GV October 1998
Video Servers Defy Definition
By Sheldon Liebman
In our current political environment, a lot of attention is being paid to the definition of certain terms. In many cases, the words or phrases in question seem pretty obvious to us. Even when there is room for multiple interpretations, we can guess what is meant by a phrase given the context in which it is being used.
One phrase that hasnt been subject to public scrutiny is "video server," which is probably a good thing. Although weve been covering this type of product for a number of years, there still isnt a single accepted definition of the term. This month, well look at multiple meanings and even more products that can "technically" be called video servers. Whether you actually classify them all in this category is a decision that only you can make.
Defining the Possibilities
Back when computers and video spoke completely different
languages, video servers were basically library systems that used
control software to access videotapes and play their content
through one or more inputs to a routing system. If the router was
part of a television station, the output went on the air. In a
production facility, it might go to the edit room. In a
corporation, it could be piped to a closed circuit network.
Today, there are many different pieces in the video server puzzle. Instead of videotapes, most servers are using disk-based storage to provide digital information. Depending on the product, this storage can look just like a videotape or it can simply be a list of files. Although "full resolution" video is typically what we try to achieve, multimedia formats as small as 160x120 pixels can be "served" as well.
In my office, for example, I have a number of computers that are connected through a Fast Ethernet (100 Megabits per second) network. If one of these machines has a bunch of low resolution, Apple QuickTime movies on it and the other machines play these movies at various times of the day, it can be argued that the source computer is acting as a video server.
If the files are on a disk array attached to that computer instead of on the machine itself, is the array the server or is it still the machine? Does the fact that these are low resolution files affect whether we call this a video server? Shouldnt we call it a MultiMedia Server or maybe just a file server?
Finally, in this example we arent actually turning the movies into a traditional video signal. Does this mean we arent serving video or is it enough to know that the original material was created in a video format? What if the material is 3D animation that was rendered directly to the QuickTime format and has never been recorded onto videotape? Does this affect whether we have a video server?
Fast disks, fast computers and fast networks can be used to "serve" video across Local Area Networks (LANs) and even across Wide Area Networks (WANs) without having a single traditional video connection. The source is a file and the destination is a computer screen.
Things get a little more confusing if you actually create a video signal as part of this loop. For example, if one of the computers viewing the movie is equipped with a video-compatible display card like an old Truevision Targa or a current CFE Gallea, the movie can be turned into a composite or component video signal by the display adapter itself. If it wasnt a video server system before, does this turn it into one? Now, we can make the movie available as an input to a router and send it over a traditional video network. What if we use a scan converter instead of a video-compatible display adapter? Does this affect how we refer to the system?
Next we can look at the area of how the equipment is being controlled. In the examples above, the system looks and acts like a computer network. If we call something a video server, are we implying that it should be controlled by video equipment? Does it need to interface to a station automation system or look like a traditional VTR to other video equipment?
Digital Disk Recorder technology has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years and devices that used to store seconds or minutes of material are now capable of storing many hours of information. In a really large configuration, a DDR system can even replace a traditional library system. Does this turn a DDR into a video server?
Once we move into equipment that can be controlled by video equipment, do we need to require that it support recording as well as playback functionality? With computer-based systems, we can obtain video data from a number of sources. One of these is through video capture, but this is not the only one. Do we need to capture video directly onto a system in order to call it a video server?
A Little of This, A Little of That
Now that weve looked at the areas that can be used
to define the term video server, we can look at some of the
companies that create products addressing these issues. Depending
on where your personal definition fits, the list of suppliers
could include virtually every computer and storage manufacturer
on the planet. Since we dont have enough space to list them
all, here is a small sample that covers a broad range of choices.
Accom
Accom was one of the first companies to extend the
recording capacity of digital disk recorders and was an early
player in the video server market. Today, the company offers the
Axess product with support for up to 4 hours of on-line storage.
Accom admits that this system is better suited for storing short
clips and stills rather than acting as a pure video server, but
they promise that true video server capability will be coming
next year. Its a good bet that they will announce these
products at NAB 1999.
Arraid Data Storage Solutions
Arraid doesnt technically make video server
products, but they provide modern data storage formats for older
video devices like still-stores and DDRs. Using Arraid products,
old Ampex, Harris, and Quantel equipment, for example, can be
upgraded to include more storage and faster data transfers than
were originally available on the products. Arraid uses high speed
SCSI drives to replace older SMD drives or even tapes, expanding
the capabilities of older systems.
Ciprico
Ciprico offers a number of UltraSCSI and Fibre Channel
disk arrays that support compressed and uncompressed video
playback with bandwidth up to hundreds of MegaBytes per second
(MBps). Ciprico disk arrays can be configured from a few
GigaBytes (GB) up to over a TeraByte (TB) of storage and can be
combined for larger storage and/or higher bandwidth requirements.
