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A professional Electronic Newspaper
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No longer available
Unfortunately we are no longer able to supply the hardware and software
described below, due to lack of suitable hardware. At this time we can't
offer a suitable alternative either.
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XAT specialises in the the development and manufacturing of Electronic
Newspaper Systems, with over 10 years of experience. The first version
of CableNews was released in 1990 and was used by Local TV stations,
commercial cable broadcasters, hotels, campings, etc. Over the years
we have continued to develop Cablenews to keep up-to-date with todays
needs. Over the past few years, the user interface has been greatly
enhanced and the number of features has increased significantly. By using
state-of-the-art genlock interfaces, CableNews can be used in high-end
professional TV solutions for both PAL and NTSC systems.
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This page tries to explain what CableNews can do for you and which
parts are available. If you want to know more about complete installations,
please click the link below. The tables below give
more information on each of the modules that build the CableNews Suite.
As this page is still under construction, some links may not be
available at present. In these cases you are advised to contact us
for more information. Alternatively, you may want to try the
Dutch version of the page. Any red coloured links are not yet available.
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- Frequently Asked Questions about CableNews
- Complete CableNews systems
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Contents of this page
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CableNews Professional is very versatile Electronic Newspaper that can
be used for many applications. At the hart of the software is a fully
WYSIWYG editior and an efficient scheduler, so that each page can start
and stop at a specific date and time. Furthermore it gives full control
over the many special effects (wipes) that can be used to reveal a page.
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- Commercial cable TV operators
- Local TV stations
- Regional and National TV stations
- Banks (optional link to queing system)
- Hotels
- Campings
- Local Authorities
- Hostpitals
- Institutes
- Shops and chains
- Sports centres
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The image quality of a CableNews system is truely professional. By using
a broadcast quality PAL encoder, the full broadcast resolution of 768 x 576
pixels is available. Some special techniques, such as anti-twitter and
anti-aliasing are used to improve the image quality even further.
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All text is displayed using a special technique called anti-aliasing.
Every time a character has to be displayed, the computer re-calculates
it and uses a technique that eliminates the jaggy edges. A similar
techniques is used to display vector graphics (draw files).
Another technique, called anti-twitter, is used to eliminate the screen
flicker that is caused by the TV's interlacing.
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Technical specifications
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Resolution
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3:4 ratio, 768 x 576 pixels, full broadcast, interlaced
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Wide screen
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16:9 ratio, 1024 x 576 pixels (dedicated hardware only)
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Standard
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PAL (768 x 576) or NTSC (640 x 480)
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Colours
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32,000 or 16 million
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Fonts
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200 fonts, outlined, anti-aliased, scalable
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Interlace
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Full broadcast, anti-twitter
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Video
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Composite (CVBS), YC, RGB, Genlock, depending on hardware
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Graphical
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Vector graphics, bitmap graphics, JPEG, GIF, etc.
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*) In order to be able to display 16:9 images, an enhanced PAL encoder is needed.
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In the past pages were build from text and images only. Today, CableNews can
handle many new file formates, such as JPEG, GIF, animated GIF, sound, MPEG, etc.
and the list is constantly being extended. Some of the formats that are currently
supported:
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- Sprite, uncompressed bit-maps
- Draw, vector images (using anti-aliasing)
- Text, plain text with dropshadow and edge
- JPEG, compressed bit-map images
- GIF, compressed bit-map images
- Animated GIF, animations (e.g. from the Internet)
- AudioWorks, sound
- MPEG-1, full motion video and audio (addional hardware required)
- Replay, animations and compressed video
- Clock, analog or digital clock
- Date, current date and day (any language)
- CountDown, count down to a special date
- HotSpots, for interactive applications
- Wipes, many special display effects
- Frames, with optional background (transparent!), border and true shadow
- Live video, ability to use live video image (additional hardware required)
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In order to make CableNews the ideal solution for every application,
it was designed with a modular approach in mind. Some of these modules
come as standard with each CableNews installation, whereas others can
be obtained separately to increase the functionality. Below is an
overview of the current modules. Additionaly, out software developers
can be comissioned to provide tailor-made solutions.
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Standard modules
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Module
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Name
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Description
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Version
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CableNews
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Full WYSIWYG page editor
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2.99e
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CableFormat
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Scheduler, full control over sequence, time, date and page properties
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2.99e
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CableHost
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Run-time module controlling the carrousel
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2.99e
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CableControl
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Manual control of the carrousel (e.g. presentations)
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2.99e
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CableStatus
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Control of page properties (Status)
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2.99e
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CableSys
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Project management, security, passwords, etc.
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2.99e
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Communication modules (optional)
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Module
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Name
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Description
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Version
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CableComm
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Transmission of pages via standard PSTN or ISDN telephone lines
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2.76
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CommHost
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Reception of pages via standard PSTN or ISDN telephone lines
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2.76
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Dial
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Link via TCP/IP and PPP
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0.20
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CableLink
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CableNews control from HTML browser
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0.14
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CableSat
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Data transmission via satelite
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0.17
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Linking external equipment (optional)
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Module
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Name
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Description
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Version
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CableMPEG
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Play-back of MPEG-1 files
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1.00
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CableVCR
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Control of external VCR player
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2.97o
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DVD
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Control of external DVD player
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0.05
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CableTTX
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Reception of Teletext pages
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2.98c
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CableVote
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Link to external voting equipment
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1.00
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Display
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Link to external LED information panel
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1.00
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Beamer
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Control of external video projector
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0.04
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Other extensions (optional)
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Module
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Name
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Description
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Version
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InfoBar
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Scrolling message (queuing systems, stock exchange, etc.)
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1.00
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CablePay
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Automatic generation of invoices (under development)
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CableHTML
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Automatic website generation from a CableNews edition
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WatchDog
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Prvents the hardware and software from 'hanging'
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1.00
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Control
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Control and menu support for stand-alone equipment
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1.02
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CDPlayer
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Control of internal CD-ROM drive (MediaBox)
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0.10
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Customisation
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Many customised enhancements are possible. Please contact for further information.
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During the first year after purchasing CableNews, all new releases are
supplied free of charge (media cost and cost of transport only) if you
are carrying out the installation of the new software yourself. If possible,
the software upgrades will be sent by Email. If you want us to carry out
the installation for you, the extra service will be charged. Please ask
us to quote an estimated price before ordering any upgrades.
The current release is CableNews 3. As this version is not fully complete yet,
it is called 2.9x, but it is generally referred to as version 3. All owners
of version 2.80 and later are entitled to a free upgrade to version 3.00 as
soon as it is available.
Updates
Updates are generally regarded as small extensions, improvements and bug-fixes,
for which we do not charge. Users of 2.00 are entitled to all versions upto
2.80 free of charge (excluding the costs for media, transport and installation).
Upgrades
Upgrades are regarded as major software improvements and enhancements.
In general the major software release number will increase, e.g. from
2.xx to 3.00. Upgrades are always charged for (except within a year after
purchase). The exact price for such an upgrade may vary from case to case.
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Disclaimer
This information on this page is no longer valid and is supplied
for reference purposes only. Links to other information and websites
might be incomplete or incorrect.
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Any links shown in red are currently unavailable.
© X-Ample Technology BV.
Last changed: Tuesday, 07 April 2009 - 11:16 CET.
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