Grass Valley's K2 architecture will support Panasonic's new AVC-longG recording format

The K2 Summit and K2 Solo are the first broadcast servers on the market that will support playback for the AVC-longG recording format, part of Panasonic's new AVC-Ultra codec family.

Grass Valley has just updated its K2 server solutions to support the new AVC-longG (Advanced Video Codec/Long Group Of Pictures) compression format from Panasonic, announced at NAB 2013. The K2 Summit and K2 Solo are the first broadcast servers on the market that will support playback for the AVC-longG recording format, part of Panasonic's new AVC-Ultra codec family.

New versions of the K2 Summit and K2 Solo will be available in August 2013, with software updates available for models sold in the last year. Previous versions of K2 Summit will have the option to perform a field-upgradable update.

Mike Cronk, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Grass Valley, "With support for Panasonic's new AVC-longG recording, Grass Valley leverages the sophistication of our K2 architecture to enable the rapid implementation of new ENG formats in the industry. News organizations and media groups looking for the next generation of ENG cameras will now have the confidence they need to deliver content using a proven server platform."

K2 Summit and K2 Solo are based on a unique Grass Valley architecture that provides ultra-high bandwidth ensuring that on-air channels never drop a video frame, while also offering constant bandwidth for file transfers and editing operations. Additionally, Grass Valley recently announced a version of its Edius nonlinear video software that also supports the AVC-longG format.

Panasonic AVC-Ultra offers Full HD recording to meet a variety of user needs in the broadcast field. AVC-longG, designed for applications where file size is critical, offers up to 10-bit 4:2:2 in a much smaller file size, saving storage costs and transfer times over MPEG-2, while maintaining equal or better quality.

Kunihiko Miyagi, director of Panasonic's Imaging Business Division, acknowledges that "our customers have been eager to take advantage of the high video quality and efficient workflow that AVC-longG enables from capture to editing and playback. Thanks to our long-term collaboration with Grass Valley, editing in Edius 7 and material management on K2 servers with AVC-longG encoding will now be possible. We believe that AVC-longG content captured by Panasonic P2 cameras “AJ-PX5000 and the AJ-PD500 recording deck will improve data transfer efficiency while maintaining high video quality, allowing us to offer our customers a better workflow.”