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nxtedition, innovators in microservice-based production environments, is heading to BroadcastAsia 2023, where it will demonstrate its integrated production platform for newsrooms and storytellers. The company is exhibiting with its distribution partner in Singapore, Ideal Systems (stand 6E1-07, Singapore Expo, 7 – 9 June).

Visitors to the stand will quickly appreciate how easy it is to access the whole range of tools, including third-party functionality and artificial intelligence, in a seamless end-to-end environment. nxtedition is designed to deliver compelling story-telling fast and accurately, within organisations of any size.

Speed is particularly vital in newsrooms, where users need to react quickly and accurately, putting breaking news into historical context and getting the story out first across multiple platforms. To do this, journalists must remove repetitive, time-consuming tasks and awkward workarounds, allowing everyone to focus on the task in hand.

That is why nxtedition has provided a platform into which APIs from different vendors can be deeply integrated into the core platform. That includes the ability to pass edits from journalists’ workstations direct to craft editors from Adobe or DaVinci for high level finishing when required.

This tight integration now includes OpenAI, allowing businesses to add artificial intelligence processing where it can boost productivity and creativity – without compromising editorial integrity – resulting it even richer, more detailed stories while still retaining the broadcaster’s distinctive voice and style.

A good example is Whisper, a speech to text transcriber running within the workstation, avoiding costly external services and delays while material is exported and remotely processed. Whisper also allows all ingested material to be transcribed with the full script added to the metadata, greatly simplifying the work of the archivist and boosting the search potential in the future.

“This is the first time we have exhibited at BroadcastAsia, and we are very excited to show our uniquely powerful platform to the market in the Pacific region,” said Adam Leah, creative director at nxtedition. “The way that all the tools you need fall under your fingers, the way that you can access assets wherever they are, the way that you can drop in AI tools where you see they bring an advantage: once you see and experience these and many more functions you will realise what a transformative approach we bring.”

See nxtedition on stand 6E1-07 (Ideal Systems) at BroadcastAsia 2023, or find out more at nxtedition.com

Mo-Sys Engineering (www.mo-sys.com), a world leader in image robotics, virtual production and remote production solutions, is once again collaborating with leading LED processor specialist NovaStar to bring remarkable virtual production to InfoComm 2023 (booth 915, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, 14 – 16 June).

The demonstration will combine NovaStar LED processing with StarTracker camera tracking and Mo-Sys' dedicated LED content server solution VP Pro XR. StarTracker is regarded as the gold standard in precision camera tracking for virtual production and providing the bridge between precision tracking and the virtual scene is Mo-Sys VP Pro XR.

Designed specifically for broadcast and cinematic content creation, VP Pro XR incorporates Cinematic XR Focus which enables the focus puller to rack focus between real world foreground objects and virtual assets placed deep within the scene. XR Focus can also provide a level of protection against one of the biggest challenges in LED final pixel production: the problem of visible moiré patterning when zoomed in close.

“We are really excited to be working with NovaStar again, showing how virtual production is ready for primetime,” said Michael Geissler, CEO of Mo-Sys. “The demonstration shows just the sort of scene that would provide real challenges for traditional productions: a forest scene, but here using VP we can control the light, the time of day and the weather without taking the crew off-road. Mo-Sys and NovaStar combine to address the real issues for creative professionals, delivering a powerful, practical and complete solution.”

Find Mo-Sys at InfoComm in Orlando on booth 915, co-exhibiting with NovaStar, and find full information on the company’s products and services at www.mo-sys.com

Dot Group, leader in data strategy, engineering and transport, has brought in Ian Currie as Director for its Data Business Unit. As well as consulting and providing sophisticated multi-vendor solutions for Dot Group’s clients, Currie will also be taking the lead in the important field of environmental, social and governance compliance.

