its line of multi-channel recording and streaming systems with the new Zio Media Server. The Zio Media Server is a fully integrated system for simultaneously recording, storing, and distributing streams of high-resolution, real-time imagery using the H.264 compression standard.

The What Else: The Zio Media Server provides the ability to record streams while simultaneously outputting other streams. The server is used with RGB Spectrum’s Zio codecs for multicast encoding and decoding at origination and destination points to provide a complete solution. The server is offered in a variety of hardware configurations depending on the number of simultaneous streams required.

[RGB Spectrum Intros 4K Extender with USB Control]

The Zio Media Server is well suited for mission-critical applications including simulation, training, command and control, missile testing/telemetry, C4ISR, and mission analysis. 

In a simulator application, for example, the instructor can view data seen by the pilot on a real-time basis while the same information is being recorded on the Zio Media Server. Observers in remote locations can view the same visuals, real-time or afterwards. While a simulation is being recorded and streamed to an Instructor’s Operating Station, previously recorded simulations can be recalled and streamed out to a debriefing room.

The Bottom Line: Zio Media Server’s combination of image quality, rich feature set, and performance make it well suited for demanding, mission-critical applications.

The first major awards show in the US to be broadcast since the pandemic was held Sunday, August 30, when the socially distant MTV Video Music Awards were telecast from New York. XR Studios selected the disguise XR workflow, powered by the latest disguise gx 2c media server, as the show’s central technology hub. 

“The project was successful on a level of scale in terms of the size of the stage, the number of Stype-tracked cameras and the ambitious number of live performances and awards presentations,” said JT Rooney of Silent Partners Studio, who worked together with XR Studios to deliver the complex show in extended reality.

Related: Future Vision: Volvo Tests New Car Designs by Driving With an XR Headset

XR Studios, which pioneered the application of XR in live entertainment, was brought in by Paul Caslin, creative director for the VMAs, to help create a virtual stage where the awards presentation would take place. Additionally, XR Studios produced and enabled creative teams to craft performances for multiple artists like Lady Gaga, The Black Eyed Peas, Doja Cat, and Da Baby in extended reality environments. Notch VFX played a key role in the production as the main realtime rendering engine for the awards stage and performances from Miley Cyrus, The Black Eyed Peas, and Doja Cat. Meanwhile, Unreal Engine provided realtime rendering for Lady Gaga and Da Baby, utilizing disguise’s newly launched RenderStream video-over-IP protocol.

“Disguise’s XR workflow allows for a traditional workflow of media server and content creation while adding on the layers of augmented and mixed Reality,” said Scott Millar, technical director at XR Studios. “This allows for flexibility and dependability for live entertainment. Disguise’s camera calibration workflow also enables virtual set extension and the ability to blend LED with virtual environments to create whole new worlds.”

The disguise gx 2c powered real-time generated graphics from Notch onto the LED video screens as well as the virtual set extension content outside the LEDs, creating a vast and immersive virtual world on camera that fans could view from their screens at home.

“This was the largest and most complex XR show that we have had to support so far,” said Jamie Sunter, disguise senior support specialist who was involved in the project. “We had support and development teams working in LA and UK to ensure that we could get the most coverage with both time zones. We utilized the newly built XR stage in London HQ to then be able to verify fixes and reproduce issues that were being seen on site. In LA we had frequent presence on site as well as at the homes of the support team based in LA.”

For the VMA show, disguise software was key not only to the camera calibration, but also to color balancing and overall compositing of real-time content tools. This project marks yet another collaboration between XR Studios, Silent Partners, and disguise, after having delivered virtual productions for performances from Katy Perry and The Black Eyed Peas earlier this year.

London’s famous Palace of Westminster became a vast projection surface in May to coincide with International Nurses Day, as a series of images thanking NHS key workers were beamed onto the iconic building from 260 meters away across the Thames. 

Projection experts at Motion Mapping deployed two Green Hippo Hippotizer Amba+ Media Servers to blend and warp the visual content and four 30,000-lumen Panasonic projectors to display the imagery onto the intricate façade of the building. Motion Mapping’s Stuart Harris said he made good use of Hippotizer’s SHAPE feature to achieve the results.

Related: The Technology Manager's Guide to Projectors and Screens

“We had just 45 minutes on site to get the projection right, including all alignment and blending with the framework of Parliament, to going live with the world’s press covering the event,” Harris said. “SHAPE made it simple to warp and blend the images so that they appeared correctly, even while being beamed from such a long distance away. We even had to do some of this in real time, and the Amba+ servers handled it with ease. 

“Hippo features such as Advanced Media Management and Timeline enabled us to change and amend quickly on site—it’s so agile and flexible. And when an issue arose, such as a light being left on in one of the windows inside Parliament, I could create a workaround in seconds, which is very handy when images are about to be broadcast around the world.”

The visual content varied from messages of thanks to three-story-high pictures of famed founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale, to coincide with the 200th anniversary of her birth.

“As you might expect, there was a lot of pre-event red tape to get through, which included approvals about kit from the highest levels within Parliament,” Harris said. “But on site, we only had one go at getting it spot on so I needed a reliable and simple-to-set-up server solution, and Hippotizer provided the right tool for the job.”

Hippotizer Media Servers from Green Hippo were used recently to drive the visual content for a unique production of Mozart’s opera, Don Giovanni, staged amid the COVID-19 pandemic to an empty Berwaldhallen concert hall in Stockholm.

