Stagetec On Air 24 launched alongside Nexus Server and XHDI 02

The console made its debut at the recent IBC 2010 convention in Amsterdam, drawing crowds to the Salzbrenner Stagetec booth where a working On Air 24 was available for demonstrations. The broadcast console can be expanded from the smallest version, with only four faders, up to 24 faders, while its modules are intended to be installed directly into the presenter’s table and can be arranged as desired around the table surface. The design is intended to support complex programming, including two-hander presentation.

Alongside the modules, the On Air 24 system includes an additional GUI-based PC software application to enable the technical supervisor to prepare and support self-op use. The PC software is described as making many configuration options available and can be used for full remote control, with a conventional Ethernet or USB cable linking the On Air 24 to the PC. In a larger network with several consoles, the software can configure, monitor and remote control all of the attached mixers.

In terms of its hardware, the new desk is based on the manufacturer’s already widely hailed Nexus audio router, drawing similarities between the On Air 24 and the Stagetec Auratus compact mixing console. Nexus is used within the broadcast console to provide the I/O interfaces alongside serving as host to the mixing-console processing board. Alongside its key application within radio studios, the On Air 24 is also being promoted as integrating into video postproduction suites or small audio suites.

Also announced by Stagetec at IBC 2010 was the Nexus Server, which was designed in cooperation with Germany’s BFE Studio und Medien Systeme GmbH to integrate with KSC Manager, BFE’s MCR control system. The Server is described by Stagetec as ‘interrogating KSC Manager about large numbers of scheduled routing events, then organising the scheduling and triggering execution of the events on the Nexus system at the correct times, autonomously’. Interaction between KSC Manager and the Nexus Server is based on an Application Programming Interface (API), an interface more familiar to the IT world than broadcasting.

Among the benefits of the system are an improved status overview, error detection and reporting, says Stagetec, adding that the Server offers ‘the highest grade of reliability’ thanks to its networking capabilities.

Finally, the German manufacturer has announced the XHDI 02 plug-in card for the Nexus audio network, which facilitates compatibility with SDI formats including the high bit-rate, 1080p 50/60 capable HD/3G. The launch is a reaction to the trend of combining video and audio into a single data stream.

The XHDI 02 de-embeds, processes and re-embeds all the audio accompanying the video from and to the SDI stream. The board can be equipped with sample-rate converters and is then able to de-embed the audio even from asynchronous video signals and then re-embed them again. According to the manufacturer, application of the new SD and HD/3G SDI card becomes ‘revolutionary’ by combining it with an XDED (neXus Dolby E Decoder) board. Together they enable de-embedding and decoding of Dolby E signals from the SDI signal, which can then be processed within the NEXUS system and re-encoded and re-embedded back in the SDI stream. This procedure is also applicable to asynchronous SDI signals.

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