Eurologic
Eurologic is a company with an OEM focus on the film and
video markets. They dont sell directly to end-users, but
they will pass along inquiries to appropriate distributors. Their
Voyager series of storage solutions is being used in a number of
high speed video applications, although not every reseller of the
product admits that their storage comes from Eurologic. The
company mentioned that their systems are also being used for HDTV
applications.
Hewlett Packard
HPs MediaStream Broadcast Servers and Disk
Recorders recently became more affordable as the company cut
prices on the models by up to 45%. In addition, HP introduced the
availability of 18 GB drives for the products. With these larger
disks, a single MediaStream server can have over 100 hours of
on-line storage. Fibre Channel networking is available to link
servers together for installations with over 1000 hours of
on-line storage. At last months IBC show in Amsterdam, HP
announced that their server is the first to broadcast using the
new MPEG 4:2:2 compression format.
Leitch (ASC)
With its recent purchase of ASC, Leitch immediately
became a major player in the Video Server market through the ASC
VR300 product. Each ASC VR300 provides two video channels with
simultaneous composite, component and SDI access. Systems can be
configured with up to 24 simultaneous channels. The ASC VR300
uses Fibre Channel storage and each system supports up to 2 TB
(over 100 hours) of on-line video storage.
MountainGate
CentraVision MPIRE is MountainGates digital
disk-based system for processing, recording and storing video. It
takes the place of multiple disk recorders by providing virtually
unlimited storage and allowing concurrent shared access to
material through the use of "virtual" tapes (vTAPEs).
Using Fibre Channel networking, the system can be easily expanded
by adding disk arrays for additional storage.
Philips Digital Video Systems
The Philips MediaPool Video Server was one of the first
video server products ever introduced and has been upgraded
recently. Today, it can be configured with as little as 4 hours
of on-line storage and as much as 270 hours. The system can be
used with near-line storage as well to manage larger libraries of
information. MediaPool supports up to 12 channels of I/O and high
speed networking for faster than real-time transfers between
units.
Plasmon
Plasmon is a jukebox company that is well positioned to
provide video server solutions in the near future. Today, the
company offers magneto-optical and CD-R jukeboxes with up to 2.6
TB of storage capacity. As the DVD video format continues to make
progress, Plasmon is looking at offering DVD-RAM solutions that
will be able to provide high quality digital video storage and
retrieval.
Pluto Technologies
Pluto currently offers two product lines in the Digital
Disk Recorder category and has just announced a new Video Server
product. Their VideoSPACE Digital Video Recorder offer 8- or
10-bit uncompressed video recording and playback. The newer
HyperSPACE High Def Digital Video Recorder provides either 3
hours of HDTV capability or 4 hours of SDTV. Before the end of
the year, the company will be delivering their AirSPACE
Multi-Channel Broadcast Server, which can provide any combination
of 10 Serial Digital or Fibre Channel networked streams and
supports DV compression at either 25 Megabits per second (Mbps)
or 50 Mbps.
RMSI
Raid systems are the specialty at RMSI, which provides
streaming video and multimedia products through the use of
high-speed storage. Although they dont really play in the
broadcast market, the company offers a dual-Pentium multimedia
file server that is used for high speed storage and retrieval of
information in education, computer-based training and
videoconferencing environments.
Rorke Data
At this years NAB, Rorke Data announced the
release of StudioNet-FC, a complete Fibre Channel network and
storage system. StudioNet-FC includes storage, networking and
volume management components to allow workgroups to share access
to video and audio files. Up to 2 TB of storage can be configured
on the system using either JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) or RAID
formats.
Tektronix
Although this list of companies has been presented in
alphabetical order, it is fitting that the final company to be
listed is Tektronix. Their Profile family of disk recorders is
one of the most popular products around and the company recently
announced an arrangement with Avid that creates a very close
partnership for broadcast sales and products (including video
servers). The Profile PDR200 family uses MJPEG compression for
applications like non-linear editing. The PDR300 family is based
on MPEG 4:2:2 and the newer PDR400 family utilizes DVCPRO or
DVCPRO/50, a perfect fit with Avids new NewsCutterDV
system. Because the systems use different compression formats,
they offer different capacities, but typical systems range from
10-20 hours of total capacity.
Are We Being Served?
As mentioned above, the number of products that can be
classified as video servers depends heavily on the definition you
choose to accept for this term. The most important thing to
remember, however, is exactly what definition you are using to
ensure that you can find the best fit for your needs. You may
want a video server and they may call it a video server, but
thats probably not enough.
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