Directed by British operatic tenor Andrew Staples, the production was conceived and produced under COVID-19 restrictions, with the necessary social distancing for all crew and performers. Instead of playing to a live audience, the performance was broadcast on the Berwaldhallen Play channel, in partnership with Medici TV.

Related: Green Hippo’s Hippotizer Turbo-Boosts Porsche Taycan Launch 

To look after the creation, management, and delivery of the production’s video content, set designer Bengt Gomér contacted Stockholm-based PXLFLD, a specialist in visual design and a long-standing Hippotizer user. Their team, led by Anders Granström, quickly created a visual breakdown of the script and an in-depth projection study before developing actual content.

“As the entire performance was broadcast in black and white, we relied heavily on stark contrasts throughout,” Granström said. PXLFLD artists Per Rydnert and Andreas Skärberg, working closely with Staples, created custom visuals, combining American photographer Franscesca Woodman’s evocative black and white photography with a live camera feed and various pre-recorded sequences filmed during rehearsals.

Because the opera environment is so sensitive to unwanted noise, Granström chose the compact, single-rack-unit Hippotizer Amba+ as the media server for the job, confident in its power to deliver the features and performance he would need. Operating the show’s lighting and visuals from an MA Lighting grandMA3 console was Ishai Mika, who Granström said is “a friend and colleague, a rock-solid operator, and an amazing lighting designer in his own right.”

The team projection-mapped the upstage wall of the venue and used two Barco UDX-4K40 (40,000 ANSI-lumen) projectors, placed on the balcony in sound isolation boxes. All projectors and technical equipment were provided and installed by Vello Hermann of Hermanns Lilla Firma.

“Many factors come into play when choosing a media server system, such as technical features, functionality, workflow and on-site operations,” Granström said. “We always make our design decisions with this in mind and Hippotizer worked out perfectly for this production.

“Hippotizer is a very flexible toolbox that enables the operator to quickly make creative decisions on site. As the final touches to the composition were made on site, Hippotizer’s features, including Livemask, color correction, blending of assets, and in-the-box-effects, are great tools to have.”

The What: tvONE is now shipping CORIOmaster2, an all-in-one, multi-window video processor delivering enhanced processing power. 

The What Else: Standout features of CORIOmaster2 include its high bandwidth, huge design canvas, and 8K-ready architecture. With 752Gbps of bandwidth, CORIOmaster2 can simultaneously display 40 windows in 4K60 4:4:4 with ultra-low latency. It offers AV designers access to triple 64k x 64k canvasses, with up to 12.3 Gigapixels of design space, enough to accommodate the most exceptional creative vision. The unit is 8K ready, future-proofing tvONE customers’ investment in their video processor.

Related: tvONE Releases CORIOmaster App Updates 

The CORIO engine within CORIOmaster2 delivers unique scaling potential. Customers can deploy fixed or flexible scalers to match their workflow and have access to dynamic windowing with layering or transitions. CORIOmaster2 offers up, down, and cross conversion, de-interlacing, and audio conversion. Most importantly of all, CORIOmaster2 supports uncompressed video with ultra-low end-to-end video latency.

tvONE has also upgraded and expanded its CORIOgrapher video wall design and control software, enabling faster video wall setup when required and full access to the advanced capabilities of this processor. For on-the-spot control, tvONE offers the CORIOmaster App, giving access to five preset configurations and allowing users to switch sources and change audio settings on the fly.

The modular design of CORIOmaster2 scales from two to 32 inputs and four to 56 outputs, allowing AV, IP, broadcast, and legacy AV sources to be routed to LED displays, edge-blended projectors, or flat panel displays. CORIOmaster2 also offers users a low energy footprint, operating from dual redundant 400W power supplies, reducing the cost of ownership.

“CORIOmaster2 gives AV professionals the performance they need to address the technical and creative challenges of our demanding, visual world,” said Andy Fliss, EVP of sales and marketing at tvONE. “It is the new video processing platform that will be trusted by professionals across the industry working in domains as diverse as control rooms, broadcast studios, live events, casinos, auditoriums, and retail outlets. Whether the output is to LED displays, projectors or flat panel displays, CORIOmaster2 is the very best tool for the job.”

The Bottom Line: CORIOmaster2 supports more windows with higher quality with uncompromised 4K60 and 8K-ready performance. CORIOmaster2 is the newest addition to tvONE’s family of CORIOmaster video processors, including CORIOmaster, CORIOmaster mini, and CORIOmaster micro.

The What: Green Hippo has announced the Hippotizer Tierra+, the most powerful media server in the Hippotizer range.

The What Else: Featuring four unlimited DP 1.2 outputs, Green Hippo’s Hippotizer Tierra+ offers 8K and 4K60 playback, 39,816 Notchmarks, and Dual 10GB included as standard.

Hippotizer's unique structure makes output setup fast and efficient. Built-in components such as VideoMapper, ScreenWarp, and PixelMapper enable any LED wall, projection, or pixel map to be quickly accommodated. For projection mapping, the SHAPE component offers a fully integrated 3D toolset with advanced features such as mesh and UV editing.

Every V4 system features front-panel indication of system status, as well as removable hard drives as part of the STRATA Caddy System. Inside, Hippotizer V4+ includes all Solid-State Drives as standard and the latest graphics technology.

The Bottom Line: Live events and installations often pose the challenge of creating complex and interesting productions in a minimal amount of time. The Hippotizer Tierra+ is designed to tackle these projects with its easy setup, real-time control, and creative toolbox.

