Articles tagged #STORAGE
Articles tagged
#STORAGE
NRL Scores with New Studio and Post Facility Designed and Built by Videocraft
Recently the National Rugby League commissioned Videocraft to design and build a new production and post production studio and facility at NEP’s Redfern HQ to take care of live and recorded online programming and content for their new Digital Network, www.nrl.com, including 16 clubs and 2 state associations sites and mobile applications. NRL media services manager Wayne Dakin explained, “Online properties such as nrl.com are hugely important now, as are the content they produce. With this in mind we engaged Videocraft to build us a studio and facility, based on their previous experience in this area, that would allow the creation of fast turnaround highlights edits of all matches, panel shows, pre and post-match content. As well as fast it all had to be reliable and cost effective.” With a strict brief from the client Videocraft designed the facility with quality, speed and efficiency in mind. Videocraft worked with NRL partners NEP and NRL production office provider to ensure that the solution design integrated seamlessly with existing NRL Bunker and new NRL NEP production infrastructure. The solution design integrates and utilises another NRL primary partner Telstra, utilising the DVN and satellite infrastructure for content delivery. Videocraft MD James Taylor added, “We saw very quickly that for the kind of fast turnaround that was required an EVS XS Server and IP Director production asset management system was definitely the way forward for the new nrl.com studio and post facility. There was also a requirement that the facility be able to manage all incoming feeds and studio records and then the playout of the material. In which case, as EVS is compatible with all of the NRL’s existing broadcast providers and partners such as NEP, Channel 9 and Fox Sports, this made the solution seamless.” With content for the NRL Bunker also managed by NEP the new Videocraft facility made it particularly easy for the NRL to continue down a well-proven path. Dakin continued, “Videocraft really thought through the design and build of the studio and with our specific requirements in mind made the studio Ross based with a powerful Ross Graphite production switcher at its core. They have used this switcher in studios many times before and it’s an ideal combination of power and reliability at the right price point for us. It also has a feature rich version of XPression 3D motion graphics, two channels of clip server and the RAVE audio engine all built in. This allows us to create very high quality graphics at a very reasonable cost.” The issues of cost and quality are not lost on Dakin who went on to explain their importance in the online space.
He added, “As a result of the Videocraft solution nrl.com now has very high quality graphics and a replay system which are comparable to TV but without the engineering resource required for a big studio. This means we get TV quality, but online. The reason for this is that Videocraft treat online production with the same approach and respect as they would for a free-to-air studio build. This in turn means we can now create the exciting, high quality content that’s critical for us to truly engage our viewers and we have Videocraft’s 45 years’ worth of knowledge, expertise and forward thinking approach to thank for that.” In addition to the Ross Graphite switcher the Videocraft solution also integrated a 400TB Avid Media Central system to help with the fast programme turnaround and NEXIS storage for its excellent reliability and interoperability with EVS systems. Wayne Dakin concluded, “The new studio, post production facility, edit suites and storage are an excellent example of a clever, efficient, integrated, high-end Avid solution. With EVS taking care of the ingest and live production workflow and Ross the graphics and vision mixing we have not just a state of the art system but a bulletproof one. The best compliment we’ve had yet is that the content you see on www.nrl.com looks just like it does on television. Great job Videocraft.”Mint Pictures chooses Avid NEXIS storage from Videocraft
Originally founded as North One Australia in 2007 Mint Pictures has produced content for all the major free-to-air networks – Nine, Ten, ABC, SBS and NITV – as well as Foxtel and Fox Sports, and overseas broadcasters, including the BBC. They have also produced content for some of Australia’s leading sporting organisations including Cricket Australia, Tennis Australia and Football Federation Australia. Recently the innovative production company decided to upgrade their in-house storage solution and for this they chose the Avis Nexis platform which they purchased from Videocraft. Mint Pictures Managing Director, Head of Programming Adam Kay explained, “We had been running for many years with Avid Media Composer, Symphony and an old Avid Unity Storage system. Around two years ago, Videocraft who have been supporting us for well over 10 years, upgraded all of our edit workstations. So, when we decided to upgrade our storage solution we also turned to them for their help and guidance.” After discussions and consultations with Videocraft Mint purchased an Avid Nexis E2 chassis with 60TB of storage and also installed a new Dell switch to support their infrastructure. Kay continued, “The Unity system we were on was very outdated and was holding us back in a variety of areas. It had little storage, ran hot and was not compatible with many modern computers and connections. So staying within the Avid line-up, Nexis was an excellent choice as an upgrade.”
