Investing in future-proof solutions helps meet challenges head-on 

Despite the many challenges, including those caused by market contenders such as OTT video and free-to-air TV offerings, Europe’s pay-tv business continues to grow. This should inspire broadcasters to think about future-ready solutions now, to help prepare them for what lies ahead. In addition, the analogue terrestrial-to-digital switch has added further weight to the burden that many broadcasters and TV stations now face. Furthermore, 4K content distribution and end-to-end IP workflows are enduring ‘trends’ that present broadcast engineers with significant technological concerns with no ‘quick fix’ solution.

Last month at IBC, PlayBox Technology Europe (PBT EU) exhibited as an autonomous entity within the PlayBox Technology group, lending a complete resolution to the market with its own-manufactured EXEutor™ Broadcast Server range tailored to revolutionise how broadcasters, production and post-production facilities can work.

The Philosophy of the EXEcutor™ line is to specifically equip broadcasters with invaluable solutions that deliver both futureproof and software-defined hardware turnkey systems, such as facilities for ingest, media management, titling, graphics, playout and scheduling, including a complete “TV channel-in-a-box”. These can perform equally outstanding results in SDI, IP, hybrid and virtualised environments.

In line with celebrating the successful consolidation with PlayBox Technology software, the comprehensive EXEcutor™ range now includes a vast array of new features and options, complemented with an extendable 2-year hardware warranty combined with a special RMA service package for premium customers.

Some of the many benefits include:
• H.265/HEVC IP streaming support now gives users unmatched viewing experiences they’ve been waiting for.
• The use of closed captions in the prevalent MXF and MCC v.2 file format is a real plus.
• Content insertion may also be the most prolific monetisation concept in today’s linear broadcast market.
• SCTE-104 and SCTE-35 data transport support now unlocks new opportunities to further enhance budgets.

Alexander Stoyanov, Sales Director at PBT EU emphasises the importance of keeping up to date with current trends as the market experiences rapid transformation, “We have always been a client-oriented company. With a broad global footprint across a diverse range of countries, we have a remarkable and expanding customer base that entrusts our services. As a result, our clients’ ongoing achievements fuels our success at the same time which makes for the solid relationships we value. In return we provide our customers with the tools to stay on top.” He adds, “The bottom line is that broadcasters need to be prepared and not leave essential updates and upgrades too late and risk being left behind by their competitors. PBT EU delivers reliable and efficient solutions to remedy that risk.”

General Manager of PBT EU Vladimir Stanic asserts, “Our own-made EXEcutor™ – the original turnkey server solutions based on PlayBox Technology software, brings enormous value and key advantages for various kinds of projects, workflows and budgets.” He shares further, “For quite some time we have faced the impending demand for significant technology shifts such as MS Windows 10 migration, MOS and NDI protocols support to connect with countless external devices and advanced playlist imports from third party vendors. Today these have now become a reality. With this in mind, we feel it is essential for broadcasters to stay ahead of the game by making wise, future-proof investments that they can use to their advantage now, and in the years to come.”