To read more InfoComm Connected stories, visit avnetwork.com/tag/infocomm.

Hippotizer Media Servers were recently chosen to drive the visuals for the Cyber-Gen ShockWave Tour. Featuring a lineup of Deutsch-rap and R&B artists signed to the Cyber-Gen music label, including YouTube stars TJ Beastboy, Young Mokuba, Wavvyboi and others, the tour played dates in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and sold out in under 28 hours.

Lighting designer Otto Schildknecht asked Emanuel Jörgner to program and operate the show’s video and lighting elements. “Because we needed a high-performance server, which would ensure all the live notch FX ran smoothly, we chose the Boreal+,” Jörgner said. “The other good reason for choosing the Boreal+ was the fact that we could deform the content with the FX library.” 

Related: Green Hippo’s Hippotizer Turbo-Boosts Porsche Taycan Launch

The display setup consisted of an 8m x 2.3m, 16mm pixel-pitch LED wall positioned upstage, with alternative configurations for shows in the smaller venues on the tour. “Besides the LED wall, we integrated eight Astera AX-1 PixelTubes on each side of the screen,” Jörgner said. “In special parts of the show we used the Hippotizer’s PixelMapper to map the video content to the PixelTubes.”

Jörgner merged ArtNet data from both the Boreal+ unit and the lighting console to control the PixelTubes, providing a wide range of effects possibilities.

In addition, the stage set featured custom-made cubes of 4mm pixel-pitch LED panels. Each visible surface was mapped with a variety of video content and effects, while content was also fed to the top sides of the cubes for a complementary uplight effect. “The PixelMapper was perfect for the LED cubes’ surfaces,” Jörgner said. “This gave us the ability to handle each surface like a simple LED-PAR.”

The visual content consisted of a mix of music videos and individual clips provided by the artists. “They gave me the freedom to play around with the clips so that I could add some unique effects to them,” Jörgner said.

Both video and lighting were mostly triggered by SMPTE timecode. However, the Media Servers were connected separately from the lighting console, which Jörgner said was useful in enabling the flexibility required for such a video and light show, with both synchronous and independent elements.

Porsche recently launched its new all-electric Taycan Turbo S sports car for the Danish market at the Porsche Centre Copenhagen in January. In keeping with the electric theme, Hippotizer Media Servers from Green Hippo powered the projection mapping of the car’s exterior at the special event, which was produced for Porsche by Capital Events.

[Green Hippo Drives the Visuals for Spotify’s Who We Be Live]

Copenhagen-based projection specialist 4K Projects, brought in by technical supplier Nordic Rentals, was responsible for the gleaming visuals. The company supplied a Hippotizer Boreal+ for the playback, along with a second unit as backup. The graphics and video content were fed from a single 4K output, through a Datapath FX4, which split the output into four HD feeds.

4K Project’s production team was made up of Mikkel Samuelsen, Balder Thorrud, and Rasmus Linck, who designed the video content to complement a soundtrack created by Porsche specially for the launch. The projectors covering the left and right sides of the car were rigged to cover the roof as well, while those aimed at the front and back of the car were masked in that area to avoid overlapping pixels.

“The car was positioned in the middle of the exhibition room with four projectors, one aimed at each side of the car—front, back, left, and right,” Samuelsen said. “The projectors were flown about five meters above the ground and angled at around 35 degrees so that they could hit the roof of the car as well as the sides.”

Samuelsen used Hippotizer’s SHAPE 3D projection mapping toolkit for all alignment, warping, blending, and masking tasks. SHAPE 3D, which is included with every Hippotizer, offers unique results and integrates with any 3D workflow. With advanced import and export options, SHAPE has cutting edge blending tools and real-time 3D model mesh editing capabilities, making it easier to navigate any 3D scene and test different lens configurations.

With a quick turnaround required, Samuelsen said Hippotizer’s streamlined workflow helped them to achieve results on schedule. “We created our final 3D model and UV maps out of references and other 3D files using SideFX Houdini and Maxon Cinema4D,” he said. “That meant we could work easily in After Effects and clearly distinguish each part of the car, just like you would with a regular LED pixel map.”

With the increasing complexity of live AV experiences showing no sign of slowing, media servers have had to evolve in order to keep pace with “show-runner” demands. This new breed of servers is helping to facilitate even greater experiential wonderment, allowing live AV to dazzle like never before. 

There are many different demands shaping media server development, including the ability for servers to be extremely flexible in terms of supported content formats and different resolutions, as well as true real-time rendering capability and the ability to integrate 3D objects into a project workflow.

More Agile

“The market is asking for more immersive and interactive experiences, requiring larger canvases, higher resolutions, and content that is rendered in real time,” said Marcus Bengtsson, technical sales manager at disguise.

These demands challenge the traditional content production pipeline. Where motion graphics used to be delivered as pre-rendered video files, they are increasingly delivered as binary assets to be rendered on the fly.


“This enables a high degree of interactivity and on-site flexibility, but it also poses new challenges, not only from a technical perspective,” Bengtsson said. “Alongside these requirements, we’re also seeing higher demands for visual fidelity and quality. Uncompressed or visually lossless content at color depths and frame rates that were considered esoteric and extremely challenging two years ago are today commonplace.” 

Regular video playback has become ubiquitous and is expected in today’s streaming-friendly environment, and there’s now a greater demand for interactivity and more creative and memorable video-led experiences, with generative media creation replacing pre-rendered content. 

