BVE 2014 To Offer Fresh Remedies (Pt. 2)

Avid will be pushing the 'Avid Everywhere' campaign it launched at IBC, the key element being the concept of connecting creative professionals and the media bodies they work for with consumer audiences in a more impactful way. The stand demos will be fronted by post and broadcast workflows.
The products behind these will be the Avid Interplay Production asset manager and V7 of the Media Composer. Broadcast people will be more interested in the Avid Interplay MAM and PAM versions, plus the Avid iNews newsroom management system. Professional editors will be welcomed with demos of Media Composer V7 and the Artist Color control surface. Avid Pro Tools 11 and the Artist Series control surfaces will attract sound people keen to know what is coming at NAB.
Avid will also host a session titled Delivering to spec: Effects of the DPP AS-11 standard on Post, which will feature production company input from Envy, Lime Pictures, Channel 4 and Crow TV.
PlayBox Technology has added ProductionAirBox to its set of broadcast and production workflow tools.
Described as a fast media manipulation and delivery system with near-zero latency, it is aimed at the broadcast news, sports and live production sectors. In fact it complements the NewsRoomBox production system by enabling practically instant switching between clips. Based on multi-channel engine architecture, the ProductionAirBox can deliver content rapidly in one-shot mode or from a playlist. Files with an alpha channel are output as independent fill and key sources. Support capabilities include clip timecode on the SDI output, plus a clip trimmer with a dedicated SDI output. ProductionAirBox can be controlled via VDCP and Media Object Server (MOS) protocols.
Changes to the playlist can be made even while on-air. Every clip in the playlist can be trimmed or repositioned on-the-fly using commands such as next, jump or shuttle.
The ProductionAirBox also offers forward or reverse shuttle (up to 32x), the mixing of different video resolutions and formats in a single playlist, logical content trimming, multi-channel audio output, plus support for a wide variety of compression standards and media containers.
PlayBox will also demonstrate its full channel-in-a-box broadcast playout system, which is built round a set of software modules.
ATG Broadcast, part of the Dan Technologies Systems Integration Group, will concentrate on file-based production, content management and playout for terrestrial, satellite, cellular and IP-based viewing. As with all companies in this sector, the ability to meet tight installation and commissioning deadlines is key. Pushing its SI credentials will be the key aim, and recent jobs include play out facilities for the new HD2 Sports HD channel at the Stockholm headquarters of TV4 Sweden. Look out too for selected third party products from AmberFin and Vidcheck.
PIXEL POWER has over 200 installations around the world, and its two areas of activity lie in graphics production and delivery. For the show it has a new solution for file-based workflow branding of media and interstitial 2D and 3D graphics. Pixel Factory uses the Clarity Graphics Running on standard IT server hardware, it is quick and easy to scale, and can be deployed at discrete locations, making sharing between facilities or departments a simple process.
Look out too for Pixel OnDemand. This delivers all the benefits of the Pixel Factory, including Clarity graphics, but with the introduction of use-based pricing. Pixel OnDemand puts the graphics engine into an easily deployed software package that also runs on standard IT servers, making it perfect to meet the needs of nonlinear, store-and-play content delivery operations such as IPTV channels, video on demand services, mobile content, news operations, and second screen viewing applications. Output is pixel-for-pixel identical to the output quality of any Pixel Power hardware product.
Camera Corps, famous for the Q-Ball pan, tilt and zoom head, will show visitors a complete remotely controlled camera system. The Q-Ball first appeared at NAB 2009, and has introduced a great number of practical savings in operational areas, new camera placement versatility at events like the Olympics and F1 motor racing, and the black finish makes it all but invisible to other cameras on a live shoot. Q-Ball is a 1080i HD camera with 10:1 zoom optics plus a fully rotatable pan and tilt head. High-precision motors enable the operator to adjust the camera angle from practically any location, including smooth adjustment of vertical and lateral tracking speeds.
Miranda Technologies will be pushing its scalable integrated play out platform iTX, which already manages thousands of channels. New enhancements include version 1.1 of iTX Render Service for Adobe After Effects; software automates and manages fully rendered After Effects graphics, making them immediately ready for play out from the iTX platform.
Kaleido-MX, and a modular version, combine multi-viewer performance with weight, space and power efficiency. New are the ultra-compact Telecast Rattler 4 fibre optic serial digital video transmission module, and Terrapin fibre optic digital video transmitter, receiver, and digital video distribution amplifier.
Snell will play its full hand in supporting broadcasters, content owners and content providers in the areas of processing, managing and presenting their media content. Expect demos of the Maverik production switcher panel, the new ICE channel-in-a-box family, and Alchemist On Demand, Snell's first media transformation software for picture perfect image processing.
Kahuna Maverik is a new modular-based control surface for the Kahuna 360 multi-format production switcher. It gives technical directors freedom in their panel designs, plus a fast access control interface. It also performs in every type of studio and mobile TV programming, saving on space and set-up time.
The ICE Channel-in-a-Box now offers greater functionality within a 1U version, the target being cost-critical applications. Significant image processing technology makes Alchemist OD a scalable software product, which offers low-cost motion-compensated frame rate conversion 'On Demand'. It is aimed at content owners, post houses and play out service providers. Snell will also have a new 2U Vega router, plus the Luna LED and LCD control panels.
Gearhouse Broadcast will promote its new OBLite HD OB trailer featuring eight Hitachi camera channels. It can easily house a seven- to eight-person production and operation crew and easy to up- or down-spec as required and offers low power consumption. It has a production gallery, audio workstations and an engineering control area. Expect to see a live HD production workflow, operating eight Hitachi camera channels (seven SK-HD1200 portable-type production cameras and one SK-HD1500 6G Super slow-motion camera). The rest of the kit is a Ross Carbonite vision mixer, the recently launched Lawo V__link4 video-over-IP solution, Harris Platinum router and Glue, plus Harris test and measurement systems, a Harris Inscriber CG system, and a Studer Vista audio mixer. Hitachi, which has an exclusive partnership with Gearhouse Broadcast, will share the stand.
Axon is one of the foremost supporters and drivers of Audio Video Bridging (AVB) technologies – as the preferred replacement for SDI - in the areas of broadcast content management through its Synapse products. This will be the first time people will see Axon’s conversion and interfacing hosting AVB capabilities. The wait for AVB has been tied to the arrival of the required bandwidth and network speeds for delivering live uncompressed production content.

Read George's article in the online edition of RFV here.
(IT/JP)