AJA has announced that the multi-camera cinematic production solutions shop Funicular Goats has been using its technologies on a variety of productions, including the AJA FS-HDR for live grading, the  AJA Ki Pro Ultra 12G ProRes and DNx recorders/players and the AJA KUMO 3232-12G router. 

Since launching in 2019 with co-founding trio Morgan Kellum, James Coker, and Aaron Cooke at the helm, Funicular Goats established a stellar reputation across the live event, broadcast, and streaming production communities. Today, its multi-camera equipment, workflow, and technical management expertise is sought after for a wide array of projects, including big-name concert productions, the annual big game halftime show, comedy specials, and more. 

Its team works closely with all key project stakeholders to plan a well-thought-out, multi-camera workflow design, and the encompassing tech – including cameras, comms, the engineering fly pack, cameras, wireless systems for the cameras, transmission (digital, broadcast, or satellite) fiber infrastructure, and on-set monitoring solutions. Projects average 10-20 cameras per show, but the team has worked on projects involving up to more than 30 cameras, the founders of the company explained.  

Across productions, Funicular Goats must manage different elements and workflow refinement, but ninety percent of the time, the project demands live grading, which means AJA FS-HDR real-time HDR/WCG converters are on set. Running a camera log feed through the FS-HDR allows the team to achieve a more comprehensive range of RGB to build a better look than using just an RCP camera control alone. 

“Productions are often looking for ways to execute their projects but aren’t certain how to do it, so they lean on us. We advise them on how to make it happen and help them achieve the look they’re aiming for in the most efficient way,” explained Morgan Kellum. “We have a comfortable history of doing shows in certain ways and using specific tools (like FS-HDR for live color grading and frame sync), so we'll lean into that, but we also figure out how to modify the workflow and our fly packs and fiber systems to suit each client’s specific needs."

Projects typically require SDR delivery, but Funicular Goats is seeing HDR requests grow, especially for concert productions and larger scale event broadcasts. To this end, FS-HDR has become a Swiss army knife for the team. 

“We love FS-HDR, from its redundant power to the fact that we can count on it to do what it’s supposed to without fail,” explained Coker. “It has great features for everything from embedding to frame syncing and live grading; it does it all.”

FS-HDR also supports conversion needs across Funicular Goat projects. The team may need to use it to help step down a 12G-SDI or 6G-SDI feed from a cinema camera to 1080 for viewing, as well as for coloring and recording. The device also enables frame rate conversion, which the team will leverage when moving from 24p to a broadcast standard for a truck workflow. They might bring back a log feed 23.98p that will hit their distribution amplifier (DA) and into a switcher where they cut 23p. Out of the DA, that feed might go to the FS-HDR, where they can then go 29.9p and elsewhere with it to a line cut, and cut 29.97p for broadcast, the companies reported. 

In addition to live grading, recording is essential to Funicular Goats’ workflow designs. The team often completes 4K recordings with a cinema camera, with a 1080 workflow out for a reference line for added flexibility. If delivering a 1080 project, they’ll record the loaded or color corrected 1080 files to AJA Ki Pro Ultra 12G ProRes and DNx recorders/players. This approach ensures they have a master finish of the project as well as the 4K log footage to work with. 

If footage is already color corrected, Funicular Goats can do an online cleanup with those files or edit with them as well, the company explained. They may opt to use Ki Pro Ultra 12G as a quad HD recorder for four 1080 feeds on one project, or for backup 1080 recordings, ISOs of the cameras, or to create multiple copies of a program or multiple views on others. Sometimes, they’ll even do a 6G-SDI or 12G-SDI into the Ki Pro Ultra 12G. When they need to hand off thumb drives with H.264 recordings after an event, they often use AJA Ki Pro GO. 

“We love our Ki Pros because they’re so flexible; they give us a lot of options and provide a cost-effective way to record in different flavors. We get edit ready files that we can have our downloader dump onto a drive to be shared with production,” added Kellum. “AJA gear like Ki Pro Ultra 12G and FS-HDR are staples in our inventory, and we use them on nearly every show because they’ve got such a great track record of being reliable. We also use of a ton of other AJA products – everything from the KUMO 3232-12G routers, to the 12GDA and Hi5 Mini-Converters, throw down distribution amplifiers, and FS2 frame syncs.”

Funicular Goats’ credits span the Elton John concert at Dodger Stadium, “The Weekend: Live at SoFi Stadium” for HBO Max, as well as comedy specials and the annual big game, and more. For the big game halftime show earlier this year, Funicular Goats captured 29.97p from Sony VENICE 2 cameras. 

The feeds were sent to its production truck with an AJA KUMO 3232-12G router on-board. The feeds hit their distribution amplifiers first, and were then sent through the router and Funicular Goats’ 12 FS-HDRs, as well as through 16 additional FS-HDRs on site, and then into the switcher and out for broadcast distribution. The FS-HDRs enabled the DIT crew to work with the log and HDR feeds and bounce them back and forth while also supporting frame syncing to lock all feeds with the main program audio. 

Whether servicing the halftime show production, a concert, or a comedy special, Funicular Goats excels at finding innovative ways to use new equipment to help clients meet and exceed their production goals. Morgan concluded, 

“Our dedication to the technology and craft shines through in the look and feel of every project,” Kellum said. “What gets me excited to come to work each day are the great team of people I work with and the fact that I get to play a part in influencing the look and feel of these projects. Getting to play with cool gear from AJA gear often is a bonus.”

WORCESTER, England—Timecode Systems now falls under the Atomos banner with the news of Atomos’ acquisition of the wireless sync technology developer. A key part of this new partnership will be the development of integrated multicamera workflows of on-set recording devices.

Atomos founder and CEO Jeromy Young believes that Timecode Systems’ RF protocol will be the “bulletproof link” to help solve the disconnect between recording devices they see holding back multicamera content creation. “To truly shoot collaboratively, everything needs to work in perfect, frame-accurate sync—there has to be a robust wireless connection,” said Young.

The Timecode Systems wireless sync standard will now be featured across new editions of Atomos’ entire product range, as well as be packaged as a free SDK for third-party manufacturers. Among the first Atomos products to integrate Timecode Systems technology will be the AtomX Sync module for the Ninja V and the Neon series of monitors.

“Both companies have a history of executing successful collaborations with best-of-breed technology partners; this just takes it to a whole new level,” said Paul Scurrell, CEO and co-founder of Timecode Systems. “The impact is going be industry-changing.”

At this year’s NAB Show, exhibitors showcased storage, recording and cloud technologies with unique technologies to accelerate broadcast workflows, provide media production capabilities on demand, handle the ingest of live video to the cloud, and record and play back broadcast-quality content.

CLOUD

AMAGI MEDIA LABS introduced TORNADO, a machine learning-based content preparation service that enables TV networks and content owners to scale their operations, accelerate broadcast workflows, generate new revenues and reduce operational costs.

AVID unveiled Avid|On Demand, a cloud services and solutions platform that provides media production capabilities on demand. Media organizations can deploy the capabilities they need on a per-project basis and allows teams to manage and deliver content to any device anywhere—all in a secure environment with controlled access.

AWS ELEMENTAL showed the newest version of the AWS Elemental Live L000 Series appliance, which ingests live video to AWS Elemental MediaStore to show cost-efficient contribution to the cloud for low-power, space-constrained or remote facilities.

BROADCAST PIX introduced the ioGates Desktop App, a solution that allows users to view and distribute large content files through a secure cloud-based video management service. With the new app, users can customize content delivery to specific devices to accommodate various workflows and format requirements. The system is compatible with Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems, whereby users can view and browse files—as well as upload files—within specific folders of an ioGates cloud account.

