SQX is Datapath's collective name for video streaming & compression technologies. Datapath's SQX products open up a world of possibilities for video delivery, transmission and storage whilst maintaining the ability to easily scale projects from the management of a single stream to full inclusive systems that accommodate a wide array of inputs and outputs streaming from a variety of sources to a number of destinations.
In today’s modern world it is imperative that video can be handled in many different ways. The transportation of video from one location to another has become critical in delivering the services that are required for professional AV projects. From real time remote access of surveillance cameras to the distribution of video content and recording & storing of data for later retrieval, the needs of the markets demand technologies that meet these requirements.
Scalable Streaming Technologies
Datapath's range of SQX technologies gives customers the power to handle video to meet the needs of the Professional AV market. At the heart of SQX is the ability to take video and encode it for streaming or remote storage and to decode compressed data for use on a video wall or monitor. The Datapath SQX technology portfolio offers a series of products that can either work alone or as part of a much wider system to manage a vast amount of video in ways customers require.
SQX Encode
The SQX family of technologies provide the ability to capture several channels of high quality, high bandwidth video simultaneously and encode each of them before providing the user with the choice of final destination whether that is streaming on-line for viewing elsewhere, storage to networked drives for archiving or saving to a local disk for instant access later on.
Datapath's SQX encoding cards are capable of compressing Full HD (1080p) video at 60 frames per second or two 1080p videos at 30fps using the global h.264 standard. This is achieved through the use of a dedicated on board processor . Synchronisation is maintained across multiple cards & inputs by way of a network clock allowing two or more streams to be accurately frame matched once viewed.
Once combined with Datapath's MultiStream technology, multiple instances of the encoded data can be used independently.
SQX Decode
SQX decoding technology can uncompress encoded media for viewing locally on a video wall. The SQX decoding capabilities include the SoftSQX application, where the core system processor receives and decodes the IP stream and PCIe card based ActiveSQX which includes a dedicated processor which can work alongside additional SQX cards, in the same system, to provide scalability and a huge number of simultaneous decodes. Once decoded video can be passed to a graphics card (such as the ImageDP4) for display on a video wall, this means live video captured and streamed from New York can be received in London and spread across many screens.
H.264
H.264 is the de-facto standard in video compression and streaming. Used by IPTV vendors, CCTV equipment manufacturers, streaming media companies and broadcast markets, H.264 provides a globally accepted standard for video compression. SQX has been designed to work with h264 compression and allows customers to interact with video from a wide range of sources.
H.264 encompasses a number of profiles. SQX technology supports the following profiles:
- Baseline Profile: Commonly used in video conferencing systems
- Main Profile: As used in Digital TV broadcasting
- High Profile : Critical for High Definition applications and storing to disk