Currie has had an extensive career as a commercial leader in IT. Most recently he was with Informatica, a Dot Group partner, as a commercial and use case specialist in Informatica’s new consumption based cloud offering – Intelligent Data Management Cloud. After five years of significant growth, Ian joins Dot Group at a critical time leading the transformation and growth in its Data Business Unit. His new role is to build on existing technical partnerships, and develop new relationships, to be able to deliver highly tailored solutions for Dot client companies.

“I have known the people at Dot for a number of years, whilst working for Informatica,” Currie said. “The more I got to know the company the more I appreciated its culture. It punches well above its weight, using its strong alliances to tackle some of the biggest data engineering projects. I’m very much looking forward to working with my new colleagues to develop solutions which really deliver what the customer needs.”

One early initiative is to develop solutions in response to the EU directive on environmental, social and governance issues (ESG). “As a father of young children, I am all too aware of the need to really get to grips with the environment, it’s close to my heart and as such I am completely behind this legislation,” Currie said.

To comply with the law, businesses are now required to track their impact beyond financial statistics, reporting on the impact they have on the communities and environments they work within. Dot Group’s offering goes beyond simply providing the ability to track this data towards proactive measures like predictive forecast analyses.

To bring the issues to the industry, Dot Group is hosting a round table event in Dublin on 29 June, where Currie will be joined by panellists from Informatica, DAMA Ireland and the Bank of Ireland. For more information and to register for this event, see dotgroup.co.uk/accelerate-your-esg-journey.

“We’ve had the benefit of four years of working with Ian at one of our key technology partners,” said Simon Parkinson, Managing Director of Dot Group. “It was natural that we would want to poach him: his enthusiasm, expertise and market knowledge will be very valuable for us.

“It is also really important that one of his first priorities is to tackle the ESG issue,” Parkinson continued. “The legal requirements call for a lot of reporting, but of course the moral imperatives are an even stronger driver if we are to see CO2 emissions slashed and global temperatures brought under control. If this is to be an opportunity not a burden for a business, then it needs to be an integral part of its data strategy.”

Find out more about Dot Group’s products and services at dotgroup.co.uk.

FOR-A Corporation heads to InfoComm with a complete live production ecosystem, including new innovations to grab attendee interest at the annual pro AV show. FOR-A’s solution includes Alfalite Litepix screens, the FA-9600 multi-purpose signal processor with HDR and wide color gamut support, the EZtrack® camera tracking system, ClassX graphics and XR technology, and the company’s new, NDI®-compatible HVS-190 video switcher.

“We’re a solutions company,” said FOR-A Americas President Satoshi Kanemura. “We’ve integrated the very best components into an unbeatable and intuitive system for live video production that easily scales with you. We are thrilled at the chance to show this off to the InfoComm crowd. We think they’ll be blown away.”

New partner, Spanish LED screen manufacturer Alfalite, brings its unparalleled quality and indestructible LED panels to InfoComm for the first time. Made entirely in Spain from conception to finish, the Alfalite Litepix 1.9mm pixel displays are integrated with the company’s unique ORIM (Optical Injection Resin Module) technology, which offers viewers a 175-degree viewing angle with perfect precision and no color degradation. ORIM technology also contributes to the durability of the panels. They can withstand water and physical constraints that would scratch (or worse) inferior screens. With its Stack System (no tools required) design and front or rear panel access, the screens are a snap to install and maintain. They can be built into any size of LED wall or volume, creating virtual production and augmented reality spaces ideal for broadcast, corporate and educational applications.

With support for HDR and wide color gamut, FOR-A’s FA-9600 signal processor provides optimal color correction on large displays, such as Alfalite’s Litepix. Its broadcast-style operation, with everything included on the front panel for input source monitoring, means no PC is required. And it enables engineers to “paint” outputs, so LED walls and projection displays appear uniform when positioned close together. Physical “knobs” provide a more intuitive touch and feel of precise and detailed color correction. It’s an ideal standalone solution for live events and production.

