The theme for this year’s Cable Show was centered around “Putting the Future in Focus” – an obvious, yet relevant topic for the ever-evolving and forward-thinking cable industry. At RGB, we were eager to put the future of our three screen video delivery on display as we demoed our Video Multiprocessing Gateway (VMG) to attendees in Los Angeles.

But we aren’t the only ones talking about three screens. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to open up a cable, telecom or even mobility publication without reading something about the recent three screen invasion.

A recent Nielsen Report on three screens puts online video consumption up by 16% since last year and states that “active mobile video users grew by 57% from the fourth quarter of 2008 to the fourth quarter of 2009, from 11.2 million to 17.6 million.”

“It seems that, for the foreseeable future at least, America’s love affair with the TV will continue unabashed,” said Matt O’Grady, Nielsen Company media product leader. “We seem to have an almost insatiable appetite for media, with online and mobile programming only adding to it.”

And while analysts and reporters alike agree that consumer demand for three screen video is hitting its stride, it’s the companies that enable its delivery who have been working tirelessly behind the scenes, focused on the future of three screen video before the idea hit the mass market.

Here at RGB, revolutionizing three screen delivery has been in the works for a long time. Products like the VMG, launched last year, address the complex challenges that video providers inevitably face as they race to deliver their content to three screens.

Ramin Farassat, Vice President, Product Marketing & Business Development for RGB, discussed these challenges and examined RGB’s three screen approach at this year’s Cable Show for Broadband Gear Report’s Tech Live segment.

Farassat explains how RGB’s integrated transcoding platform enables video providers to now bring in the video only once to the network, perform all video processing functions, and distribute it to as many different types of devices as needed – such as TVs, PCs and mobile devices including iPhones and iPads – all within a single chassis. Check it out.

And be sure to stay tuned as we continue to play a lead role in the three screen revolution.

Are you attending this year’s Cable Show? If you’re working on a transition strategy to a three screens environment, you’ll want to talk with us at booth #1255 to learn about the advantages of our integrated, scalable solution.

At the show you’ll see demonstrations of RGB’s Video Multiprocessing Gateway (VMG). The VMG incorporates advanced transcoding and transrating, among other advanced processing capabilities, and we will highlight several multi-screen scenarios including:

• Transcoding MPEG-2 programs into H.264 and displaying them in appropriate formats on a PC, iPhone and iPad
• Transcoding a high definition (HD) MPEG-2 program that consumes 15 Mbps into lower bitrate H.264 streams
• Transrating an H.264 HD program running at 7 Mbps so that it only uses 4 Mbps without any loss of picture quality
• Transcoding an H.264 HD program into a standard definition (SD) program in MPEG-2

RGB will also be demonstrating some groundbreaking ad insertion developments in the area of EBIF and digital overlays in conjunction with partners OpenTV, ARRIS, Unisoft, Sigma Systems and others. Stop in the CableNET pavilion to catch this demonstration at OpenTV’s pedestal.

See you at the show!

The economy is still in a slump. And while this isn’t breaking news, it is important to note that for the first time since the emergence of complex television technologies, such as advanced advertising and VOD, cable operators are feeling the squeeze of a tightened budget due to an exhausted economy. Though the cable industry has managed to stay remarkably resilient during previous economic downturns, this particular season has proven more difficult for the once bulletproof marketplace.

So what is a cable operator to do? It’s simple: make every dollar count. They can do this with the “all-in-one” cable box. Emerging in full force this year is the “more bang for your buck” cable solution that combines multiple functions wrapped up in one single, cost-effective package.

Jeff Baumgartner at Light Reading Cable has referred to these particular pieces of equipment as “God Boxes” and “do-it-all network” devices, and has so far covered two – RGB’s Video Multiprocessing Gateway (VMG) and Comcast’s Converged Multiservice Access Platform (CMAP). Both offer multiple services and functions all within one cost-effective and compact platform.

Baumgartner notes that with the CMAP, Comcast seeks to develop “a super-dense, do-it-all network device that significantly cuts headend space and power consumption requirements and trims down overall costs per bit” and will include “many discrete functions – including the cable modem termination system (CMTS) and all the edge QAMs – into one device.”

When it comes to the VMG the concept of “more bang for the buck” is still a central theme, though the functions that it performs are different. With the VMG, the focus lies in repurposing video for delivery to televisions, as well as mobile handsets, PCs, and many other IP-connected devices. By integrating any-to-any transcoding and re-coding capabilities with other video processing functions, such as ad insertion and transrating, the process becomes far more streamlined, eliminating racks full of hardware and complicated wiring.

One thing that both boxes offer – which is arguably the most important for their customers – is reliability. As you increase the number of services packed in one box, there is always the fear of also increasing potential failures. To combat this, products like the VMG tout exceptional reliability based on multiple levels of hardware, software and service level redundancy while the CMAP also alleviates the risk by requiring redundancy for every line card.

Numbered are the days of purchasing single purpose devices (i.e., encoders, ad splicers, etc.) for one individual function, simply because assembling so many individual devices – most from different manufacturers – into a complete digital headend has become such a complex task, making it difficult and costly to scale up as service demand increases. So if you’re a video service provider seeking to offer your subscribers the most cutting-edge viewing experience without draining precious funds, you’re going to want to look into the benefits of the all-in-one box.

Despite the challenging economic climate, most operators we talk with continue to be optimistic about the near- and long-term prospects for the video delivery market. The fact that video is increasingly being viewed anywhere and everywhere on a plethora of devices certainly bodes well for our industry! The challenge now is establishing the best technological path to video ubiquity.


We have just announced a solution that we believe will help tremendously in this area. Our new content repurposing technology takes transcoding to an entirely new level. Read our recent newsletter for details on this revolutionary technology and learn how we are positioned to help the video delivery industry through the challenges of this exciting time.


RGB not only provides technology—we’re very committed to service and a partnership with our customers as well. As we have been from the start, the RGB team is dedicated to working with everyone who uses our products to meet their current and future needs. In order to do this, it is crucial to keep our talent pool fresh, with experts available to provide their knowledge in all key areas. This is why we’ve recently brought on two IP video specialists—Yuval Fisher as CTO and Rudi Polednik as head of International Sales—to help us as we move forward in the evolving world of video. Read more>>