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Laptop News Gathering

The LNG Live Broadcaster enables users to broadcast live over IP networks in good visual quality.

The Live Broadcaster is supplied as software on a CD. It should be installed on a standard desktop or laptop PC (not a Mac) which is connected to either a dedicated IP circuit, such as an ISDN line, or to a satellite phone network like Inmarsat.

The live video signal can be generated from either a DV or analogue camera. If an analogue camera is used, a DV bridge is required.

At the "receive" end, the QuickLink playout software works in unison with a video playout card.

The visual quality of the "live" signal is dependent on the available bandwidth. The live profile of the VP6 codec is scalable so that it works from anywhere between 64Kbps and 4Mbps. At 64Kbps it generates a signal considerably better than the conventional videophone.

The video signal is accompanied by a single audio track which can be adjusted in quality to suit your needs. There is a return audio track so that, for instance, a television news correspondent could be asked questions during a live report.

The LNG Live Broadcaster can be installed on a PC alongside the LNG File Broadcaster giving the user a very powerful tool for going "live" into a programme and transmitting edited reports back to base. Latency over the Inmarsat network is approximately one second.

LNG File Broadcaster

The LNG File Broadcaster enables users to encode and transmit video reports over IP networks in broadcast quality.

A fundamental advantage of the File Broadcaster is its ability to compress video very heavily without losing visual quality. This means transmission times are very fast due to the small video file sizes.

Another important consideration is that the technology is supplied as software that can be installed on a client's own laptop or desktop PC.

And at the "receive" end, no special hardware is needed to decompress and play the video. The QuickLink decoder can be supplied as software.

Laptop News Gathering

• Uses On2's VP6 codec to achieve superior picture quality, even at low encoding data rates
• Encodes in VP6 at data rates from 64Kbps to 4Mbps. (Greater data rates result in better picture quality.)
• An entirely software-based solution that can be installed on any standard Windows PC
• Requires minimal computer processing power
• The audio codec is also adjustable so that broadcasters can choose their own level of professional sound quality
• Low latency over IP networks
• Return audio track enables correspondents in the field to do "two-ways"
• Works with DV or analogue cameras
• Can be used in NTSC or PAL format