Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

PHABRIX manufactures 8000th handheld unit

13/01/2022

PHABRIX was established in 2005 by ex-Oxtel (Miranda) engineer and founder Phillip Adams who had identified a gap in the market for an effective solution to test and monitor the then new 3G-SDI signals that were starting to make an impact in the industry. The first SxA prototype was unveiled at IBC2007, with the product launching in July the following year and instantly winning the prestigious Peter Wayne Award for Innovation.

It was very much the right product at the right time. Interest in 3G-SDI was starting to accelerate, the new company had access to early silicon from FPGA vendor Xilinx (PHABRIX spelling comes from PHillip Adams BRoadcasting In Xilinx), and it was able to leverage the new chipset to produce a model that featured all the functionality of its rivals at a significantly lower price. What's more, via a teardown of a PlayStation Portable gaming device, the new company was able to source a screen that meant it could pack all these features into a genuinely capable handheld unit.

Our product was both a signal analyser and generator whereas most competitor's products were just analysers, said company founder and now CEO, Phillip Adams. Companies had to buy a separate generator and a separate analyser which would have to be shared between staff and typically moved around on trollies. Our product was portable, and a third of the price, so companies could now afford to employ more of them. There was a real need, we knew that as we'd been developing broadcast products for many years, and we rode this new 3G-SDI technology wave. Since then, the market has evolved considerably requiring us to continually innovate .

And now, 13 years later, the company is still making SxAs, and, almost uniquely, is still supplying them with free-of-charge software updates. The range of devices PHABRIX offers has expanded considerably as the industry has evolved, adding models and capabilities to accommodate the shift towards both new broadcast formats, and the migration towards IP.

The use cases for PHABRIX handheld devices have expanded as well, with units in operation in as diverse environments as the Sydney Opera House, the Japanese police force, the Paris Metro, NASA and SpaceX. The company has been equally successful and, despite the pandemic, has just recorded its most successful year to date, and is actively recruiting at the moment as it looks to build upon its successes.

Our customers range from Broadcast Engineers with their own personal unit, all the way up to companies with 80 or 100+ units and they're used everywhere where infrastructure is being tested. There is a passionate involvement with these engineers and their Sx units, probably due to the fact that they are in use during times of critical fault diagnosis, where reliability and the identification and rectification of issues is key says Adams.

For now, though, the 8000th physical PHABRIX unit is about to be made. We celebrated our 1000th machine by making it gold-plated, next was carbon fiber, then Yew, and there's the Summer Games unit. These are all locked in a special cabinet at the company HQ - and we have two main candidates for unit 8000.

I'd like to create a Perspex one so everyone can see the internal workings as there's a lot going on in a very small space, says Adams. Bamboo would be a good choice too, as its recyclable and sustainable, key considerations over the lifetime of the sales of the next 8000 devices.
LINK: https://www.kitplus.com/news/PHABRIX_manufactures_8000th_handheld_unit...
See more stories from tvbay

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

01/09/2026

CBS Boston Debuts New AR/VR Technology-Driven Studio

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

FCC Raises Regulatory Fees for TV Stations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

For-A Introduces Go Vertical! AiDi and AiDi Sports Hub

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

T-Mobile Continues to Dominate Ooklas Fixed Wireless Speed Tests

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/09/2026

Carr Announces New FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/08/2026

Pixotope Consolidates Virtual Production Tools into Unified Platform

Pixotope Technologies has announced a unified platform offering all Pixotope capabilities across three editions, available with the Pixotope 26.3 release in Q3 ...

31/08/2026

Elektron update Tonverk OS

Sampler gains Overbridge multitrack streaming Elektron's polyphonic sampler, the Tonverk, has just received an OS update that introduces multitrack stre...

31/08/2026

Thorus XT from UVI

Popular chorus plug-in gains second engine UVI's latest plug-in offers a fresh new take on their best-selling chorus effect, combining a pair of engines...