More Comprehensive 

“We see a demand for uncompressed playback of 4K, or even higher content,” said Mike Steinbrecher, director, CMP business development at Christie.“Additionally, a media server has to be able to do more than just simple file playback; it also has to be able to interact and influence the content in real time.”

Featuring FX and a particle system, Christie’s new Pandoras Box V6.4 will offer a 64-bit platform that gives users more performance and headroom to play back uncompressed content with up to 10-bit color depth. More than just a playback device, its multi-user function allows several operators to work on the same show file at the same time, making adjustments in real time directly, without any external, additional software.

“Christie is the only manufacturer that is able to deliver an end-to-end solution,” said Steinbrecher, “including Pandoras Box Media Server to play back content, Spyder X80 for video processing, and Terra to distribute and transport the signal to a Christie projector, LCD, or LED wall.” 

Coupled with Christie support and service, this comprehensive solution simplifies the planning, setup, and communication for big projects. According to the Christie, Pandoras Box is also the only media server that is available in nine different languages, making it much easier to work with an international crew. 

More Intuitive

The new Pixera system from AV Stumpfl boasts “revolutionary” GUI that was developed so that the most important actions in both 2D and 3D can be executed following the same mechanisms. 

“It has never been easier for operators to understand a media server's main functions by simply interacting with the GUI in an intuitive way,” said Hans Christian Stucken, global marketing advisor at AV Stumpfl GMBH. “In purely technical terms we also believe to have one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, render engine out there, giving our customers the option to use uncompressed content up to 8K and beyond and to properly synchronize their content playout across multiple servers.”


The integration of VIOSO's automatic camera calibration technology is another factor that makes Pixera a great choice for new customers, according to Stucken—as does the ability to import complex 3D designs of a show setup and then simulate the play-out scenario within the same user interface that’s used for the content play-out on location.

“Whether you want to realize advanced projection mapping projects or simply wish for a solution that offers an extremely powerful render engine for high-resolution content playback up to 8K and beyond, the Pixera system's versatility means it can be an important part of any scenario where a large number of pixels have to be properly synchronized across multiple servers,” he said.

More Visceral

Disguise claims to offer the world’s first fully integrated show production suite, with a streamlined production workflow from initial concept through to show execution. The technology is based on a unique combination of a real-time 3D visualizer with custom built, high-performance hardware.

“With our latest hardware and software, we are enabling people to create immersive and interactive experiences for both the audience in the arena and the people watching from home,” Bengtsson said. “Not only do we offer some of the most powerful hardware in the industry, but we’ve also invested heavily in our augmented reality and mixed reality workflows that will enable new interactive live experiences and bridge the gap between the virtual world and the real world.”

According to Bengtsson, disguise’s real-time 3D visualization software enables managers and directors to make decisions based on facts, not guesses. 

“Every pixel has a price—from the point of rendering to being displayed on a screen—so a reduction in pixels usually means a reduction in production cost. By simulating LED screens and projectors with pixel perfect accuracy we can show how different resolutions look like side by side, in real time. This enables decisions to be made with confidence and ensures that the end result will meet both creative and budgetary expectations.”

More Universal

Green Hippo’s Tierra+ Media Server is the newest product in the company’s Hippotizer V4+ lineup. Featuring four genlocked 4K (DP1.2) outputs to feed even the largest displays, Tierra+ offers “unmatched” performance in media playback and generative content rendering—ideal for large-format interactive installations—and includes 3D projection mapping and media management tools to simplify all aspects of the show creation process.

“The Hippotizer toolset is constantly developing with the aim of increasing capability, speed and ease, while maintaining the same high levels of quality and reliability,” said Ryan Brown, product manager for Green Hippo Hippotizer. Hippotizer’s real-time rendering engine enables seamless integration with third-party show control systems, making it at home in complex setups where it is controlled by many sources at once.

“From a usage point of view, Hippotizer offers extensive APIs to enable seamless remote control and monitoring by system controllers,” Brown said. “We prioritize an easy-to-use interface to allow onsite technicians to confidently make changes as needed; we offer a flexible, plug-in based architecture so that functionalities can be added and removed as needed. We also develop deep third-party integrations with popular interactive and generative content products and workflows.”

More Capable

The Analog Way Picturall lineup concentrates on high-quality, high-resolution video playback over huge pixel spaces. Picturall supports multi GPU playback, offering up to 16 4K physical outputs from one server, with the outputs supporting custom resolutions, “area of interest” functionality, and external signal splitters, making it easier to leverage specific interface requirements of any display technology.  

“Our Picturall system supports a wide variety of media formats including support for Apple ProRes, and we also have our own proprietary codec AWX, which is specifically optimized for the largest video canvases,” said Andrzej Lubaszka, chief technologist at Analog Way. “We can also support HDMI, SDI, and DP local inputs as well as Newtek NDI and other network streams for a complete video system in one chassis. Our system is very easy to integrate into external control systems. We have been optimizing our Linux-based platform for many years, allowing us to provide a rock-solid foundation for reliable playback device.”

All of the media servers discussed here are competing against one another in what has become a very crowded, competitive, and multifaceted market. There are huge differences between the needs of a touring music act, for instance, and a corporation’s lobby LED screen, but both demand reliable, flexible, easy-to-use hardware. Live AV producers will doubtless want to consider which of the advanced media servers currently available best suit the requirements of the sectors they’re working across.

disguise is pleased to announce its new partnership with Evolve Media Group as the latest Rental and Sales Partner in the U.S. for disguise solutions.

