A video server is a computer based device (also called a "host") dedicated to delivering video.
Unlike personal computers, being multi-application devices, a video server is designed for one purpose; provisioning video, often for broadcasters. A professional-grade video server performs recording, storage, and playout of multiple video streams without any degradation of the video signal. Broadcast quality video servers often store hundreds of hours of compressed audio and video (in different codecs), play out multiple and synchronised simultaneous streams of video by, and offer quality interfaces such as SDI for digital video and XLR for balanced analog audio, AES/EBU digital audio and also Time Code. A genlock input is usually provided to provide a means of synchronizing with the house reference clock, thereby avoiding the need for timebase correction or Frame synchronizers.
Video servers usually offer some type of control interface allowing them to be driven by broadcast automation systems that incorporate sophisticated broadcast programming applications. Popular protocols include VDCP and the 9-Pin Protocol.
They can optionally allow direct to disk recording using the same codec that is used in various post-production video editing software packages to prevent any wasted time in transcoding.
Read more about Video Server: Broadcast Automation, Video Surveillance
Famous quotes containing the word video:
“It is among the ranks of school-age children, those six- to twelve-year-olds who once avidly filled their free moments with childhood play, that the greatest change is evident. In the place of traditional, sometimes ancient childhood games that were still popular a generation ago, in the place of fantasy and make- believe play . . . today’s children have substituted television viewing and, most recently, video games.”
—Marie Winn (20th century)