The age of technology we live in is quite a contradictory one, from many points of view. For example, in some parts of the world, the transition to an all-digital TV system is almost complete, while in others, people still gather around an old, tube-based receiver in order to watch the one or two available channels. However, the most impressive innovations in the field of television come from Japan, the latest being the joined announcement by SGI Japan and Toshiba regarding the development of an all-new HD broadcasting system.

The transmission of television programs in high-definition is not exactly a very new thing, but, up until now, the processes that led up to the transmission point itself have been rather difficult and, more importantly, time-consuming. However, Toshiba’s newly developed core broadcasting systems support the final transmission of recorded programs, and offer the high reliability and high speed processing of broadcasts essential for this function.

This is possible due to the fact that Toshiba’s new equipment incorporates a file-base program broadcasting system that supports faster transfers to the playout server, which makes use of Toshiba’s flash-memory based “VIDEOS,” already widely used as a Spot Server System and in Video and Audio File Systems.

The “VIDEOS” system is actually crucial for maintaining the uniformity of data for program until broadcasting. Thus, the device now includes enhanced functionality to support recording of files in the MXF format, automatic unwrap before playing, and a decode capability that reverts MPEG 2 video and audio data to their original formats.

One of the main components of the new system, the content server, has been developed by SGI Japan and is in charge of loading recorded programs to a VCR, file entry, file transfer, content checks, and previews of high and low resolution. Moreover, it's accompanied by an Omneon Spectrum media server and Omneon MediaGrid active storage system made by Omneon Inc. and Omneon Video Networks.

Of course, the two companies have not provided any price-related data for this system, but given its complexity, we're most certainly dealing with at least a couple of million dollars.


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