Collaborative shared storage and advanced logging systems deliver winning combination for Cincinnati Reds' HD workflow at the Great American Ball Park.
Boston, MA – November 12, 2009 -- EditShare®, the technology leader in cross platform collaborative editing and shared media storage, and Dixon Sports Computing, the sports video management experts since 1992, have deployed a new HD production workflow at the Cincinnati Reds' Great American Ball Park. The new integration combines EditShare's shared storage solutions - Storage Series - with Dixon's Sports Management software (the Dixon SAM). The fully integrated solution provides an HD-ready shared storage environment that centralizes media ingests and automates metadata logging. With detailed metadata capture and centralized content catalogue, editors can perform enterprise searches of all game media (past and present) and share project files, regardless of size or format.
"During the game we can be on an edit station selecting hits and strikeouts and putting the highlight package together in a hurry based on information in Dixon," said Dave Storm, Production Manager, Cincinnati Reds. "Then, a month later somebody can look at that same data from a completely different angle referencing the same metadata via the Dixon software. Say, I want to see all the homeruns in this month. Or, what did Joey Votto do the last three months? Let's look at those clips and those isos. We pull the media from EditShare - whether it's for a commercial or a video we're putting together for a school appearance. We're using the same tools for completely different purposes and that's very powerful."
The Reds' 40TB EditShare Storage Series is connected via 10-Gigabit Ethernet to an HP ProCurve network switch to provide optimal performance for the high volume HD workflow. 5 editors working on Apple® Final Cut Pro® workstations are connected to the server via 1 Gigabit Ethernet and have simultaneous access to the media. Dixon's logging interface monitors house time code during games to match to particular events and also incorporates basic roster and statistical information from the Reds' DakStats scoring system. Production operators identify the best angles on key plays, creating subclips that are stored on an EVS system. All subclips are automatically rewrapped and moved to the EditShare finalizing a complete, integrated media management package with metadata cross-referencing capabilities.
"It has been a pleasure working with EditShare. We were quickly able to integrate our software with Editshare and create a workflow that produced immediate benefits for the Cincinnati Reds," said Michael Dixon, President, Dixon Sports Computing. "We are excited about bringing the benefits of our partnership to more customers."
The combined system has proven to be a powerful workflow engine, offering both immediacy and long-term media management for the Reds. Dixon and EditShare will continue to streamline HD workflows into the Reds' 2010 season.
"EditShare is a fan favorite within the sports market. The NCAA, MLB, European soccer league, to the Australian football league use EditShare solutions to manage their fast-paced, high volume workflows," comments Jeff Herzog, EditShare Product Manager. "The purpose-built Dixon asset management and EditShare project sharing means that action packed, attention grabbing highlights and teasers can be created quickly, which is a must in any sports operation."
EditShare shared storage solutions are used to manage media workflows for a wide range of professional and collegiate sporting organizations, including: Portland Trailblazers (US Basketball), Pittsburgh Penguins (US Hockey), Florida State Seminoles (US Football), Australian Football (Pacific Rugby) and Wimbledon (International Tennis). Dixon Sports solutions are equally embraced by sports broadcasters. The world champion Indianapolis Colts (US Football), Atlanta Braves (US MLB), Sky TV (New Zealand Sports), and NBA Entertainment (US Basketball) use Dixon solutions to manage their media workflows.
About Dixon Solutions
The Dixon SAM is built using the proven Dixon Sports Engine, integrating all of Dixon's sports video management technology into a flexible software platform that optimizes each customer's specific workflow to produce better content, easier and faster. The SAM contains sports-specific loggers, Dixon Hilite Selectors running on major production editors, Dixon's Sports Asset Search, and automated procedures for getting video and metadata to where they are needed, on time and in the required format.
In addition to partnering with EditShare, Dixon also works with many other leading broadcast companies, including: Apple ®, AVID ® , Harris, GVG, Quantel, EVS, Omneon, IBM ®, IPV, Ardendo, and Dalet.
