Tech Specs | MediaKind Docs
Tech Specs
Compressed Input
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
- 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
- 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
- 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
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
- 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
- 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
- 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
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
- 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
- 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
- Output formats: SDI, SMPTE ST 2022-6, SMPTE ST 2110
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
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)
Features:
- SDI output: 1x SDI output supporting SD/HD/3G-SDI
- Connector: BNC 75 ohms
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
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/C (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
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
- PID filtering and PID remapping by re-multiplexing input programs Real-time PSI regeneration
Content security
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
- Capable of processing transport streams of up to 96 Mbps per CAM (though actual bitrate may be limited by the CAM)
- 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
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
- 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)