DNF CONTROLS unveiled new and enhanced solutions focused on helping users transition to virtual and cloud-based IP control with Cloud Content Control. Via a collaboration with AWS Elemental, this live cloud playout system includes play-to-air automation that controls a GTP-32 control processor that emulates a video server channel, with content housed remotely on Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) and accessed via Elemental’s Live Cloud. The company also showed its GTP-V1 software-only control solution for radio and TV applications.

EVERTZ and INTERRA SYSTEMS announced a new cloud-enabled integration solution of the Interra BATON file-based QC solution with the Evertz Mediator X media asset management platform to simplify automation of quality control for media developers, producers and distributors.

IBM ASPERA unveiled IBM Aspera on Cloud, a new hosted service that provides the means to transfer, exchange and deliver content from any location. It overcomes the file transfer challenges of the hybrid cloud by allowing media companies to move content securely across on-premises and multi-cloud environments.

IMAGINE PRODUCTS and STORAGE DNA partnered to introduce the myLTOdna, a new product that integrates elements of the Imagine Products myLTO tape-authoring application and StorageDNA HyperTape access tape solution powered by dnaLTFS.

PEBBLE BEACH demonstrated the newest versions of Beluga, which integrates with the company’s playout automation system to prep content for linear playout, OTT and VOD distribution via the cloud; and Orca, a virtualized IP channel solution for playout from the private or public cloud.

PLAYBOX TECHNOLOGY introduced a new transcoder for its SaaS-based CloudAir playout solution, with support multiple file wrappers and formats including MPEG PS/TS, MXF, QT, AVI, MP4, GXF, MPG2, H.264, ProRes, DNX HD and MJPEG. Other new features for CloudAir include an enhanced graphics editor template preparation interface, improved playlist editing, advanced playlist export to EPGs and automated linking of stored assets.

QUANTUM introduced a hybrid cloud/onpremise solution known as aiWARE for Xcellis. It’s a hybrid on-premises and cloud version of the Veritone artificial intelligence platform that uses cognitive analytics—such as object recognition, optical character recognition and transcription—to extract value from video and audio stored on Quantum appliances.

ROSS VIDEO launched Streamline.cloud, a cloud-based version of the Streamline media asset management that allows for files to be stored either in the cloud or in a local facility and moved between locations using Ross Video’s Cloud Gateway.

SDVI debuted two new features within its cloud-based SaaS service. Rally Gateway creates customer-branded content submission portals to serve as automated on-ramps into the media supply chain. The second, Rally Access, presents media supply chain managers with a timeline-based view of issues discovered during preparation and packaging. 

TELESTREAM introduced new features for Telestream Cloud Services, a service portal that provides access to a number of digital media processing capabilities in a SaaS model. New features include auto-transcription and file-based quality control as well as Flip transcoding and Workflow services.

VIZRT announced the availability of its Viz One MAM on Amazon Web Services, a move that the company said will provide more flexibility and choice for organizations who are looking to use the scalability and accessibility of cloud-based solutions. Media companies are able to access content from virtually any location with the with Vizrt’s Viz One either entirely on AWS or as part of a hybrid architecture.

XYTECH introduced Dash, a new cloudbased software solution that gives smallto mid-sized media and post facilities robust workflow management capabilities. Available on an affordable monthly subscription basis, Dash is based on the Microsoft Azure Managed Cloud platform.

STORAGE, RECORDING & REPLAY

1BEYOND introduced the Beyond Net-Drive and ThunderTape 3 systems, both of which support LTO-8 drives. The Net-Drive archiving devices are designed for transferring files to LTO tapes and can be used as standalone devices or attached to a network. All come standard with RAID storage and multiple 1/10 Gigabit connections. The ThunderTape 3 archiving device is a portable LTO device available with dual drives that is designed for individual users or small post facilities looking for a way to connect a tape drive to an existing Macintosh for an LTO backup solution.

360 SYSTEMS introduced the TSS-2470 II, a new hybrid IP/SDI server which also serves as a variable time delay.

ATOMOS announced that its Shogun Inferno and Sumo 19 monitor/recorders will now offer real-time recording in the new Apple ProRes RAW format from the sensor output of Panasonic, Sony and Canon cameras.

AVID introduced Avid NEXIS|E5 NL, a new nearline storage, high-density onpremise solution that manages media across all online, nearline and archive storage resources. Features include a new web-based Avid NEXIS management console app for managing, controlling and monitoring Avid|NEXIS installations. Extending the Avid NEXIS|FS (file system) to a secondary storage tier eliminates the need for third-party tools to search for, find and import media from multiple pools of third-party storage, the company said, which enables users to locate content distributed throughout an operation more quickly.

CONVERGENT DESIGN showcased the newest version of Apollo, which can record up to four 1080p streams and offers live switching, and the Odyssey 7+, a monitor recorder with a 7.7-inch OLED monitor with 3400:1 contrast and 1280x800 resolution.

DATAVIDEO introduced the HS-13, a new all-in-one system that offers streaming and recording within a portable production studio. It features an H.264 streaming encoder and recorder as well as a six-channel video switcher and LCD monitor for multi-view. The company also released the NVS-40, a four-channel video encoder, streaming unit and recording station.

EDITSHARE announced that its XStream EFS shared storage solution now features ACL Media Spaces and offers new storage space reporting capabilities. The company also showed new capabilities within the EFS 40NL nearline storage solution for EFS tiered storage.

EVS introduced XT-VIA live production server for UHD-4K and IP operation as well as an integration with VIA, EVS’ new technology platform of modular services and workflow engines. By connecting to the XNet-VIA media network, XT-VIA connects to all new EVS products and solutions, offering a flexible way to share live content to and from anywhere in the workflow.

FACILIS TECHNOLOGY showcased the latest version of its Facilis Shared File System, which builds on v7 and features real-time and historical bandwidth monitoring of volumes and workstations, RAID50 and RAID51 management through an admin console, automatic load balancing of clients and remote client deployment.

HARMONIC launched new VOS SW Cluster software, which embeds media processing capabilities with support for cloud and hardware compute environments, thereby enabling operators to quickly launch OTT services.

MASSTECH debuted a new version of its FlashNet media object storage solution, and MassStore, a media object framework platform that orchestrates services and workflows from multiple vendors.

NEWTEK showed the newest version of NewTek Remote Storage, which offers four streams of direct NDI playback.

PRIMESTREAM introduced a new Media Player Recorder and Media Processing Framework designed to boost 4K workflow and give users the ability to edit-while-capturing in Adobe Premiere Pro and Apple Final Cut Pro. The company also debuted Review Hub, a new SaaS system integrated into Xchange that allows users to securely share and collect feedback.  

PLAYBOX TECHNOLOGY introduced Neo TS Time Delay, a 1U IP-based delay server providing fully transparent delay of IP transport streams such as DVB/ATSC MPEG broadcast-quality compressed video and audio.

QUANTUM debuted enhancements to its Xcellis workflow storage family and StorNext shared storage and data management platform. The new version of the Xcellis scale-out NAS platform delivers scalable Ethernet-based storage and combines high-performance media and metadata management to support collaborative workflows.

QUOBYTE introduced new hyperscale storage software for M&E collaboration. This parallel distributed file system leverages “hyperscaler technology” (the ability of an architecture to scale appropriately as increased demand is added to the system) to unify file, block, and object storage to allow post production, visual effects, and playout workflows to reduce administrative overhead while providing secure data integrity for collaboration across a workflow chain.