Avid NEXIS is the world’s first software-defined storage platform that enables true storage virtualisation for any media application. Mint’s new Nexis system delivers significant media performance, scalability, and reliability to accelerate production in their most media-intensive broadcast and video post environments. It also offers them greater bandwidth to accelerate 4K/UHD and finishing workflows, plus new support for Pro Tools collaboration. Kay continued, “Nexis is a cost effective option for a company of Mint Pictures’ size. Its storage abilities and continued use and expansion on the Isis system that preceded it allows us to easily manage workspaces, which is another big plus. As always Videocraft made some key recommendations and walked us through the and pros and cons of choosing different configurations for our specific needs at Mint Pictures. Their explanations and breakdowns were very useful in making our decision.” With their new Nexis in place and running smoothly Adam Kay took the time to reflect on the performance of the new system and how pleased the team at Mint Pictures were with their choice concluding, “Firstly it gives us fast access to media. Then there’s also plenty of space to be able to cut at high res, without having to work with proxy files and we can efficiently organise workspaces according to our needs and the needs of individual productions we have in-house at any given moment. In other words the Nexis performs very well and does what it’s meant to. We’re also very grateful to Videocraft for their help with this purchase and their ever-constant and professional advice.”Firmware Update: Avid NEXIS | FS v7.3
Avid NEXIS 7.3.0, the latest release for all Avid NEXIS systems, is now available. It provides the following new features and enhancements:
C3 Church Presence Conference captures quality vision with Videocraft’s new Sony HDC2400 studio cameras
The system was designed by Videocraft’s engineering team and built onsite across 3 key areas: Videocraft’s Mobile Production Centre was configured as the Camera Control Unit production space for four CCU positions. Alongside was a site shed containing the system backbone including the extensive EVS and Avid ISIS 7000 systems. The external master control room was built in the back dock of the QCU Arena, utilising the latest in IP technology to minimise connectivity between these locations.
We have always been big fans of Avid Shared Storage but the ISIS1000 model announced at AvidConnect2015 is a winner!
So in the lead up to the opening day of NAB2015 the Videocraft team have attended the AvidConnect2015 and here is the download from James Taylor (@VideocraftJames) on the real exciting moves forward for Avid. I suppose I make no apologies for my strong support of Avid, which has really come out of the years working with their products and always achieving great results. Their editing software and shared storage systems for me have been through the toughest projects, and when everything else around them may have failed, they have kept running time and time again! So, yes, I am a big fan of Avid!I am super excited about their latest shared storage offering, the new ISIS 1000. We have all been asking Avid for an ‘entry level’ ISIS, and they have delivered! Compact size, great price and the bandwidth you need to get the job done well. It comes in a 20TB capacity (16TB usable capacity), and is expandable as well. Best thing is that around $25K AUD, we have a system that uses the same ISIS software as their flagship ISIS 7500 and 5500 systems, all at a price that you would expect to pay for low end packages. ISIS is fully qualified with Premiere, FCP and of course Media Composer, so you are safe in the knowledge that your shared storage will just work, no matter if you are on Mac or PC (or even Linux!), and it can keep up with what editing system you choose to use as well. I think that the ISIS product line is probably one of the best product lines Avid makes, and I would strongly recommend looking at the ISIS 1000 if you are in need of a new storage system. It even makes sense on small systems too, as if you have a single edit suite, you can now easily add an ingest suite and spread the ingest and edit tasks, meaning you don’t have to stop editing to bring in lots of media. Even in small systems like this, the time savings in labour alone would go a long way to paying for the system. The ISIS 1000 would be great for feature film edits and the like as well, so check it out!Media ComposerSo, Media Composer continues to make steps each year, and this year is no exception. Media Composer 8.4 has just been announced, and the biggest news here is that we now have the ability to set your own raster size, so you have complete resolution independence. You want to do 8K, no worries! Also, Avid have optimised the playback for ProRes and XAVC codecs, so even more than ever Avid have the ‘go-to’ editor for the most demanding projects that will just work all day and all night. Here is a summary of the announcements made at AvidConnect 2015 Artist Suite Innovations New benchmark for live sound production: Avid introduces the flagship Avid VENUE | S6L live sound mixing system, featuring a modern, intuitive touch-based interface that enables audio professionals to easily handle the largest, most complex tours and events. Affordable licensing and subscription options: Avid introduces the next release of Sibelius®, the latest version of the world’s most popular music