Pinnacle Systems today announced that its Vortex networked news systems with support for Panasonic P2 media will enable Time Warner Cable's NY1 to become one of the first news operation that is completely tapeless from camera acquisition through playout. Steve Paulus, Senior Vice President and General Manager at NY1 said, "The necessity to use tape is the last remaining hurdle to the goal of a fully digital news workflow. By delivering support for Panasonic's P2 solid state media in the Vortex news system, Pinnacle is clearing this obstacle and creating a shorter, more reliable production path to support breaking news." Pinnacle's Vortex with P2 support creates the opportunity for progressive workflows that are well-suited to the demands of broadcast news. Journalists can use Pinnacle Liquid Edition software on a laptop editor on location. After the shoot, the journalist inserts the P2 card into the PCMCIA slot of the laptop, capturing material to the local drive for editing. Upon returning to the station or using network delivery, the journalist can then publish the material from their laptop directly to the Vortex server where it is instantly available for playout, further editing, promos, and archiving. Alternately, journalists returning from the field can insert their P2 cards into a Panasonic P2 drive bay that is integrated within a Pinnacle Liquid editing system on the Vortex network. "Panasonic's P2 acquisition is an excellent match for today's digital newsroom" said Stuart English, Vice President of Marketing at Panasonic Broadcast & Television Systems. "Pinnacle's vision in quickly adopting P2 for its Vortex news and Pinnacle Liquid editing systems is making the full promise of tapeless operations a reality for news operations". Pinnacle is developing a new P2 XReceive plug-in for existing shipping versions of Pinnacle Liquid Edition, Liquid blue and Liquid chrome systems. The plug-in will support DVCPRO25 on all products and DVCPRO50 on Liquid blue. The plug-in will also provide support for direct import to Vortex. A Pinnacle Liquid Edition station can be used as a "gateway" for capture from P2 into a Vortex network. Planned for release in May 2004, the suggested retail price for the plug-in will be US$995 for Pinnacle Liquid users. "Pinnacle Vortex offers unique technical advantages that are being fully leveraged to create the tapeless workflow at NY1," said Ajay Chopra, President, Pinnacle Systems broadcast and professional division. "By taking a leadership role in developments like P2, MXF standards, and IT-based networking, Pinnacle is enabling its customers to quickly put new technology to practical use." P2 support enhances the recent announcement that the Pinnacle Liquid family of editing products is now native to the Vortex news environment. Material captured by any Pinnacle Liquid editor is stored directly into Vortex central storage for use anywhere on the network and projects created on the Pinnacle Liquid editor can be published to the Vortex server for immediate playout to air.