ROHDE & SCHWARZ has rebuilt its R&S VENICE platform for live production, studio production and channel playout applications. The rebuild features an ultra-robust design for airplay with a new underlying software structure called virtual storage access (VSA) technology that enables an interruption free playout operation.

ROSS VIDEO launched the Abekas Tria News playout server, designed for television newsrooms, offering efficient ingest and reliable playout of newsroom media assets from four independent PGM playout channels.

SUITCASETV showed off the newest version of the MediaStor storage platform and the MediaStor File System, which aggregates multiple storage servers into a single unified structure.

VIDEO CLARITY introduced the Venue Player IP video server, which automatically plays multiple uncompressed segments of content to multiple screens in precise timing and sequence. It applies recently developed and standardized media flows for playing video and audio according to SMPTE ST 2110.

VIDEO DEVICES introduced a new set of features for the PIX-E Series of 4K-compatible recording monitors. With Firmware v3.50, the PIX-E Series offers playback functionality such as the ability to add, delete, and locate to cue markers; create a custom playlist; and loop playback of individual recordings, regions or playlists.

As the demand for storage and recording skyrockets, so do the solutions on the NAB show floor. This year attendees can expect to find cloud-based options that can address packaging and metadata delivery, multipurpose video engines that provide ingest, playout and channel origination, and even miniaturized decks that can record and play back broadcast-quality content just as well as the big guys.

CLOUD

AMAGI MEDIA LABS will show CLOUDPORT for VOD, which packages content and metadata for delivery, as well as provide automated QC, and TORNADO content preparation service for generating VOD content from a live feed in real time.

ASPERA will feature the newest version of Aspera Files, an SaaS solution designed for sharing and exchanging large files and data sets directly from cloud and on-prem storage.

AVID will demo Cloud UX MediaCentral, a task-oriented graphical user interface that runs on top of an operating system or mobile device that allows team members to collaborate remotely. The company will also show Cloud VM, which enables a user in a facility to access Media Composer software virtually using a laptop or tablet with a high-speed network connection; and Cloud Remote, which enables users to mix local and remote content in the same timeline.

AWS ELEMENTAL will highlight its cloud-based solutions for use with ingest, production, processing, delivery and networking, with a look at both appliance-based as well as hybrid workflow solutions.

PEBBLE BEACH SYSTEMS will demonstrate Beluga, which helps broadcasters transitioning to the cloud. Beluga integrates with the company’s playout automation system to prep content for linear playout, OTT and VOD distribution.

PLAYBOX TECHNOLOGY will show the latest versions of its CloudAir virtual broadcast ecosystem.

QUANTUM will debut a hybrid cloud/on-premise solution known as aiWARE for Xcellis. The hybrid solution offers cognitive analytics in areas such as object recognition, optical character recognition and transcription to extract hidden value from on-premise video and audio content.

SDVI will showcase Rally, a cloud-based platform that deploys, manages and optimizes media supply chains for on-premise and cloud infrastructures.

TELESTREAM will highlight its Telestream Cloud Services, a service portal that provides access to a number of digital media processing capabilities in a SaaS model. New features include auto-transcription and file-based quality control as well as Flip transcoding and Workflow services.

STORAGE, RECORDING AND REPLAY

360 SYSTEMS will feature the TSS 2470 II time delay server, which can alter the delay time on-the-fly and handle simple time zone shifting, commercial insertion and disaster recovery.

AVID will showcase two versions of Avid NEXIS: PRO, which can scale to 160TB, and E2, which now supports SSD drives to support multiple streams of ultra-high-resolution media in real time. Additionally, Avid NEXIS Enterprise systems now scale to 4.8 PB of raw storage.

BLACKMAGIC DESIGN will feature HyperDeck Studio Mini, a miniaturized professional deck that records and plays back broadcast-quality 10-bit video using commonly available SD and UHS-II cards; HyperDeck Studio, a rackmount broadcast deck with dual slots; Blackmagic Video assist, a storage/monitor combination that includes SD card recorders for HD or 4K recording via 7-inch and 5-inch monitor models; and UltraStudio, a Thunderbolt capture and playback solution.

CHYRONHEGO will show its CAMIO 4.4 publishing tool and LUCI5 content generation tool, as well as the next generation of LyricX 3.2, the company’s graphics creation and playout system.

CINEGY will show Cinegy Air PRO, a real-time playout server and automation system.

CONVERGENT DESIGN will showcase Apollo, which can record up to four 1080p streams and offers live switching, and the Odyssey 7+ monitor recorder with a 7.7-inch OLED monitor with 3400:1 contrast and 1280x800 resolution.

EDITSHARE will showcase its XStream EFS storage product family, including the EFS 450, a scale-out storage system that offers enterprise-class storage capabilities and can be configured from 100 TB up to 5 PB.

EVS will demo its series of live production servers, including the XT4K and XS4K servers. The XT4K offers enhanced I/O flexibility for 12G-SDI or IP, UHD-4K operations up to four channels of XAVC-4K and 10-bit HDR. The XS4K provides similar capabilities that are optimized for studio-based ingest and playback.

HARMONIC will showcase its media processing engine VOS SW Cluster, which offers playout as well as encoding, origin and packaging, and can be deployed on private/public cloud and via localized storage.

MASSTECH will show the FlashNet media object storage solution, a scalable system that can be deployed on-prem or across cloud suppliers; and MassStore, a media object framework platform that orchestrates services and workflows from multiple vendors and can manage basic media functions such as movement and search.

NEWTEK will demonstrate NewTek 3Play 3P1, a replay solution that includes NDI capability as well as 3G SDI input, cross conversion and output. A dual-channel telestration feature allows talent to draw over live video. The company will also show the latest version of the NVG1, the NewTek-Vizrt IP graphics server for delivering real-time animated 3D graphics in resolutions up to 4K.

NVERZION will highlight NFinity, a four-channel broadcast video server designed for broadcast, university, house of worship or production applications.

PRIMESTREAM will introduce new updates to its core technologies to ingest IP sources into single or multiple self-contained file formats and transcode into ProRes, XDCAM, DNxHD, AVC-Intra and H.264, then move that content through to production, management and delivery. Also new is a SaaS review and approval system that can be integrated with existing Xchange systems, or can include a small on-site version of Xchange. The company will also debut an update to its 4K/UHD workflow with support for HDR pass-through, live preview and proxy generation and comprehensive Xchange Public APIs with signatures and client access keys, allowing customers to extend IMF workflow in conjunction with third-party applications.

PLAYBOX TECHNOLOGY will show the latest versions of its server-based Neo IP/SDI playout solutions.

QUANTUM will showcase the Xcellis scaleout NAS storage platform. Also on display is the entry-level Xcellis Foundation storage system, targeted toward small- to medium-sized postproduction facilities and corporate video departments.

ROHDE & SCHWARZ will show the newest generation of the R&S VENICE media server. Offering interoperability with third-party equipment, the media processing and playout platform bridges hybrid SDI and IP broadcast infrastructures. The company will also show the newest version of the R&S CLIPSTER mastering and distribution system.

SUITCASETV plans to show its Iphrame Flyaway ++ for the first time at the NAB show. This remote production technology solution has the ability to handle IP, ASI and SDI signals in a physical or cloud environment. The company may also show Clipper, its continuous recording solution designed for compliance obligation or content storage.

TELESTREAM will be on hand with Light-speed Live Capture, a scalable IP and baseband capture solution that serves as an entry-point ingest solution for live media.

