Playback Innovations, a live staging technology company specializing in the control of broadcast video servers for entertainment programming, used several XT[2] HD servers for playback of all of the on-set elements for the live broadcast of the 60th Annual Prime Time Emmy Awards on ABC.
A proprietary Pi controller developed by Playback Innovations managed all of the incoming content as digital clips and allowed for the playback of multichannel sync rolls on the XT[2] quickly and reliably. No videotape was used in the transport of content from post to playout, and no transcoding was required at any point in the process.
Stimulated TV, using the Apple ProRes 422 codec, created screen content in Adobe After Effects and Apple Final Cut Pro software. These elements were played back during the show by the XT[2] servers, which natively support the ProRes codec.
The Apple ProRes 422 codec was used from content creation through to final playout. Updates were done quickly, with an on-site artist making changes and posting them back to the XT[2] server as needed. The Pi control system automatically scanned the servers for newly arrived content and built playback cues much more quickly than would be possible in a videotape-based scenario. The end result was a tapeless workflow with no need for rendering between the Apple equipment and the EVS servers.
For more information, visit www. www.evs.tv and www.playbackinnovations.com.
