Media Distribution Evolves with HIVE Streaming

As the world of immersive video installations grows almost daily, with arts, culture, business, and entertainment sectors deploying customer engagement though video projection, LED displays or a mixture of display solutions, the demand for large high-resolution output media servers grows with it.

One of the standout new products in this field in Barcelona at ISE 24 was the Hive media system. A relatively new company in this space, with a different outlook and different approach on how to structure and drive media rather than using traditional server-based content playback.

As the name ‘Hive’ suggests, the system works like a hive of bees with one device being the Queen bee (which can be any device in the network) with many worker bee devices. The system becomes a fully networked solution with the workload distributed among the worker bees. This allows the system to be more reliable and scalable with end points that are SDM compatible for onboard playback in compatible displays and projectors.

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With three sizes of device, both in SDM cards (Beeblade), a standalone box (Beebox) or the new ‘Beehive’ enclosure that can hold up to 16 Bee Blades of any combination of HD playback and output. The Bee Blade also supports 4K and 8K playback and 4K output. With storage from 500GB to 4TB these devices cover virtually all applications of media playback, where you need a system of two units to 120 units, as used on the recently installed BBC David Attenborough experience currently showing at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The Hive system is managed via a web interface, supports ArtNet or SMPTE MTC Timecode, as well as onboard playback. Each device can display NDI, RTMP and USB captured streaming video sources, extending its use to live performances. With onboard mapping, blending and warping effects, Playlist, Timecode, Live control, and Timeline playback with a bundle of basic effects, each box becomes a very powerful playback media device and a huge standout in the world of media servers.