VIDEO CLARITY will show its Venue Player with 4K or 2K capability, and ClearView Player IP, a server with record and playback functions for uncompressed video that can record one channel and play back up to two channels of uncompressed video programming.

VIDEO DEVICES, a brand of Sound Devices, LLC, will show the newest version of its PIX-E Series line of recording field monitors. Features include Apple ProRes and H.264 recording capabilities, a capacitive touchscreen, 500 nits of brightness and a nearly 180-degree angle of view.

VITEC will be at the show with its House of Worship Streaming Solution. Integrated with its Renewed Vision ProVideoServer, the solution allows churches to easily record one or more high-quality encoded streams from a main campus, embed time code and multichannel audio and playback those streams at the satellite campus at any time.

It’ll hardly come as a surprise that the cloud is booming—as a secure archiving repository, as a host for live and linear channel playout, as a way to sync clients and to manage VOD depositories. Back here on earth, on-premise storage is also experiencing a boom. Storage devices are taking on multiple new roles (sometimes as encoder, converter, recorder and player all wrapped into one) as well as workhorses collaborating in shared hybrid partnerships and managing ever-growing TBs of data.

CLOUD
AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES debuted liveOrigin, part of its cloud Media Services Live system, designed to deliver 24/7 live/linear online video capabilities for OTT video service providers and broadcasters.

Amagi CLOUDPORT 3.0 Cloud-Based Channel Playout Platform

AMAGI launched SKYLIGHT, a cloud-managed broadcast services platform that offers TV networks cloud-led, end-to-end services encompassing content preparation, channel playout, content delivery and monetization for both linear TV and OTT. The company also announced a new scheduling feature for its CLOUDPORT 3.0 Cloud-Based Channel Playout Platform.

ELEMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES announced its rebranding to AWS Elemental, finalizing its integration with Amazon Web Services and showcased several cloud-based video solutions for HDR, live channel playout for linear 24/7 broadcast channel creation, and the management of VOD libraries.

ASPERA demo-ed its new streaming platform service, which allows streaming providers to make modifications across a variety of clients using Aspera Files and Aspera Transfer Service SaaS platforms. Other pieces of the puzzle include Aspera FASPStream technology for transporting live broadcast quality-video and data feeds, Aspera Drive 3.0, Aspera Shares 2.0 and Aspera Orchestrator 3.0.

Dejero LIVE+ Control

BROADPEAK showcased its cloud PVR solution, which enables operators to launch multiple recordings on various channels simultaneously without constraint on the available bandwidth or number of tuners on their reception device.

Management up in the cloud was the name of the game for DEJERO, which highlighted LIVE+ Control cloud-based management system for managing transmitters, servers and content from a web browser.

FLORICAL debuted Acuitas Cloud, optimized for rapid OTT deployments; its Smart Central suite enables Acuitas IP operations in virtualized, private or traditional environments. Enhanced client apps Remote Air- Boss, Supervisory Monitor and Order Entry permit on-air control and oversight from any connected site. Flash Forward added Signiant and Isilon workflows for centralized ingest; enterprise-level AirBoss upped “channels managed” to 50.

HARMONIC introduced new techniques for transitioning broadcasters and OTT video providers to the cloud with the VOS Cloud software and VOS 360 SaaS solutions.

NETAPP showcased its App Cloud Media Services, including a NetApp Private Storage feature, which allows for data management across IT environments.

NET INSIGHT unveiled new cloud-based media services within its Connector Marketplace, which allows cloud-service providers to offer services such as transcoding and encoding, graphics insertion and live-streaming. The company also introduced Sye 360°, a live and synchronized 360-degree OTT streaming solution that offers broadcasters the ability to synchronize the live OTT feed with a linear broadcast.

Prime Focus Technologies DAX Production Cloud software

PRIME FOCUS TECHNOLOGIES launched DAX Production Cloud software, designed to improve workflow efficiency by centralizing assets into a single repository that can be accessed by authorized individuals throughout the content lifecycle. It enables editorial, creative agencies, VFX and localization vendors to collaborate, service and distribute media on the same software.

QUANTUM showcased how its StorNext solution supports an artificial intelligence platform from Veritone. Veritone’s aiWARE on-premise and cloud AI platform is now an integrated solution with the StorNext workflow storage system.

ROSS VIDEO introduced Inception. cloud, designed for live productions, and the Inception Discovery research tool. Inception Social, Inception Live and Inception News now include a new MOS gateway designed specifically for the cloud.

SIGNIANT showcased how its cloud-centric accelerated transport technology architecture is being used to deliver multi-Gbps throughput to cloud storage.

SQUARE BOX SYSTEMS launched the CatDV Archive to Cloud in response to customer demand for the ability to leverage cloud services in their MAM operations.

STREAMBOX showcased Streambox Cloud, which resides globally on Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure Cloud to deliver a broadcastcentric environment for newsgathering, live video contribution, video monitoring, internal/external video distribution, and live transcoding.

STREAMGUYS showcased new video features within its cloud-based SGrecast live stream repurposing platform at the show. The recording capabilities allow broadcasters to transform live, linear video streams into podcasts and side channels.

Video switching solutions provider THE SWITCH showcased its first cloud-based TV production service, Cumulus, at the show. The company demonstrated how a live television production environment can be set up and controlled via production control surfaces located anywhere in the world using Cumulus and the company’s FiveNines transmission network.

TERADEK announced a series of upgrades to its Core and Sharelink cloud platforms that are designed to expand the capabilities of their H.264 and H.265 codecs by introducing multiplatform delivery, transcoding, third-party encoder support and remote management of VidiU encoders.

VIDOVATION showed its advanced cloud-based live video IP mobile journalism solution—otherwise known as MOJO.

SERVERS AND RECORDERS
360 SYSTEMS introduced the TSS Mini 2100 and 2200, which offer two channels of record or playout as well as encoding, decoding, up and down conversation, and remote control capability. Also new was the TSS-4000, a four-channel SD and HD playout server; VTH-2280, which offers two bidirectional HD and SD channels and up/down/cross conversion; TSS-3100, a three-channel SD and HD system with up to 8 TB of storage; and the new TSS-2470 Time Delay, a single-channel delay server that delays from 30 seconds to 40 hours in HD or 80 hours in SD.

AJA showcased its Ki Pro Ultra Plus, which offers either 1-, 2-, 3- or 4-channel simultaneous HD recording up to 1080 50/60p, and full HDMI 2.0 for 4K/UltraHD workflows.

Blackmagic Design UltraStudio HD Mini

BLACKMAGIC DESIGN debuted UltraStudio HD Mini, a portable Thunderbolt 3 broadcast-quality 10-bit YUV and 12-bit RGB capture and playback solution, specifically designed to enable customers to perform archive, edit, and monitor live broadcast graphics.

CHYRONHEGO introduced the Virtual Production Server (VPX) platform that can host end-to-end live production workflows, allowing broadcast news operations to run critical content creation and playout software in a virtualized, IT-based environment. This allows for the creation of highly efficient, cost-effective, and easy-to-manage live production workflows for news, sports, and other programs, all from virtual instances running on a single server.

DELL EMC ISILON showcased its Isilon All-Flash storage solution.

DIGITAL NIRVANA launched a new automated sports clipping service that analyzes sports broadcasts and creates publishable clips of game highlights.

Targeted toward smaller organizations like small telcos, educational organizations or houses of worship, the TV App Maker from DVEO allows users to create an OTT or IPTV private channel icon for Roku or Android set-top box and obtain a new channelized line-up of content that is served via the DVEO ATLAS packaging server.

