Optical video networks create new opportunities for media companies to make the media production and content distribution more efficient. At the same time, the transition from analogue to digital allows for new ways of producing, distributing and exchanging content. This transition has opened up for media service providers to offer media transport services to broadcasters and media companies that do not wish to build and operate their own networks. However, large content files and streaming SDTV and HDTV put totally new requirements on the optical networks in terms of capacity and quality of service. Requirements which Net Insight's Nimbra platform makes sure are always fulfilled.

Compact and versatile HDTV platform
Transferring 1485 Mbps HD-SDI streams alongside 270 Mbps SDI, any-size MPEG (ASI or IP), audio (AES-EBU or E1) and Ethernet data traffic over a switched wide area fiber network was simply not possible until Net Insight introduced the Nimbra switch platform. Today, Nimbra-based fiber networks are used by broadcasters and production companies all over the world for remote editing of real time video as well as fast and cost-efficient file transfers from video servers. In a single 6U Nimbra 680 chassis, 18 bidirectional HD-SDI streams and 2 bi-directional SDI streams can be transported over 3 OC-192/STM-64 links. Since hundreds of Nimbra boxes can be connected in a single network, a massive network can be built for any HD-SDI, SD-SDI, 2k or 4k applications.
Of course all these services can be multicast between any port in the network allowing for distribution, digital cinema and high-end video-conferencing applications.

A cost-efficient complement to satellite transmission
It's considerably less costly to lay optical fiber than placing a communication satellite in orbit. And when you consider that the capacity of a fiber network is million times greater than that of a satellite link, things are becoming really exciting.
Companies hooked up to a terrestrial digital media network can do real time video editing and production from a central location, instead of using expensive OB equipment or remote studios. Instead of sending videotapes by courier, archived video material can be transferred digitally over the network.
Network access to studio quality video allows production companies to use their studio resources more efficiently, shorten time-to-broadcast, and provides better output quality.

The Nimbra platform allows for occasional use by establishing and removing connections instantly on-demand, always guaranteeing an established connection 100% quality and a constant delay. For media companies and broadcasters, these are key requirements when delivering latest sports and news and allow media service providers to tailor-made their service offerings to the professional media community.

One network for all services
The optical video network connects production studios with film banks, stadiums and other production sites. Every node can be used as either a pure video switch or as an integrated switch for video, voice and data over IP and other protocols. Video streams can be sent in multiple formats simultaneously, ranging from streaming IP and various bandwidths of MPEG to uncompressed 270 Mbps studio quality video in the ITU BT.601 format all the way to fully uncompressed HD-SDI signals of 1.5 Gbps. In this network solution video can be sent one-to-one or one-to-many in a unicast or multicast fashion.

Event neworks
Net Insight's Nimbra platform has been selected for many large sport events connecting the stadium to a Broadcast Center for centralized editing. With the Nimbra 680 and its 8-port HD/SD-SDI card, it offers the market's most compact and versatile event contribution solution on the market.

Since the Nimbra platform also includes smaller access equipment that run over E3/DS or OC-3/STM-1 link, it also provides an excellent complement to satellites for aggregating the on-site produced material up to the correspond distribution networks or satellite uplinks.

Efficient distribution of digital terrestrial TV and mobile TV
Many operators for digital terrestrial TV and mobile TV have chosen Net Insight's Nimbra platform. The Nimbra platform transports native DVB-ASI over the network eliminating the need for network to ASI adapters at head-ends and antenna transmitter sites. ASI signals are inserted directly into the Nimbra products at the head-end or at regional insertion points and are multicast across the network to the transmitter sites connecting directly with ASI into the antennas. This significantly reduces the complexity of the solution and significantly lowers both CAPEX and OPEX. In the same way, over the same platform, E1 signals can be multicast for DMB or DAB network solutions and all Nimbra equipment comes with Ethernet interfaces to allow for a potential migration to IP/MPEG solutions.For more information on these solutions, refer to Digital Terestrial TV and mobile TV section