New Atlona OmniStream Firmware Release Broadens AV over IP Opportunities

At ISE 2019, Atlona will demonstrate new functionality to enhance switching performance for video walls, and system management within the All-IP Meeting Space

January 16, 2019

Atlona will unleash its OmniStream v1.2.2 firmware release at the upcoming ISE 2019 show, providing integrators and end users with a powerful AV over IP feature set to drive and manage high-resolution content over the network.

The latest OmniStream firmware, to be demonstrated at Stand 5-U120 (February 5-8, Amsterdam RAI), strengthens AV over IP distribution to video walls and system management within meeting spaces. Key performance enhancements include seamless high-speed switching – or “fast switching” – and new daisy-chaining capabilities for OmniStream’s existing encoder grouping functionality.

Fast, Seamless Switching

Atlona’s new fast switching feature, available in OmniStream Pro and R-Type systems, greatly accelerates switching time for sources. The new switching mode actively manages EDID and HDCP negotiations between sources and destinations, including displays and video walls. With switching time reduced to less than 10 milliseconds, Atlona’s fast switching innovation outperforms competitive products for switching speed across packet-based AV systems.

Atlona’s new OmniStream firmware further enhances video wall performance with new integrated processing functionality, which ensures precise synchronization of content between each decoder and corresponding display tile. The result is a single, cohesive image magnified across all displays, without the appearance of “breaking up” if video streams to decodersare mistimed.

All-IP Meeting Space Advances

Atlona unveils its All-IP Meeting Space solution to accelerate transitions from legacy circuit-based systems to fully networked, IP-enabled environments. The strategy brings the power of large, enterprise-sized, IP-based systems to individual meeting spaces. The network switch becomes the switcher, creating an enormous amount of freedom to deliver right-sized switching systems without the limitations of a fixed I/O matrix.

At ISE, Atlona will demonstrate new advances to OmniStream Pro’s encoder grouping application, which delivers the auto-switching capability of a conventional AV switcher. The architecture supports the assignment of several encoders to one group, with the decoder switching to an encoder when its HDMI input detects a new device.

The OmniStream v1.2.2 firmware update adds support for encoder daisy-chaining, which allows users to connect multipleAT-OMNI-112 dual-channel encoders together. This allows integrators to simplify wiring requirements while utilizing a single network drop to a switch or LAN, and enables higher density installations by connecting two source devices per box.

“Our encoder grouping and daisy-chaining applications further solve the unique challenges of system management in an All-IP Meeting Space environment,” said David Shamir, director of product management, Atlona. “With encoder grouping,our customers can place encoders anywhere in a room where sources will be connected, while retaining the ability to switch between them. The addition of daisy-chaining strengthens our value proposition for presentation environments where switching between sources and sending to a single display is required. Both applications are automatic based on input signal detection, and further elevate the possibilities of our All-IP Meeting Space for large classrooms and other spaces with presentation stations in multiple locations.”

The All-IP Meeting Space architecture overcomes the limitations of legacy wired AV systems in favor of the optimal flexibility, simplified integration and infinite scalability available through a facility’s existing data networking infrastructure. This also ensures that every component on the network can be natively managed from any location, and removes the learning curve for IT administrators as AV becomes just another element managed on the shared network.

The complete multi-faceted architecture, which brings together IP-enabled Atlona 4K/UHD encoders and decoders, control, and peripherals, will be the central exhibit at the Atlona stand. The demonstration will show the following Atlona products working together, as well as interoperability with pertinent third-party components (such as DSPs) and Atlona PTZ cameras:

• OmniStream AV over IP platform (encoders, decoders, audio interfaces)
• OmniStream USB over IP device adapters (AT-OMNI-311, AT-OMNI-324)
• Velocity control over IP solution

More information on the Atlona All-IP Meeting Space can be found at http://Atlona.com/aims.