EVS XT4K server

EDITSHARE unveiled the new XStream EFS 200 and XStream EFS 300, which offer scalable single node capability that includes the Flow Media Asset Management and Ark Media Archive applications.

EVS debuted the XT4K server, which offers four channels of uncompressed UHD-4K on a single 12G-SDI wire or 12 channels of HD/1080p as well as native IP integration.

Magewell USB Capture Plus

FOR-A showcased its MBP-500VS multichannel video server.

MAGEWELL unveiled new 4K models in its USB Capture Plus series of plug-and-play external video capture devices.

MEDIAPROXY featured its LogServer TSoIP software solution, designed for monitoring, multiviewing and capture of live video from broadcast and OTT sources.

QUANTUM launched StorNext 6, including new advanced data management features that encompasses flash, spinning disk, object storage, tape and the cloud.

ROHDE & SCHWARZ showcased a storage combination that includes the IBM Spectrum Scale file system solution alongside the R&S SpycerBox Cell and R&S SpycerBox Ultra TL storage options, a file system that enables users to more efficiently utilize different storage tiers based on their needs.

Ross Graphite

ROSS VIDEO launched Abekas Tria 2, a two-channel clip server with an input record channel, synchronous playback of key/fill pairs or independent playout of two separate video channels with audio. Abekas Mira now offers Mira Connect GigE networking, and Mira Express, a smaller integrated replay system that records video and audio from up to four cameras onto removable SSD media, with slow-motion replay from two PGM channels.

Ross also crossed into multifaceted territory with the introduction of Graphite, a solution that pulls together a two-channel clip server, capabilities from a production switcher, features found in a 3D motion graphics system and the capabilities of an audio engine in a single 4RU chassis.

SAM showcased its sQ Servers and its connection to VIBE, the company’s real-time news and sports production solution, as well as the company’s LiveTouch 4K highlight and replay system.

SONY featured multiple storage and recording options including the PWS-4500, a 4K/HD multiport AV storage unit that includes Sony’s NMI IP technology. Also new is the second generation of its Optical Disc Archive System, with support for new high-capacity optical media and introducing an 8-channel optical drive unit; and an expanding line of professional storage technologies, including new 4 TB and 6 TB RAID systems and two new G Series solid state drives.

SLOMO.TV premiered the Dominator AT/3G, a 10-channel 3G/HD/SD slow-motion and replay server that supports up to 10 3G/HD/SD recording channels, four playback channels and search capabilities on up to 10 channels. It also showed its Super Slo-mo bundle, which combines its Simple RII video server and Panasonic AKH5000 4X SuperMotion camera.

SUITCASETV showcased its MediaStor File System, which aggregates multiple storage servers into a single structure, providing tracking and auditing of file histories as well as metadata handling capabilities to empower even the most complex of workflows.

TEKTRONIX debuted Hydra Player, a video playback system with universal de-multiplexer and decoder engine.

XENDATA showcased its FX-Series, an all-in-one storage system that combines shared disk storage and archive in a single system.

Attendees looking at technology in the realm of storage, recording and the cloud are in for a pleasant surprise this year. The choices, options, features and functionality of technologies have blossomed when it comes to solutions that enable multichannel playout, 4K recording, automatic categorizing or long-term archiving.

Amagi CloudPort 3.0

CLOUD
AMAGI plans to show Cumulus 2.0, its cloud-based automated broadcast services designed to reduce the cost of broadcast operations. Cumulus offers a one-stop shop to create, manage, deliver, and monetize linear TV content. The company will also show the CloudPort 3.0 cloud-based channel playout platform, a cloud-based channel playout platform with scheduling feature.

ASPERA will demo the latest version of its Aspera Transfer Service, a high-speed file transfer SaaS that moves media over any distance to and from object storage. The company will showcase the Aspera Files system, an SaaS offering on IBM Cloud that accelerates sharing and transfer of files, and the Aspera FASPStream open video transport solution.

BROADPEAK will feature Cloud PVR, which allows operators to deliver a range of services, including start-over, time-shift, and catch-up TV, as well as impulsive recording, while only storing content once on a cloud system.

DEJERO will highlight its LIVE+ Control cloud-based management system, which manages transmitters, servers, and content from a web browser. Users can use the system to route live or recorded content to playout and online delivery workflows. Likewise, the LIVE+ Multipoint cloud service enables the sharing of live HD content simultaneously across multiple locations.

Quantum Xcellis

MX1 will demo its end-to-end media service platform, designed to manage and deliver media content through a single hybrid, cloud-based service platform that can be operated from a centralized location.

QUANTUM will highlight its new FlexTier cloud access solution, which integrates existing public cloud storage accounts and third-party object storage private cloud into a StorNext environment as well as familiar media workflows.

VESET will feature its Nimbus Cloud Playout solution, a platform designed for entirely cloud-based all-in-one playout.

SERVERS AND RECORDERS
1 BEYOND will show its EzPetaSAN Lite shared storage solution, which offers 64 TB of storage and can scale up to 1 PB.

360 SYSTEMS will showcase the TSS Mini-2200, which offers two channels of record or playout as well as encoding, decoding, up and down conversation, and remote control capability. The company will also show the TSS-2470 Time Delay, a single-channel delay server that delays from 30 seconds to 40 hours in HD or 80 hours in SD.

ASPERA will show off the Aspera Transfer Service, a high-speed file transfer SaaS system that moves media over any distance to and from object storage. It integrates into file-based ingest or video distribution workflows and enables live streaming for ingest/distribution of live video.

AVID will showcase Avid NEXIS | E5, an enterprise-class storage engine that offers real-time editorial collaboration, 40GbE connectivity, and 80 to 480 TB of storage capacity per engine, with the ability to scale up to 1.4PB of capacity and 9.6GBps of bandwidth. The Avid Playmaker 3.4 media server enables real-time rendering of video effects and graphic transitions.

AXEL TECHNOLOGY will feature YouPlay, which plays back up to four channels on a single PC; and XTV Suite, an all-in-one broadcast playout, scheduling, recording, trimming, routing and failover recovery system.

BLACKMAGIC DESIGN will show its HyperDeck Studio Mini, a miniaturized professional deck that records and plays back broadcast quality 10-bit video using commonly available SD and UHS-II cards.

BLT ITALIA will showcase the BLT Sport- Touch, an integrated video server with telestrator functionality and a modern tablet- style human interface designed for live and sports productions. The company will also show the SMS-4U 8R4P video server, which offers 12 channels of HDTV and the ability to add on to build a four UHDTV/4K channel-capable server with new IP connectivity and integrated multichannel interface MADI.

BroadStream OASYS Integrated Playout Platform

BROADCAST DEPOT will be on hand with the Simply Live Vibox, a video sports production replay system that also allows a user to control HD cameras by means of a touchscreen.

BROADSTREAM will demo OASYS, a multipurpose, unified software playout platform.

CHYRONHEGO will demo its Click Effects end-to-end production workflow system for stadium production that allows for video playback and replay, and its LyricX 3.0 graphics creation/playout solution.

EDITSHARE will showcase XStream EFS, a storage system to allow users to define the combination of storage technology and file protection that is applied to media and project spaces.

EVS will demo its series of live production servers, including the XT4K and XS4K servers. The XT4K offers enhanced I/O flexibility for 12G-SDI or IP, and UHD-4K operations up to four channels of XAVC-4K, and 10-bit HDR. The XS4K provides similar capabilities that are optimized for studio-based ingest and playback.

