Imagine Nexio Newscraft, a future-proof news production system

Nexio Newscraft, a new approach to news production systems designed by the Imagine Communications team, is now available.

With the launch of Nexio NewsCraft, Imagine Communications aims to bring to market a “high-value, easy-to-use, all-in-one” news production solution. The solution brings together a set of “intuitive” tools in a highly automated environment with the goal of streamlining news production, from ingest and preparation to playout and delivery across multiple platforms.

Based on proven open standards, Nexio NewsCraft adapts to hybrid SDI/IP architectures, interfaces tightly with newsroom computer systems (NRCS) through a fully implemented MOS interface, and can be used on-site or remotely.

Based on Nexio and Flow

Nexio NewsCraft, a virtualized software-based tool, combines the performance and reliability of MOS-enabled Nexio production servers and IOX shared storage, with the graphical user interface and media management capabilities of the EditShare Flow family. Imagine Communications’ solution allows multiple software tools to be overlaid on the server architecture, providing broad and fast access to content. As needed, artificial intelligence tools, such as automatic metadata extraction, can be added to facilitate increased productivity and asset monetization.

Nexio NewsCraft seeks to increase the speed of common processes in the world of news production systems. In this way, regardless of how the content is ingested, the material can be played back or edited “within seconds” of the start of the recording.

Integration with third-party tools

The navigational controls of Imagine Communications’ latest offering allow basic editing, shot-listing and logging tasks to be performed, all via web-based user interfaces. When more sophisticated editing is required, Nexio NewsCraft can integrate with third-party tools such as Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci résoudre.

For those broadcasters already using Imagine’s Nexio servers, newsroom functionality can be “easily overlaid.” As Imagine Communications notes, Nexio NewsCraft can be cost-effectively deployed with resources scaled directly to each corporation’s operational needs. In addition, the COTS-hosted software architecture of the Nexio NewsCraft solution makes it “easy and affordable” to scale channels and system storage and provides a migration path to technologies such as IP, UHD and cloud.

Steve Reynolds, president of Imagine Communications, shares the baselines of its latest bet: “We designed Nexio NewsCraft as a seamlessly integrated, software-defined ecosystem that makes implementation simple and the production process more efficient. Journalists can tell the best story, and producers can get it on air and online quickly. Equally important, we’re able to deliver a full-featured, elegant workflow solution at a competitive price point.”