Snell Announces ICE Expansion

At IBC2013, Snell has revealed it will be launching "a significant expansion of its industry-leading ICE channel-in-a-box", including two new models.
The new systems include ICE-LE, a low-cost 1U version and ICE SAN, which provides large-scale shared content storage to give multiple ICE units instant access to media.
"Broadcasters are under pressure like never before to deliver more channels with fewer resources. By bundling the entire playout chain into a single, cost-effective channel in a box, ICE provides an ideal solution for media operations of all sizes," said Karl Mehring, senior product manager at Snell. "And now, with a choice of two versatile ICE systems plus ICE SAN, we're offering our customers a broader range of options for deploying channel-in-a-box capabilities that are totally fit for purpose. With greater channel density, more functionality, and more horsepower in a smaller box, ICE directly addresses our customers' growing requirement to broadcast more complex channels while saving space and minimizing power usage."
Each ICE unit features multiple inputs and outputs with two DVEs and eight keyers per channel mixer, as well as routing and mixing functions, SD and HD format conversion, audio processing capabilities, and closed-caption/subtitle support.
Also, through the new version 4.0 software, ICE now offers new features such as Nielsen audience-tracking capabilities, integrated loudness control for compliance with international regulations, and Variplay, an option that enables operators to speed up noncritical material to compress time.
Occupying a single rack unit, ICE-LE comes complete with robust routing, mixing, audio processing, format conversion tools, and 2 TB of storage.
The 2U version has the full ICE functionality, including advanced graphics, Dolby® E decoding and encoding, loudness control, Nielsen monitoring, and Variplay. In addition, the 2U ICE offers additional inputs and outputs and 3.6 TB of storage.
In partnership with Quantum, Snell has developed ICE SAN to address the media storage requirements of today's playout operations. ICE SAN uses the power of a storage area network (SAN) to centralise storage and streamline media workflows for multi-channel operations. It is available in two versions: an enterprise model that offers high levels of storage centralisation, and a lower-cost option that provides high performance for smaller operations.
www.snellgroup.com
(IT/JP)