NVIDIA Corporation today announced the international premiere and release of the NVIDIA  Quadro  Digital Video Pipeline, the industry's first integrated, GPU-based platform for real-time acquisition, processing and delivery of high resolution video.

The Quadro Digital Video Pipeline, based on the NVIDIA  CUDA  parallel computing architecture, is a complete solution designed for broadcast, new media and film production professionals. This innovative system delivers the fastest graphics processing available for video production in a flexible, reliable and cost-effective workstation or server-based platform.

Ideal Solution for Real-time Effects and Virtual Sets

The Quadro Digital Video Pipeline empowers professionals with the ability to incorporate higher quality, graphic-rich effects and virtual sets into live broadcasts. By providing a direct path for image processing into and out of the NVIDIA Quadro graphics processing unit (GPU), broadcasters are able to use this system to create stunning virtual effects, making live programming much more engaging.

"The advanced capabilities of the Quadro Digital Video Pipeline mean for the first time a single workstation can process live feeds from four simultaneous HD cameras, dramatically reducing the cost of virtual studio solutions," said Steve Hart, development director at RT Software, a London-based supplier of high quality real-time 3D solutions used by international broadcasters. "With this solution we see enormous advantages by using the GPU for chroma-keying and applying color correction. The real-time performance enables on-screen talent to interact with the virtual set environment more naturally, without the annoying, distracting lags of other systems."

"The raw graphics horsepower of the Quadro Digital Video Pipeline also enables broadcasters to create more compelling virtual environments that are up to five times more detailed," continued Hart. "The combination of RT Software and the new Quadro solution will no doubt foster true innovation and creativity in real-time broadcasting."

Real-time Video Processing

Leveraging the CUDA parallel computing architecture of NVIDIA GPUs, the Quadro Digital Video Pipeline is also designed to capture HD broadcast-quality video and perform real-time transcoding for use in Internet streaming services.

Elemental Technologies, a leading provider of massively parallel video processing solutions, utilizes the Quadro Digital Video Pipeline as a cornerstone of its upcoming Elemental Server. This enterprise-class video processing system provides fast, high-quality, highly efficient video transcoding from Ethernet or Serial Digital Interface (SDI) inputs using GPUs. With Elemental Server, content providers can rapidly serve an array of different resolutions and bit rates required to support traditional PCs, mobile devices and set-top boxes.

"Online content delivery is going through a radical transformation, and the parallel computing power of CUDA is fueling this revolution," said Andy Beach, VP of marketing at Elemental Technologies. "By harnessing the power of just four NVIDIA GPUs, the Elemental Server performs real-time capture and transcoding of multiple live 1080p video feeds, a job that previously required 14 quad-core CPUs."

The Quadro Digital Video Pipeline is a complete, integrated solution that incorporates:

• SDI video capture - uncompressed video is streamed directly to Quadro GPU memory, with the ability to capture up to four HD-SDI sources simultaneously.
• High-end visual effects creation -sophisticated 2D and 3D visual effects are created, and HD video is transcoded, all in real-time using the NVIDIA CUDA parallel computing architecture.
• SDI video output - effects are composited in real-time with 2K, HD and SD video, providing an integrated graphics-to-video solution which can be genlocked to external house sync, or synced to the SDI input.

As NVIDIA has now built the entire production pipeline into a single system, studios will save both on the reduced system cost, as well as the elimination of integration expense.

NVIDIA is featuring software solutions running on the Quadro Digital Video Pipeline at IBC 2009 stand H37 in Hall 7 of the RAI Centre in Amsterdam, Sept. 11 - 15, 2009. Demonstrations include:  RT Software showcasing its virtual effects software, and Elemental Technologies highlighting its Elemental Server and Elemental Accelerator video encoding solutions.

Pricing and Availability

The NVIDIA Quadro Digital Video Pipeline has estimated street prices range from $5,000 to $8,000 USD, depending on configuration, and is available from NVIDIA authorized channel partners. For more information on NVIDIA Quadro Digital Video Pipeline solutions, visit: www.nvidia.com/quadro/dvp.