Evolve is a technology-focused company that provides its suite of services exclusively to the live event industry. The U.S.-based company offers three key services comprised of rental, sales, and education through its Academy. Evolve’s trifecta of services is a unique business model designed to better support the needs of the modern-day live events company. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Evolve to the disguise global partner network as our newest rental and sales partner in the U.S.,” said Grif Palmer, VP Sales and general manager for disguise Americas. “We are looking forward to working with them as they offer training in their Orlando and Las Vegas locations and help their existing customers to better understand how the disguise workflow can streamline their content management needs. They have already been involved in projects across entertainment, corporate, and interactive, so we are excited to partner with them and their clients.”

[disguise to Launch New Workspace in LA]

Evolve CEO Tyler Mayne added, “disguise media servers are not just requested but required by many of the top designers in the industry. disguise provides the visual power for the most demanding live events all over the world and are instrumental in getting clients’ creative visions from conception to reality. We are very proud of this new partnership and welcome disguise to the Evolve family."

Evolve invested in disguise gx 2 and vx 4 media servers for its rental inventory and brought disguise on as a full Evolve Trifecta Partner by providing disguise training workshops, which began last summer.

Evolve has already deployed disguise on projects and seen the benefits the solutions bring to a project when faced with issues such as venue scheduling and time limitations for on-stage rehearsals. Kevin Ring, solutions manager, noted, “By utilizing disguise pre-visualization tools, we were able to give the client an accurate representation of their event space, which allowed rehearsals to start before load-in began and to continue off-site while the set up crew worked. Before they got to the venue, the client had an accurate view of their event, and we were able to help them make adjustments well in advance.”

disguise pre-visualization has been a tremendous help in allowing clients and customers to see how their content will look and react to the display environment, according to Ring. “We have had many content creators make drastic changes after seeing a pre-visualization. Previously, these changes would have been made on-site and could have been very costly and stressful to all parties involved.”

The versatility of disguise also sets the platform apart in the market, Ring said. “Other platforms often require additional gear for signal and format conversions. Because of the scalability and customization of the system, using both the networking features and the VFC cards, disguise has been fantastic for the rental and staging markets. One week a client may require 16 DVI outputs, while the very next week a different client needs four HDMI 2.0 4K outputs. Being able to utilize the same hardware for both rentals ensures that our servers always stay busy.”

Evolve intends to market the gx 2 and vx 4 servers as the flagships of its media server product offerings and use these tools to help clients better understand the power, flexibility, and varied uses of a media server. 

The Evolve Academy will also offer the disguise Fundamentals’ training course as one of its recurring programs. Kevin Ring, solutions manager in Las Vegas, recently became certified as a disguise trainer and will lead courses in both Las Vegas and Orlando. In addition, Evolve plans to host trainers from disguise leading more advanced training sessions on a regular basis.

“We are committed to the training and education of technicians nationwide to ensure that our customers always receive the best service possible,” Ring said.

Green Hippo, specialist creator of tools for the real-time manipulation of video, has announced that its Hippotizer Media Servers are driving a range of custom high-resolution displays at the newly renovated Panorama 6th October Museum in Cairo, Egypt, which commemorates the 6th October War of 1973.

Using Hippotizer’s advanced mapping capabilities and flexible third-party integration options, local AV specialist Audio Technology S.A.E was able to meet the many challenge of this complex installation, which includes custom HD projection mapping solutions in three interior halls, as well as on the outside of the building itself. The museum is now able to pursue its educational remit with a full-day entertainment program, which brings the history of this troubled period back to vivid life for audiences of all ages. 

The building’s exterior is the projection surface for 4K resolution content, mapped and fed to six high-power 30,000-lumen laser projectors by a Hippotizer Karst+ Media Server. Inside, three halls feature high-resolution projection. In Hall 1’s 150-seat 5D cinema, a Hippotizer Amba+ provides Full HD, 3D stereoscopic content, while in Hall 3 a Hippotizer Boreal+ feeds a 10K resolution U-shaped display, via six 13,000 lumens Christie Digital laser projectors, filling the audience’s visual field for a truly immersive experience. Finally, in Hall 4, another Hippotizer Boreal+ provides Full HD content for an immersive, 360-degree projection using nine 10,000-lumen Christie Digital laser projectors. Here, the footage features scenes from Egypt’s more recent political times, the 2011 and 2013 revolutions.

“Mounting, blending and aligning the projectors in the very small spaces to cover the large screen surfaces, especially for the 3D mapping projection show in the outdoor zone and in Hall 3, was a big challenge,” said Jacko Makram, project design leader for Audio Technology Co, S.A.E. “Also, deploying and managing the content in high resolutions of 4K or 10K, blending these projections, and then ensuring consistent system stability during the daily shows.”

With the blending and wrapping capabilities of the Hippotizer Media Servers, these challenges were relatively simple to deal with. “We easily managed the content to fit our custom screens and split the required content for each projector,” said Michael Emad, project installation leader. “Also, the Hippotizers’ ability to be controlled via third-party systems, such as Crestron or Medialon Show Controller, and to synchronize with other system elements, allows for easy operation by the show operator.”

Throughout the nine-month period of installation, commissioning and staff training, Audio Technology Co, S.A.E were aided by Green Hippo’s technical support, from training for the design and installation teams to ongoing backup during the project phases.

The result has been appreciated by all concerned. “The client has said that the completed installation exceeds all their expectations,” Makram said, “and the audiences to date have been so excited, as this is the first time in Egypt that we have had all of this technology and experience combined together in one place.”