As part of a dynamic virtual studio and augmented reality offering, FOR-A includes the EZtrack® camera tracking system from oARo Studio. The EZtrack system features a small Hub unit to which users can interface multiple sensor configurations, from LED infrared sources to Mocap cameras and PTZ/mechanical heads. The sensor, placed on the top of each camera, is used as a reference to calculate the geometry. This allows for practically instant set-up with no need for long installation times. The EZTrack system communicates with the ClassX XR system, Elitium, enabling a fast, stable, and cost-effective way to set up virtual studios and augmented/mixed reality. The solution is ideal for green screen studios and can also be used with LED walls.

Shipping this month, the new, NDI®-compatible HVS-190 fills out the live production ecosystem for FOR-A. The HVS-190 supports high-bandwidth NDI® and NDI®|HX input and output and marks the expansion of the popular HVS switcher series. It is a one M/E version of FOR-A’s flagship HVS-490 video switcher and comes standard with 3G/HD-SDI and HDMI interfaces. The HVS-190 features frame synchronization and processing amplification on all inputs and is available in two models. A typical configuration might be the FOR-A HVS-490 or HVS-190 production switcher, teamed with the MFR-3100EX all-in-one-production center, Odyssey Insight Server and ClassX graphics - all of which have NDI® options for seamless operation.

FOR-A will be in booth #2023 during the show at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, with exhibits running from June 14-16.

NDI® is a registered trademark of Vizrt Group.

EditShare®, the technology leader that enables storytellers to create and manage collaborative media workflows, will show visitors to BroadcastAsia 2023 how its storage and workflow systems and solutions fit seamlessly into modern, practical workflows, growing as the user’s needs increase.

Central to the success of EditShare’s solutions is that it matches its powerful and resilient storage systems with software that provides all the production asset management and workflow controls needed by any media enterprise. The solutions can be implemented centrally, they can embrace remote locations, and they can use standardized cloud storage and processing, to meet the specific needs of each project. Users can start with a single storage appliance and grow seamlessly and without downtime to networks of many petabytes.

Putting creativity and productivity at the heart of the operation, EditShare provides direct support for all popular professional editing platforms, including Adobe, Avid and BlackMagic. EditShare FLOW software ensures material is formatted and packaged to appear as bins in the appropriate workstations, wherever they are, so the editor wastes no time in set-up and preparation. Where needed proxies are automatically generated, and Swift Sync provides file acceleration to move required material.

Content storage can be spread across multiple locations and the cloud, to suit the operational needs of the user. FLOW maps all the content in every location and ensures it is ready, whenever and wherever it is needed. That includes cloud editing, with the preferred software tool running in the EditShare environment in AWS.

“While technology is moving forward very rapidly, we know that our customers want to focus on producing great content to tight timescales,” said Sunil Mudholkar, VP Product Management at EditShare. “What we will be showing at BroadcastAsia demonstrates that we provide strong underlying automation and intelligence, allowing creatives to focus on the results. We look forward to meeting many of our users from the APAC region and showing them how we continue to develop the most productive and practical infrastructures, whatever the size of the business and however they want to work.”

Demonstrations of EditShare’s proven storage solutions and workflow software can be seen at BroadcastAsia 2023, on stand 6J2-08. For further information on all EditShare solutions, please visit the website at www.editshare.com

FOR-A Corporation, a leading provider of advanced video broadcast technology, is pleased to announce its participation in the highly anticipated Broadcast Asia 2023, taking place 7 - 9 June at Singapore Expo. FOR-A will present a range of groundbreaking solutions that highlight flexibility and agility in live video production. Visit Stand 6D3-05 to experience the future of broadcasting firsthand.

FOR-A's highlights at Broadcast Asia 2023 include:

HVS-190S/190I: The new HVS-190S/190I NDI®|HX compatible switchers offer exceptional frame synchronization, processing amplification on all inputs, and support both 3G/HD-SDI and HDMI interfaces. High-bandwidth NDI® is planned for future support. Their versatility and reliability make them a perfect fit for live video production.

