Ross or how to combine technology and creativity

Ross will now focus on both engineering and technology and creative services.

The CEO of Ross Video, David Ross, opened the company's presentation press conference at NAB 2015 by proposing an idea based on the two hemispheres of the brain. And Ross aims to combine the creation of the left hemisphere with the technology and reasoning of the right.

Starting from this concept, Ross is convinced of the need to take care of the engineering and technology part as well as creative services. “We can achieve connectivity between both hemispheres through intelligent workflows and greater usability,” he highlighted.

Precisely to give free rein to creativity with the latest technology, Ross presents at this NAB its new Creative Services division in which Xpression and Inception and the brand new Carbonite Black will play a key role.

Jim Doyle will head up Ross Video's new Creative Services.

Nigel Spratling, Product Marketing Manager at Ross, “recalled that when the first Carbonite was introduced “we realized it became an immediate success as it completely changed the price and performance model for 1 and 2 ME production mixers. Carbonite Black is designed to do the same, but for productions that require higher I/O or 3 MEs.”

In line with this commitment to creativity, Ross has announced the purchase of Rocket Surgery, a company dedicated to design with extensive experience in television graphics. This transaction marks the tenth purchase of a company by Ross in the last six years.

And as an example of how far technology can go when there is a good creative behind it, Ross invited Hugh Grew, designer and operator of live graphics at events as relevant as the Grammys or the Oscars or in television shows like The voice.

Carbonite Black

The new Carbonite Black mixer comes to expand the range by expanding the number of inputs and outputs and ME of the series. It presents a more refined control panel, 3 MEs, 36 inputs and 22 outputs, in addition to all the superior features of other models such as MiniMEs, multi-screen, 3G and UHD (4K).

Spratling highlighted that “Carbonite Black not only has a fantastic design but also has more functionality and editing features than any other product at the same price.”

The 2RU Carbonite Black model will be available with 2 and 3 MEs, and will accommodate all current signal formats including 3G/1080P 50/59.94 and UHD.

New XPression features

Ross Video will introduce multiple new features and capabilities to its XPression production switcher, including agile real-time graphics editing systems, virtual reality capabilities, production servers and comprehensive workflow tools.

4K production requirements require special attention in today's video production landscape. The type of events and programming that is done today requires a high profile in solutions and quality equipment, with high features. XPression Studio 4K and BlueBox 4K are designed to meet this challenge. Studio 4K includes all-in-one creation capabilities while BlueBox 4K provides playback capabilities as well as a new graphics engine. Both systems supply a 4K quad-link output.

XPression Clips

Real-time clips and graphics, normally segregated into individual workflows in live production, will now be in XPression Clips, an advanced IT technology from Ross Video. Built on the XPression graphics platform, XPression Clips is an upgradeable server with full CG functionality. XPression Clips allows you to supercharge the production process with immediate recovery times and efficient transitions from an intuitive interface or from other devices. Users can simultaneously ingest multiple signals and output multiple channels of clips. Three configurations are available depending on needs.

As for XPression INcoder, it is a powerful application for ingesting files and encoding them, which simplifies the use of multiple codecs. XPression INcoder works in the background to encode clips in the highly efficient Xpression Video Codec, which can support video, key, and up to 16 audio channels, and then serve it to broadcast using its multi-target publishing capability. It can include XPression Clip Database, a shared storage system.

XPression Clips and XPression Studio, with the Clip Server option, support NAS and SAN configurations for high-volume content storage. To offer end-to-end solutions in clips and graphics, Ross Video has announced a strategic relationship with Studio Network Solutions (SNS), a leading manufacturer of shared storage solutions.