FACILIS will debut v7 of the TerraBlock Facilis shared file system, which includes 4K, HDR and VR workflows. The company will also unveil a new version of the Facilis FastTracker viewing media within the Facilis network shared storage system, as well as the Facilis Hub Server, a performance aggregator that can be added to TerraBlock systems.

FOR-A plans to showcase several solutions at NAB, including the MBP-500VS multichannel video server.

GRASS VALLEY will feature its K2 Dyno Universe replay system, optimized for 6X or 4K UHD operation.

IMAGINE COMMUNICATIONS will showcase IOX storage, its online, shared storage solution, and Unified Venue, an in-stadium creation and distribution system.

IMAGINE PRODUCTS will show PreRoll Post 3, an LTFS archiving application that creates a database for each LTO tape for future search and retrieval.

MEDIAPROXY will highlight its LogServer TSoIP, a unified software solution for monitoring, analysis, multiviewing and capture of live video from broadcast and OTT sources.

SUITCASETV will showcase its MediaStor File System, which aggregates multiple storage servers into a single structure, providing tracking and auditing of file histories as well as metadata handling capabilities to empower even the most complex of workflows.

NETAPP will show the ONTAP operating system, which runs on the new flash FAS scale-out NAS system that can now deliver several Gbps of video throughput in a single container scaling to many petabytes. The company will also show the E5600 Series Storage platform, a storage array supported by third-party file systems, and the StorageGRID Webscale next-generation object store platform.

PlayBox AirBox Neo broadcast playout server

PLAYBOX TECHNOLOGY will show the AirBox Neo broadcast playout server, which supports UHD, HD and SD playout from a single server and is designed for 24/7 unattended operation.

QUANTUM will showcase its Xcellis workflow storage solution with all-flash options.

ROHDE & SCHWARZ will demo its R&S Venice ingest and playout platform and its companion Control ingest software for controlling complex multicamera recordings.

SONNET will show its archiving expansion system solutions, including a new Thunderbolt 3 solution.

SYMPLY will demo its SymplyPRO all-in-one collaborative storage workspace as well as SymplySHARE, an XSAN-compatible desktop shared workgroup solution. The company will also show SymplyRAID, a high-throughput RAID storage system; SymplySTOR, a Thunderbolt 3-enabled storage solution for individual content creators; and Pegasus3 Symply Editing RAID storage system, a desktop RAID solution.

TEKTRONIX will show the Hydra Player, a video playback system with universal demultiplexer and decoder engine.

Video Clarity ClearView Player IP

VIDEO CLARITY will introduce ClearView Player IP, a high-capacity server with record and playback functions for uncompressed video that can record one channel and play back up to two channels of uncompressed video programming into a SMPTE 2022-6/7-compliant network. The company will also show the ClearView Venue Player video server.

Getting content in and turning it around quickly for playout has always been the goal of recording, playout and archiving gear, and at this year’s NAB Show, that technology furthered its reach and scope. Attendees saw new cloud-based broadcast platforms, bi-directional recording and playout servers, scalable shared storage solutions, and new joint technology solutions from industry stalwarts Sony and Panasonic.

Avid NEXISSTORAGE SYSTEMS
Avid launched Avid NEXIS, describing it as the “world’s first software-defined storage platform.” Working in conjunction with Avid MediaCentral, NEXIS offers storage virtualization by mixing and matching engines to form “virtualizable” pools of storage. Teams can access shared pools of configurable storage and can scale capacity and bandwidth as needed, particularly with large productions. The system is based on the NEXIS | FS scalable file system.

EMC-Isilon demonstrated how its EMC Isilon X410 scale-out NAS storage infrastructure, when combined with Pixspan bit-exact software, enables cost-effective 4K full resolution workflows that can be supported on typical 2K infrastructures.

EVS has expanded the EVS XT3 and XS3 servers’ entrance into IP production with the introduction of the EVS XiP media gateway. The company also showcased the new ChannelMAX mode within the XT3 server, which provides the ability to expand channel capacity. The XT3 features expandable storage for up to 350 hours in HD at 100 Mbps.

Harmonic MediaGrid ContentServer 4000Harmonic launched the MediaGrid ContentServer 4000 and MediaGrid ContentStore 4240 nodes outfitted with 24 hot-swappable 2 TB, 4 TB or 6 TB SAS drives.

PLAYERS & RECORDERS
Atomos debuted the Shogun Inferno, which includes monitoring and recording technologies along with playback and editing functionality. Recording options include 4K 60p and HD 240p ProRes and DNxHR recording, from either a video or raw signal, which can be used for sports broadcasting and slowmotion recordings.

Blackmagic Video Assist 4K

Evertz DC-458D Double Density 4K DreamCatcher replay systemBlackmagic Design showcased the Video Assist 4K, an all-in-one professional monitor and video recorder that can be used to add professional recording and monitoring to any SDI or HDMI camera. In addition to a high-res 7-inch monitor, the Video Assist 4K has two high-speed recorders and two XLR microphone inputs.

Evertz showcased the DC-458D Double Density 4K DreamCatcher replay system, a scalable IP-based replay system.

Sonnet Technologies showcased the Fusion Thunderbolt 3 PCIe flash drive, a rugged, pocket-sized solid-state drive storage device capable of transferring data at speeds of more than 2,000 MBps.

Sound Devices previewed a new recording capability for the PIX-E Series of 4Kcompatible recording monitors, which now feature the addition of the H.264 codec and the capability of simultaneously recording Apple ProRes files and smaller H.264 MP4 files.

ARCHIVING
1 Beyond unveiled its EzPetaSAN multipetabyte shared storage. It offers a “building block” approach where users can start with as few as 24 disks (hard disk drives or SSDs) and increase as needs grow.

Archion Technologies launched the EditStor Omni Hybrid, a collaborative storage solution designed to support facilities with both high video streaming and graphic rendering demands.

BBright unveiled a new Ultra HD baseband playout server with HDR support called the UHD-Play video file player. The device is designed to be used as a dedicated playout server for Ultra HD channel head-ends.

Broadcast Solutions premiered two new slo-motion 4K 50/60p servers: BlackJack 4K and Red Arrow. The Red Arrow offers four of channels recording, four channels of search and two channels of playback with six 4K physical video ports.

EditShareXStream EFS SSDCalDigital introduce the CalDigit T8, a Thunderbolt 3 RAID storage solution, and the CalDigit AV Pro 2, a single-drive solution.

EditShare showcased its XStream EFS SSD, a scalable shared storage solution that extends the EFS platform by combining solidstate drives with a new scalable architecture. Available in 8 TB, 16 TB and 24 TB chassis configurations, XStream EFS SSD can scale from single servers to multinode clusters.

Facilis unveiled new features to the TerraBlock shared storage system for content creation and post production. The system includes 32Gbps Fibre Channel connectivity and 12 Gbps SAS solid state drive hardware. The company also showcased the new Fast-Tracker, an integrated application for cataloging, searching and viewing media within a TerraBlock shared storage system.

For-A LTS-70 LTO Server with LTS-MAMFor-A introduced the LTS-70 server which stores up to 6 TB of video, audio and data when using uncompressed files and allows LTO tape files to be read and written, with backwards compatibility on the network via FTP. Also new is the LTR-200HS7 standalone video recorder, which features video input, encoding, backup/archiving to LTO tape, and video output in a single archive recorder unit. The multiformat device comes with an LTO-7 drive boasting a Terabyte LTFS-based recording capability, allowing it to be used in archiving or exchange of recorded material or programs.

