Terenex......Have to read this another 6 times yet....
digitaltelevision.com
Cromac, Is DIVI ready for these guys?
Former Sony Executive Heads New DTV Technology Company
TeraNex to Focus on Manufacturing and Marketing of Universal DTV Converters, Using Proprietary Technology
Acquired From Lockheed Martin and ThermoElectron
Orlando, FL, - As the professional broadcast industry ushers in HDTV transmission and production, former
Sony Senior Vice President, Dr. Michael Baron has today announced the launch of TeraNex, a DTV Age
company which will manufacture and market "best of class" converters for DTV transmission.
TeraNex has acquired an ultra-high performance image parallel processing technology from Lockheed Martin
and ThermoElectron -- specifically designed to perform video processing, pattern recognition and image
analysis in real-time -- to create the Video Computer, a fully programmable video processor that will allow
broadcasters and post production professionals to cost-effectively up convert, down convert and cross convert
from any video format to any video format in real time. The power of this parallel processing technology will
enable broadcasters to cost-effectively migrate to digital television and repurpose an entire library of
entertainment, sports and news programming - hundreds of thousands of hours worth for the DTV age.
"The broadcast and production industries are just beginning their conversion, mandated by the Federal
Communications Commission, from analog to high performance digital equipment," said Baron. "TeraNex will
use the technology acquired from Lockheed and ThermoElectron to develop products which we believe will
capture of a major share of an emerging half billion dollar annual revenue market for analog to digital television
conversion gear. The company will also utilize the technology to provide video-processing systems to high
performance system integrators."
What is the Video Computer?
"The video industry's transition from analog to digital has prompted a new paradigm for video processing," said
TeraNex Director of Engineering, Linc Brookes. "The traditional video ‘signals' have been replaced by video
‘data', which enable sophisticated processing functions to be applied to that data."
The TeraNex Video Computer provides real-time video conversion and a long series of upgrade paths enabling
field upgrades (software and additional boards) to meet the changing needs of the broadcast industry. The
Video Computer supports the emerging 24 frame per second HDTV video production standard (1080p24), and
its high bandwidth I/O supports conversion between the competing HDTV standards themselves. The additional
I/O and processing throughput also supports compression pre and post processing at HDTV resolutions. This
ensures that the picture can be processed by the broadcast delivery system without significant degradation
due to the 60:1 compression-decompression process mandated by the Standards Committees. Additionally,
the improved processing power of the system will enable implementation of advanced algorithms for frame rate
conversion to support the overseas 50 Hz television systems.
The Video Computer will be packaged in a 19" rack mount chassis (6RU high). The I/O will support both
SMPTE 259M SDI and SMPTE 292M HD-SDI inputs and outputs with options for 480p60 and analog formats.
The Video Computer has the ability to perform all conversions at a level of quality that far exceeds the
capabilities of any competitive unit. In addition, the surplus processing power and empty slots provide for
system upgrades and feature expansion.
TeraNex will target the Video Computer to television broadcast stations, cable operators, video production
studios, and corporate in-house production facilities.
"No competitor can match the TeraNex Video Computer's scalability," said Baron.
Organization and Management
Matching the uniqueness of its technology, TeraNex has also assembled an impressive team of technology
and television marketing to launch this hybrid technology.
Company President/CEO, Dr. Michael Baron has extensive experience in the professional video production,
presentation and cable industries. Most recently, Baron served as Senior Vice President of the Business
Systems group at Sony Corporation. In his role at Sony, Baron spearheaded Sony's marketing activities
addressing broad and diverse markets including distance learning, government, industrial video and multimedia
production. Included in his 15 years of experience at Sony was the launch of new business opportunities in the
Medical and Electronic Imaging fields.
Linc Brookes, TeraNex director of engineering has a broad background as a lead software designer for several
imaging companies, and has directed several successful hardware/software development efforts. His
experience ranges from image database work, 3-D real time systems, informatics, digital video editing, and
image processing software. He served as Vice President, Engineering for Editing Machines (later purchased by
Dynatech), and as Vice President for Software Development for Media Cybernetics. Brookes has degrees from
the University of Maryland and George Washington University.
For 12 years, TeraNex DTV Product Manager, Jed Deame worked in a variety of engineering positions at
Lockheed Martin Corporation. As a key engineer in the Image & Signal Processing section of the Electronics
and Missiles group, he led several digital and analog circuit design teams. He designed an image processing
and MPEG-2 compression system for the Japanese Space Agency. As a system designer for the Virtual
Prototype Lab he integrated multi-platforms of computer hardware with digital video record, processing, and
storage.
Two additional industry leading engineers will provide valuable resources to the company. Woody Meeker, who
was recently named Inventor of the Year for the southeast region of Lockheed Martin, has joined TeraNex as a
chief architect of the system. Mr. Meeker has been a central figure in the development of parallel processing
technology at Lockheed Martin for the past 12 years. Additionally, Michele Lewis, Ph. D., who worked as
Senior Engineer at Lockheed Martin Electronics and Missiles for the past 3 years, will join Teranex's algorithm
development division. Dr. Lewis specializes in image processing, pattern recognition, filtering, and computer
architecture.
TeraNex is a privately held corporation. Investment partners include prominent venture funds and individual
investors. TeraNex will aim at a public offering in mid to late 2001.
IS this thing an Ecoder? Or does it just convert already encoded material to various formats? What are the chances they deliver this thing on time? A niche for post-production, as who else will need to change so often from one format to another? Any thoughts out there? Thanks in advance. |