FA-1616: The FA-1616 multi-channel processor is a game-changing product that seamlessly bridges the gap between SDI and IP workflows. Its software-defined architecture, versatile configuration options, and support for hybrid production make it an invaluable tool for broadcasters. The FA-1616 represents FOR-A's dedication to delivering innovative solutions that empower the industry to embrace new technologies and workflows with ease and efficiency.

MFR-3100EX: The MFR-3100EX all-in-one-production center offers comprehensive functionality for efficient and streamlined live video production. With advanced features such as multi-channel recording, playback, and playout, as well as a built-in video server, the MFR-3100EX optimizes production workflows and enhances content delivery. Its integration with the HVS-190S/I switchers and other FOR-A solutions creates a cohesive and powerful production ecosystem.

These new products from FOR-A exemplify the company's commitment to driving innovation in the broadcast industry. By combining the HVS-190S/190I's unmatched versatility, the FA-1616's seamless SDI-to-IP integration, and the MFR-3100EX's comprehensive production capabilities, FOR-A enables broadcasters to embrace new technologies, streamline workflows, and deliver exceptional content to audiences worldwide.

Robert Shen, Sales Manager for FOR-A Southeast Asia, shared his thoughts on the event, stating, "Broadcast Asia 2023 presents an excellent opportunity for us to connect with industry professionals and showcase our cutting-edge solutions. We are proud to present a live video production ecosystem fully compatible with NDI® connectivity, enabling broadcasters to achieve unmatched flexibility and agility."

FOR-A Southeast Asia's experienced sales and engineering resources are dedicated to serving the broadcast and media industry in the region. With a strong track record of successful partnerships and complete system deliveries for broadcasters, universities, and professional users, FOR-A continues to innovate and provide tailored solutions to meet specific needs.

Discover the future of live video production by visiting FOR-A at Stand 6D3-05 during Broadcast Asia 2023. Engage with our knowledgeable team for personalised demonstrations and consultations.

NDI® is a registered trademark of Vizrt Group.

Innovators in microservices-based production environments nxtedition, will showcase the ideal platform for newsrooms and storytellers with a comprehensive demonstration at CABSAT. Centre stage will be a new integration with DaVinci Resolve, following the existing popular links to Adobe Premiere Pro.

Newsrooms need to react quickly and accurately to emerging stories, put breaking news into historical context and then deliver to multiple platforms. A key part of this is providing simple tools for journalists to cut pictures and audio to their stories. Where those stories need to be refined or expanded, the work is often handed over to craft editors. nxtedition makes it simple for edits to be directly exported from its story-based edit functionality into the preferred tools of the craft editor to achieve polished, broadcast-ready results quickly and seamlessly.

The DaVinci integration is just one example of the approach nxtedition has taken to support the way its software interworks with other productions. It makes it simple to bring APIs from other products into the nxtedition environment, so users can work with other devices within the familiar user interface.

This includes embedding OpenAI into the nxtedition core software. That allows businesses to add artificial intelligence processes where they can boost productivity and creativity without compromising editorial integrity, resulting in richer, more detailed stories while still retaining the broadcaster’s tone of voice.

“We want our users to concentrate on the quality and engagement in their output, whatever that is,” said Adam Leah, creative director at nxtedition. “By adding the DaVinci Resolve integration, we can allow craft editors to have a rough cut in nxtedition with all the content and growing files and then send the timeline directly into their DaVinci edit. That saves time so final cuts can be exported back to nxtedition to be published on social media or put directly to air or playback.”

See nxtedition on stand 102 at CABSAT 2023, or find out more at nxtedition.com

CJP Broadcast Service Solutions, systems integration, production and content digitisation specialist, took a leading role in the design, engineering and implementation of the practical facilities at the School of Digital Arts (SODA) at Manchester Metropolitan University (Manchester Met). The project embraced the complete range of creative facilities from studios and motion capture to post production.

