Tech Specs
Compressed Input
Section titled “Compressed Input”IP input
Section titled “IP input”- Type: IP (IGMPv3-based redundancy and dual multicast redundancy)
- Protocols: MPEG Transport Stream (SPTS, MPTS), RTP / UDP, RTMP, SMPTE ST 2022-7
- Bitrate: Constant Bitrate (CBR)
- Error Correction: ProMPEG FEC
Reliable transport
Section titled “Reliable transport”- Input: IP based
- Protocols: SRT, RIST and Zixi
SRT and RIST input
- Carriage of UDP or RTP streams over the SRT protocol
- SRT listener or caller mode
- RIST sender mode
- RIST listener mode
Zixi input
- Zixi sender
- Zixi feeder or Zixi Receiver mode
Satellite input
Section titled “Satellite input”- Standards: DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-S2X
- Hardware requirements: Requires one or more of the following cards
2-port satellite demodulator option card with 3G-SDI/ASI output (Dektec DTA-2127)
MediaKind marketing code:
- MKP/HWO/DEMODSDI (Dektec DTA-2127 DVB-S2X Quad Receiver with 3G-SDI/ASI Output)
The Dektec DTA-2127 option card has 2 x RF input ports. Currently MK.IO Beam only supports configuring one tuner/demodulator per RF input.
Features:
- Frequency range: L-band (950 – 2150 MHz)
- Standards: DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-S2X
- Modulation schemes: QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK and 32APSK
- Connector: 2 x F-type 75 ohm
- Each connector allows 1x independent tuner/demodulator powered by a single LNB control
- Long FEC Frame only
4-port satellite demodulator option card (Digital Devices SX8)
MediaKind marketing code:
- MKP/HWO/PCI/SAT/DEMOD (Digital Devices SX8 Satellite Demod)
The Digital Devices SX8 is only available as a full-height PCIe card and is therefore limited to servers such as the C-series.
Features:
- Frequency range: L-band (950 – 2150 MHz)
- Standards: DVB-S, DVB-S2, DVB-S2X
- Modulation schemes: QPSK, 8PSK, 16APSK, 32APSK and 64APSK
- Connector: 4 x F-type 75 ohm
- Each connector allows 2x independent tuners/demodulators that share a single LNB control
Mixing both types of satellite demodulator cards within the same server is not supported.
ASI input
Section titled “ASI input”- Standards: DVB-ASI
- Hardware requirements: Requires one or more of the following cards
4-port ASI/SDI option card (Dektec DTA-2174B)
MediaKind marketing code:
- MKP/HWO/PCI/SDI/DTA (Dektec 2174B SDI/ASI)
Features:
- Port configurations: 4x ASI input/output
- Connector: micro BNC 75 ohms
8-port ASI/SDI option card (Dektec DTA-2178)
MediaKind marketing code:
- MKP/HWO/PCI/SDI/8 (Dektec 2178 SDI/ASI)
Features:
- Port configurations: 8x ASI input/output
- Connector: micro BNC 75 ohms
Input redundancy
Section titled “Input redundancy”- Dual source redundancy: Active Passive (one-hit); Active Active (one-hit); Active Active
(switch on failure)
- Supported across input types e.g. Primary satellite input, Secondary (Backup) IP input
- IP redundancy protocols: SMPTE ST 2022-7 Seamless protection switching
Video decoding
Section titled “Video decoding”- Video codecs: MPEG-2, H.264, HEVC, JPEG-XS
- Supported resolutions: 480i, 576i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, 2160p
- Chroma: 4:2:0 and 4:2:2
- Bit depth: 8-bit and 10-bit (codec-dependent)
Video formats and decoding standards
| Resolution | Frame Rate | Chroma | MPEG-2 | H.264 | HEVC | JPEG-XS (4:2:2 only) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2160p | 23.98, 24, 25, 29.97, 50, 59.94 fps | 4:20 / 4:2:2 | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| 1080p | 50, 59.94 fps | 4:20 / 4:2:2 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 1080i | 25, 29.97 fps | 4:20 / 4:2:2 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 720p | 50, 59.94 fps | 4:20 / 4:2:2 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| 576i | 25 fps | 4:20 / 4:2:2 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| 480i | 29.97 fps | 4:20 / 4:2:2 | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Full video width scaling
Horizontally subsampled video is automatically rescaled to full frame width, as detailed below. Supported for all video codecs listed above.
