Grass Valley proposes to accompany the industry looking to a future defined by software

IBC 2019 marks the baptism of the Grass Valley Technology Alliance. Along with the manufacturer, ChyronHego, Frankly Media, Net Insight, RT Software and Telemetrics are founding partners, with other brands joining in the future.

In IBC 2019, Grass Valley has expressed its commitment to providing leadership to the industry, leveraging its long history of strength and stability to drive innovations through collaboration. Visitors to its stand (9.A01) can these days see a series of new product launches and enhancements, along with live demonstrations of its application-based solutions.

Additionally, Grass Valley highlights collaborations with industry partners that provide benefits to both the industry and its customers through Grass Valley Technology Alliance (GVTA). On the other hand, it is also consolidating its position as a reference in the industry in areas such as IP workflows y remote production.

Tim Shoulders, president of Grass Valley, stressed that “greater flexibility and efficiency in workflow is now more critical than ever for broadcasters and production companies, and we have responded by reducing dependence on proprietary hardware and offering advanced software platforms that are easily and quickly deployed.”

“Advances like this are made possible by the deep relationships we have with our customers, as we work closely to ensure the right solutions are developed to solve the right problems,” he added.

NEP IP Mobile Unit

This year the Grass Valley stand has the presence of the new NEP mobile unit, Ceres. Grass Valley and the British division of NEP are thus collaborating at IBC 2019 to demonstrate the robustness of IP infrastructures in outdoor production environments.

Designed for large events, sports productions and other large scale productions, the NEP Ceres has been designed based on a concepto full IP on open standards, with SMPTE ST2110 connectivity throughout the truck.

At the heart of Ceres is the production mixer Kahuna from Grass Valley, with its signature multi-format capabilities that deliver creative power regardless of production format. Whether HD or UHD, SDI or IP, HDR or SDR or hybrid environments, Kahuna does not compromise on creativity or quality.

IBC 2019 visitors can see Ceres operating with native camera range LDX 86N 4K from Grass Valley and the solution Creative Grading, which opens up new possibilities for color correction from camera control. Grass Valley's live and replay production system, LiveTouch, will also be on board the mobile unit.

Rob Newton, director of engineering and technology at NEP UK and Ireland, comments: "Efficient and resilient production workflows are essential for smooth and seamless content delivery across a wide range of production formats. IP plays a vital role in ensuring this need is met, and this is the foundation on which Ceres is built. We have a long relationship with Grass Valley, having collaborated on several exciting projects in the past. The team understands our needs and we know they are unrivaled in delivering the reliable and robust solutions we demand. We are delighted to collaborate with Grass Valley at IBC to demonstrate how open standards-based IP can transform outdoor production environments to meet current and future customer needs.”

NEP Ceres includes other Grass Valley solutions, including multi-displays MV-820-IP, the processors KudosPro UHD-1100, IQ Modular, or the matrix Vega for SDI routing.

GV Technology Alliance

IBC 2019 marks the baptism of the Grass Valley Technology Alliance. Together with the manufacturer, they are founding partners ChyronHego, Frankly Media, Net Insight, RT Software y Telemetrics to which other brands will be added in the future.

This new program for technology and solution providers aims for greater purchasing confidence and better selection for customers. The certification program gives broadcasters and media organizations access to solutions that are interoperable with a range of Grass Valley workflow components and platforms.

Tim Shoulders "We are proud to bring together such a dynamic range of companies in the GVTA. Through this alliance, we provide additional value to Grass Valley customers, giving them access to solutions that complement our portfolio and are integrated at the development level to ensure interoperability. We are seeing a lot of interest from many companies, so we are confident that the benefits will continue to grow and our customers will enjoy a broader portfolio of solutions and a simpler purchasing experience."

The GVTA offers assured purchasing confidence and a broader selection of solution options that may not be in Grass Valley's portfolio, but have been tested, proven, and integrated with one or more of the manufacturer's solutions.

GVTA members will work closely with Grass Valley before being granted certification to ensure compatibility, interoperability and strategic fit.

Orbit

Grass Valley is consolidating its position as a reference in open IP solutions with the launch of GV Orbit, a new and powerful unified system of configuration, control and monitoring. The new solution making its debut at IBC 2019 complements Grass Valley's robust IP infrastructure suite, delivering a consolidated software solution specifically structured for the dynamic orchestration of broadcast media networks, whether SDI, hybrid or pure IP.

Created to make IP easier, GV Orbit comprises an integrated package that offers a comprehensive set of diagnostic tools to handle everything from multi-displays to routing control and monitoring through a single interface. The system's dynamic configuration capabilities allow users to add or remove devices, change control surfaces, or simply rename signals, panels, and workflow indicators on the fly, requiring zero downtime.

GV Orbit is designed to sit on Distributed Data Services (or real-time DDS middleware) and autonomously recognize and display any new device on a network, with all device parameters immediately accessible.

The new proposal includes all mechanisms to adopt future open standard features, ensuring that customers get a future-proof system. While Grass Valley has a complete and widely deployed range of NMOS-compatible IP endpoints (IS-04, IS-05), GV Orbit offers the flexibility to also add third-party NMOS-compatible devices to the network.

