Grass Valley announces Indigo AV mixer

Bringing broadcast functionality – including mixes, dissolves, keys and 2D and 3D effects – to the professional AV market for the first time in an extremely competitively-priced switcher, Grass Valley, a business within Thomson has announced the Grass Valley Indigo AV Mixer.
Part of its Professional Line family aimed at bringing affordable high quality to professional AV, the new Indigo AV Mixer combines video, high-resolution computer images, and audio control in a single, compact unit.
The Indigo AV Mixer accepts analogue and digital, standard- and high-definition (SD/HD) video and audio inputs (including embedded audio in SDI and DV streams), plus high resolution computer inputs. Indigo features internal seamless technology, allowing a variety of input resolutions to be scaled and mixed. Outputs are also available in multiple formats simultaneously, including DVI and SDI for direct drive of displays, projectors and for digital recording.
The functionality matches that of a broadcast production switcher, with E-MEMTM effects memory, digital video effects (DVE), keyers allowing a number of picture-in-picture elements to be layered, colour correction on every input, and mixes, dissolves and wipes between any source — including high-quality computer graphics created with programs like PowerPoint — whatever the input resolution. Complementing the video switcher is an audio mixer with motorized faders, capable of mixing multiple audio sources, with audio-follow-video (automated audio fading to match picture selection) and automatic audio delay to compensate for video processing.
As part of the Professional Line family, Indigo includes an interface to drive multiple Grass Valley Turbo iDDR video disk recorders and other third party equipment. AMP automation protocol is built-in, and there is an open API to allow other automation systems to control Indigo directly. To ensure perfect presentation there are a number of operation modes to assist the operator, including a Quick Start wizard which will be simple to use for anyone familiar with a computer interface even if they have never seen a broadcast production switcher before.
“The professional audio video market – for church and stadium, rental and staging, corporate and government – is becoming ever more demanding in quality and functionality,” said Marc Valentin, President of the Grass Valley business within Thomson. “As we roll out our Professional Line family we are bringing decades of experience in uncompromised digital media technology to this very important market.”
(GB)