EMERYVILLE, Calif., and BOZEMAN, Mont.—Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has formed an exclusive partnership with Nu-Studio, which will make its public debut at the 2026 NAMM Show, Jan. 20-24, at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif.

ASG will serve as the exclusive reseller of Nu-Studio, including the company’s modular, portable studio designed for immersive audiovisual production, to bring the platform to market through its global sales, installation, and service infrastructure, ASG said.

Nu-Studio is a studio infrastructure designed to be adaptable as technology, standards and workflows evolve. A modular, reconfigurable acoustic control room, it allows for integrated audiovisual workflows with a portable, non-permanent framework that installs in days and can be relocated or reconfigured as needs change.

The partnership brings together Nu-Studio’s modular studio environment with ASG’s experience in end-to-end sales, installation, training and long-term service for media production environments worldwide, it said.

Designed for modern audiovisual production, Nu-Studio allows artists and production teams to work across multiple formats in a single environment, reducing the need to move between dedicated rooms as projects evolve.

"Nu·Studio gives our clients a flexible, scalable solution for a wide range of applications," said Tom Menrath, ASG vice president of Audio & Post Production. "This partnership allows us to bring a truly unique modular control room to market that allows our customers to easily pivot as their needs change."

As part of the exclusive agreement, ASG will manage commercial aspects of the Nu- Studio System, including sales, installation, staffing, training and servicing.

Nu-Studio systems are designed to integrate seamlessly with various production technologies, including Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision workflows.

Nu-Studio and ASG will exhibit at the 2026 NAMM Show in the Avid booth (booth 15000).

More information is available on the Nu-Studio and ASG websites.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has announced that they worked with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation to create the Meryl Streep Center for Performing Artists.

The vibrant hub for creativity and the creative community features screening rooms, voiceover labs, an on-camera studio, classrooms, and creative spaces on the same floor. Previously, the Foundation operated in isolated pockets of space scattered throughout a 10-story building.

While ASG was originally hired to update the Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson Screening Room (pictured above), those plans quickly grew into a fully realized 15,000-square-foot center in Los Angeles.

One of the early goals was to rethink the screening experience. The Foundation’s screening room could no longer support modern workflows and formats, like DCP. "We wanted a screening experience that matched today’s professional standards and the ability to screen content the way studios intended,” Charlotte Wells, COO of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, explained. "That got us thinking about what else was possible."

That idea grew and kicked off a broader conversation about expanding the space to support auditions, classes, screenings, live events, and content creation, while building a larger community. “As an actor, you can feel like an island,” Wells continued. “But now, you might walk out of a screening and bump into someone heading into the on-camera lab. People are having conversations, connecting, and sharing ideas. That didn’t happen before, and that sense of connection is incredibly valuable.”

Given the Center's new reputation for professional-grade technology, casting directors recommend that SAG-AFTRA Foundation members use the facility to record auditions. "We have countless testimonials from members who came in for a free session, recorded a reading, and booked the job," said Cyd Wilson, executive director at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. "It's changing lives."

The Foundation has named several spaces in the Center to honor actors who have supported its mission, including the Nicole Kidman Green Room, the Leonardo DiCaprio On-Camera Studio, and the Don LaFontaine Voiceover Lab. At the heart of the Center is the Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson Screening Room - a 100-seat screening room. The Screening Room is a multifunctional venue ideal for panels, Q&A’s, live events, masterclasses, educational screenings, and private industry gatherings.

ASG outfitted this room with a 4K production setup, including Telemetrics 4K cameras, live switching, and multi-track audio for live streaming and archival use. The centerpiece is a 225-inch LG Miraclass 4K Cinema Display (the first of its kind) paired with a Dolby IMS3-L cinema server and Storm Audio ISP to deliver a premium cinema-quality experience. ASG also engineered a Meyer Sound 7.1 surround system specifically to maintain audio fidelity while minimizing sound bleed to neighboring floors, balancing performance with strict building and acoustic constraints.

Every part of the Center is connected through a sophisticated, easy-to-use AV infrastructure, making powerful technology feel invisible so that artists and educators can stay focused on their craft, ASG explained. This includes Extron NAV for HDMI video distribution and SDI video routing, Dante / AES67 audio, and networking across the facility. A centralized control room ties everything together, with Crestron wireless interfaces enabling control from anywhere in the space.

Each room - classrooms, editing suites, voiceover booths, and performance areas - are capable of real-time routing between spaces. The pre-function area, an outdoor balcony and an expandable classroom, features two JBL audio systems (indoor/outdoor) combined to create a unified experience for events and social gatherings.

Throughout the facility, LG UHD displays create a consistent, professional look in every zone, from the lobby, classrooms, and screening room. The center is fully accessible, offering hearing impaired (HI) amplified audio, closed captions (CC), visually impaired narrative (VI-N), and stage setups suitable for Q&A sessions, panel discussions, and small performances.

In addition to its work on creating the Center, ASG continues to support the facility through its Managed Services team, keeping systems reliable and easy to use. From routine maintenance to on-call technical support, ASG takes care of the day-to-day technology so the Foundation’s staff and members can stay focused on what matters most - supporting performers and their craft.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Media and technology services provider Advanced Systems Group has hired Matt Mangini as an account manager on its expanding audio team.