31/08/2026

Optus commits 3% of consumer brand spend to First Nations media in new landmark partnership with NITV

Optus commits 3% of consumer brand spend to First Nations media in new landmark ...

31/08/2026

FingerWorks Telestrators Expands European Presence Throug...

FingerWorks Telestrators, the industry leader in software-based telestration and live sports analysis solutions, announces its new partnership with Broadcast R...

31/08/2026

ARISDA Bridge Launches: DaVinci Resolve Timecode, Studio Clock, and Work-Time Tracking in One Windows App

ARISDA Bridge Launches: DaVinci Resolve Timecode, Studio Clock, and Work-Time Tr...

31/08/2026

Short Film All That's Left Shot with URSA Cine 12K LF

Short Film All That's Left Shot with URSA Cine 12K LF Brie Clayton August 31, 2026 0 Comments Intimate drama edited and graded in DaVinci Resolve ...

31/08/2026

Bridge Technologies Announces Support for Blackmagic IP10 Codec

Bridge Technologies Announces Support for Blackmagic IP10 Codec Brie Clayton August 31, 2026 0 Comments Both booths will showcase each other's tec...

31/08/2026

Creative COW Roundtable, August 23, 2026- AEAI

Creative COW Roundtable, August 23, 2026- AEAI Brie Clayton August 31, 2026 0 Comments COWs from around the world assemble to discuss Using AI to Beat...

31/08/2026

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Susan Tedeschi

Homecoming Artist Spotlight: Susan Tedeschi The Grammy-winning singer and guitarist talks about finding her voice at Berklee ahead of her Homecoming performan...

31/08/2026

HC2 Meets with FCC Legal Advisor in Push for 5G Broadcasting

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

31/08/2026

Tribeca Studios Releases First-Look Trailer For Tribeca 25, The New Documentary From Matt Tyrnauer

August 31st, 2026 Press Materials Here TRIBECA STUDIOS RELEASES FIRST-LOOK TRA...

31/08/2026

Digicel Pacific Selects Techtel for PNG Digital TV Head-End Transformation

Digicel Pacific Selects Techtel for PNG Digital TV Head-End Transformation 31 Aug Written By Mal Chandler Sydney, 31 August 2026 - Techtel has been appointe...

30/08/2026

Reason Studios launch Reason Free

Free collection includes 15 instruments Reason Studios have announced that they are making their popular Reason Rack plug-in free, and bundling it with a se...

29/08/2026

SSL to introduce O-Series V2.0

Odyssey & Oracle console software update incoming With a second console now joining their O-Series, SSL have announced the upcoming launch of O-Series V2.0,...

29/08/2026

Scripps Hires NBCU Sales Veteran Jen Carfley

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/08/2026

Comcast's Universal Ads Taps Tracer to Upgrade Operations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/08/2026

PlayBox Technology to Showcase the Future of Media Orches...

PlayBox Technology is heading to IBC2026 with a clear message: the future of broadcast and streaming is not about replacing everything it is about making what...

29/08/2026

Berklee Announces Fall 2026 Signature Series

Berklee Announces Fall 2026 Signature Series This years concerts feature MonoNeon, Brandon Woody, Marcus Gilmore, and Caroline Davis, alongside Berklee Asia R...

28/08/2026

CBS L.A. Runs Two Hot Control Rooms, Dual Broadcasts for Rams-Chargers Preseason Game

KCBS takes the Chargers side, KCAL takes the Rams - with feeds out to 18 partner...

28/08/2026

Buddy Turns Childhood Comfort into Midnight Terror

(L-R) Topher Grace, Cristin Milioti, Delaney Quinn, Casper Kelly, and Keegan-Michael Key pose with the character Buddy at the Buddy Premiere during the 2026 S...

28/08/2026

IK Multimedia announce Sinphonica Maestosa Strings

The Italian orchestra, reimagined IK Multimedia have announced the upcoming launch of Sinphonica, a new family of Italian orchestral instruments designed f...

