live encoder · transcoder
Noisypeak Cell
Live encoding at rack density. One input to every output, in AV1, HEVC and H.264 on off-the-shelf Intel Arc.
Noisypeak Cell is our X series of live encoders and transcoders (NP Cell XS, X, X2 and X HS). They run on off-the-shelf servers with Intel Arc GPUs instead of proprietary silicon, and that density changes the budget: more channels per rack unit, a lower cost per channel, and hardware you can buy anywhere. Cell captures SDI, HDMI and IP sources and produces multibitrate output for OTT, IPTV and cable, on premise or as a cloud service.
Every model runs UEN2, the same uniform encoding engine. One channel feeds HLS, DASH, SPTS/MPTS, SRT, RTMP, SDI and NDI in parallel, with SCTE-35, closed captions and DRM carried through, up to 4K AV1 and 16K HEVC. Cells are managed as a fleet: Cell IMC puts one API in front of all of them, places channels on the least-loaded GPU and fails over in seconds. Monitoring is Zabbix, Prometheus and SNMP, as a head-end expects.
UEN2: one engine from capture to packaging
UEN2, the uniform encoding engine, is the software core of every Cell model. It decodes any supported input, applies video post-processing and encodes AV1, HEVC/H.265, AVC/H.264, MPEG2 and VP9 with Intel oneAPI or Nvidia NVENC acceleration. Framerate is fixed to the source; linear time-code is generated; a look-ahead buffer is available.
Encoding parameters are exposed down to the bitstream: Baseline, Main and High profiles, CABAC/CAVLC, HRD buffer length and initial delay, frame-accurate closed GOP length, B-frame and reference frame counts, IDR interval and slice count. H.264 is accepted as AVCC or Annex B at the input and emitted as Annex B for multicast and HLS or AVCC for RTMP.
- Video post-processing: scaling, cropping, deinterlacing, letterboxing
- Logotype and text string overlays
- Picture in picture, up to 4 streams
- Static image preview generation
- Video and audio passthrough per output
- Different audio templates for each output of a single channel
Inputs: baseband and IP in the same box
Capture up to 12G-SDI and 4K HDMI through Magewell or Blackmagic add-on modules, or take IP sources directly: RTP/UDP SPTS and MPTS, HLS and HTTP progressive, RTSP, RTMP, SRT, NDI, SHOUTcast and UVC 1.5 webcams. SDP/Onvif covers IP security cameras. TS files run as file2live or file2vod. Input codec and protocol are adjusted dynamically; audio is accepted as AAC/AAC-LATM, MP2/MP3, AC3, EAC3 and Opus.
Outputs, captions and protection
Each channel publishes in several formats at once: HLS up to v7 with multi-language support, MPEG-DASH live and VOD with timelined manifests, Microsoft Smooth Streaming, RTMP with Akamai support, UDP unicast or multicast SPTS and MPTS, SRT, SDI and NDI playout, and TS or MP4 files to WebDAV, Windows share (Samba) or FTP. An HLS secondary destination point and WebDAV authorisation cover publishing redundancy.
SCTE-35 CUE-In/CUE-Out messages are detected, passed through or spliced. Closed captions are carried as CEA-708, EIA-608 and WebVTT; DVB subtitles can be burnt in; DVB PIDs pass through. DRM covers Apple FairPlay, Widevine via CENC and AES-128 static key.
Origin mode
In origin mode a Cell serves four streaming types in parallel from the same channel: HLS with separate audio and video TS renditions, HLS3 with muxed TS, HLS7 with separate fMP4 renditions, and MPEG-DASH with separate fMP4 renditions. Links can be tokenised with JWT (RFC 7519). In-memory start-over, content protection and access lists are configured per channel.
- Up to 2500 parallel streams over a 25 Gb/s interface
- Up to 20 Gb/s sustained delivery over 25 Gb/s or 2×10 Gb/s LACP
Fleet API: Cell IMC
Cell IMC serves one HTTP API in front of a fleet of cells, at /api/10/. Clients work with cluster-wide channel, output, template and overlay ids; a cell's own numbering is never exposed. Channel, output and overlay calls keep the node API's grammar, so no key is renamed or removed. Configuration writes are stored in the IMC first and then pushed to the cell, so the intent survives a cell that is down; writes to an offline cell are parked and applied when it returns.
New channels are placed on the cell with the lowest score, computed from free GPU load, average GPU load and channel count over the last 30 monitoring samples. A cell confirmed offline is failed over after failover_after_seconds (default 30 s); auto_recover moves work back when it returns. Per-cell channel and output ceilings are set manually or measured by a built-in capacity test. The IMC applies to Cell IMC 1.2.51 and later.