A 20-year veteran of the industry, Mangini will be tasked with maintaining, growing and building new relationships with clients, vendors and the audio community in Los Angeles and surrounding areas.

“ASG has always had long roots in audio and especially the Hollywood film and television community,” Dave Van Hoy, ASG’s president, said. “While ASG has grown to encompass all parts of media production and postproduction, our passion for audio has never changed. That is what drove our acquisition of AID and the building of our Burbank audio team that Matt is joining. I’m super-excited to bring Matt into the team, having worked with his father for over 40 years.”

In a statement, Mangini described himself as a “technologist when it comes to the intersection between technology and art.”

“I quite literally grew up in edit rooms and dub stages,” Mangini said. “Our family always had a computer in the household, starting in the early ’80s. My father was one of the first to adopt Pro Tools at the start of the digital revolution in Hollywood. I love gear. But more than just boxes, buttons and knobs, I love what we can do with them. The ability to impart some part of the human experience has a certain kind of magic that drives me to help creatives achieve their vision.”

In his new role on ASG’s audio team, Mangini will be reunited with its leader, Hamid “Gadget” Hopkins, the company said. “I’ve worked either directly or indirectly with Gadget since he hired me for my first job in the industry,” Mangini said. “When he called and said there was an open position with people I had previous experience with, under audio team director Tom Menrath, who has a sterling reputation, it was an easy decision to sign up to bring my connections and experience over to ASG.”

Mangini will be based in Burbank and can be reached at mmangini@asgllc.com.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has announced that it worked with Evergreen Studios in Burbank to upgrade their Dolby Atmos Dub Stage. As part of the upgrade, the existing Dolby Atmos mix stage was expanded to support a broader range of clients and attract more immersive mixing clientele.

Evergreen Studios wanted to enhance the room's capacity to handle larger format work and offer a wider array of Dolby Atmos HE (Home Entertainment) and theatrical pre-dub services, in addition to Atmos Music mixes. The upgraded Dolby Atmos system provides compatibility with new content delivery standards and technological advancements.

The ASG audio team (a Dolby-certified partner) converted the existing single-operator Avid S6 console into a dual-operator system to handle more complex workflows. The ASG team also redesigned and rewired the machine room to integrate both new and existing equipment. The expanded room can now support any format from stereo to Dolby Atmos.

“The Dolby Atmos stage is a versatile space for a wide range of projects, designed to support both music and audio post-production. We wanted to support the most recent standards, offer a greater immersive and natural sound environment, and continue to provide cutting-edge audio production facilities for our clients,” said Laurence Anslow, chief engineer of Evergreen Studios.

“Audio standards continue to evolve, and by scaling Evergreen Studio’s dubbing stage to a dual operator setup, its facility can now accommodate larger, more complex productions,” added Gadget Hopkins of ASG. “Clients and collaborators can work together during the process. Engineers can work simultaneously on the mix for different aspects like dialogue, sound effects, and music. It meets all the requirements set by Dolby for Atmos mixing providing confidence to clients that the studio can deliver Atmos content to industry deliverable standards.”

Dolby Atmos is a scalable surround sound technology that allows audio engineers to place audio objects in a three-dimensional space, creating a highly immersive and realistic listening experience where sounds can be positioned not just left-to-right but also above and behind the listener, making it feel like the audio is coming from all around them.

“We feel like we have a pretty special space here at Evergreen Studios, uniquely designed for creating and mastering sound in Dolby Atmos’ advanced surround sound technology. The room’s transformation offers our clients even more tools to enhance the realism of their content to deliver an emotionally engaging experience for viewers and listeners,” said Anslow. “Gadget and the ASG audio team just got it. They’re professional, on time and have a great attitude. They’re so easy to work with. And most importantly, they listen.”

In its 40 years as a premier recording environment, Evergreen Studios has hosted some of the greatest performers in musical history and mixed film and television projects including Back to the Future, When Harry Met Sally, The Blues Brothers, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, The Simpsons Movie, Friends, and many others.

Today, it is known for its rich history in the entertainment industry, blending its notable legacy with cutting-edge technology. Evergreen Studios’ Los Angeles campus is now celebrated for its rich history in the entertainment industry, merging its distinguished legacy with cutting-edge technology. Under the leadership of Harvey Mason, Jr.- an acclaimed record producer, songwriter, and President/CEO of the Recording Academy - it has recently been revitalized with the vision of becoming a dynamic hub for music, creativity, and entertainment. In addition to the dub stage, it has a 3,000-square-foot scoring stage/live room, multiple studios, mix rooms, writing rooms, editing suites/post-production rooms, and a theater.

PALO ALTO, Calif.—Chess is a unique game, and the reasons why people become interested in it are varied. Much like other games, it requires skill, attention, and strategic thinking. But the length of a match is never the same and the longer it is, the longer the tension builds. For a viewer, catching every second counts. Especially if they’re tuning in virtually.

