TAG Video Systems LTD, a leader of innovative IP monitoring and high-quality multiviewer solutions for the broadcast, production and post markets, is celebrating its 10th year anniversary and marked the milestone with a reception at the NAB Show in Las Vegas earlier this month.
Established by Tomer Schechter and Gal Waldman in Tel Aviv, TAG turned out its first product–a real-time live audio transcoding solution that converted Internet radio into a DVB MPEG-TS–which reflected its founders’ extensive experience in real-time embedded systems and IP networking.
Expanding TAG’s reach into broadcast, Schechter and Waldman soon recognized the need for monitoring DVB MPEG transport streams at a facility’s input and output. The two tapped into their collective pioneering spirit and set out to develop one comprehensive solution that incorporated excellent DVB MPEG TS probes and analysis data, a native multiviewer with IP inputs, and real time error detection and alarms in the IP MPEG TS domain. The result was the company’s flagship MCM-9000, one solution that did it all: DVB ETR-290 real-time monitoring and alarming, as well as baseband analysis and HD mosaic Multiview creation, all in the IP domain using off-the-shelf IT server hardware. The innovative MCM-9000 was the first-of-its-kind, shattering traditional monitoring technology and paving the way for a whole new “IP Monitoring Multiviewer” paradigm.
Abe Zerbib, TAG CEO, said, “The MCM-9000 was groundbreaking, but then we enhanced it with OTT support. Most recently we’ve included support for the SMPTE 2022-6/7 and 2110 IP uncompressed standards, a development that has disrupted the way media is viewed on Multiviewers.”
The company that began with two founders and one product in 2008 has grown to an international organization with a solid infrastructure today. “We still maintain a very lean and efficient operation, which enables us to react quickly to customer requests,” said Zerbib. “Our customer list is a testament to our quality and service, and includes many tier-one, high-profile organizations, including: Deutsche Telekom, Eutelsat, MX1, NBC Sports, Fox Sports, DirecTV, MLB, Sky UK, TATA communications, and numerous others who recognize the innovation and technical advance of the products, and have become loyal, long-term customers.”
At NAB 2018, TAG once again broke barriers with the introduction of an upgraded version of its flagship MCM-9000 software-only IP-multiviewer — the MCM-9000U. The first-of-its-kind in the industry, the new MCM-9000U incorporates all the functionality of its predecessor but now supports SMPTE’s newly published ST 2110 suite of standards for managed IP networks that address HD and UHD uncompressed video and audio streams at the inputs and outputs of the multiviewer. The MCM-9000U was shortlisted for a prestigious IABM BaM Awards™ in the Support category at NAB.
Other significant products featured at this year’s show included the TAG Descriptor, which allows for real-time monitoring of encrypted content in the “secure zone” while keeping the content secure. TAG has also responded to customers looking for a dedicated NMS solution to receive long-term logging and reporting features, by introducing the TAG-NMS product.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More