Media production facility managers are battling cost and staffing challenges by adding inexpensive Apple Final Cut Pro edit stations to their traditional Avid edit environments. In such mixed edit environments, the flexible Omneon storage and processing platform eliminates the need to maintain multiple application-specific storage solutions, supporting both Avid and Final Cut Pro editors and easily scaling to meet users’ growing bandwidth and capacity requirements. The platform also empowers editors to share content and leverage sequences between Avid and Apple edit systems. A seamless production environment from ingest through playout and across the two leading edit workstations finally realizes the dreamed-of efficiencies of file-based workflows.

Omneon Storage and Processing Platform for Production

Omneon MediaGrid adds easily scalable production storage at the center of a production operation. Transmission feeds and production material from cameras and decks can be ingested reliably into the Omneon MediaGrid active storage system via Omneon media servers, standard editor tools, or third-party ingest devices. Once ingested into the Omneon MediaGrid system, content becomes more accessible and more secure.

Because Omneon MediaGrid replicates every file, immediate access is never interrupted, even after a component failure. This centralized pool of content, scalable to petabytes, allows for incremental capacity growth that enhances the efficiency of every application in the production chain.

Production Workflow Choice

Omneon supports two fundamental production workflow models. The transfer model, used by hundreds of editors in broadcast operations, integrates legacy Avid and Apple shared storage and the open Omneon storage and processing platform to leverage their individual benefits. Legacy storage systems support the Avid or Apple-only edit process, and Omneon MediaGrid and Spectrum systems support the broader functions of ingest, processing, playout and archiving (see the ConformTool sidebar).

Edit-in-place with Final Cut Pro and Avid editors and even convert media and sequences between the two leading edit systems.

In the second model, the edit-in-place workflow, content never moves. Final Cut Pro editors have used this method for years with Omneon storage. Now a growing number of Avid editors in post, corporate, education and government facilities are editing-in-place with Omneon MediaGrid. Editors enjoy an edit experience similar to that provided by application-specific shared storage from Avid or Apple, but with the added benefit of working in a truly cross-platform production environment.

Not Just Edit Storage

In addition to enabling mixed edit environments, the Omneon storage and processing platform empowers simultaneous content access by media and archive management systems, ingest and playout servers, and transcode and distribution engines. The Omneon platform also can accelerate and manage content distribution, transcoding content in place so that material destined for Web or phone distribution can simply be placed into a watch folder, with all necessary transcodes executed faster than real time. By removing file transfer bottlenecks from the production and delivery workflow, the Omneon platform brings a new level of productivity to media operations. Getting segments on air or online cannot be any faster or more reliable.

OMNEON CONFORMTOOL

Opening Up the Edit Environment
The Omneon ConformTool allows facilities to make the best use of legacy Avid shared storage systems while best leveraging the Omneon storage and processing platform. It provides faster than real time transfers and rewrapping between Avid shared storage and the Omneon platform. With the Omneon ConformTool, users can work seamlessly with existing Avid systems in DV, DVCPRO 25/50/HD, IMX and XDCAM.

Integration with Avid Interplay
Making use of the Avid Interplay Web services APIs, Omneon ConformTool gives content producers and broadcasters the ability to build faster and more flexible workflows. Avid editors using Interplay can use the standard outbox and inbox tools to move content between Final Cut Pro and the Avid environment.

Enabling Mixed Edit Environments
Effectively bridging two otherwise incompatible worlds, ConformTool simplifies the transfer of content and sequences between Final Cut Pro and Avid editors. ConformTool transfers all of the material referenced in the sequence in a compatible file format and recreates the sequence timeline structure in the receiving edit system.

ConformTool Sequence Parking
ConformTool can take a sequence on either Avid or Final Cut Pro and export it to Omneon MediaGrid for archiving. ConformTool also can import most archive files from one system to the other.