The Finnish National Opera & Ballet (FNOB) has upgraded its stock of Green Hippo media servers with the company’s latest Hippotizer V4 systems. 

The new equipment, supplied by Green Hippo’s exclusive Finnish distributor Msonic Oy, comprises seven Hippotizer Karst+ DVI, two Hippotizer Boreal+ DP, and six Hippotizer Montane+ RTX servers—all with dual SDI input cards.

[Green Hippo’s Hippotizer Provides Media Control for Fox Sports]

The new servers were specified by Johan West, video product manager at Msonic. A long-standing Hippotizer user, West has enjoyed a close relationship with the FNOB since specifying its very first Green Hippo systems back in 2008. Since then, he has been responsible for training the opera house crew, as well as advising on the use of Hippotizer on many productions. He also provides all Green Hippo training and support for the FNOB team.

“A series of new pieces are premiering and the designer wanted to use Notch and live camera feeds mixed together with content, in real time,” West said. “This gave us some things to think about: camera feed latency, latency of LED/video projector processing/signal distribution. Everything specified had to meet some rules: latency had to be kept as low as possible, it had to be flexible, and it needed to work with existing signal distribution formats.

“Hippotizer’s 3D toolkit, SHAPE, also plays a big role here. The opera house uses moving projection surfaces that are mapped using SHAPE. Also, some of the automation is pinned using automation objects in SHAPE.”

The new servers have been specified to manage content on the FNOB’s projection screens, as well as its newly purchased ROE Visual CB3 LED wall. The main auditorium’s three Barco HDQ-2K40 projectors and Barco UDX 22 laser projector are run from one Boreal+ DP and one Karst+, each with a backup system, located in the control room rack. 

Three Montane+ RTX servers are dedicated to the new LED wall, which is set to be used on many forthcoming productions, while another Karst is used for pixel mapping various fixtures via Art-Net. Again, all are fully backed up. Another Karst—again with backup—is used in Almin Hall, the opera house’s 500-capacity black box auditorium, and yet another is based in the opera house’s 3D studio, where shows are programmed and tested.

“Because we are a repertory house, with one show rehearsing in the morning and another performing in the evening, we need a great deal of flexibility from our systems, and that has greatly improved with this Hippotizer upgrade,” said Heikki Riihijärvi, video programmer responsible for Hippotizer operations at FNOB. “Also, as we are preparing to run 4K throughout the venue, the new servers give us the possibility to meet those expectations in the future.

“Everything has worked great so far and we haven’t reached the limits of the Montane+ RTX servers yet, so lots of future-proof there. And the support from Msonic has been great. Johan’s know-how and tireless response to calls and emails has been priceless!”

When TV comedy show 7 Days Live visited the Queenstown Winter Festival, the festival’s production supplier, TomTom Productions, was on hand with its Hippotizer Karst media servers from Green Hippo. A favorite of TomTom, thanks to its advanced integration and control features, the Hippotizer enabled them to deal with the additional visual requirements of the television recording.

Produced by MediaWorks NZ, 7 Days Live is a popular TV comedy show in New Zealand. In June, the show took a road trip to the Queenstown Winter Festival, on the shores of South Island’s Lake Wakatipu, to film a TV special.

“The brief was fairly simple,” said Hamish Edh, director of TomTom and designer of the festival’s live stage video elements. “Background eye candy that looks great on camera, as well as for the live audience, and having the 7 Days logo on the screens for the wide shots.”

Simple enough, with the stage’s varied visual elements already in place. “The design concept was based around mismatching elements with different LED pixel pitches,” Edh said. “To create contrast between the different pixel pitches, I use Martin Sceptron 20 battens in an array to complement the 6mm LED panels and to add horizontal lines to the overall look.”

Edh used TomTom’s go-to media server system, Hippotizer Karst, running two outputs, one to the 6mm LED panels and the other to the Sceptron via the Hippotizer’s Martin P3 System Controller integration. The textures played out on the low-resolution Sceptron were from stock content, while the 6mm panels showed custom content including Queenstown’s iconic mountains, created by Tim Goddard of TomTom, as well as the 7 Days Live logo where required. The operator was TomTom’s Matt Cooper.

Edh’s design included four horizontal LED banners rigged at staggered heights, from the lower upstage to the highest above mid-stage, each with the mismatched pixel pitches of 6mm panels and 20mm Martin Sceptron. Visuals were controlled from a Hog 4 console, one of the many consoles which integrates with Hippotizer.

“The direction we’re going in with design is to integrate traditional video and lighting elements,” Edh said. “This is why Hippotizers are great for us—they’re designed around control from the lighting console, which gives intimate creative freedom to the lighting designer to manipulate the entire visual look of a show.

“The Hippotizer’s P3 integration for Martin Sceptron played a big part in our decision to invest in the Sceptron. Again, it gives us the freedom to design video and lighting elements into one product.” 

Following the comedy performances, the stage design and the use of Hippotizer changed again. “For the music night we dropped the 6mm screen and used the Hippo as a busking VJ machine,” Edh said.

“For anything using Martin VDO, Hippo is our go-to solution,” he said. “It’s also our go-to for anything where the lighting designer requires end-to-end control of all the visual elements, so live music in particular is made so easy with Hippotizer.”

disguise (booth 521) will showcase the latest in its software integrations for the U.S. market at InfoComm 2019, and will preview its new gx 2c server and introduce its vx 4 server.