JMR debuted the BlueStor SHARE networked storage server, a 3RU 16-bay server available in 32, 48, 64, 96 TB configurations that can scale to 672 TB with a single head unit. The company also showed the new JMR Lightning product family, which features four full-bandwidth PCIe slots using two independent Thunderbolt 2 20Gb/s bridge circuits.

Masstech debuted Masstech Portal for Avid, a solution for streamlining the interchange between Masstech media archives and Avid Media Composer.

Panasonic introduced the freeze-ray optical disc-based system, an archive and storage platform that can ingest data whether in file- or object-based format.

Quantum showcased expanded capabilities of its StorNext workflow storage platform as well as offered demos of its Quantum hybrid flash and disk storage solutions. The company also showed a series of embedded applications developed for the Quantum Xcellis shared workflow storage system. The company also announced a new partnership with Avid whereby the Avid Interplay MAM system and Quantum StorNext Storage Manager will integrate with one another.

Rohde & Schwarz debuted the newest version of its SpycerBox Cell, a 36 TB system that can be scaled and cascaded to store large data volumes of high-resolution material.

Ross Video showcased the newest version of its XPression Clips production server as well as XPression Tick-it, a multichannel workflow server for tickers and informational channels.

slomo.tv debuted its 2RU RED ARROW 4K replay and slow-motion server, offering four channels of recording, four channels of search and 2 channels of playback with six 4K physical video ports, all in 4K 50p.

Small Tree unveiled a new mobile shared-storage system called the TitaniumZ5+, a video editing shared storage appliance; and ZenStor, a new line of shared storage system that can handle 4K workflows.

Sony introduced the second generation of its optical disc drive, which includes new higher-capacity optical media that was developed jointly by Sony and Panasonic. This newest media is rated with a 100- year shelf life and doubles the capacity of a single cartridge to 3.3 TB. The company also showcased storage within a camera via the HDC-4800, a new 4K ultra high frame rate camera that is complemented by the BPU-4800 combination baseband processor unit/replay server.

Torque Video Systems launched two new storage systems in its DVStor product line—the DVStor XS in either a 1 TB or 4 TB version. Both come pre-installed with the latest DVStor Version 8 application software.

CLOUD & PLAYOUT
Amagi showcased its CLOUDPORT 3.0 next-gen channel playout platform, demonstrating how this virtualized playout platform is now IP-accessible thanks to a partnership with the IP delivery company Zixi.

Aspera debuted v3.6 of its FASP server platform, which includes a new transfer system that allows tenants to privately manage storage for Aspera transfers, and includes new direct-to-cloud transfer features, including Autoscale Transfer Cluster Manager software that automatically scales server nodes based on demand.

Broadpeak introduced CDN Diversity, an enhancement to the company’s umbrellaCDN system, which leverages real-time information and analytics to allow users to make automated decisions depending on the context of various networks, subscribers, and their devices.

BroadStream Solutions launched BEACON, a software-based playout solution, available in two versions: BEACON-SOLO and BEACON 1+1. Each are capable of SDI or IP multichannel playout of up to four channels.

Dejero showed off the LIVE+ platform, which is designed to simplify the adoption of IP and cloud technology for video transport between remote or mobile locations. Dejero also showed its LIVE+ Multipoint solution, an option for cloud-based sharing and exchange of live content.

Deluxe showcased solutions that included Deluxe MediaCloud, a multiscreen and OTT media management platform. The company also announced that it would extend 4K/ UHD services to facilitate HDR content management and delivery via Deluxe On- Demand.

Ericsson showed its take on the cloud with its Cloud DVR video storage and processing technology that is designed to cache, optimize, store, process and edge-optimize video delivery for both fixed and mobile IP networks.

EVS showcased the Xeebra referee live replay system, which includes a touchscreen that enables multiple screen views of continually synchronized content from up to 16 HD cameras for instant action recalls.

Harmonic has taken its VOS media processing platform to the cloud. VOS Cloud enables content and service providers to manage the video production and delivery workflow for broadcast and OTT applications via standard IT hardware, over public or private cloud infrastructure. VOS 360 is a professional cloud media processing service that provides operators with a software-as-a-service solution hosted in the public cloud and maintained and monitored by Harmonic.

Hybrik launched its new cloud-based service for managing large-scale media workflows. The new service provides cloud-based transcoding, quality control, accelerated file transfer, large-scale storage, and streaming to deliver high-quality video optimized for every screen.

Imagine Communications demonstrated how its Versio integrated playout solution can be set up as a hybrid IP/SDI deployment or as a virtualized cloud solution. The company also offered a look at the company’s CloudXtream, a series of cloud-based solutions that allow service providers to introduce personalized services that redefine the video consumption experience.

Nverzion showcased enhancements to its CloudNine video server, a solution that allows stations to simultaneously record and play out content and update metadata. New for this year is support for streaming over IP.

Pebble Beach Systems showed off the Orca channel-in-a-box system that offers virtualized software integrated playout system running in the cloud.

Prime Focus Technologies launched the newest version of its CLEAR Media ERP suite and announced a new agreement with Global Eagle Entertainment, which will use the CLEAR Media ERP as a hub for a variety of content into a central cloud for delivery. The company also announced the launch of Amazon Optimizer to its Operations Cloud module within CLEAR Media ERP, and showcased the DAX Production Cloud, which allows clients to use one software solution for dailies and post servicing workflows.

Rohde & Schwarz SpycerBox CellRohde & Schwarz showed the 4K version of the R&S VENICE ingest and playout platform, which allows for ingest, playout and processing of 4K/UHD-1 material.

Signiant demonstrated an integrated portfolio of solutions for on-premises, cloud and hybrid deployments, including the Media Shuttle solution, which can be deployed with either on-premises or cloud object storage to configure individual portals for either storage type. The company also announced the availability of a pre-built workflow that provides integration with the Microsoft Azure Media Services cloud platform. This automated workflow uses Signiant technology to transport content files from on-premises storage into Microsoft Azure.

Square Box Systems introduced CatDV Archive to S3 Cloud, which enables archiving of CatDV-managed media assets and associated metadata in Amazon Simple Storage Service.

Streambox showed Streambox Cloud, which allows for multilocation HD and 4K video distribution, playout and streaming of videos to connected mobile devices.

Volicon unveiled its C5 service, which gives subscribers access to Share functionality in the cloud. The Share system allows for clipping and extraction of timely content for broadcast, video-on-demand, and digital and social media outlets.

EIGHTY-FOUR, PENN.—The quest to achieve more magnetic storage in the same or smaller footprint continues as scientists and manufacturers strive to reach maximum technology potentials. And just as we thought, the physical properties of magnetic spinning disk drives were at their limits; hard drive capacities are doubling or tripling with chassis format sizes remaining essentially the same.

As of this decade, 3.5-inch drives have shrunk their read/write heads to about as small as can physically be built. Tracks are placed closer together and rotational RPMs have peaked to bearing and motor drive limits. To add more storage capacity requires that areal density—the bits per unit space— be further increased or that additional platters per drive assembly be developed; the latter resulting in huge costs and/or increases in the physical chassis dimensions.

If we believe that technology has reached its physical limits, then architectural changes to push capacities higher into the future may be the next order of business. Recent technologies have succeeded in areal density improvements through the use of Perpendicular Magnetic Recording (PMR), a parallel track layout with narrower bands (~75 nanometers in width) and a perpendicular alignment of the magnetic “bits” on the tracks. An engineering hurdle for PMR is it approaches crosstalk-thresholds, which result in “bit-flipping” or “flipped magnetization,” i.e., the magnetic bits effectively change polarity, resulting in data-errors (aka “bit-rot”).

