K2 Summit 3G: Grass Valley updates its popular server to work in 3 Gb/s environments (1080p50/60)

The new options incorporated in the K2 Summit 3G server represent a new step in the migration to an advanced and extremely flexible environment represented by the innovative Stratus recording and broadcast platform.

Grass Valley will show at NAB 2012 new options and possibilities of the K2 Summit server platform, improving flexibility and interacting with greater agility in the new file-based workflows for playout and production. Among other improvements, the support for playback of AVCHD and H264 files stands out, as well as proxy encoding that can be recorded and transmitted over the network.

These new options incorporated into the K2 Summit 3G server represent a new step in the migration to an advanced and extremely flexible environment represented by the innovative Stratus recording and playout platform.

The new server architecture provides all the basic services that allow users to perform control and asset management tasks through a centralized IT architecture oriented to SOA (Service Oriented Architecture).

Through a software update that will be available at the end of the year, the new K2 Summit 3G server will fully allow working in a 3 Gb/s (1080p50/60) environment. To cope with the additional data generated by 3G signals, this server will optionally offer a storage capacity of 7.2 TB.

Charlie Dunn, Executive Vice President of Products at Grass Valley, said: “The new K2 Summit 3G addresses the next step in file-based workflows by supporting a variety of high-definition file formats and device control applications.”

The new K2 Summit 3G is designed to integrate seamlessly with Grass Valley Storage Network Systems (SAN) or can be used as a standalone server. In the future, it will become the base server for the K2 Dyno Replay system, supporting 720p/1080i 3D studio and replay applications as well as 1080p50/60 productions.

Like its predecessor, the new K2 Summit provides 6 inputs and 1 output or 4 inputs and 2 outputs for the K2 Dyno Replay System or 8 streams of recordings in multi-camera mode, using Grass Valley's ChannelFlex technology. ChannelFlex technology also offers advantages such as native support in MPEG-2 compression Multicam mode such as XDCAM HD formats.

For 2X and 3X super slow-motion applications, the new K2 Summit 3G will now support DVCPRO HD and AVC-Intra compression (50 and 100 Mb/s).

In this way, Grass Valley offers a complete XDCAM HD workflow from start to finish (from ingest to output), as well as a complete AVC-Intra workflow. This means that users will now be able to use Grass Valley's LDK 8300 1X/2X/3X Super SloMo cameras in their AVC-Intra workflows.

Working in conjunction with the Stratus platform, the new K2 Summit 3G will support all proxy encodings, providing low-resolution MPEG-4 Part 2 files (derived from full-resolution content) and up to eight audio channels. This is possible in ChannelFlex mode, which provides up to eight proxy channels for browsing, editing and streaming over an IP network for server input monitoring. Additionally, all playout channels can be controlled and monitored through the Stratus user interface.

Stratus

We can see the Stratus platform in action at NAB 2012 with full integration with Grass Valley K2 Dyno repeater systems. With this integration, metadata created with the K2 Dyno Replay Controller and stored on the K2 SAN will be immediately available to other replay operators as well as to all networked Stratus users. This metadata integration will be bi-directional, with playlists of clips created and saved with Stratus immediately available for playback from the K2 Dyno Replay System themselves.

Unified integration capabilities with Stratus will mean that a K2 Dyno playlist can be imported as an object into Stratus, while a Stratus playlist or program edited with Stratus will be accessible from K2 Dyno immediately. A K2 Dyno clip will also be converted to a Stratus object in the Edius non-linear editing system.