| Input resolution | Output resolution | Expected sample aspect ratio |
|---|---|---|
| 1440 x 1080 | 1920 x 1080 | 4:3 |
| 1280 x 1080 | 1920 x 1080 | 3:2 |
| 960 x 1080 | 1920 x 1080 | 2:1 |
| 960 x 720 | 1280 x 720 | 4:3 |
| 640 x 720 | 1280 x 720 | 2:1 |
Video down-conversions
Supported down-conversions:
- 2160p > 1080p, 1080i, 720p
- 1080p > 1080i, 720p
- 1080i > 720p
Video up-conversions
Supported up-conversions:
- 1080i > 1080p
- 720p > 1080i
HDR to SDR conversions
- Supported HDR inputs: PQ10 (HDR10), HLG10
- Output: SDR BT.709 with tone mapping
Audio decoding
Section titled “Audio decoding”- Audio codecs: MP1L2, AAC, AAC 5.1, HE-AAC v1 & v2, HE-AAC 5.1, Dolby Digital (AC-3), 2.0 & 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3) 2.0 & 5.1, MPEG-H
- Passthrough: Linear PCM, Dolby E, Dolby ED2, Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3)
- Audio sampling rate: 48 kHz
- Audio Channels: Up to 8 stereo pairs per service
- Phase Aligned Audio (PAA): Supported
Ancillary Data
Section titled “Ancillary Data”- Closed captions: CEA-608, CEA-708
- Timecode: VITC
- Teletext: SMPTE 2031, OP-47
- Metadata: AFD/BAR, VANC
- Signalling: SCTE-35 conversion to SCTE-104
Video transcoding
Section titled “Video transcoding”Video encoding
Section titled “Video encoding”- Codecs: MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), HEVC (H.265)
- Chroma: 4:2:0
- Conversions:
- HD to HD or SD
- SD to SD
Audio encoding
Section titled “Audio encoding”- Audio codecs: MPEG-1 Layer-II, AAC, HE-AAC, HE-AAC v2 1. Dolby Digital® 2.0 / 5.1, Dolby Digital Plus® 2.0, 5.1, Dolby AC-3
- Audio channels: Up to 8 stereo pairs per service.
- Passthrough: Dolby E®, Dolby Digital®, Dolby Digital Plus®, Linear PCM (as SMPTE 302)
- Data rate: From 4.75 kbps to 320 kbps (from 64 to 1024 kbps for DD+).
Compressed output
Section titled “Compressed output”- Transport Stream Passthrough: IP, ASI (requires multiplexer service), unmodified or decrypted
- Protocols: IP, UDP, RTP, RTMP/RTMPS, ASI
SRT and RIST output
- Carriage of UDP or RTP streams over the SRT protocol
- SRT listener or caller mode
- RIST sender mode
- RIST listener mode
Zixi output
- Zixi sender
- Zixi feeder or Zixi Receiver mode
Uncompressed output
Section titled “Uncompressed output”- Output formats: SDI, SMPTE ST 2022-6, SMPTE ST 2110
SDI output
Section titled “SDI output”- Standards: SDI, HD-SDI, 3G-SDI, 12G-SDI, Quad‑Link 3G‑SDI
- Video formats: 480i, 576i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, 2160p
- Hardware requirements: Requires one or more of the following cards
4-port ASI/SDI option card (Dektec DTA-2174B)
MediaKind marketing code:
- MKP/HWO/PCI/SDI/DTA (Dektec 2174B SDI/ASI)
Features:
- Output configurations:
- 4x independent 3G-SDI/ASI input/output
- 12G-SDI (Single‑link UHD) or Quadrant (Quad‑Link 3G‑SDI, ST 425‑5 Annex B — Square Division) or Interleaved (Quad‑Link 3G‑SDI, ST 425-5 Two Sample Interleave)
- 12G-SDI with 3G-SDI/ASI side channel
- Connector: micro BNC 75 ohms
8-port ASI/SDI option card (Dektec DTA-2178)
MediaKind marketing code:
- MKP/HWO/PCI/SDI/8 (Dektec 2178 SDI/ASI)
Features:
- Output configurations:
- 8x independent 3G-SDI/ASI input/output
- 2x 12G-SDI (Single‑link UHD) or Quadrant (Quad‑Link 3G‑SDI, ST 425‑5 Annex B — Square Division) or Interleaved (Quad‑Link 3G‑SDI, ST 425-5 Two Sample Interleave)
- 2x 12G-SDI with 2x 3G-SDI/ASI side channels
- Connector: micro BNC 75 ohms
SDI over IP (SMPTE ST 2022-6) output
Section titled “SDI over IP (SMPTE ST 2022-6) output”- Standards: SMPTE ST 2022-6
- Video formats: 480i, 576i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p (2160p not supported)
- Hardware requirements: Any network card with sufficient network bandwidth may be used
SMPTE ST 2110 output
Section titled “SMPTE ST 2110 output”- Standards: SMPTE ST 2110
- ST 2110-20: Uncompressed video for 480i, 576i, 720p, 1080i, 1080p, 2160p
- ST 2110-30: PCM digital audio output
- ST 2110-31: AES3 audio output
- ST 2110-40: Ancillary data (VITC/Time code, AFD/BAR, Closed captioning, OP-47 Teletext, SMPTE 2031 Teletext)
- Protocols: Supports duplicate essence streams on separate output ports to facilitate SMPTE ST 2022-7
- NMOS: NMOS IS-04 and NMOS IS-05 support
