PlayBox presents all the possibilities for multichannel environments at its Open Day

With a presence on a total of nine thousand channels around the world (between branding and playout), PlayBox has become a low-cost alternative for channels and multichannels in a “single box.” Starting from the concept that its solutions offer “100% functionality at 25% of the cost”, PlayBox presented this Monday, December 13, at an Open Day in Madrid all the possibilities of its systems.

With a presence on a total of nine thousand channels around the world (between branding and playout), PlayBox It has become a low-cost alternative for channels and multichannels in a “single box.” Starting from the concept that its solutions offer “100% functionality at 25% of the cost”, PlayBox presented this Monday, December 13, at an Open Day in Madrid all the possibilities of systems installed in audiovisual services companies and broadcasters such as Overon, MTV, Sky, Fox, RTL, Aljazeera or Mediaset. In total, the company has a total of 15,000 licenses installed worldwide.

Among the advantages of using PlayBox's modular proposal, the use of a universal playout and the streaming engine with any source and with any output stands out. It also offers an MPEG remultiplying engine in real time, being able to work with dynamic graphics with “on-the-fly” updating of the highest quality content. But perhaps the main advantage is its “channel in a box” concept with a server with easy integration of graphics and automation, and with a unique technical support module.

Among the modules that make up the system, we find Air Box (playout), DVB Streamer (streaming playout with automation for DVB), Tittle Preparation (templates and projects), Capture Box (automatic ingestion and encoding), Time Shiftbox (selectable by the minute, hour or even week), DVB Muxeer (flexible DVB multiplexer), ListBox (creation and editing of playlist), DataBox (content management based on SQL), SafeBox (automated content management), Subtittle Plus (multi-language and multi-channel subtitling), PlayBox MAM (media administration and management) and News Air (preparation and broadcast of news pieces).

Air Box

At its Open Day, PlayBox carried out an extensive demonstration of Air Box, a solution that offers playout without and with compression (MPEG 2, DV, IMS, H264, WMV...), with editing of unlimited on-air playlists, automated conflict resolution, scaled video output for “picture-in-picture” with the look of an informative channel with live video and on-air graphics. In addition, the system allows the mixing of live and stream video with playot ​​of local content. On the other hand, it should be noted that it has the possibility of automation via VDCP, GPI, RS 232, RS 422, Ethernet, DTMF, LTC, API... with DVB ASI or UDP streaming output in MPEG 2, H264 or WMV. Air Box allows not only editing and trimming of content, but also provides unlimited metadata support for the insertion of graphics and rich text.

Regarding Capture Box, at the PlayBox Open Day we were able to verify some of the advantages of this system such as its automated RSS 422 control or VTR via Firewire with a list of captures, the use of VU meters and peaks on the screen for audio control, or the possibility of importing lists from other traffic systems. Capture Box supports various video inputs such as SDI, analog, ASI, IP, Firewire..., and can automate the capture of satellite or line sources with automatic channel switching in the matrix itself.

Regarding titling, the Tittle Box module offers interactive 3D graphics and on-air animations with an unlimited number of layers and objects on the screen (the only limitation would be imposed by the hardware). With this system you have total onair interactive control over the properties of the objects, position and content, with rendering of any font with support for all Windows fonts. Tittle Box also has the possibility of slave titling from the Air Box automation system as well as the possibility of extracting dynamic data from EAS, databases, Internet, RSS... Another advantage of this module is the implementation of services such as SMS chats or contests.

For content management worldwide, PlayBox offers Data Box, a multi-user system, automated content import, SDL-based network access, advanced content classification, search with different criteria, filters by groups or fields and editing or viewing content with Clip Trimmer.
Among other solutions shown at the PayBox Open Day is Ad Box, a system that allows advertising to be targeted on different channels and times in both SD and HD, SDI or DVB (ASI/IP).

Finally, PlayBox carried out the demonstration of its Traffic Box traffic management system. This system automates and integrates the entire booking of advertising and editorial content, eliminating the most common possibilities of errors. Thanks to this proposal, the entire flow of advertising orders, campaign plans and billing are interconnected to generate the playlists corresponding to the advertising broadcast, automatically checking all the broadcast material.