Wired

We’ve been getting quite a few questions about how the Mason works, so we’ll try to answer the top questions here.

Can The MasonIP Play DVDs ?

The MasonIP is a fully featured DVD player and DVD verifier, therefore it plays DVD images (with VIDEO_TS folders) located on servers and computers directly over the network. Since MasonIP does not have an actual optical DVD drive, it cannot directly play an already burned DVD. But it can play non-encrypted DVD images, like from any DVD authoring package, as if they were DVDs.

You can use MasonIP before authoring to check the quality of your MPEG encoded streams, and after DVD authoring, to proof the quality and navigation of your DVD image, without having to burn a DVD test disc. The MasonIP has a built-in file navigator so you can find servers or computers to play their stored DVD images without having to fuss with burning every image to a DVD-R just to test. MasonIP saves you money and time by playing directly from your authoring system or server without the burn!

How Do I Control The Playback of DVD Content With the Mason IP?

MasonIP comes with a standard IR remote control, which combined with the on-screen menus, gives you complete control over the playback of authored DVD content. Once you’ve selected the file to play, it looks and works the same as a standard DVD player.

Could we use the MasonIP in our company Screening Room ?

The MasonIP is the ultimate playback client to access your server-based media collection. It features very high quality HD up-scaling and HD or SD video output, ultra-quiet, ultra-clean power supply design and a remote IR port to facilitate integration with sophisticated control systems. It plays DVD images as if they were discs, giving you full access to all menus and special features, for easy verification of all authored DVD functions.

MasonIP has digital & analog video outputs that operate from NTSC/PAL up to 1080i-HD resolutions. Audio outputs also exist for digital & analog signals. See the MasonIP spec page for more details, or contact our support department for specific questions.

Can the MasonIP Play HD-DVD or Blu-Ray Discs ?

At the moment such discs can only be played with dedicated players. The Mason can be used to proof the encoded HD files before the disc is authored. We do expect to add the ability to playback non-encrypted projects in these HD formats in the future. With our file navigator, you can playback HD encoded files from various codecs like WMV, VC-1, h.264, AVC, MPEG2-HD.

Any other special facts or functions about MasonIP ?

Well, there are a lot of special features about MasonIP, but here are some major points:

• Heavy Duty built; Full metal 1U 19″ chassis; Designed for 24/7 operation.

• No switching power supplies used anywhere, inside or out; No external power brick or wall-wart supply.

• Oversized shielded custom toroidal power supply; 10 internal power supplies fed by a clean linear design.

• Locking connectors on back for video and audio (DVI, Component, Composite, AES/EBU).

• Built-in html server for easy unit configuration; Just point a browser to the box to configure all parameters.

• Clean analog paths; All analog signals routed through high-frequency relays; No analog chip switches used.

• All analog outputs (video & audio) fully buffered with high-current high-frequency drivers with separate power supplies.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 25th, 2006 at 7:28 am and is filed under Mason Info, News. You can skip to the end and leave a response.