At Chess.com, we have a loyal, international, growing community of chess enthusiasts, currently producing for 150 million users and counting. Chess.com consistently delivers more than 300 productions annually, encompassing live tournaments, interviews, instructional content and community events.

Because we want to make chess available to everyone—and the demand keeps increasing—investing in a higher-quality production is the natural next step. From the basic OBS setups we were using to keep up with the increasing demand, we decided to create a completely remote broadcasting solution that lives entirely in the cloud.

At first, the idea was to build a physical studio, but that was quickly scratched—since we are a fully remote company, it made the most sense to create a fully remote broadcasting solution. This meant we wouldn’t be tied to physical constraints and every member of the production team would be able to access whatever they needed for the productions.

Our Virtual Truck

Working closely with teams at Vizrt, NDI and ecosystem partner Advanced Systems Group (ASG), the answer came in the form of a “virtual production truck,” with a setup that uses Vizrt’s TriCaster Vectar and NDI technology at its core, hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), with Viz Flowics providing HTML5 graphics.

We looked at just about every single vision mixer available in the cloud, and ultimately landed on TriCaster Vectar as the tool that best supported our needs. We needed to be able to ingest a hefty number of inputs while also being able to support a wide range of production models. TriCaster Vectar enables us to operate both in small crew environments, where the Technical Director wears a lot of hats like audio and video playout, but also to flex up to a larger, fully remote crew where we break those roles away from the switcher.

With TriCaster Vectar’s native ability to incorporate high-quality HTML5 graphics, we can add audience comments from different social media platforms, including YouTube Live and Twitch, during live games. It’s crucial for us to let fans share their experiences and reactions, and nurture that sense of community.

HTML5 Graphics

Chess is an incredibly graphics-heavy broadcast, and TriCaster Vectar being able to bring in HTML5 graphics without consuming the available NDI inputs was also a big win for us. We regularly use between eight and 10 animation buffers as our production graphics channels; it’s basically become 10 additional inputs strictly for graphics and allows us to fully max out the 44 inputs for cameras and video playback on larger productions.

It took just about a month and a half to put together the virtual production truck. I know it sounds insane, but we connected everything through cloud-based software, while leveraging the flexibility of NDI.

This virtual production workflow allows Chess.com’s employees in Europe, South Africa, India, and the United States to have access to all the live production tools they’d expect to see in a traditional studio or broadcasting truck. Telos Infinity VIP provides intercom to 18 physical intercom panels installed in employees’ home offices, as well as offering up to 41 virtual panels so they can seamlessly collaborate despite being fully remote.

With the scalability of this cloud-based system, Chess.com can continue to expand our production capabilities without the need for frequent hardware upgrades, so we can grow as our community grows.

More information is available at vizrt.com, ndi.video and www.asgllc.com.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Kate Sims and Joe Marchitto have joined Advanced Systems Group—the former as vice president of strategic accounts and the latter as chief technology officer of strategic accounts, ASG said today.

“With Kate and Joe at the helm of our key accounts in Southern California, we’re excited to bring their experience and ability to some of our most important clients,” said ASG president Dave Van Hoy. “They have both deep technical and business acumen. I’m thrilled they’re bringing their formidable talents to ASG.”

Sims has worked in IT consulting and media technology services for more than 20 years. Most recently she was vice president of business development for a Los Angeles-based systems integration firm. 

“Over the years, Joe and I have helped leading media enterprises make seamless transitions to cutting-edge MAM systems and optimized storage infrastructures,” said Sims. “It’s incredibly rewarding to see our efforts keep clients ahead in the evolving media production landscape and leave them thrilled with the results.”

In her new role, Sims will oversee relationships between ASG technology partners and clients while spearheading the company’s growth across Southern California. 

As CTO of strategic accounts, Marchitto will work in partnership with Sims to build an enterprise clientele in the Los Angeles area. He will contribute his technical knowledge to the design and sales of systems to new and existing customers, the company said.

Prior to joining ASG, Marchitto was the chief information officer of a systems design firm where he led three engineering teams focused on systems integration, cloud and media asset management deployments. 

“I’m very familiar with the quality of people and work that ASG is known for,” said Marchitto. “I’m looking forward to the new projects and challenges that will surely expand my skill set. This position feels more like a coming home than starting a new job.”

Sims and Marchitto can be reached via email.

More information is available on the company’s website.

Advanced Systems Group, a Silicon Valley-based systems integrator, has opened its first U.K. office in London, expanding the company’s European presence.

Planned to open in May 2024, the new home of ASG U.K. is Aviation House in London’s Holborn area, a booming professional and creative hub, ASG said. Tim Cuthbertson, an ASG global account executive with more than 30 years of integration and professional services experience, will relocate back to his native London to head the new operations as Managing Director.

Cuthbertson said the ASG U.K. launch was a “right time, right place” decision driven by shifting business and economic factors. “Organizations in our markets have had to reinvent their operations, first adapting to workforce changes caused by the pandemic, and later dealing with issues like the actors and writers strikes, so there’s a lot of pent-up refitting and development that’s ramping up,” Cuthbertson added. “With globally distributed workforces now a reality, having an international presence is an operational requirement. Technology doesn't stop moving, and London is a significant production center, so expanding was the logical choice. Our U.K. presence will be there to serve the needs of these organizations.”

