Comark Releases Parallax Compact Transmitter For SFN & Next-Gen TV

Hitachi Kokusai Electric Comark, a manufacturer and supplier of DTV transmitters, encoding systems, and associated field services for over 50 years, has released the Parallax Compact UHF/VHF liquid-cooled, solid-state DTV transmitter for SFN and Next-Gen TV requirements. The Parallax Compact is an evolution of the company’s existing product family delivering an efficient package for small transmitter sites.

Comark originally introduced the Parallax liquid-cooled, solid-state DTV transmitter product line at NAB 2015. It is a design that has won multiple industry awards with hundreds of cabinets deployed throughout the U.S. Parallax Compact is a simplified and condensed version of the transmitter that is intended for low- and medium-power DTV requirements of 10 kW and below including single frequency network (SFN) and Next-Gen TV applications.

The Compact transmitter system can be equipped with one to six power amplifiers (PA’s) in a single 27RU transmitter cabinet that is only 54-inches tall. It can deliver 1.8 to 10 kW UHF or 1.5 to 8.4 kW VHF output power levels measured after the mask filter.

Comark says: “Parallax Compact ensures top-notch RF performance; it shares the same PA module design that features broadband Doherty LDMOS FET devices. These devices not only provide broadband high efficiency operation but also have the benefit of providing the equivalent output power in ATSC 1.0 (8VSB) and ATSC 3.0 (OFDM).”

Parallax Compact, the company said, “provides a future-proof design to broadcasters, with:

• Latest “Ocean” control system with a 15-inch touch screen user interface.
• High efficiency with wideband Doherty technology.
• Unique vertical high-gain power amplifiers,2kW per PA module for UHF; 1.6kW per PA module for VHF band 3.
• Asymmetrical Doherty; provides same power in 8VSB (ATSC 1.0) and OFDM (3.0).
• EXACT-V2 DualCast ATSC 1.0 / 3.0 upgradeable; preserves investment.
• Single or dual drive design depending on redundancy needs.
• Hot-swap AC to DC rectifiers with >96% efficiency, 3:1 ratio of rectifiers to PA.
• Full remote control and monitoring with built-in web GUI and SNMP.
• Made in the USA; serviced and supported out of Southwick, Mass.

Joe Turbolski, Comark VP of sales and marketing, said: “Comark continues to evolve the Parallax product line to meet U.S. and international customer requirements. “This new product package provides the best possible solution for stations running at less than 10 kW and is extremely cost competitive allowing broadcasters to minimize both capex and opex .”

A Parallax compact UHF transmitter system will be on display at the NAB Show in Las Vegas (April 14-17), Booth C4516.