The Dixon SAM Database is designed to meet any Asset Management requirement. The database is non-proprietary, based on an industry-standard Microsoft SQL database engine. The Database takes metadata from the Logger and distributes it to all of the other modules of the SAM. Any automated processes, such as moving clips and metadata to other systems are also contained here.
The SAM includes the Dixon Sport-Specific Logger, a state-of-the-art, sport- specific metadata loggers. The Dixon Sports sophisticated, sport-specific loggers make it quick and easy to attach rich metadata to the clips. The Dixon loggers tie metadata directly to the corresponding video. The metadata is separated into different fields using pre-defined buttons and rosters to facilitate searches and ensure consistent data entry. The metadata can be exploited for years to come.
The Dixon Hilite Selector bridges the gap between the Logging Station and the highlight editors giving immediate access to the logged plays. Optimized for producing game highlights, the game of interest is easily selected and all of the clips available for that game displayed. The Hilite Selector contains many tools to quickly get the clips to the timeline and edited.
The Dixon Asset Search allows powerful searches through all of the sports content. Search across all sports or search one sport with our sport-specific search tools. Find the desired clips by date, specific players using the rosters search tools, sport- specific metadata buttons, rating and camera angles, among many other options. Dixon's Asset Search has an optional module for low-res browse, displaying the clip before the high-res version is requested for an edit.
About EditShare Complete Collaboration
The Storage and XStream Series are part of the EditShare Complete Collaboration line of products, which provide shared media and collaborative workflows – from ingest through production to archive. In addition to the Storage Series and XStream Series, the Complete Collaboration line includes EditShare FLOW and EditShare Ark.
Designed for the industry's leading editing and compositing products from Adobe, Apple, Assimilate, Autodesk, Avid, Digidesign, Digital Vision, and Sony, EditShare storage servers, including the ultra-performance XStream series, allow all connected workstations to capture, access and share in real time a common pool of media files. Regardless of application or platform, source material, work in progress and finished packages are shared and instantly available to all users on the EditShare network. EditShare is also the only solution that provides full Project Sharing among both Apple and Avid editing workgroups. EditShare servers connect via Gigabit or 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
Flow Ingest captures up to four channels of media and associated metadata, storing each channel in up to three formats simultaneously and outputting a proxy for fast retrieval. No background transcoding is required and files are available immediately for editing. EditShare's unique Universal Media File technology allows ingested media to be shared and used by editors working on both Avid and Apple editing applications.
Flow Browse simplifies media cataloguing, search and retrieval within EditShare shared storage environments. Users can quickly locate media among hundreds of thousands of clips on the EditShare media spaces. From Flow Browse, users can update metadata, log clips, and drag and drop media to Avid and FCP bins.
EitShare Ark provides a full range of very cost effective, disk-based solutions for backup, mirroring and archiving needs. While Ark systems are not generally usable for real-time editing, in a crisis situation where something has happened to a facility's main EditShare storage, Ark Disk Based Storage can be "activated" and used to complete mission critical work while the primary storage is repaired.
About Dixon Sports Computing Dixon Sports Computing is a leader in the field of non-linear video replay and highlight applications for the sports and entertainment industries. Founded in 1992 and headquartered in Long Beach, CA, Dixon Sports Computing provides state-of-the-art, broadcast quality video replay, highlight systems, and digital asset management systems for stadiums, arenas, and broadcasting companies, as well as video coaching systems for professional and collegiate sports teams across North America.
About EditShare LLC
EditShare LLC is the pioneer of a new category of collaborative editing solutions designed for digital media workgroups and production companies. The EditShare system fuels the collaborative creative process for digital media artists by delivering high-quality, high-performance, and cost-effective networked collaborative editing solutions. For more information, please visit www.editshare.com.
Press Contact
Janice Dolan
Zazil Media Group
Email janice@zazilmediagroup.com
Tel: +1 (617) 817 6595
