Cobalt Digital’s presence at IBC 2026 included new Dante fibre connectivity, expanded IPMX capabilities and compression developments that improve signal transport and processing.
Cobalt Digital brought new connectivity options and expanded IPMX functionality plus new features incorporated across their platform developed to make complex infrastructures easier to deploy, manage and operate.
New Fiber I/O for Dante openGear Cards
Cobalt showed its advanced line of 9935-AUD4-DANTE openGear audio processor cards for the first time at the IBC exhibition. These include optional fibre Inputs/Outputs to support Dante Audio Interface. Through the addition of direct fibre connectivity, Dante installation is simplified, longer-distance deployments are supported, and external media conversion in fibre-based network infrastructures is no longer necessary.
The 9935-AUD4-DANTE is a quad-channel card with up to 12G DANTE/AES/MADI/embed and de-embed functions with frame sync capabilities. The card has two gigabit Ethernet ports, a 64x64 configuration and a full audio router mixer.
Cobalt's IBC2026 Show lineup will also include further openGear cards - 9925-FSx Frame Sync and 9981-LUTx Color Processor models.
Expanded IPMX Functionality with JXS TDC
Cobalt has expanded its IPMX capabilities with support for JPEG XS, including the new Temporal Differential Coding (JXS TDC). TDC is an upgrade to the 3rd edition of JPEG XS that significantly improves detail preservation and edge sharpness.
9935-AUD4-DANTE quad-channel card
With JPEG XS compatibility, Cobalt’s portfolio of IPMX-certified products are able to directly discover, establish and transport JPEG XS media streams, which are visually lossless and ultra-low latency. The enhancement strengthens IPMX environments by allowing plug-and-play deployment and supporting low-latency JPEG XS workflows, especially within mixed-vendor systems where compatibility needs to be maintained.
JPEG-XS support is available for all Cobalt ST 2110/IPMX capable products, including SAPPHIRE and INDIGO lines, as well as the UltraBlue MV and the blueCORE processors.
COBALT UltraBlue MV-SW Multiviewer in IP and Hybrid Environments
The COBALT UltraBlue MV-SW software-based multiviewer now also features IPMX support for transitioning to either ST 2110 or IPMX. The UltraBlue MV-SW is available as either a turnkey solution with four HDMI heads, or as a software package that runs on customer-supplied dedicated hardware.
The multiviewer’s strength is flexibility – it can receive compressed and baseband audio/video content over IP across a range of different protocols and formats with very flexible audio routing, bringing a large number of options to suit most applications. UltraBlue also supports SDI inputs and outputs with suitable capture cards.
Compression Software Solutions
COBALT PACIFIC ULL-DEC upgradeable decoder
Cobalt also demonstrated its COBALT PACIFIC compression line including the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-DEC upgradeable software-defined broadcast decoder that is now available with an ST 2110/IPMX output option. Through this enhancement, decoded content can be transported simultaneously over SDI and over ST 2110/IPMX. For ST 2110 operation, a built-in frame sync will emit a PTP-locked signal.
Cobalt has added support for hybrid Satellite-Internet operations as well to the COBALT PACIFIC compression line, which complies with VSR TR-06-4 Part 7. Due to a DVB-S/S2 factory-installed demodulator option, decoding and pass-through of satellite signals are available on ASI and over IP. While in this mode, Ku and Ka satellite bands are used for bulk distribution, and the Internet is used to recover any lost packets. This support will become useful as the loss of the C-band spectrum of network frequencies for broadcast comes into effect.
"Whether users are transitioning to IP, expanding hybrid facilities or optimizing existing infrastructure, Cobalt’s goal is to build dependable technologies that simplify deployment, improve interoperability, with adequate performance for broadcast," said Suzana Brady, SVP of worldwide sales and marketing. “Cobalt aims to simplify the journey from SDI to ST 2110 / IPMX with practical, reliable, affordable solutions, ready for the future." www.cobaltdigital.com
