November 15, 2012
By Tim Siglin Contributing Editor
Online Video News

Haivision Launches Makito X2 Line, Gets 'Seriously Stupid' About Encoder Densities

The way Peter Maag tells it, Haivision is taking a "seriously stupid" approach when it comes to input density for its new Makito X2 encoder line. Or maybe it's just dense, at least when it comes to input density for its new Makito X2 encoder line.

"We're going for seriously stupid densities compared to other enterprise-class encoders," says Maag, Haivision's chief marketing officer, during a call yesterday. "Twice the quality and twice the density of the previous Makito product, at half the bandwidth."

The Makito X2 series will be available in the same three configurations as the original Makito: a single-slot blade appliance and two higher density rack-mounted units: a 1RU chassis with 6 blades and a 4RU chassis with 21 blades. The X2 name signifies two channels per blade, versus the single-channel-per-blade configuration of the original Makito.

"The 1RU unit allows 12 channels of 'high profile' H.264, allowing two 1080p60 and two 720p60 per blade via dual 3G SDI inputs," says Maag. "We do all this while still maintaining the 55 millisecond latency of the original Makito."

The X2 has four encoder cores, versus two encoder cores for the original Makito, and the additional processing power allows Makito to compress down to lower bandwidths or scale up to higher bandwidths.

"We can drop down to 32kbps or encode at up to 25Mpbs," says Maag. "The previous version has only a 15Mbps maximum output."

Physically, the appliance version looks like a current-generation Makito, save for a chassis color change and the addition of the second 3G SDI input port. The blades each have dual GigE 1Gbps Ethernet ports.

Users can assign the four on-board encoder cores against either of the two inputs. The overarching idea with raising the processing power, says Maag, is extending the quality, lowering the bandwidth, and using the additional processing power.

When asked who Haivision competes against for the six-blade, 12-input unit, Maag says the primary competition lies in the enterprise-grade encoder market.

"Our densities, along with a very aggressive price point, may very well set a new price-performance standard in the industry," Maag says.

Haivision will begin selling Makito X2 units in quantity by the second week of January, 2013, after wrapping up beta tests in mid-December.

"We will be charging approximately $6,500 per channel for the X2 appliance," said Maag. "For higher-density units, we will use the same chassis as the original Makito, running approximately $5,500 for the 1RU chassis and $6,650 for the 4RU chassis. Each blade for the rack-mounted units will cost approximately $12,700."

To better understand the price-per-port model, consider the following two scenarios:

One user needs six HD-SDI input ports. For the Makito X2 that means three blades. In one scenario, the user can choose three X2 single-slot appliances, for a total cost $39,000. In another scenario, to allow for growth and higher densities, the user can choose a chassis and three blades, for a total cost of $43,600.

Another user needs twelve HD-SDI input ports. For the Makito X2 that means six blades. In one scenario, the user can choose three X2 single-slot appliances, for a total cost $78,000. In another scenario, to allow for growth and higher densities, the user can choose a chassis and six blades, for a total cost of $81,700.

In both scenarios, the 1RU is more dense, but also costs more. It's not until a user needs the 4RU, with 21 blades -- totaling 42 HD-SDI inputs -- that the break-even between appliance and rack-mounted begins to be more obvious.

Still, Maag says that the 1RU unit has been a popular option, if the original Makito is any indication.

"To date, we have shipped well over 15,000 Makitos," said Maag, referring to both single- and multi-slot chassis. "Approximately one-third of those have been appliance or single-slot, and the rest were used as high-density aggregation of inputs."

The Makito X2 product line will be on display for the first time at Haivision's booth at the Content and Communications World expo, beginning today at the Javits Center in New York City.