The new headquarters will house ASG U.K.’s team in a space flexible enough to accommodate future expansion, the company said. Advanced Systems Group U.K. a wholly owned subsidiary of ASG, is part of its phased approach to ramping up its international presence.

The U.K. team will focus on its current European clients including SNAP, Google, and Yahoo with even more comprehensive services, as well as ASG’s US clients, who have UK facilities and can now access the same trusted source for data storage, workflow tools, and managed services that they do in the United States.

Ken Spickler, VP Global Engineering at Visual Data, a long-standing ASG customer with global operations including in the U.S and London, commented: “Advanced Systems Group’s expansion into the U.K. is a boon to the European production and post-production services sector, enabling more companies to benefit from the wealth of knowledge and technical expertise it has built up over many years. At Visual Data, it would have been much more challenging to achieve our growth without trusting in ASG.”

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ASG is one of the top systems Integrators in the U.S. 

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Advanced Systems Group has acquired the assets of Audio Intervisual Design (AID) in a move to position ASG as a larger systems integrator in the United States.

“Since launching Advanced Systems Group over 25 years ago, Audio Intervisual Design has been an esteemed competitor and a leading provider of tools for the creative community,” said Dave Van Hoy, ASG founder and president. “ASG stands to deliver even more to our customers in audio, video, data, and cloud production by merging our respective strengths.”

Known for its best-in-class audio, color-grading and workflow designs and integrations, AID has also built a national reputation for film, streaming, broadcast and music recording studios, ASG said.

AID brings to ASG many specialized technology partners and a long history of involvement with Dolby Atmos facilities all over the world, it said.

ASG serves the industry with consulting, design, systems integration, professional services and managed services, including embedded teams that help operate and maintain production, post-production and creative. 

AID’s expertise complements ASG’s holistic approach to the media and entertainment industry, giving the company well-rounded capabilities to offer clients one place to discover, design and build workflows across the entire media supply chain, it said.

“Since AID was founded in 1984, we have taken the position to best represent our clients in their efforts to succeed in a world with uber-fast technology changes. Being acquired by ASG, a company we’ve long respected, provides many resources we’ve dreamed of having. The time was right, and ASG was the right partner for this major move,” said AID president Jim Pace.

More information is available on the company’s website.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has entered into a strategic partnership with Zero Density that will result in ASG carrying Zero Density’s line of real-time virtual studio, augmented reality, and graphics technology designed for broadcast, esports, and live events.

“We’ve seen the incredible work that ASG’s done with innovative installs, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with such a talented team,” explained Yavuz Bahadıroğlu, Zero Density director of global channel management director for the U.S. and Canada. “We foresee a very bright future from this collaboration and know that together, we can help creatives deliver more realistic, eye-catching visuals more easily than ever before.”

The partnership expands ASG’s systems integration portfolio with options from Zero Density’s extensive series of high-end, real-time virtual studio, AR/XR and broadcast on-air graphics solutions, the companies reported. 

“They have an exceptional technology that we can deploy at our clients’ sites to yield what we believe is some of the highest quality XR-based production,” explained Dave Van Hoy, president of ASG. “We’re also very impressed with their customer track record. They're highly recommended by their existing client base. These are things that we evaluate carefully as we decide who to partner with.”

Zero Density is best known for Reality Engine - a real-time node-based compositing system that enables creative teams to stand out from the competition with next-generation Unreal Engine graphics. Reality Engine provides video I/O, keying, tracking, compositing, and rendering in one machine, making it easy to create photoreal 3D environments, AR graphics, XR productions and more – in real time, the companies explained. 

Other product highlights include Zero Density’s tracking brand Traxis with its AI-powered talent tracker and camera tracker. Built for both LED sets and green screen cycloramas, these tracking solutions let broadcasters spend less time worrying about photorealism, giving more space to focus on creativity. Zero Density recently announced a major update to Traxis and a new software bundle that will make photorealistic graphics accessible to all broadcasters, the company said. 

“They have a unique methodology for real-time rendering video wall backgrounds that when combined with their method of using camera tracking data makes a production much more photorealistic in real-time,” Van Hoy added. “They’re taking photorealistic XR to a new level. We believe it’s the highest quality available today.”

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Jan Mitsumori has joined Advanced Systems Group (ASG) as an inside sales representative to its U.S.-based team.

“Jan will be a tremendous asset to our sales team,” said Dave Van Hoy, ASG president. “Her knowledge of media workflows and her work ethic are just what we need; we are lucky to have Jan join ASG at this dynamic time in our company’s journey. Personally, I look forward to working with and learning from Jan.”

Mitsumori has a strong background in media workflow and business development with a focus on digital and media asset management. With industry experience encompassing production, professional services, asset management, workflow analysis, outside sales, VAR, Mitsumori is a frequent panel speaker on the benefits of cloud-based media workflows.

Most recently, Mitsumori was a business development specialist with Workflow Intelligence Nexus. Prior to that, she was vice president of media and entertainment sales for StorExcel and has held similar positions in IT workflow sales and support with Avid, MelroseMAC and WAM!NET.

