Village Island releases world-wide the VICO-4, the "4K over single 3G-SDI" appliance empowered by TICO

Tokyo, JAPAN – March 21, 2017 – Village Island, a video equipment supplier and integrator head-quartered in Japan, announces VICO-4 from the VICO series enabling UHD smart transport and powered by TICO, the revolutionary high-efficiency compression engine from intoPIX.

Thanks to the new VICO-4 appliance from Village Island, it is now possible and practical to transport 4K base-band video over a single 3G-SDI, without losing any noticeable video quality and with zero-frame delay.

The VICO-4 Encoder takes in 4K as 4x 3G-SDI or 1x 12G-SDI and convert it into a single 3G-SDI. The VICO unit can be easily switched between Encoder and Decoder.

The VICO is powered by TICO, the high-efficiency compression engine from intoPIX enabling 4:1 Visually Loss-Less compression with a total delay (encoder plus decoder) of only a few video lines (less than 1ms).

Why VICO?

• As broadcasters need to move towards 4K, they desire to make a smart use of their current SDI facilities. The resulting 3G-SDI code-stream signal can be interfaced with 3G-SDI uncompressed traditional devices such as Distribution Amplifiers, Storage/Playout system, Optical Transmitters, Matrix-Switchers and Routers, etc..
• Because broadcasters operators have preference to ideally transport video as raw data (or equivalent to raw quality) and with near-to-zero delay.
• To respond to the needs for SDI practical connection when IP is not an option or when the existing IP network is bringing inadequate constraints or complexity.
• To offer a mission critical hardware that is simple to configure without requiring additional peripherals or software.
• To offer ready-to-integrate appliance for OBVAN, studios and contribution system.
• To resolve 4K SDI cabling issues related to limitation of space and of distance between devices.

The VICO handles 4K video as 4x 3G-SDI in both 2SI (2 Sample Interleave) and SQD (Square Division) modes, in Level A and B. It also supports 12G-SDI which makes it a unique gateway for new 12G-SDI devices.

The SDI transport of TICO video data is done according to the SMPTE RDD 35 (*1) specifications. This enables interoperability with third-party vendors which follow the same specification. In regards, several interoperability testing have been conducted successfully. According to this spec, the resulting 3G-SDI code stream sees the SDI video active area replaced with the 4K compressed data. The complete ancillary data (ex: audio, time-codes, sub-titles and proprietary information) is transported as is.

intoPIX TICO Visually Loss Less compression enables the original video quality is preserved without any artefact detectable by the human eye (*2). TICO encoding and decoding is achieved within a few video lines delay.

Therefore VICO enables the transport of 4K over 3G-SDI in Visually Loss Less quality coupled with Ultra-Low Delay.

The VICO is available as OEM and ODM (*4) as well.

(*1) TICO is a high-efficiency codec for its video quality and delay compared to the implementation cost (ex: cost of computing or FPGA)

(*2) http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7470724/

(*3) The PSNR (Peak signal-to-noise ratio) is measured commonly as above 48dB.

(*4) “Original Equipment Manufacturing” and “Original Design Manufacturing”

About Village Island

Village Island, with head-quarters in Japan and subsidiary offices in Singapore and Malaysia, is a well-known supplier of audio-visual hardware and solutions for the broadcast and telecom industry. Village Island proposes state-of-the-art, affordable and flexible technology in response to evolving customer needs. Village Island integrates, distribute and represent many technology vendors from around the world. Village Island also develop software and hardware from and for its key partners. Village Island offers professional services, seminars and trainings regularly through the year. Village Island is an IABM member and a TICO Alliance member. Since, its foundation in in Tokyo in 2005, Village Island has been deploying thousands of equipment and systems to key players in the broadcast industry.

VICO Product page: http://village-island.com/en/villageisland/hardware/vico-4/

About intoPIX

intoPIX is an innovative technology provider of compression, image processing, and security solutions to audiovisual equipment manufacturers. We are passionate about offering people a higher quality image experience and have developed FPGA IP-cores and software tools that enable leading edge TICO and JPEG2000 compression, security, video over IP and hardware enforcement. More information on our company, customers, and products can be found at www.intopix.com