composition software, giving composers more choice over how they acquire and use their tools, create music scores, and collaborate with others. The release also offers new workflow and mobile features, including multi-touch gestures and Microsoft ® Surface™ Pro 3 support, and moves Sibelius on to the Avid MediaCentral Platform. Powerful, integrated high-resolution video production: Avid introduces Avid Artist | DNxIO, helping video professionals meet the growing demands of high-res video production with best-in-class hardware and the industry’s preeminent Media Composer® video editing software Free versions of industry-standard media creation solutions: Avid announced plans to open video editing to everyone with the upcoming Media Composer | First, a free version of the video editing software used by top Hollywood Oscar and Emmy winners. The company also announced that Pro Tools | First, the free version of its renowned music creation software, is starting to roll out to the more than 70,000 people who pre-registered for the product. Media Suite Innovations Open, end-to-end, integrated media asset management: Avid introduces Interplay® | MAM 5, enabling organizations both large and small to manage the entire content lifecycle and reduce media operation costs. This release completes the integration of all Media Suite modules into the MediaCentral Platform. Storage Suite Innovations Proven real-time shared storage for smaller teams: Avid introduces ISIS® | 1000 shared storage, bringing small production teams the same collaborative power proven on blockbuster films, prime-time television, and mission-critical news broadcasts—customized for their needs, at a price they can afford. The Avid Advantage: New Service Offerings and Initiatives Avid announced another important milestone and continued momentum of The Avid Advantage, the company’s vision to transform expectations for service delivery in the media industry. With the introduction of innovative new professional service offerings, education delivery options, certification programs, and customer care enhancements, Avid is helping customers maximize efficiency, accelerate their return on media production technology investments, and deepen their joint collaboration with Avid. Avid Everywhere for Education Avid Everywhere is driving the development of new solutions, training, and certification options that provide educators with more choice and flexibility and enable them to reach larger numbers of students. Students can now experience industry-leading Avid creative tools for free, and then step up to the full products with affordable subscriptions. Educators and students can collaborate and connect more effectively using cutting-edge cloud-based solutions. Additionally, it is easier than ever for students to get the industry recognized Avid certifications they need to succeed after graduation.
#NAB2014 Products to Watch - Post Production
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Avid Continues Proven and Trusted Shared Storage Innovation with New ISIS 5500
Avid® today introduced the new Avid ISIS® 5500 online shared storage system, offering unprecedented value for small- to mid-sized post production, broadcast, education, and corporate facilities. The next-generation ISIS 5500 represents the continuing innovation of the company’s industry standard storage systems. It provides critical new capabilities to help small- and mid-sized media organizations more easily and efficiently deliver higher quality, inspiring content – by streamlining and accelerating editorial workflows. “Media organizations of all sizes are facing relentless pressure to increase content production while simultaneously improving operational efficiency and controlling costs,” said Chris Gahagan, senior vice president of Products and Services at Avid. “With double the storage capacity and a host of new software features, ISIS 5500 brings both critical capabilities and breakthrough value to small- and mid-sized facilities.” ISIS 5500, the successor to ISIS 5000, provides exceptional scalability; performance; media access, sharing, and protection; and real-time collaboration. The new 64 terabyte (TB) engine doubles storage capacity at the same price point as the ISIS 5000 32 TB system, delivering the value that media organizations urgently require. Further, Avid will continue to offer a 32 TB system at a 25 percent reduced rate. Specific features and benefits include: Exceptional scalability – A new 64 TB capacity that complements the existing 16 and 32 TB engines provides efficient, linear bandwidth scaling to sustain performance, making it easy to scale workgroups, bandwidth, and capacity. Media organizations can connect up to 90 content contributors at the same time, and scale workspaces and storage from 16 TB to 384 TB of raw storage, with up to six ISIS Engines and 1.8 GB per second of bandwidth. - New ISIS 4.5 software– Also available to existing ISIS 7000, 5000, and 2000 customers via a simple software upgrade, ISIS 4.5 software provides:
- Real-time access, editing, and sharing ISIS-stored media using Red Hat Linux 6.2-compatible applications
- Connectivity to ISIS online and nearline storage using Windows 8 clients
- Increased file count, with up to eight million files for ISIS 5500
- Enhanced File Gateway service to share all workspaces
- ISIS 2000 scalability - to five engines for up to 1.2 PB of nearline storage
- Failover protection with support for dual System Directors in ISIS 2000