Based in the greater Los Angeles area, Mitsumori can be reached via email.

EMERYVILLE, CALIF.—Advanced Systems Group has hired John Small as a solutions engineer. He will provide technical expertise on infrastructure and workflows to clients in Los Angeles and the surrounding area and work closely with client management and technical engineering teams to identify issues and solutions for their media production environments.

Small joins the company from Quantum where he served as a pre-sales engineer. Prior to that Small spent 16 years in technical roles at CBS where he was director of technical operations and on-air promotions.

In a press statement, ASG President Dave Van Hoy said Small has “worked in every role you can imagine—from engineering to installation and configuration, environmental design, data center design and implementation, to project management.” He also was part of the remastering team on the original “Star Trek” series.

While at CBS, Small was responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of 70 Avid Media Composer NLEs and finishing bays, ProTools audio bays and graphics workstations, as well as the management of captioning services, publicity shoots and upfront presentations.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has appointed Joe Trepanier to be its director of Cloud Program Management with responsibility for program and project management of ASG’s cloud-based live production team. He will report to the company’s cloud revenue officer.

Before joining ASG, Trepanier held program management and technical support positions at Matrox, Miranda Technologies and Grass Valley, the company said.

Among his new responsibilities are establishing strategic planning, governance principles and processes for the ASG Cloud Services business unit. Trepanier also will set out project benchmarks and performance metrics while implementing continuous improvement programs, it said.

Trepanier’s top priorities will include setting up processes and best practices to improve project delivery to customers, he said.

“Joe has a very unique combination of skills that make him a valuable addition to any company,” said Claudia Souza, cloud revenue officer. “He’s technically proficient and knowledgeable at a very high level. He’s a great communicator with a calm manner that connects with and unites people. And within our new unit of ASG, he can do what he does best – set forth structure and processes that we can implement as we move forward. We’re very excited to have him on board.”

While at Grass Valley, Trepanier managed multiple product program teams from program inception to the end of the product. There, he also met Souza.

“Claudia suggested it would be a great fit for me to bring structure and organizational process to ASG’s cloud initiative,” said Trepanier. “I’m very happy to be at ASG, and I look forward to contributing to the growth and success of a great team.”

Trepanier will be based in Montreal. His email address is jtrepanier@asgllc.com.

More information is available on the company’s website.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Advanced Systems Group has tapped Paul Weiser, who currently leads the company’s field-based marketing activities, to spearhead sales in the Southwest region. In his new role, Weiser will drive sales strategy, oversee personnel, and meet with customers and business partners in the Southwestern United States.

“Paul has an extensive sales leadership background,” said Dave Van Hoy, president, ASG. “We’re fortunate that we can now rely on his marketing and sales acumen. We’ve seen a significant improvement in our marketing efforts in the short time he’s been with ASG. Given his even deeper sales expertise, we’re eager to see what he can accomplish in the Southwest region.”

Weiser’s experience includes leading sales teams for several technology firms. Prior to ASG, he served for three years as senior vice president of sales for the Americas and Asia Pacific regions for ChyronHego. Before that he held a similar role within the Vitec Group’s Production Services Division. Weiser has also led sales teams for AJA Video, Autodesk, Apple and Avid Technology. In 2012, he founded and managed KDM Global, a consulting firm that developed strategic plans for companies in the media and entertainment industry.

MONTREAL—Grass Valley has announced its first three new members of the GV Media Universe (GVMU) Advanced Channel Partner Program. 

The new members—Advanced Systems Group (ASG), ES Broadcast and LOGIC Media Solutions—will extend the reach of Grass Valley’s AMPP (Agile Media Processing Platform) commercial, integration and technical teams to provide media companies with an on-ramp to cloud-based workflows.

“GV Media Universe has been developed to become the leading cloud-based ecosystem for live media production companies around the world and partnerships with key industry players is fundamental to our cloud strategy,” explained Jan Lange, chief revenue officer Grass Valley. “One of the early ideas around the GV Media Universe and AMPP was to make a frictionless user experience for customers, whether that be provisioning cloud instances or adding new capabilities to workflows. With the launch of the GVMU Advanced Channel Partner Program, we were looking for companies that are already transitioning into cloud-based tools; ASG, ES Broadcast and LOGIC Media Solutions are leading the way in making a cloud-first future a reality.”

A leading solutions provider for media creatives and content owners, ASG was selected as the first North America GVMU Advanced Channel Partner. ASG will leverage all AMPP applications for its customer base, including Playout, Master Control, Audio Mixing and cloud-based Switching.

Dave Van Hoy, president at ASG, said, “The media and entertainment industry is increasingly asking ‘how do we make cloud production real?’ Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a lot of discussion on this topic, but now Grass Valley and its GVMU Advanced Channel Partner Program has come up with an answer. By pooling the expertise and experience from a range of specially selected organizations, ASG and Grass Valley will offer an even broader range of solutions for virtualized remote environments. The close partnership with Grass Valley allows us to input on development, provide critical feedback and be privy to early innovation discussions, and we are honored to have been selected by the Grass Valley team.”

