Pico Digital has unveiled the new PD1600, a "headend in a box" for the secure delivery of video to multiple dwelling units (MDU), headend in the sky (HITS) operations, and hospitality environments. The 5RU system is designed to decode, decrypt, re-encrypt, and rebroadcast content in IP, QAM or analog output while providing end-to-end content protection.
Designed to scale to 96 channels or 96 transponders, the PD1600 is equipped with 12 slots for multiple satellite, QAM, or ATSC input blades. Each blade features eight tuners, which can either descramble one TV service or pass through off a complete transponder, and is available with an optional transcoder module for format conversions of eight streams per blade.
The unit features four slots for QAM and NTSC output blades. The QAM blade is available with 16 or 96 channels (72 or 288 services), while the NTSC blade provides 24 analog channels. Output can be free-to-air or scrambled using either DRM- or CAS-based encryption.