At the show will be the latest in disguise’s gx range of media servers, the gx 2c, which features more GPU processing power for faster performance and the ability to render more particles, effects, and rich content environments, all at higher resolutions and smoother frame rates. Designed to scale and fit as part of a bigger media server system, the disguise gx range enables creatives to go beyond the power of a single server solution, into distributed systems with multiple servers working as one to create an immersive experience. Like all gx range servers, the gx 2c will come with an integrated two-year Notch playback license for seamless delivery of generative effects.

disguise will also showcase the new vx 4 server, the flagship of the pro range. Previewed at Integrated Systems Europe 2019, where it won a Best of Show award from Future brand Installation, the vx 4 builds on the legacy of the pro range and has been engineered to play back video at higher quality, smoothness, and resolution. The vx 4 is optimized to play up to four times uncompressed 4K60 using its high-performance NVME RAID drive array, and has the capability of playing lossless 10-bit video. Additionally, the vx 4 can capture 16 3G-SDI sources or four 4K sources (2160p60).

disguise will also show the latest version of its r15.2 software, which includes integration with Agile Remote Cameras’ range of PTZ cameras, enabling full control overexposure, gamma, gain modes, and other settings. The latest release also includes a new integration with Riedel, for control of Mediornet, allowing users to switch routes in the same way as switching a conventional matrix route.

“The disguise 3D workflow and software that rides on these media servers continues to garner industry attention and is used to imagine, create, engineer, and deliver many of the most compelling shows around the U.S. and the world,” said Grif Palmer, general manager for disguise in the Americas. “We are looking forward to seeing members of our user community at InfoComm 2019 and introducing our company to designers and engineers in event production, system integration, and xR-related film and television production that are looking for new and compelling tools.”

The What: Analog Way has announced new, compact versions of its Picturall Quad and Picturall Twin media servers, delivering the same playback performance in a 2RU ruggedized chassis. The Picturall media servers' compact versions will be presented at Prolight + Sound 2019 in Frankfurt, Germany, along with the new LivePremier series at Analog Way’s booth, Hall 4.0, B28.

The What Else: Picturall Quad Compact and Picturall Twin Compact feature the latest software version 2.7 released in March for the whole range of Analog Way Picturall media servers. Among other enhancements, this new version adds support for the HAP video codec family and introduces a new high-performance proprietary video codec named AWX, specifically designed by Analog Way to offer optimized playback for very high resolution and bit rate content for multi-screen and large-scale LED wall applications.

The heavy-duty Picturall Quad Compact 4K media server is well suited for large-scale events and installations requiring high levels of performance and stability. Picturall Quad Compact offers four 4K60 10-bit outputs and can play back up to 12 layers of full HD or three layers of 4K60 video with the new AWX codec. Designed for medium-sized events and installations, Picturall Twin Compact is positioned as a cost-effective 4K media server with two 4K60 10-bit outputs, delivering a playback performance of up to eight layers of full HD or two layers of 4K60 video with the new AWX codec.

Both compact models offer up to four optional inputs (HDMI 1.4, HDMI 2.0, 3G-SDI, or DVI) as well an optional two-channel audio interface with balanced XLR outputs. 

The Bottom Line: Both models share the same core features as their larger siblings in the Picturall series of media servers and combine a robust hardware platform, a Linux-based software engine, flexible control solutions, and easy setup, making them well suited for driving corporate events, live shows, high-end theater productions, or large-scale digital signage projects.

Picturall Quad Compact and Picturall Twin Compact will be presented at Prolight + Sound, from 2 to 5 April 2019 in Frankfurt, Germany, along with the LivePremier presentation systems. LivePremier is a full range of 4K/8K multi-screen presentation systems and video wall processors specifically designed to deliver uncompromising presentation experiences to high-end staging and premium system integration.  

A new dual-LED display solution powered by Renewed Vision software is now driving all scores, player statistics, live video, and instant replays for women’s sports at Memorial Coliseum, home of the Kentucky Wildcats NCAA women’s basketball team. Formetco Sports, the systems integration division of LED display maker Formetco, Inc, managed the custom design and integration of the end-to-end systems inside the gymnasium on the campus of University of Kentucky in Lexington.

Formetco Sports installed Renewed Vision’s ProPresenter Scoreboard and PVP3 multi-screen media server software to drive game-day displays on two new Formetco displays: A 60-by-30-foot Formetco LED video scoreboard, and a 3.5-by-100-foot ribbon board. The integrated Renewed Vision workflow interoperates with existing control hardware and software, including Stat Crew, a scoring and statistics application from CBS. The Renewed Vision workflow also utilizes NDI IP video networking to deliver multiple video and data signals from a single network interface, and eliminate multiple SDI components and cabling from the infrastructure.

“As replacements to older scoreboards and monitors that had reached end of life, our major, turnkey scoreboard upgrade dramatically enhances the fan experience for those attending these University of Kentucky women’s games,” said Todd Heller, Formetco’s vice president of digital products. “What’s remarkable is how seamlessly and cost-effectively the Renewed Vision product suite works within the university’s existing video infrastructure to drive content to our displays.”

The main LED video scoreboard—a video wall filling one side of the gym—primarily receives live video feeds and instant replays from a production switcher and instant replay systems in the existing control room. PVP3 arranges each display into zones earmarked for certain content, such as advertising, game stats, and crowd prompts like “Great Play,” “Match Point,” or “Ace.” With strict rules prohibiting the display of moving video during game play, the PVP3 user interface adds value by allowing operators to switch from moving to still imagery with a single click.