ES Broadcast, a major reseller and global broadcast solutions specialist, joins the GVMU Advanced Channel Partner Program as an extension of its mission to integrate cloud solutions – and wider remote production technologies – into the company’s product and services portfolio.

“We are very happy that Grass Valley is the first cloud partnership ES Broadcast enters into, particularly on the back of the lessons we have learned over the past 18 months,” said Jonathan Lyth, Group CTO for ES Broadcast. “As with all the technology solutions we recommend to our clients, our focus is very much on the application of the right tool for the job. We can propose AMPP to our clients with conviction – both from a technical and commercial perspective – based on the granularity of AMPP’s workload-based model, the diversity of workloads it can offer, and the support we have seen. We expect AMPP to sit at the heart of our offering as cloud adoption gathers pace.”

Another partnership with LOGIC Media Solutions, a leading distributor, consultant and system designer for media, enables it to provide its customers with a managed services offering for content production in the cloud.

“A key focus for us is to help our customers solve problems and continue to produce the immersive content they are famous for,” noted Christophe Bingemer, CEO, LOGIC Media Solutions. “We are thrilled to be part of the GVMU Advanced Channel Partner Program and look forward to realizing all the commercial and creative benefits, such as greater flexibility, boosting asset utilization and ensuring production teams can remain local to the markets they serve. Thanks to the power of Grass Valley’s cloud ecosystem, we can extend our portfolio and offer services to our customers we haven’t been able to offer before.”

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has launched its Virtual Production Control Room (VPCR), a remote production service hosted in Google Cloud that allows real-time, broadcast-quality coverage of live events and other programming. 

ASG’s VPCR uses cloud-based production tools from various established industry vendors to deliver a more powerful and versatile virtual control room solution, the company said. 

“Today, there are a lot of applications to produce real-time video in the cloud, but you can’t expect a single application to do it all,” said Dave Van Hoy, president of ASG. “We’ve been building control rooms for decades, so we know there are a lot of elements that have to work together. Why wouldn’t you follow the time-tested concept of using best-in-breed products to create a virtual control room?”

As part of that philosophy, VPCR is a complete cloud solution that requires no on-prem services to deliver content, complete with dynamic switching effects, graphics, animations, captions, and more. Video and audio streams are encrypted for security, and access to each production is fully controlled, the company said. 

Each user receives a secure multi-view monitor of the production, and all users are linked via cloud-based communication channels. Remote operators and contributors can keep a live production running smoothly from desktop-based software or physical control panels. 

Driven by the need for remote production solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the VPCR system was developed around a multi-vendor environment that communicated on a standard, unified signal. It has been refined over the past year by addressing real-world challenges, including redundancy and reliability, while producing multiple shows with ASG clients.

“VPCR has one of the largest possible ecosystems of products that can be effectively ‘wired up’ in the cloud to create these familiar workflows for audio and video professionals,” explained Van Hoy. “And because we based our methodology on standards that already exist in the industry, more products are becoming available for us all the time.”

As a result, VPCR’s cloud-based workflow more closely resembles on-prem production than other solutions, the company said. Users are not limited to, for example, a specific virtual switcher or audio board.

The VPCR ecosystem includes more than two dozen companies, with multiple vendor options in virtually every signal position in the control room. In addition to Google Cloud, key partners for VPCR include Grass Valley, Harrison Consoles, LiveU, Ross, Sienna, Telos, and Vizrt. 

“The vendors we chose used existing technology as the basis for developing their cloud products,” Van Hoy added. “Google Cloud has been a great partner in developing VPCR, and we appreciate all our technology partners for their efforts to help pioneer this venture for us.”

VPCR is available in three different subscription models, with optional engineering services or fully managed production services.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Advanced Systems Group has announced that Paul Weiser is the company’s new head of marketing. He officially joined ASG on Nov. 16, 2020.

Weiser most recently worked for three years as senior vice president of sales for the Americas and Asia Pacific regions at ChyronHego. In his career he has also worked at Vitec Group’s Production Services Division, AJA, Autodesk, Apple and Avid.

“Our industry is evolving, and Paul understands the challenges of cloud-based production services as well as traditional workflows,” said Dave Van Hoy, president of ASG. “It’s important to help our new and existing clients understand how ASG can help with a variety of projects, services and personnel needs. Paul is instrumental in sharing our message and building the ASG brand.”

Weiser is based in Los Angeles.

For more information, visit www.asgllc.com.  

Cooler fall temperatures may be on the way, but the heat is always on for the broadcast and IT equipment in master control. All electronics generate heat—and that heat can build up and damage the various components you need to run your station or provide access to content for post production. Proper cooling extends the life of your gear and makes it more reliable. Of course, most master controls don’t have an ambient temperature that supports IT or broadcast equipment, so you’re going to need more than the integrated fans in your equipment to keep the area cool and mitigate the heat. 

The optimal room temperature for most broadcast equipment is 68 degrees. This is not the same as modern IT server rooms. Much of the IT world has been redesigning equipment to operate in warmer temperatures—between 78 and 80 degrees—which means less cooling is required. Unfortunately, most broadcast equipment still includes temperature-sensitive components that are different than what you’d find in a typical server or switch. 

