Altera Demonstrates Ultra High Definition (UHD) Solutions at NAB; Offering a Path to Virtualized Studio Infrastructure

Altera, now a part of Intel Corporation, is demonstrating its field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) for broadcast and ProAV markets at  the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Conference being held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, in Las Vegas, NV, from April 18-21 (Booth #SU9817). Altera FPGAs, such as Arria® 10 and Stratix® with its video IP, provide the solutions that enable broadcasters to tackle the challenges of Ultra High Definition (UHD) technology. At NAB, designers of broadcast systems can learn more about how Altera FPGAs and the Intel® Xeon® Processor E5 v4 family can enable the ecosystem for the future.

Demonstrations will include the following:

• Studio Video-over-IP (SVIP) networking solutions that allow migration from broadcast-specific SDI transport to standard IP networks as required for future virtualization
• Off-the-shelf UDX10 (Up/Down/Cross Conversion) processing 4K60 4:4:4 with integrated HDMI 2.0 to easily scale up from HD to UHD and vice versa
• Robust 4K60 transport over a single 12G SDI link enabling studios to upgrade to higher resolutions and frame rates without replacing existing cable infrastructure
• H.265 codec ready for virtualization with Intel® Xeon® Processor and FPGA acceleration for 4K60 offering a 2x increase in performance and reducing overall cost¹

As in other industry segments, broadcast applications are becoming virtualized and moving to the cloud with hybrid FPGA and Intel® Xeon® processor-based solutions residing in commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) servers. This fundamental shift in broadcast infrastructure will let vendors to reduce inventory costs and consolidate product roadmaps, as they move to a multipurpose, reconfigurable hardware platform.

“Broadcasters today are faced with unprecedented challenges encompassing both an exponential increase in bandwidth, and a fundamental shift in technology driven by the new virtualized framework,” said Erhaan Shaikh, vice president and general manager, Business Divisions, Intel Programmable Solutions Group. “With Altera now part of Intel, we are in a prime position to help our customers realize the opportunities that virtualization brings.”

Altera offers customers a flexible video framework for developing products that can quickly adapt to meet new video standards that define higher bandwidths and better video quality, reducing time to market. For more about Altera’s broadcast solutions, go to https://www.altera.com/solutions/industry/broadcast/overview.html