David Lane, vice president of routing at Grass Valley, comments that "as open standards-based IP becomes the preferred infrastructure for broadcasters and production companies, we are leveraging the possibilities of IP to create comprehensive solutions that open new opportunities for our customers. GV Orbit brings together a wealth of features in a transparent interface that can be seamlessly adapted to adapt to new IP technology, whether in hybrid SDI/IP or pure IP environments, and offer integration with third-party systems."

Bullet OFF

In Amsterdam, Grass Valley are presenting Kula AV, a powerful all-in-one multi-format systemo that mixes digital or analog video and audio, includes clip storage for graphics creation and editing, and offers built-in multi-display capability. Designed to meet the needs of the smallest operations, this compact system allows a single operator to have everything they need at their fingertips for corporate, church and small venue productions.

Kula AV offers a wide range of Flexible features in just two rack units. In addition to Grass Valley's FormatFusion3 technology, which automatically detects and seamlessly converts any combination of SD, HD and 1080p to the required output for unrestricted mixing of video signal types across all inputs and outputs, the system's built-in audio mixing capabilities include keying/dekeying, clean and quiet audio switching, and audio-video tracking mode for simplified control.

This solution offers a multipantalla configurable and offers a great ClipStore internal, supported by a 1 TB hard drive. Integrated Swift streaming graphics, from RT Software, a member of the GV Technology Alliance, give Kula AV users the flexibility to support even the most demanding productions. Once created, graphics are automatically uploaded to the system ClipStore, ready for immediate use.

Kula AV has 40 video and 80 audio inputs. Controlled with a 19″ Kula panel and a Mav audio module, the entire system can be easily loaded into a flypack for transport to rental or ENG locations. This unique solution is designed to reduce complexity during setup and allows a single operator to create high-end production.

Everything under control with GV Pace

Grass Valley also debuts the new automation assisted manual control system for fast, dynamic, live production without a script, GV Pace. It allows a single operator to manage a production with greater efficiency, fewer interruptions, better viewer engagement and, most importantly, without sacrificing production quality.

Offers the freedom and flexibility of an easy-to-use touchscreen interface and combines all of the solution's proven production automation tools Ignite from Grass Valley, allowing production teams to direct the most demanding and dynamic live programming. The system is delivered without the need for a newsroom IT system and is ideal for a wide range of applications, from news and sports/sports to enterprise and studio platforms.

Packaged as a subscription solution, GV Pace natively integrates both Grass Valley and third-party devices allowing a single operator to guide the solution to deliver a professional look and feel. Highly intuitive and requiring minimal training, GV Pace streamlines unscheduled workflows and puts power and control in the hands of the operator, while reducing the risk of operational errors. The GV Pace user interface can be tailored to a specific event or live show, and in-app configuration for events and modules ensures efficiency and consistency across productions.

This innovative solution offers best-in-class audio support and can control a wide range of consoles, including Wheatstone, Yamaha, Lawo, Calrec, Studer y SSL, without a dedicated audio operator.

Peter Semerak, vice president of production at Grass Valley, discusses that "GV Pace has been designed for resource-constrained live manual production applications where every second counts – such as breaking news, live OTT-only productions and college sports. In applications that do not require integration with a newsroom computer system, GV Pace simplifies complex operations. A single operator can use this solution to run a high-quality, professional show."

Quick and easy to implement, GV Pace also provides flexible event templates which provide a 50 percent time savings and can be changed dynamically in seconds before the show goes live or on the fly during the show for greater flexibility. The system can also be used in a secondary control room to support automation-assisted manual control of emissions through a common, familiar interface.

New features in Edius

At this IBC 2019, Grass Valley launches a series of new features for your versatile and fast non-linear editing software Edius. The latest enhancements provide tighter user integration, greater flexibility, and greater creative power.

Edius 9.5 update includes multi-camera audio sync. Edius now better supports clip synchronization time axes and allows users to create a new synchronized sequence using audio data; Users can also analyze audio and add new clips to existing sequences efficiently.

It is now also compatible with Blackmagic RAW Decode y Film Gamma, as well as the ProRes 4444 export (Alpha channel support). This added format allows users to create more flexible workflows and enable the creation of advanced creatives.

GV Creative Grading

With the new Grass Valley grading, the series of Focus and LDX cameras They can unleash their full potential. Creative Grading is a new application control Panel of camera shading that puts the user in full control of the finishing of the image coming from camera.

Using one or two tablets and a new, intensively tested control panel, Creative Grading transforms in-camera shading from numerical on/off thinking to a holistic view of organic curves and color settings. For ease of viewing, the tablet app's larger user interface provides a graphical representation of the impact of parameter changes.

Artistic decision-making is much simpler and faster, as shaders can see how a single change affects related sets of parameters in a system-wide view of how the image on screen will be modified. This offers complete control, regardless of the situation, and provides the camera operator with the most optimal working conditions for the task.

IBC Tv

Finally, IBC TV, the official television channel of IBC 2019, has once again chosen Grass Valley as its technical partner, selecting a complete set of production tools.

Four GV LDX 86 Universe cameras, which combine higher frame rates, such as 6X, and higher resolution for 4K UHD in one camera head, are being deployed, along with Grass Valley's XCU Universe UXF base stations, which support the expanded bandwidth requirements of the LDX 86 series high-speed cameras. combines mid-range broadcast and media applications.

As part of the channel's commitment to take advantage of IP technologies for flexible and agile operations, the entire Grass Valley kit is enabled for SMPTE ST2110 video over IP and connected to native SDI.