If you’re moving master control to a new area of an existing building, avoid spaces with exterior windows, which essentially act like solar heaters. And no, there is no window AC on the market that delivers enough cooling for any level of broadcast gear. 

Interior “show off” windows for master control are neither good nor bad, just expensive. Besides the never-ending battle of climate control, master control is filled with equipment that makes lots of noise. You don’t want to hear the fans, hard drive arrays and other components outside of the room—and you don’t want to transmit the heat from other parts of the building into the room. You’ll need a high-end window and a lot of insulation to compensate for both. Unless you really, really need to show off the blinking lights of your servers and broadcast gear, avoid the window. 

Given a choice in room size, bigger is always better. With a smaller space, there’s not a lot of margin for error. If the AC fails, the smaller room will get hotter faster, which means the risk of damaging your equipment gets much higher much faster. 

Some master control areas are nothing more than recommissioned closets with insufficient AC. For compact spaces like this, companies like Liebert and Emcor offer self-contained rack enclosure systems with integrated cooling systems, which can act as primary or secondary cooling alternatives. 

Remember, it’s essential that you have some way to not only cool the room but to remove heat from the equipment in the room. There are definitely more efficient equipment layouts to aid in your cooling quest. One time-tested technique is the “hot aisle/cold aisle” layout, which uses air flow management based on your equipment’s interior cooling fans. 

If you have multiple racks, the ideal cooling situation is to have them facing away from each other. The cooling fans intake air from the front, exhausting hotter air in the back, and then the hot air is directed toward the room’s AC return vent. By lowering the friction of air movement within the room, the air entering the equipment is as cold as possible. Studies have shown the hot aisle/cold aisle layout can increase AC efficiency by up to 20%, which can result in significant power savings. 

For a long time, there was a theory in our industry that colder was better. It’s true that cold is far more forgiving than heat when it comes to broadcast and IT equipment, and it’s always best to err on the side of being too cool as opposed to being too warm. However, you shouldn’t need to wear a parka if your master control is properly designed, particularly with today’s quality air conditioning systems and advanced thermostats.

Dave Van Hoy is the president of Advanced Systems Group, a systems integrator based in Emeryville, Calif., with offices in Los Angeles, the New York Metro Area, and the Rocky Mountain Region. Contact him at 510-654-8300 or visit www.asgllc.com.  

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Advanced Systems Group has been providing tools for content creators to continue producing high-quality content from their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, announcing that in the last two months it has shipped more than 120 remote production kits.

ASG is sending lighting kits, laptops, high-quality microphones and DSLR cameras with desktop tripods and prompters to clients’ homes. ASG customizes each kit to provide what each client needs, while also working around current equipment inventory shortages, the company said.

ASG has also provided training and best practices as needed for on-camera talent.

“The broadcast technical community has stepped up with creative solutions to enable video production to continue outside of the traditional studio environments, and corporate communications professionals have followed suit,” said Dave Van Hoy, president of ASG. “Our remote production kits are helping clients produce professional results despite the inherent limitations of at-home productions.”

ASG says that it has units readily available.

For more information, visit www.asgllc.com.  

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Advanced Systems Group has officially announced the hiring of Steve Young to head up its business operations and organizational development for the company’s systems integration business. Young joined the company back on Nov. 4.

“We are very excited to welcome Steve to the ASG team,” said Dave Van Hoy, president of ASG. “He understands how to maximize technology and manage projects to deliver the best results for our customers.”

Young most recently was the COO for David Carroll Associates. He also has more than 15 years of experience with Sony Electronics, where he served as the director of systems solutions and helped develop and deploy broadcast, media and entertainment, and enterprise AV technology.

Young will be based at ASG’s main office in Emeryville.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.—Media technology and engineering firm Advanced Systems Group has officially announced the hiring of John Shike as a key accounts manager. Shike joined the company in late March and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, where provides support to Silicon Valley companies that use ASG for video production, audio engineering and media storage technology.

Shike joined ASG after having previously served as the vice president at Snell Advanced Media for 18 years, managing business development, marketing and channel partners throughout North and South America. He also has experience as the director of marketing and business development for Spruce Technologies, was a board member for the Advanced Metadata Workflow Association during the creation of MXF and other file formats, and most recently was an account executive at VMI. In addition, he volunteers as director of educators and educational institutions for SMPTE’s Membership Committee.

“As we continue to grow our business in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley, from systems integration to managed services, we’re very pleased to have someone with John’s experience to support the complex workflows for our high-tech clients in the area,” said Dave Van Hoy, president of ASG.

EMERYVILLE, Calif. — David Frederick has joined Advanced Systems Group as head of marketing and will be responsible for all external communication, event coordination and product and services messaging for ASG and its wholly owned subsidiary DiaQuest.

“We’ve built a long relationship with Dave because of his work with us as a preferred VAR, and we’re proud to welcome him to the team,” said Dave Van Hoy, president of ASG.

Frederick most recently served as senior director of marketing for SDVI Corp. His career includes nine years holding various marketing positions at Omneon and Harmonic, and three years as senior director of worldwide media and entertainment segment marketing a Quantum Corp. He also has held marketing roles at SGI, SonicWALL and Tintri.

