AgileVision's New AGV-1000 Wins Three Awards at NAB2001

AgileVision(TM), a technology innovator in software-based processing for compressed broadband video and data, announced that their AGV-1000(TM) MPEG Master Control Switcher/File Server received three awards in recognition of superior technology and innovation.

On Tuesday, April 25, AgileVision was awarded Digital TV Editors' Pick of the Show Award at NAB 2001. The morning of April 26, Broadcast Engineering presented their ``2001 Pick Hit'' award to AgileVision, and the afternoon brought TV Technology's ``Star 2001 Superior Technology Award.'' Digital TV Editors' Pick of the Show Award is given to products that contain distinctive features and offer exceptional solutions to broadcasters. Pick of the Show is awarded to the top 40 products in a variety of technological categories. Broadcast Engineering's Pick Hit award is in recognition of the innovative technology developed and shown at NAB each year since 1985. They are awarded to only 20 products in a variety of technological categories, chosen from the thousands of products shown at NAB. TV Technology's ``Star 2001 Superior Technology Award'' is also awarded on a limited basis and is selected by a team carefully reviewing the latest technology shown each year.

``We are honored to have received Digital TV's Pick of the Show, Broadcast Engineering's 'Pick Hit,' and TV Technology's 'Star 2001 Superior Technology' awards for our first product available to television broadcasters,'' said Anthony Gargano, CEO of AgileVision. ``Such broad-based recognition of our approach to innovative customer solutions for the industry's transition to digital television serves to not only validate the efforts of our engineering team but to also confirm the confidence of our early customers. We would like to thank Digital TV, Broadcast Engineering, and TV Technology for the tremendous effort they expended in reviewing the thousands of products at NAB2001, and their recognition of the AGV-1000.'' The AGV-1000 is a complete ``emission'' level MPEG digital television master control switcher and HD/SD file server with a full array of functions integrated in one box. Standard functions include splicing for easy switching between network and local programming, simplified logo insertion, datacasting and PSIP (Program and System Information Protocol). An on-board file server enables storage and automated playout of either HD or SD content. An added bonus of the AGV-1000 is its incredibly small size that frees up a considerable amount of rack space.

Unique Features Include:

• Multi-Program Transport Stream Insertion & Re-multiplexing where data can be inserted into up to six simultaneous programs from 18 different sources in compressed SD or HD domains. By eliminating the step of decoding and re-encoding, there are no concatenation artifacts, no loss in audio lip-sync.
• Multiple Logo Insertion into Multiple Programs allow up to four logos to be dissolved simultaneously into each SD or HD program in a multi-program transport stream. All logos may be displayed independently and may be positioned anywhere on the screen. The aggregate of the four logos may be as large as one-quarter picture height and width.
• Bit Rate Control & Statistical Multiplexing combine to ensure compliant bandwidth utilization and achieve consistent video quality.

Platform

The basic AGV-1000 consists of up to 16 Motorola PowerPC® G4 AltiVec(TM) processors in parallel connected in the RACE++(TM) switched fabric, resulting in 52 GigaFLOPs and a cross sectional bandwidth of 2.1 GB/second supported by over 1 GB of RAM. The AGV-1000 chassis is scalable for future expansion to 28 AltiVec processors achieving a combined 90 GigaFLOPs.

About AgileVision

AgileVision was formed in 1999 as a joint venture between Sarnoff Corp. and Mercury Computer Systems Inc. Headquartered in Princeton, N.J., AgileVision is commercializing unique MPEG-2 algorithms on a scalable, high-performance, real-time imaging hardware platform that will provide DTV transmission solutions and emerging data service applications for the broadcast, cable, and broadband industries.

AgileVision, AGV-1000 and CentralCaster are trademarks of AgileVision. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders.

AgileVision, 201 Washington Road, Princeton, NJ 08543-5300. Tel: 609-514-4032; Fax: 609-514-4029.