QVC Partners with Imagine Communications

TOKYO – Imagine Communications is providing the critical processing, monitoring and management technology underpinning a new, state-of-the-art UHD and IP-based production infrastructure at QVC Japan. The new facility, which supports uncompressed HD and UHD signals based on the SMPTE ST 2110 standards, enables the global shopping channel to significantly enhance the buying experience for Japanese viewers through the adoption of a software-based infrastructure that uses commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment.

QVC is one of the largest home shopping channels in the world, with operations around the globe. The upgrade and expansion of its Japanese teleshopping studio production room, which is among the first large-scale ST 2110-compliant UHD facilities in APAC, is part of the company’s initiative to upgrade the agility and flexibility of its technology foundation to rapidly respond to the evolving requirements of the next generation of television shoppers.

Imagine Communications worked closely with Diversified, a U.S.-based media integration solution supplier with oversight of the multivendor installation, to deliver the state-of-the-art solution. A staunch supporter of industry standards, Imagine supplied the new QVC channel with technology in full compliance with the recently ratified SMPTE ST 2110 standard for the delivery of uncompressed video, audio and metadata over IP network.

At the heart of the deployment is Imagine’s recently introduced Selenio™ Network Processor (SNP). Both an SDI-to-IP gateway and an all-IP signal processing platform, the SNP provides a full spectrum of capabilities required in today’s evolving production operations, including HD-UHD up-and-down conversion and color space adjustments, as well as managing the High Dynamic Range (HDR) adaptations and conversions required for integrating UHD and HD signals. Leveraging industry-leading processing density, Imagine Communications’ SNP also provides important synchronization and timing functions, overseeing the integration of new signals into the production environment and helping to assure the optimal timing of ST 2110 signals for interoperability with all other compliant equipment.