Fredrick is based in Cupertino, Calif., and can be reached at 510-654-8300 or via email at dfredrick@asgllc.com.

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EMERYVILLE, CALIF.—Advanced Systems Group is an Emeryville, Calif.-based systems integrator celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and is known for being one of the largest installers of post-production and shared storage systems on the West Coast. TV Technology recently talked with company President Dave Van Hoy to discuss how systems integration has evolved over the last two decades for broadcasters.

TV Technology: What prompted you to start ASG in 1997?

Dave Van Hoy: I wanted to buy a prominent professional audio company in Northern California, but Rosemary Rodd, my friend and a tremendous business mentor, convinced me to start my own company. The business plan was centered on the brand-new DVD authoring marketplace, which was very complicated and expensive at the time.

My premise was that if we invested in the technology and became the industry experts, we could build our business around that and dominate the marketplace. As it turned out, that’s exactly what happened. As we built relationships within the industry, we expanded our focus and became a full-service production and post-production VAR.

We also got lucky. One of the early DVD authoring pioneers, Spruce Technologies, was acquired by Apple in 2001. Their software eventually became DVD Studio Pro. We were close with the Spruce team and we became the first Apple Pro Video VAR. That led us to expand our work with Xsan and other storage systems—and by 2008, we were one of the largest SAN installers in the western United States.

TVT: What have been the biggest changes to broadcast news workflows in the past 20 years?

DVH: By far the biggest change I’ve seen in news workflows was the move away from physical recording mediums. It revolutionized how news was done and was a catalyst for the adoption of IT-centric equipment. The movement began in earnest 15 years ago and really gained steam about 10 years ago. The other major change to broadcast news workflows was the implementation of newsroom control systems, which couldn’t have existed without these file-based workflows.

The seminal moment for us at ASG was when we helped KCBS/KCAL move from Columbia Square to the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles. The stations were designed around all file-based digital workflows with one fundamental rule: no tape in the new building. Looking back now, that was a game-changer.

TVT: What have been the major changes in TV news studios?

DVH: Over the past 20 years, there have been three major changes to TV news studios. First, there’s been a move to low-energy lighting, which started with fluorescent fixtures and now includes LED. This has significantly reduced AC and power requirements while allowing more flexibility on the set.

The down-market trend of cameras has also been important. It doesn’t take a $150,000 camera to produce quality images in the studio for a news broadcast anymore. That’s been a big change in the ability to create a great looking product, particularly for smaller market stations.

Finally, camera robotics has brought tremendous change to broadcast news because the technology has effectively removed camera operators from the studio. They’re using robotics even in the smallest markets. For the studio operator, it’s a huge cost savings.

TVT: How disruptive was the industry’s upgrade to HD, and will 4K (UHD) be as disruptive to broadcasters when ATSC 3.0 is adopted?

DVH: We all know HD was tremendously disruptive in many ways. Remember, for many broadcasters, the DTV transition was more than a move to HD. It was also a repack required by the FCC that moved many stations to new digital channels.

The move to ATSC 3.0 will be far less traumatic than the move to HD. When stations were operating in SD, they could get away with a simple composite or component infrastructure. That wasn’t an option for a plant with HD; an SDI infrastructure was required because there was no other way to distribute HD signals. Today, the vast majority of stations already support a 3G-SDI infrastructure, which can support UHD signals, and many have adopted IP-based workflows. There will still be work to do, especially if broadcasters want to introduce data services and explore other revenue opportunities, but it should be a less painful process.

When it comes to UHD, I’m not sure there’s a value proposition for local news. The move from SD to HD was dramatic for newsrooms, but will UHD significantly improve shots of an anchor behind the desk or man-on-the-street interviews? Sports and other fast-moving programming definitely benefit from UHD—and maybe you can make a case for improved weather graphics—but I just don’t think the transition from HD to UHD is going to be that compelling for most local news viewers.

TVT: How significant was the move from tape-based workflows to file-based workflows for ENG?

DVH: Talk about a difference—with today’s high-quality codecs and improved telecommunication infrastructures, news crews are able to send footage back from the field as a file. That alone is a tremendous benefit because it provides production flexibility. Companies like TVU Networks provide truck-like functionality through an IP-based mobile uplink housed in a backpack. The idea that you can send live HD video back to the studio over bonded cellular modems is pretty amazing.

Tape didn’t die, it’s just moved from the front end to the back end of the process. In fact, it’s a very big part of broadcast news workflow, but its function has changed from acquisition to long-term storage. LTO tape provides the least expensive, most dense storage on the market. It’s used by virtually every broadcaster because it’s so inexpensive and offers a long, guaranteed lifespan.

TVT: Looking forward, what will be the next technological challenges for broadcasters?

DVH: I think certainly UHD is the next step for broadcasters, but we should also see the continuing evolution of OTT services that engage the user in many ways. Virtually everyone is a multiscreen viewer and stations have to compete against so many other options in the marketplace. At the end of the day, the broadcast business is still about selling ads and attracting audience, so stations need to continue to offer innovative programming and services that engage consumers.