Digital Rapids — the leading provider of tools and solutions for bringing television, film and Web content to wider audiences — is debuting the new Flux HD video capture and pre-processing hardware, the first cards optimized for encoding and streaming to feature dual-link and 3G-SDI input support.

The Flux HD hardware builds on the advanced video processing technology that earned Digital Rapids’ solutions their reputation for the industry’s highest encoding quality. Advanced on-board, real-time video pre-processing features — including motion adaptive de-interlacing with pixel-level analysis, video noise reduction and more — ‘groom’ the input signal to be more ‘compression-friendly’. This results in superior visual quality and the most efficient use of bandwidth in the compressed output, while leaving the host system’s CPU free to encode more simultaneous multi-format outputs. Integrated up, down and cross-conversion — including inverse telecine for 3:2 pulldown removal — provides superior-quality conversion between SD, HD and 3G-SDI formats and frame rates. Additional hardware features including video adjustments, color space conversion and graphic overlay enable refinement of incoming sources and the addition of branding such as logos.

Flux HD’s 3G-SDI input capabilities expand the range of video input formats supported by Digital Rapids’ ingest, encoding and streaming solutions while providing a future-proof path for the latest generation of production and distribution infrastructures. Capable of carrying twice the amount of data as HD-SDI, 3G-SDI (also known as 3Gb/s SDI) can transmit video in 4:4:4:4 RGBA formats — superior for post production applications to the traditional 4:2:2 YUV video signal format — and enables new standards such as 1080p video at 50, 59.94 and 60 frames per second.

The Flux HD hardware, based on the PCIe computer bus standard, will initially be released in two powerful models. The all-digital Flux-6510 features SD, HD, dual-link and 3G-SDI video input support, while the Flux-6550 offers the same capabilities plus analog inputs including component (HD or SD), Y/C and composite video. SDI embedded audio is supported on both cards, while the Flux-6550 also includes AES and analog audio inputs.

“Our new Flux HD cards deliver all of the benefits that our customers have come to depend on in our earlier hardware platforms, from outstanding quality and reliability to versatile on-board features, while providing a future-proof path as they move into 3Gb/s video architectures,” said Darren Gallipeau, Product Manager at Digital Rapids. “Major studios, broadcasters and post facilities are already implementing 3G-SDI for production and internal distribution, and it will become increasingly important as they embrace new applications such as 1080p audience distribution at higher frame rates, 12-bit JPEG2000 mastering and 3D TV.”

The new Flux HD hardware will be available integrated within select models of Digital Rapids’ versatile StreamZHD turnkey studio encoding and streaming systems, or bundled with the feature-rich Digital Rapids Stream software for installation into an existing Windows-based workstation. The combination of Flux HD cards with the tightly integrated Stream software enables real-time, multi-format media ingest, encoding, transcoding and streaming for applications including Internet TV, IPTV, VOD, mobile video, archive and more. Flux HD will also be available for OEM developers looking to add top-quality video capture and pre-processing to their own systems and applications.

Flux HD cards are slated for release in Q2, and will be available through Digital Rapids and our extensive worldwide network of authorized resellers and systems integrators. The Flux HD hardware and other Digital Rapids solutions are being showcased in booth number SL6010 at the 2010 NAB Show, April 12-15 in Las Vegas. For more information about Digital Rapids, please visit www.digital-rapids.com.

About Digital Rapids Corporation — Digital Rapids provides the leading hardware and software solutions for transforming and delivering media, enabling the multi-platform experiences that are changing how audiences view content. Scaling from standalone appliances to global workflows, Digital Rapids solutions enable
media professionals to maximize their productivity, quality, and the value of their content. Recipient of a coveted IBC Innovation Award and four prestigious Frost & Sullivan honors for encoding and transcoding leadership, Digital Rapids combines innovative technology with proven expertise to help our customers to expand their audiences, increase their media revenues and reduce their costs. Digital Rapids Corporation (www.digital-rapids.com) is headquartered in Ontario, Canada with offices in the United States, the UK, Australia, Argentina and Hong Kong.