28/08/2026

Voxis from CEDAR Audio

Voice-isolation plug-in boasts sub-10ms latency Launched in 2025, CEDAR Audio's Icons range was created with the aim of bringing the company's renow...

28/08/2026

Charter Takes Scripps to Court Over Carriage of Las Vegas' KMCC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/08/2026

Backlight Expands Creative Operations Platform with AI-p...

Global media technology company Backlight will showcase its latest innovations across Iconik and Wildmoka live video creation and distribution at IBC2026 (booth...

28/08/2026

Emergent Brings Its AI-Enhanced Content Production Platfo...

Emergent, a developer of browser-based, AI-enhanced content production tools, will present its complete AI-enhanced content production platform at IBC2026, exhi...

28/08/2026

Joseph Bell Announces VFX & Animation World Atlas 2026

Joseph Bell Announces VFX & Animation World Atlas 2026 Joseph Bell August 28, 2026 1 Comment Joseph Bell's Visual Effects & Animation World Atlas ...

28/08/2026

Paris-Troyes en Champagne Goes Live on France.tv with AVEO

Paris-Troyes en Champagne Goes Live on France.tv with AVEO Brie Clayton August 28, 2026 0 Comments Regional audiovisual company builds broadcastgrade ...

28/08/2026

DHD to Introduce its Third-Generation Audio Mixing Console at IBC 2026

DHD to Introduce its Third-Generation Audio Mixing Console at IBC 2026 Brie Clayton August 28, 2026 0 Comments DHD.audio has chosen IBC 2026 as the la...

28/08/2026

Grass Valley AMPP Provides an All-Encompassing Approach t...

Encompass Digital Media and Grass Valley are expanding their collaboration with the launch of Altitude Playout Plus, a software-defined channel origination plat...

28/08/2026

Yospace releases new Ad Presentation solution

Yospace, the trusted leader in Dynamic Ad Insertion (DAI), has announced the release of its Ad Presentation solution, which enables broadcasters to apply non-li...

28/08/2026

TSL Showcases Reduced Complexity for Control and Monitori...

TSL Showcases Reduced Complexity for Control & Monitoring Across IP Workflows at IBC2026 New TSL Hummingbird capabilities including Dante control routing, toge...

28/08/2026

Lutz Rathmann to Become CEO of Riedel Communications

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/08/2026

Spectrum Offers Lower-Income Internet Customers Free Amazon Prime

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/08/2026

FCC Exempts Public Access Channels from Closed Captioning

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/08/2026

Elon Musk's X Launches NFL Gametime on X

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

28/08/2026

GlobalM and Lamhas Partner to Expand Managed IP Broadcast...

GlobalM and Lamhas Satellite Services today announced a new agreement that will see GlobalMs GMX technology deployed as part of Lamhas expanding managed IP broa...

28/08/2026

Boland Communications Introduces SMPTE ST 2110 Option for...

Integrated 25GbE Connectivity Delivers UHD Video Directly to Up to Two Monitors, Eliminates External Gateways, and Supports SMPTE ST 2022-7 Network-Path Protect...

28/08/2026

JT-DMF Invites IBC2026 Attendees to Help Shape the Future...

Interactive Ask Me Anything sessions will connect broadcasters and technology providers with the experts developing a practical, interoperable roadmap for sof...

28/08/2026

TAG Video Systems Cuts Live Production Latency Below Two...

At IBC2026, TAG will show sub-2-frame latency and 800 Gbps of aggregate scale for uncompressed ST 2110 monitoring in software, live MXL interoperability with pa...

28/08/2026

SportsBox BHVs Ultra-Compact 4K Remote Switcher Moves fro...

SportsBox, BHV's Ultra-Compact 4K Remote Switcher, Moves from Development to Production at IBC 2026 SportsBox brings flexibility without compromise to high...

28/08/2026

Riedel Evolves Leadership and Global Go-to-Market Organiz...

Lutz Rathmann named CEO of Riedel Communications Anthony Zuyderhoff to lead unified customer-facing organization as CCO Riedel Communications is strengthenin...