PlayBox Neo announces a major addition to its product line with the introduction of Capture Suite, an ingest solution designed to increase the efficiency of television networks, post-production facilities and playout centers. Easy to integrate into any broadcast media environment, Capture Suite employs a client-server architecture which can be scaled to accommodate a practically unlimited number of channels.

"Efficient ingest management is vital to every organization active in TV content sourcing, processing and distribution," comments PlayBox Neo CTO Stanislav Petkov. "Broadcasters have to deal with receiving content from multiple live sources on a daily basis. Capture Suite elevates ingest to an entirely new level. It is a multi-channel multi-server live ingest solution supporting a wide range of codecs and containers. The ingest operator controls all available ingest servers from a single user interface, ensuring very high efficiency."

Capture Suite allows users to handle the entire ingest process from a standard web browser. All necessary operations needed to control multiple ingest channels, and multiple servers can be performed quickly. Functions such as input selection, ingest presets and file-naming conventions are just a single click away from the user. Input and output configuration as well as storage parameters are easily accessible. Video content and audio levels can be previewed easily using Capture Suite's built-in multi-screen display. Like PlayBox Neo GUIs, the user interface has a low glare background which remains eye-friendly throughout a long working shift.

Capture Suite provides the processing flexibility needed to handle the many file formats currently in common use across the industry. These include codecs such as ProRes, XDCAM IMX, XDCAM HD, XAVC, MPEG2, H264, HEVC, DNxHD, DNxHR and DV, as well as industry format containers such as MXF, MOV, MP4, TS, PS. Closed-caption data can also be ingested. Each ingest instance can produce two main encodings in real time, each with proxy video, multiple audio and video formats, multiple frame-rates, multiple resolutions, and multiple audio mappings. Capture Suite handles all the required video, audio and ancillary data conversions internally without needing any external processor. Currently available inputs are Blackmagic Design Decklink, AJA Corvid 44/44-12G and NewTek NDI. Other input types will be available soon.

Capture Suite also allows a single input source to be distributed on one or more outputs with identical or different frame rates and resolutions. This allows it to function as a standards converter or to interface between NDI and SDI and vice versa.

"Capture Suite has been developed by the same design team as our best-selling AirBox Neo and Cloud2TV product ranges, building on their proven experience in creating industry-leading broadcast media playout solutions," summarizes PlayBox Neo CEO Pavlin Rahnev. "We are confident that it will meet the needs of existing AirBox Neo operators as they expand to meet the ever growing demand for TV services, and those of third-party system users looking to enhance their ingest resources."