Press Release... Pinnacle Systems, Inc. / Feb. 06, 2003

Pinnacle Systems MediaStream 900 Networked Storage Servers Selected for KQED DTV Upgrade
MOUNTAIN, VIEW, Calif., Feb. 06, 2003 -- Pinnacle Systems, Inc. announced today that its MediaStream Networked Storage Video Server system has been purchased by KQED, Inc. in San Francisco, one of the top five Public Broadcasting Stations in the United States. KQED will use MediaStream servers as the foundation for its new DTV recording, storage and playout infrastructure. MediaStream servers are now in use at twenty PBS stations throughout the United States to handle playout of their high definition and standard definition signals.

Larry Reid, Sr. Dir/Chief Broadcast Technology Officer, KQED said, "Our technical staff and management has enjoyed a productive partnership with our Pinnacle sales and engineering colleagues as we collaboratively considered options, architecture, and cutting edge functionality to design our broadcast server system. We selected Pinnacle MediaStream for its feature set including internal up-conversion of SD promos for HD playout, support of 4 AES pairs embedded with each video channel, and ability to mix SD, HD, and ASI in single storage disc system."[an error occurred while processing this directive]"MediaStream's flexible architecture allowed us to make a two-SAN system with discrete I/Os, ingest and playout storage with effective design for high reliability," said Reid. "Pinnacle's support of SNMP and ease of expansion will continue to be additional benefits."

Reid said, "Pinnacle's reputation for reliability and reputation for 'playing nice' with other critical system component manufacturers such as ADIC, Harris Automation Systems and Avalon were also positive factors in our evaluation."

The KQED installation will include two MediaStream Networked Storage Server systems connected to each other and to an external archive through Gigabit Ethernet. Three Pinnacle Connect Plus 1000 gateways will provide high-speed connections between the two systems for inter-system content transfers as well as connectivity to the station's archive system. Either server system will be able to keep KQED fully on air if the other is taken off line for maintenance or upgrade.

One Networked Storage system will be used for HD and SD ingest, as well as quality assurance and playout protection. This ingest/protect server will provide 19 outputs (16 SD and 3 HD) -- enough to cover all of the stations' on air, monitoring and master control needs. This ingest/protect server will also contain 10 inputs to handle both SD and HD digital feeds.

The second system will be used as the main on air playout system for delivering content to viewers. The playout server system contains 2 SDI inputs to backup the ingest server and 13 outputs including 6 SDI and 1 HD that are the station's primary outputs, as well as 6 additional SDI outputs for squeeze back and other master control functions. In all, KQED will send 1 HD and 6 SD signals to its TV audiences.

Ajay Chopra, President, Broadcast & Professional Division said, "We are very pleased to welcome KQED to the steadily growing list of PBS stations that are selecting MediaStream as their playout solution. Broadcasters are faced with increasing complexity that requires them to simultaneously handle multiple formats and increase on line storage requirements. The MediaStream family, and MediaStream Networked Storage in particular, provide an elegant solution to those challenges."

The MediaStream Networked Storage video server is Pinnacle's premiere broadcast server solution with scalability to support more than 100 channels and virtually unlimited storage capacity. MediaStream Networked Storage servers combine the operational simplicity and scalability of Pinnacle's Palladium(TM) shared storage architecture with the mission-critical reliability broadcasters demand for multi-channel on-air ingest and playout operations. On-air today with leading broadcasters worldwide, MediaStream Networked Storage servers provide instant access to any media file or feed located anywhere on the network. The underlying storage architecture provides no single point of failure with full redundancy of all critical components. In the rare event part of the system should fail, the Palladium architecture ensure stations stay on air while the system is repaired.

About Pinnacle Systems, Inc.

Pinnacle Systems provides broadcasters and consumers with cutting-edge digital media creation, storage, and playback solutions for use at Home, in the Studio and on the Air. Pinnacle Systems' award winning digital media solutions are in use around the world for broadcast, video editing, DVD and CDR authoring and on the Internet. A recognized industry leader, the company has received eight prestigious Emmy Awards for its technical innovations and carries this commitment throughout all of its product lines. Pinnacle Systems may be reached at 650-526-1600 or at www.pinnaclesys.com.





Source: Pinnacle Systems, Inc.
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