- Hardware requirements: Requires one of the following cards
NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Dx EN adapter card 25GbE (MCX621102AN-ADAT)
MediaKind marketing code:
- MKP/HWO/PCI/NIC/25G/2PORT/B (MCX621102AN-ADAT)
Features:
- NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-6 Dx EN adapter card, 25GbE, Dual-port SFP28, PCIe 4.0 x8, No Crypto
NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx EN adapter card 25GbE (MCX631102AN-ADAT)
MediaKind marketing code:
- MKP/HWO/PCI/NIC/25G/2PORT/ <PENDING> (MCX631102AN-ADAT)
Features:
- NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-6 Lx EN adapter Card, 25GbE, Dual-Port SFP28, PCIe 4.0 x8, No Crypto
NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Dx EN adapter card 100GbE (MCX623106AN-CDAT)
MediaKind marketing code:
- MKP/HWO/PCI/NIC/100G (MCX623106AN-CDAT)
The ConnectX-6 Dx 100GbE card enables higher output bandwidth; however, it does not increase decoding capacity on a COTS platform.
Features:
- NVIDIA Mellanox ConnectX-6 Dx EN adapter card, 100GbE, Dual-port QSFP56, PCIe 4.0 x16, No Crypto
NVIDIA / Mellanox Ethernet network adapter cards must be sourced from NVIDIA rather than Dell, as OEM variants may impose restrictions on firmware upgrades.
Multiplexing
Section titled “Multiplexing”Inputs and outputs
Section titled “Inputs and outputs”- IP (UDP or RTP) input and output of MPEG Transport Streams
- RTP re-ordering
- IGMP V3 redundancy
- Input bitrate monitoring and CC error detection
- SMPTE 2022-1 FEC on input and output
Processing
Section titled “Processing”- PID filtering and PID remapping by re-multiplexing input programs Real-time PSI regeneration
Content security
Section titled “Content security”Decryption
Section titled “Decryption”- Conditional Access (CA): BISS1, BISS2, BISS-CA, Director 6, DVB-CI
- Hardware requirements: A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) may be required or suitable option cards. See details below
BISS1 & BISS2
BISS version 1 (BISS1)
- Modes: Mode 1 and Mode E
- Key length: 48-bit
- Standards: DVB-CSA
BISS version 2 (BISS2)
- Modes: Mode 1, Mode E and BISS-CA
- Key length: 128-bit
- Standards: DVB-CISSA
BISS-CA
A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) must be installed on the server.
- Key length: 128-bit
- Standards: DVB-CISSA
- Features: Entitlement management, Self-generated key pairs, Injected key pairs
Director 6 CA
A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) must be installed on the server.
- Key length: 128-bit
- Features: Entitlement management, Over Air Control (OAC)
Dual Common Interface (CI) option card (Digital Devices Octopus Duo CI)
MediaKind marketing code:
- MKP/HWO/PCI/CI/DUAL (Digital Devices Octopus Duo CI)
The Digital Devices Octopus Duo CI is only available as a full-height PCIe card and is therefore limited to servers such as the C-series.
Features:
- DVB-CI compliant
- 2x CI slots for two independent Conditional Access Modules (CAM) on each option card
- All major CAMs supported
- Multiple Dual Common Interface (CI) option cards supported
Some CA descramblers will require a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) to be installed on the server.
Ad insertion
Section titled “Ad insertion”- Ingest format:
- MPEG-TS over IP (SPTS), with a video buffer of 1 second minimum
- Assets pre-encoded and stored locally
- Scheduling control: Triggered via advanced scheduling control options:
- Signal-based: based on submitted SCTE-35 signal (with matching criteria)
- Signal based / fallback to time: SCTE-35 expected, but not present, fallback to out-of-band operations triggering
- Asset management:
- Storage of up to 90 minutes of assets in the unit
- Assets and schedules fetched automatically from a central asset server
- Automatic housekeeping of the asset store
Monitoring & control
Section titled “Monitoring & control”- Remote control: Provided via the Mediakind MK.IO portal
- Direct control and status monitoring: Provided via Web browser user interface and REST API
- Standard protocols: SNMP, NTP, IGMP
High Availability (HA) Controller
- Automated (standalone) 1+1 output synchronization with PTS alignment (either SDI or ST 2110 inputs)