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Product Spotlight: Clipbox Studio

Sep 17, 2001  •  Post A Comment

What it is: Clipbox Studio from Quantel is a newscast in a box. It is an all-in-one production center that contains most of the technology needed to create a live broadcast, be it news or sports, or near-live shows like game shows, said Trevor Francis, business manager for Quantel, based in Newbury, U.K.
Features and benefits: In addition to the eight-port video server, which functions as the backbone of the product, Clipbox Studio’s principal attributes include digital video effects (DVE), mix/effects and keying. It can support most editing products and also connects with Quantel’s graphic workstation product Paintbox, which is used at 1,300 TV stations worldwide. Clipbox Studio is entirely self-contained, with its own control station, and does not require any external equipment, Mr. Francis said.
It can store up to 200 hours of content. The 25-megabit system can transfer video from tape to the server at four times real time so a one-hour tape can be transferred in 15 minutes. During the transfer, the system can simultaneously play back the recording at real speed, allowing for editing or a live broadcast at that moment. An ethernet connection enables the high-speed transfer of video data from Clipbox to another system, such as an archived device or another Clipbox server. “It has every production tool for a live broadcast in a single box under the control of a single operator. Because it has its own dedicated control station, one operator can control every function from a single station,” Mr. Francis said.
Cost: Clipbox Studio starts at $140,000.
Customers: KMGH-TV in Denver, KTVU-TV in Oakland, Calif., WHDH-TV in Boston.
Target market: While the product is in use in some large markets, Quantel is targeting small- and medium-market stations that can’t afford a multimillion-dollar solution, Mr. Francis said.