- Outputs: HLS, DASH, RTMP or UDP, each with its own video and audio template
- Overlays: image, text or picture-in-picture, with position and size
- Primary and backup source per channel, MPEG-TS service and PID selection
- Failover priority 1–10 per channel and per output
- One call starts or stops every channel in the cluster
- Cluster-wide and per-cell backup and restore
- Per-cell health: reachability, version, uptime, licence verdict
Management and high availability
Up to 50 encoders are managed in one web interface with real-time monitoring, statistics and video templates. Zabbix, Prometheus/Grafana and SNMP integrations and more than 55 JSON API methods expose the same data to external systems. Clustering services provide n+1, 1+1 and n+m redundancy, with input source redundancy and publishing server redundancy in the standard image; see Noisypeak Control for the NP-RFS failover software.
Features
Up to 230 SD, 160 HD or 32 UHD multibitrate channels in one NP Cell X HS. Off-the-shelf Intel Arc, not proprietary silicon: more channels per rack unit, less per channel.
One channel → HLS, DASH, MSS, RTMP, SRT, SPTS/MPTS multicast, SDI and NDI at the same time, each with its own video and audio templates.
AV1, HEVC, H.264, MPEG-2, VP9 on Intel oneAPI or Nvidia NVENC; up to 4K AV1 and 16K HEVC.
Cell IMC: one API in front of all cells; new channels land on the least-loaded GPU, a failed cell hands over in 30 s, work moves back on recovery. Up to 50 encoders in one console.
12G-SDI and 4K HDMI via Magewell / Blackmagic; UDP/RTP, SRT, RTMP, HLS, RTSP, NDI, UVC, Onvif over IP. TS files as file2live / file2vod.
SCTE-35 detect / pass / splice; CEA-708, EIA-608, WebVTT captions; DVB subtitle burn-in or PID pass-through.
FairPlay, Widevine (CENC) and AES-128 on the same box.
Profiles, CABAC/CAVLC, HRD, closed GOP, B/ref frames, IDR interval, slice count: tuned per output, not per vendor preset.
HLS v3/v7 and DASH from the same channel; JWT-tokenised links; 2,500 parallel streams, 20 Gb/s per node.
Zabbix, Prometheus/Grafana, SNMP, 55+ JSON API methods; n+1 / 1+1 / n+m redundancy with Noisypeak Control.
Specifications
| Inputs | |
|---|---|
| Baseband | 4K HDMI · 12G-SDI · HD-SDI · HDMI through Magewell and Blackmagic add-on modules · UVC 1.5 webcams |
| IP | RTP/UDP SPTS and MPTS · HLS · HTTP progressive · HTTP TS · RTSP · RTMP · SRT · NDI · SHOUTcast · SDP/Onvif for IP security cameras |
| Files | TS files (file2live, file2vod) |
| Audio in | AAC/AAC LATM · MP2/MP3 · AC3 · EAC3 · Opus |
| Behaviour | Dynamic input adjustment for codec and protocol · h.264 AVCC or Annex B at the input |
| Outputs | |
|---|---|
| OTT | HLS up to v7 with multi-language support · MPEG-DASH live and VOD, timelined manifest · Microsoft Smooth Streaming |
| Transport | UDP unicast/multicast SPTS and MPTS · SRT · RTMP with Akamai support · SHOUTcast |
| Baseband | SDI playout · NDI playout |
| Files and publishing | TS and MP4 files · WebDAV, Windows share (Samba), FTP · direct to CDNs · YouTube · Facebook · multi-format simultaneous publishing |
| Signalling | SCTE-35 detection, pass-through and splicing (CUE-In/CUE-Out) · DVB PID pass-through · HLS/SPTS stream selection |
| Captions | CEA-708 · EIA-608 · WebVTT · DVB burn-in subtitles |
| DRM | Apple FairPlay · Widevine (CENC) · AES-128 static key |
| Video encoding | |
|---|---|
| Codecs | AV1 · HEVC/H.265 · AVC/H.264 · MPEG2 · VP9 |
| Resolution | Up to 4K AV1 · up to 16K HEVC video processing |
| Acceleration | Intel oneAPI · Nvidia NVENC |
| Profiles | Baseline, Main and High · CABAC/CAVLC |
| GOP control | Frame-accurate closed GOP length · B-frames count · reference frames count · IDR interval · slice count |
| HRD | NAL HRD conformance: buffer length, initial delay · look-ahead buffer |
| Post-processing | Scaling · cropping · deinterlacing · letterboxing |
| Graphics | Logotype and text string overlays · picture in picture up to 4 streams · static image preview generation |
| Timing | Framerate fixed to source · linear time-code generation |