5 TB AND BEYOND WITH SMR
In 2014 we saw “at or above 5 TB HDD capacities” (per Seagate) employing a technology, which changes the landscape of how magnetic tracks are recorded on HDD platters. The relatively new technology behind this evolution is called “shingled magnetic recording,” (SMR). Named for its appearance, tracks now resemble the overlapping of shingles on a roof. This process leverages other advancements in drive development, but goes even further; resulting in an 8 TB HDD (Seagate, March 2015), but intended for uses that differ from conventional HDD applications.

SMR drive applications are intended for archive purposes and fundamentally work as follows.

Fig. 1: Traditional disk drive track layout and recording process Historically, track width was defined by the size of the write heads. Head dimensions are established so as to apply just enough “bit-polarization” to the magnetic track such that read heads, which are typically smaller than write heads, can have sufficient magnetic pickup to recover the bits’ polarity alignment on the tracks, without interference, cross-talk, or misinterpretation from the adjacent tracks. As shown in Fig. 1, conventional recording polarizes magnetic particles on each track during the write-process. Track space, called “guard band” or “guard space,” insulates the data from each adjacent track. During read cycles, a smaller head is aligned to the center of the track; but, as diagrammed, this leaves “leftover” track space to compensate for drift, wobble and data-error-mitigation/recovery issues.

Fig. 2: Shingled magnetic recording (SMR) with its narrower and overlapping “trimmed tracks” SMR does two things: first, it shrinks the guard band; and second, it allows the next written track to overlap the previous track (see Fig. 2) like shingles on a roof. What remains is a “trimmed track,” containing sufficient data-density (magnetic strength) in a much narrower area, at a width sufficient for the smaller read head to recover the data completely.

PAYBACK AND COMPROMISE
Technological advances almost always have consequences. There are fantastic pluses in terms of increasing data-density when using SMR technologies; but the payback is in how the drive functions compared to traditional HDDs. Initially, when the SMR drive platter is “empty,” data is sequentially written onto the drive in tracks. Each next successive write overlays the previous (adjacent) track, but not enough to destroy the integrity of the earlier written data on the previous track.

Here’s the compromise. If the drive needs to re-write data over an already written track, its footprint will be wider than the trimmed track. The result is the next write obliterates the previous track adjacent to it. This only occurs when the drive writes to a series of tracks that contains previously written “legacy data.” Because the next write path is wider than the trimmed track, this new track destroys the data written on the adjacent track, rendering it useless.

On the surface, it appears that SMR techniques essentially give the drive a WORMlike (write once, read many) architecture. While data can be written in much higher density than conventional drives, and read back many times, it suffers when having to write new data over existing tracks, thus rewrites require a different approach. A technique employed by Seagate changes this perspective, with groups of tracks now written into bands. The end of each band breaks the shingled track layout, which modifies the track and allows a methodology to rewrite certain areas of the data track based upon control algorithms. This compromise means, in some cases, the overwriting of some sectors will require an entire band to be rewritten; however, this approach alleviates the requirement to rewrite an entire platter.

PERFORMANCE ADJUSTMENTS
SMR drives are designed for deep storage applications—whereby data is written but would seldom, if ever, be written over—such as an instruction to purge all the data on a platter. Since the rewrite process changes the performance of the SMR drive, it places the use of this drive into a category not unlike one would expect in a tape archive.

Take for example a photographic archive with millions of photographs that require rapid access at any time (e.g., a surveillance library, health-record images, and especially Facebook). Essentially this data is never modified; once written, it is intended only to be “read” at some later time. The value in using magnetic HDD (versus tape) is in its near instantaneous retrieval of data; mitigating the need for data migration or replacement of the physical storage media due to age.

Systems can further leverage drive spin down or “power-down” technology, where drives sleep until called into action, generally when a specific data track needs to be accessed, thus saving energy and prolonging drive life expectancy.

By further employing erasure-coding, as utilized in object-storage technologies, data can be spread across several sets of drives, arrays or in geographic locations—ensuring protection and resiliency should a drive fail to spin up again after sitting idle for long lengths of time.

The intelligence behind incorporating SMR technology into archive applications is fairly straightforward up to the point where tracks would be rewritten. Here a means to cache existing data on the soon-to-be overwritten tracks adds both secondary storage components and latency to the system. Manufacturers of digital archives are cognizant of these constraints. Users must be aware of their applications for SMR-based storage and tailor them accordingly, noting that SMR drives are specifically labeled for this application.

DEEP DRIVE ARCHIVES
SMR-drive technology is ideal for deep archives, which are seldom modified, such as in massive data centers or cloud storage such as Amazon Glacier. The longevity of these systems can be extended because drives won’t need to stay awake at all times. Furthermore, any migration path, which is necessary in aging tape libraries or as the technology for that era of tape drive elapses, is all but eliminated. Thus, SMR-archives become Tier 3 relevant as Tier 2 nearline storage-life-cycle management is maintained.

From the automation perspective, hierarchical migration based upon data-age or applications, transfers of Tier 2 data to permanent “deep-archive” occurs when the rewrite requirements are reduced to near-zero. Think again of Facebook whereby images are retained essentially “forever;” they are never written over, yet they still must be accessed relatively quickly based upon Friends who want to repost older pictures or videos months to years later.

Upcoming alternatives for archives remain. Gaining in popularity are opticaldiscs, which (today) still have much less data density than magnetic disks, but have fairly rapid access and tout data media life-expectancy in decades without data risk due to mechanical (i.e., HDD) failures.

Most recently, archive system manufacturer SpectraLogic introduced ArticBlue, employing SMR-drive technologies in a high-density, on-premises deep storage disk system. Cloud service providers, as well as OEMs, are surely expected to follow SMR technology well in the future.

Author’s note: Recognition is given to Seagate and SpectraLogic for their technological contributions to this article.

Karl Paulsen, CPBE and SMPTE Fellow, is the CTO at Diversified Systems. Read more about this and other storage topics in his book “Moving Media Storage Technologies.” Contact Karl atkpaulsen@divsystems.com.

NEVADA CITY, CALIF.—Digital media tools provider Telestream recently supplied its Wirecast software to Channel 18 of the Town of Chatham, Mass., to use as a town-wide system for recording municipal meetings and uploading them to the town’s website. The town reports that the videos received 10x more views after being posted online.

Ryan Darmon

Primarily used for live streaming, Wirecast features a production system that allows for recording. Channel 18 set up Wirecast in six conference rooms around town to capture and post footage from all municipal sessions. Each system includes a Dell Precision T1900 running Wirecast software, and a Sony Evi-D camera. Sennheiser goosenecks, crown ceiling microphones and table-installed Beyer Dynamic boundary mics are added depending on room requirements. Mics run through Shure mixers into Osprey 260E video cards in the Dell PCs, and video runs directly into the cards.

Since the installation of the Wirecast system, views have gone up from 30,000 to 340,000, according to Ryan Darmon, Channel 18’s media coordinator.

LONDON – Motive Television PLC has announced that is has developed the Mobile Personal Video Recorder for ATSC. Based on proprietary Motive software, Mobile PVR has the ability to time shift over-the-air programs seen on tablets and mobile devices, and works with the TabletTV app and TPOD.

TabletTV features the One-Touch Recording feature, which permits pausing, playing and recording current programs, but Mobile PVR now allows users to schedule recordings up to seven days in advance and then watch them at their convenience.

Mobile PVR will be introduced as a BETA version in July to existing users of TabletTV. It will become available to the general public in September.

Motive Television is a provider of technology for the broadcast and pay TV industry that is based in the U.K.