GRASS VALLEY, CALIF. – Editware now offers an enhanced Fastrack Time Tailor controller, adding broadcast server control to their Time Tailor application. The Prime Image Time Tailor system undetectably removes frames from source material, resulting in a finished show up to 6 or 8 percent shorter than the original without any loss of content. Through the addition of FastrackTT as the controller, the process is automated, allowing a complex, multi-segment job to be set up in advance and executed like an auto-assembly. The FastrackTT frame-accurately controls the source device, record device, the Time Tailor processor and (optionally) a video switcher.
Up to now, FastrackTT control has supported source and record devices using the Sony P2 protocol for use with VTRs. FastrackTT’s new capability provides control and support for VDCP-controlled broadcast servers such Harris Nexio, Harmonic Omneon and Spectrum as well as Grass Valley K2. From the Fastrack interface, a source clip on the server can be selected from the server directory, and a new record clip name series can be created.
A Time Tailor job can be set up with segment breaks to insert black or other material, to delete sections of original material and to select sections of the original show to be “held” (recorded with no frames removed). Jobs can also be set up to create breaks on even time-code boundaries, such as 1-second, or to set up jobs to vary the percentage of time reduction between segments. Some users might create finished shows with the amount of time reduction gradually increased toward the end of the show, or to speed up credit rolls. Once the job is set up, it can be started and run unattended.
Most broadcast servers record clips in an uninterrupted recording. A clip cannot be recorded, then paused, then opened again to insert or append additional material. Fastrack provides an elegant workaround for multi-segment Time Tailor jobs, automatically creating multiple clips using a single specified clip name and a numeric suffix. For example, a job that has seven segments might be named “MyShow,” and consist of clips named MyShow-01 to MyShow-07. Time code generated in the clips can create continuity throughout the clips. If the last frame of MyShow-01 is 1:00:04;15, the first frame of MyShow-02 will be 1:00:04;16.
Once a Time Tailor job is complete, the full show can be set up as a server play list, and played seamlessly from beginning to end. The play list can be built and played from Fastrack, or from any other server controller, such as an automation system. Fastrack Time Tailor control includes a report generation feature that provides every detail about each Time Tailor job. It lists the starting point of each segment, the corresponding time code on the source, and the actual percentage of time reduction segment by segment. Another report lists every frame of the finished job and indicates which frames were removed.
Editware will be exhibiting at the NAB Show in booth No. N626.