The ribbon board, which runs 100 feet along a wall opposed of the main LED video scoreboard, primarily displays statistics and scores for women’s basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics.

Renewed Vision Workflow

The workflow utilizes ProPresenter Scoreboard to ingest scoring, game clock, and in-progress game data in real-time from a Daktronics scoreboard console/controller, as well as XML-formatted player data, live and recorded video, and other sources for big-screen LED display. ProPresenter Scoreboard expands the video playout, graphics and CG text, and other live presentation capabilities inherent in the ProPresenter media presentation software on which it’s based.

The PVP3 media server ingests the data from ProPresenter Scoreboard and combines it with live and/or recorded video, backgrounds/stills, and other visual content. PVP3 operators can also harness its more sophisticated video toolset, including digital video effects and graphical transitions, and manage control functions. This includes adjusting brightness, and switching displays on and off.

Furthermore, PVP3 enables composition of dynamic, multi-layered high-definition presentations that can be custom-tailored for playout to each Formetco screen with enormous, creative latitude. According to Heller, the integrated Formetco and Renewed Vision solution is UHD and HDR-capable, allowing operators to present higher resolution content at any time.

Scoreboard and PVP3 reside on the same Mac to further streamline the infrastructure, and all video, text, data, and other media content move in and out of the two Renewed Vision systems via an NDI IP-based video network. NDI’s cost-effective networking requires only a standard gigabit Ethernet connection, eliminating the need for costly and cumbersome SDI routers, switchers, and cabling.

“Scoreboard and PVP3 deliver the dynamic presentation capabilities needed while remaining intuitive for non-technical operators,” said David Porter, multimedia producer with Formetco Sports. “Their approach and support for leading pro video standards enables seamless interoperability with the University of Kentucky’s existing video control room infrastructure, while leveraging off-the-shelf Mac computers to cost-effectively host and operate the Scoreboard and PVP3 software. These benefits, along with NDI integration, streamlined the installation process while saving the University of Kentucky a considerable amount of money.”

The What: Renewed Vision has released a new version of its ProVideoPlayer3 (PVP3) multi-screen media server, video processor, and screen control solution for live production environments. Now available for download at the company’s website, the PVP 3.2 release centralizes playback functions to a single workstation, simplifying live production operations for today’s largest broadcast and commercial AV events. The software also adds powerful new synchronization, control, and management functions that further elevate its price-to-performance ratio.

The What Else: PVP 3.2 retains all enhancements introduced in the 3.1 release, including support for the industry-standard DMX512—A lighting control protocol and an integrated HTTP control server for improved data management and integration. PVP 3.2 amplifies the overall value proposition for customers with the ability to synchronize SDI feeds across multiple outputs, while simplifying how users manage effects and transitions in dynamic live productions.

“PVP 3.2 builds on the stable foundation of our best-in-class engine with substantial new playback features and benefits that add signal I/O density and centralize operations to a single workstation,” said Brad Weston, president, Renewed Vision. “It is now possible to play back and frame-synchronize multiple 1080p60 or 4K SDI outputs from one machine. We’ve already seen PVP 3.2 projects with 12 1080p60 outputs and a 4K output off of the same single machine.”

PVP 3.2 also strengthens its effectiveness for live productions by integrating network triggering for backup instances. This effectively adds a redundancy layer with seamless backup protection while in midst of a big event.

“Renewed Vision has consistently improved stability with each PVP release, and we have reached a new level in PVP 3.2,” Weston said. “That said, when the unforeseen should occur, our customers can retain the efficiency of single-machine operation while also achieving redundancy through network triggering that seamlessly triggers backup machines throughout the event.”

While centralizing operations to a single machine is the main value proposition of PVP 3.2, Renewed Vision has also responded to rental market requests to simplify license use across different workstations. The latest release allows users to transfer licenses between machines using a USB dongle without online activation and deactivation. This is especially useful for PVP3 customers working in rental and touring environments as it puts customers in control of their own license management.

The Bottom Line: Well suited for both fixed and event-based applications in markets including broadcast, corporate events, concert staging, and many other professional AV verticals, PVP 3.2 empowers users to design and deliver rich visual experiences spanning multiple interactive, resolution-independent displays. The new playback, control, and stability benefits of PVP 3.2 complement the extensive communications and control advances introduced in PVP 3.1; as well as other foundational features of PVP. These include direct SDI outputs, interactive screen control functionality, an enhanced low-latency video playout engine, and the integration of NewTek’s Network Device Interface (NDI) technology for live, IP-based production workflows.

The What: disguise has introduced its newest server, solo, designed for the next generation of content creation.

The What Else: The solo is the natural progression from the disguise 2x2plus, future proofed for evolving industry needs with a significant increase in power, output resolution, and additional storage. It can be used as a standalone solution to design, sequence, and play back shows, or as a master in a larger network with pro and gx range machines.

"The solo has been created to enable artists and creatives to join our community, ensuring any project or budget can access the disguise software and hardware, without having to sacrifice on power and performance,” said disguise sales director EMEA, Sarah Cox.

The 2U base units can be customized with HDMI and SDI capture, Pro Audio and 10GB Ethernet ports, 4K outputs, fixed storage, 2TB SSD, and full redundant capabilities.

The Bottom Line: solo brings the power of the disguise solution to smaller productions and experiences within theater, fixed installs, studio setups, and smaller venues. It offers the support of a full disguise production suite with the power and performance to meet modern demands.

The solo is now available for shipping.