Rorke Signs Exclusive Distribution Agreement for Viewtronics' "Viper"
Las Vegas, NV, NAB99, Booth #16554/LVCC, April 19, 1999 — Rorke Data announced today that the company is now the exclusive wholesaler of Viewtronics' "Viper" series of digital video disk recorders for North and South America.
Viper digital disk recorders provide a practical and flexible non-linear video system for a wide range of broadcasting, mastering and audio post production applications, offering MJPEG 14:1-2.5:1 compression and a mixed compression rate on each medium (hard disk or optical) for cost-effective storage use. In addition to excellent video quality, the Viper incorporates 16Kb audio quality, built-in independent RS422 ports, a timecode reader/generator-insertor, and biphase capability, enabling the Viper to adapt to individual studio and control room environments.
The Viper is installed at several NAB99 exhibitor booths, at companies such as Digidesign, Timeline, Korg, Akai, Roland, and Sonic Solutions. Rorke spokesperson Bob Herzan said the Viper DDR has already met with wide industry acceptance and is a significant upgrade to the company's previous DDR product, the VMOD-100.
"With over 1,000 VMOD-100 units installed worldwide, the Viper is leveraging its VMOD format compatibility with wide OEM acceptance and trust," said Herzan, Director of Worldwide A/V Sales. "This is an expandable product concept, and users can add new features as they need them, by use of an integrated NT workstation with a scaleable backplane configuration."
Prior to NAB99, several industry leaders expanded upon Herzan's comments. "The Viper's price point remains competitive while delivering much improved audio and video playback quality," said Chas Smith, DigiDesign's VP of Sales & Marketing. "This should make it compelling to users seeking a non-linear video playback solution from within a DAW environment such as Pro Tools."
The Viper line includes a series of scaleable VTR replacements (replacing VTR decks from SVHS to D1) developed around a standard, open platform NT standalone workstation. Applications include dubbing, ADR/Foley, Mixing and DVD production. The Viper Series includes Lite, Standard, and Pro versions.
The Viper Lite model has been engineered to provide precise reference and non-degrading video quality with random access disk performance. In addition to its excellent video quality, the Viper Lite incorporates 16Bit audio quality, and offers significant advantages to linear (tape-based) technologies, including total random access to any clip across each individual 24hour timeline record clip. Each additional record clip is also placed on its own 24 hour timeline to simplify acquisition and archival. Combining the Viper Lite with Rorke Data's Galaxy Series of RAID servers provides users with the Viper Nest capability, which allows users who access centrally stored video assets to simultaneously share the data, each Viper being individually controlled by the user's workstation or another serial-based controller.
The Viper Standard has been optimized to provide extra horsepower for driving visually- demanding applications. The implementation of improved pixel level video filtering offers unprecedented video quality at 7:1. Built-in component YUV Video I/Os allow the Viper to output high quality video, and an optional upgrade expands the system's two channels of 16bit audio to an extended two channels of 24bit /96kHz audio performance. For video assist applications, the Viper allows the user to view a shot in frame and then to reset a scene with total accuracy, with no waits for re-winding and the ability to seamlessly loop the scene for review.
The Viper Pro is designed to harness current PCI bus architecture to deliver crisp, clean broadcast quality images. Backed-up with scalable, highly fault tolerant Fibre Channel RAID storage, the Viper, in combination with Rorke's Galaxy FC-AL series, combines the highest available network speeds with robust administration tools to blend seamlessly with the widely-accepted automation software that is being installed for digital terrestrial broadcasting. With a full 8 Channels of 24/96 High Definition Audio, the Viper Pro is ready to accept the most demanding of Mastering jobs for present and future multi-channel audio formats. The enhancement of 2.5:1 lossless compression maintains broadcast quality video transmission, and the CCIR 601 serial digital interface ensures that the Video remains within the digital domain throughout the storage access and transmission processes.
Rorke Data is a full digital storage solutions provider with expertise in SAN-connectivity, FC RAID, high performance tape and optical libraries, Unix, NT and Mac environments, high bandwidth networks, digital asset and document management, and engineering and maintenance services. Founded in 1985, Rorke Data is a privately held Minnesota corporation. Together with its European subsidiary, Rorke Data Europe, located in Emmen, The Netherlands, the company is composed of six divisions: Audio/Video, Prepress, Imaging, Document Management, Digital Media Supplies, and Engineering and Installation Services. More information about Rorke Data can be found at www.rorke.com.