| Audio encoding | |
|---|---|
| Codecs | AAC-LC up to 512 kb/s · HE-AAC up to 128 kb/s · multi-audio MP2/MP3 · audio passthrough |
| Processing | Gain control · audio levelling · advanced sample rate transform |
| Modes | Audio-only transcoding (radio) · SHOUTcast output · different audio templates per output of a single channel |
| Origin mode | |
|---|---|
| Formats in parallel | HLS (separate TS renditions) · HLS3 (muxed TS) · HLS7 (separate fMP4) · MPEG-DASH (separate fMP4) |
| Features | JWT RFC 7519 link tokenisation · in-memory start-over · content protection · access lists |
| Target performance | Up to 2500 parallel streams over 25 Gb/s · up to 20 Gb/s sustained over 25 Gb/s or 2×10 Gb/s LACP |
| Management | |
|---|---|
| Web UI | Up to 50 encoders in one uniform web interface · real-time monitoring and statistics · video templates |
| Integrations | Zabbix · Prometheus/Grafana · SNMP · more than 55 JSON API methods |
| Fleet API | Cell IMC at /api/10/ · cluster-wide ids · GPU-aware placement · failover_after_seconds (default 30) · auto_recover · capacity ceilings 1–1000 per cell |
| High availability | n+1 · n+m · 1+1 · input source redundancy · publishing server redundancy |
| Models | |
|---|---|
| NP Cell XS | Mainstream · single PSU · up to 2 GPUs · 20 SD / 12 HD / 4 UHD multibitrate channels |
| NP Cell X / X2 | Advanced · single or dual PSU · up to 3 GPUs · 35 SD / 24 HD / 6 UHD multibitrate channels |
| NP Cell X HS | Hyperscale transcoder · up to 4 PSUs · up to 20 GPUs · 230 SD / 160 HD / 32 UHD multibitrate channels |
| Platform | Intel 14th Gen / Intel Core Ultra 200 CPU · Intel Arc A-Series / B-Series GPU (e.g. Intel Arc A40) |
| Delivery | Software licence · subscription licence · cloud service under the NP X Connected brand |
| Typical ABR ladder: 4K/UHD (AV1, HEVC) | |
|---|---|
| 1 | 8000 kb/s · 3840×2160 |
| 2 | 4500 kb/s · 1920×1080 |
| 3 | 2500 kb/s · 1280×720 |
| 4 | 1600 kb/s · 1024×576 |
| 5 | 1100 kb/s · 720×404 |
| 6 | 700 kb/s · 640×360 |
| Typical ABR ladder: HD | |
|---|---|
| 1 | 6000 kb/s · 1920×1080 |
| 2 | 4500 kb/s · 1280×720 |
| 3 | 2500 kb/s · 1024×576 |
| 4 | 1600 kb/s · 720×404 |
| 5 | 1100 kb/s · 640×360 |
| 6 | 700 kb/s · 480×270 |
| Typical ABR ladder: SD | |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1600 kb/s · 720×404 |
| 2 | 1100 kb/s · 640×360 |
| 3 | 700 kb/s · 480×270 |
| 4 | 400 kb/s · 312×176 |
Models and licences
Noisypeak Cell XS 1U · 1×CPU/iGPU · 2×GbE · 16 GB RAM · Windows or Ubuntu · includes NPXS-SW
Noisypeak Cell X 1U · 1×CPU/iGPU · 2×10GbE · 1×Intel Arc GPU · 32 GB RAM · Windows or Ubuntu · includes NPXS-SW and NPX-SW-A
Noisypeak Cell X2 2U · 1×CPU/iGPU · 2×10GbE · 2×Intel Arc GPU · 64 GB RAM · 2×250 GB SSD · redundant PSU · Windows or Ubuntu · includes NPXS-SW and two NPX-SW-A licences
Noisypeak Cell X HS · Supermicro MicroBlade, 20 blades × 1 Intel Arc GPU in 6U · up to 230 SD / 160 HD / 32 UHD ABR channels · for hyperscale head-ends
Noisypeak Cell software licence · MPEG2/H.264/HEVC/AV1 · HLS/DASH packetising · WebDAV · DRM · SCTE-35 · for one Intel integrated GPU (e.g. UHD770, Xe2)
Noisypeak Cell software licence enabling transcoding on one Intel Arc PCIe card (e.g. Intel Arc A40 Pro)
Where it is used
Encode a channel once and publish HLS, DASH and MSS ladders with DRM and SCTE-35 to CDNs or in origin mode.
SPTS and MPTS multicast output with DVB PID pass-through and burnt-in subtitles for IPTV head-ends and cable platforms.
Capture SDI, HDMI, UVC or Onvif cameras and stream to RTMP, SRT, YouTube or Facebook from one unit.
Run the same engine as a cloud service, or process TS files as file2live and file2vod with TS and MP4 file output.
Content distribution, head-end solutions, live surgery streaming, classroom recording, surveillance monitoring, arena IPTV and digital signage.
Talk to us about Noisypeak Cell
We handle evaluation in the Noisypeak cloud, deployment on premises or in a public cloud, integration and support. One team covers the whole pipeline.