Affordable NewsFlow from Video Technics Makes HD Possible
Atlanta, GA (October 7, 2010) – TV stations around the country are transitioning local news operations to HD architectures. Broadcasting local news in high definition is no longer merely a point of pride; it’s becoming necessary to compete – even for small-market television stations.
NewsFlow™, from Video Technics, is a truly scalable, open-architecture design that has the flexibility to meet the workflow and budget demands of small to large facilities. This affordable choice facilitates an end-to-end, file-based solution tailored to integrate with the existing newsroom system and nonlinear editor platforms of choice. NewsFlow provides the flexibility to meet the needs of small-market stations facing costly transitions of their news operations to a file-based HD workflow.
KYTX-TV Channel 19 (DMA 109) from Tyler, Texas and KMSB-TV Channel 11 (DMA 66) from Tucson, Arizona both wanted to take a lead in offering high quality, professional news broadcasts. Having budgets typical of stations in small markets, both stations’ needs were met by the suite of products offered by Video Technics, Inc.
Mark Rivers, President and CEO of Video Technics said, “We were happy to deliver a full-featured HD news production solution for KYTX that includes proxy browsing, low-res editing, and MOS playback support with their newsroom computer system. In addition, KYTX takes advantage of our NLE plug-in support for Adobe® CS4® and a real-time HD up conversion feature using the Apella™ HDS video server. This allows them to tap their legacy SD media library on demand.” KYTX uses JVC’s GY-HD250 ProHD cameras for electronic news gathering in the field with the DR-HD100 hard disk recorder as they seamlessly integrated with the file-based NewsFlow system.
The London Broadcasting Company station serves Tyler, Longview, Nacogdoches, and Lufkin, Texas, and produces 28 hours of weekly news programming, including a daily morning news show, “CBS19 This Morning”, and a nightly program, “KYTX CBS 19 Ten @ 10.” KYTX made the switch to air in HD on April 23, 2009.
“One strong point of the Video Technics system is its non-proprietary aspect. We were making the push to HD and needed a system that was capable of doing HD and offered up, down, and cross conversion. We can use any archived SD video because it up converts on the fly on playout” said, Moe Strout, Director of Engineering for London Broadcasting Company, Inc.
For KMSB, their path to HD content started with the use of the Apella SDS. “We wanted the ability to easily upgrade to HD at the right time for us. The Apella SDS offers an attractive price point option that allows us to upgrade through a software-only mechanism with no need for additional hardware,” said, Walcott Denison III, Director of Technology at KMSB.
Andy Tuggle, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Video Technics said, “KMSB needed a straightforward workflow for news and wanted to take advantage of their existing tools including Edius, Grass Valleys’ nonlinear editor, and Avid iNews in their newsroom. Within their budget, the Apella SDS video server, MOS proxy browsers for Avid iNews, and the VT HotFolder™ application for exchanging a variety of file formats, including Edius files, was so simple; it was the right solution for them.” Tuggle continued, “For KMSB, the ability to use VT Proxy Editor to review raw media and proof edited content directly on their newsroom desktop was a huge benefit.”
With NewsFlow, low resolution proxies only require 1Mb/s bandwidth and run on most newsroom systems with no additional hardware costs, which provides a better workflow for less money than other systems that require a high-resolution editor for each journalist.
KMSB, owned by Belo Corp. Dallas, TX. (NYSE: BLC), plans to unveil a new four-hour local morning news program, “Fox 11 Daybreak Tucson,” which will air from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. weekday mornings this fall, in addition to their current 9 p. m. newscast hour. They have already approached Video Technics with their plans to expand their NewsFlow shared storage and archive storage next year to accommodate their growing needs.
Representing just a portion of their full product suite, Video Technics, Inc. has been committed to building a solid solution, at the right price, for small, intermediate, and large scale markets. For almost two decades, professional broadcasters have relied on cutting edge technology from Video Technics to ingest, edit, and manage media in a cost-effective workflow, designed with open architecture and non-proprietary file formats.
“Finding the right solution for our workflow, at a competitive price point, was our primary objective. With VT, we not only got that, but a highly flexible, scalable system that works efficiently with our entire news production,” Strout said.
Denison also spoke about the non-proprietary platform which “future proofs” their decision with complete interoperability with popular non-linear editors, off the shelf storage, and compatibility with most MOS and non-MOS newsroom control systems, stating, “Other solutions were very expensive and had very limited feature sets. I wanted something more feature rich, scalable, and flexible.”
NewsFlow from Video Technics provides any size station the ability to modernize production workflows using technology scaled to address individual storage, redundancy, editing, and pricing needs.
The NewsFlow solution offers integrated SD/HD ingest/playout video servers, high-performance shared storage with embedded asset management, MOS newsroom proxy editors/browsers, and seamless plug-ins for popular nonlinear edit workstations. Simply drag and drop media from Reuters, AP, DG Fast, Bit Central, and most file-based content delivery services.
The flexible architecture allows for a mixed database of different codecs, file wrappers, and SD/HD video standards without compromise, so it is designed to work with everything from legacy hardware to the latest HD cameras and popular nonlinear editors, without the need for transcoding. SD and HD content is played out back-to-back with on-the-fly conversion as necessary.
Archive options are available with even the smallest system and scalable to fully integrated LTO-5 robotic systems for virtually unlimited nearline/offline storage. The uniquely scalable non-proprietary architecture works with everything from legacy hardware to the latest HD cameras and allows systems to grow with budgets and demands.
Now, budget-constrained stations in small markets can cost-effectively upgrade their newsrooms to HD with Video Technics’ full-featured NewsFlow system. The system is customized for each facility and includes the ability to automate ingest of content, browse and edit media assets with proxies, and integrate playout with MOS newsroom control systems. Video Technics also provides 24/7 technical support, installation, and training.
“Video Technics recognizes the severe budget pressures that smaller markets face today. We have designed our products to maximize flexibility and value to help stations migrate from a tape-based workflow to an affordable all digital system,” said Rivers.
About Video Technics, Inc.
Video Technics, Inc., a pioneer in revolutionary systems development, supplies the global broadcast industry with innovative, feature-rich workflow solutions built around the company’s IT-based media servers. Video Technics’ Apella™ and NewsFlow™ products streamline the entire production process, and feature inherent proxy editing, embedded ingest/playout tools, and digital asset management. For more information visit: www.videotechnics.com.
About KYTX-TV
KYTX-TV Channel 19 is a CBS affiliated television station licensed to Nacogdoches, Texas, serving the Tyler, Longview market. Recognized as the first East Texas station to broadcast programming in high definition, the station is owned by London Broadcasting Company, Inc. http://www.cbs19.tv/
About KMSB-TV
KMSB-TV Channel 11 is a Fox affiliated television station licensed to Tucson, Arizona. KMSB is owned by Belo Corporation that operates nine stations in seven of the top 25 markets in the nation, with six stations located in the fast-growing, top-15 markets of Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Seattle/Tacoma and Phoenix. http://www.fox11az.com/
Apella, NewsFlow, VT Director, VT Scheduler and VT Proxy Editor are trademarks of Video Technics, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