SODA is a new building at the heart of the Manchester Met campus in the centre of Manchester. CJP was involved from the beginning, working with Project Lead, ATG Danmon, and consultancy Drama by Design on the specification of the facilities and infrastructure. In phase 1 of the project, CJP was responsible for all the specialist cabling and infrastructure best installed during construction. This included routers, talkback and SPGs as well as lighting supports and DMX dimmer equipment.

In phase 2, CJP, working with overall system integrator ATG Danmon, engineered and installed the technical facilities and furniture in all the new technical areas. This included two greenscreen studios and a film studio (equipped with a 12k digital cinematography camera from Blackmagic Design). There is also a multi-purpose production studio and a stop motion stage. All studios include Kinoflo LED lighting installed by Cirrolite for minimal environmental impact.

The project also included two motion capture studios, designed for animation and game design students. To ensure the broadest possible experiences, one studio is equipped with a Vicon motion capture system, the other with Xsens technology. For virtual production, CJP also supplied a 3 Camera StarTracker Studio from Mo-Sys, which provides extremely accurate camera positioning data and realtime virtual graphics based on the Unreal engine. The StarTracker Studio system is designed to be flexible, with both greenscreen studios and one of the motion capture stages able to access it when required.

CJP also designed and engineered a number of post production suites, including editing and colour grading, capable of running the user’s choice of professional software platforms.

“We conceived SODA as a home for creativity and innovation, where our students can harness the latest technology to tell extraordinary stories,” said Damon Reid, Technical Specialist in Immersive Technologies at SODA at Manchester Met. “Andy Stone at Drama by Design and the team at CJP have realised our vision, putting the best tools at the hands of our students and preparing them for their futures in whatever part of the media industry they choose.”

Christopher Phillips, managing director of CJP Broadcast Service Solutions, added “This has been a long but very satisfying project. Working with Andy at Drama by Design was a pleasure, with our team providing the engineering to deliver his expectations. From pulling in the first cables in the construction phase – which had the added challenge of Covid restrictions – to commissioning and handing over the sophisticated facilities, we have achieved every goal and timeline set.

Howard Dixon, ATG Danmon project manager worked extremely closely with our team to deliver this project. Our long standing relationship with Howard and the ATG team was a fundamental factor, combining the strengths of both our organisations, to achieving the goals of the project.

“The result is a facility that brings everything into one building, allowing students the freedom to follow their interests and develop their skills,” Phillips said. “We are proud to have been involved in major projects in studios and virtual production for a number of universities around the UK, ensuring that there is a good stream of new talent, at all levels, coming into our industry.”

CJP is an independent systems integrator, and has strong partnerships with key suppliers including Mo-Sys, Xsens and others. For more information on the company and its capabilities, see www.cjp-bss.co.uk.

Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digital video processing, asset management, video compression and automation, and playout, is working with Tyrell, leading solutions company in the UK and Ireland, to deliver an innovative, cost-effective playout solution. The system is rolled out as part of Tyrell Cloud, a bespoke, secure cloud service developed specifically for the needs of the media industry.

Central to the solution is Cinegy Air, the powerful realtime broadcast automation and server application. Like all Cinegy solutions it is entirely implemented in virtualized software, so is a perfect match for the vendor-agnostic Tyrell Cloud. It provides fully automated playout in any resolution up to Ultra HD and 8k, with the option to take manual control as operations demand.

Cinegy Air is designed to take advantage of cloud hosting, including efficient hardware utilization, instant deployment of additional channels and functionality, and inexpensive high-availability clustering. The system is intuitive to establish and run, and the first installation includes the integrated Cinegy Multiviewer. Winner of an NAB Product of the Year Award, this is known as the most flexible multiviewer ever, and provides comprehensive signal analysis, monitoring and alerts to minimize the requirement for engineers and operators while maintaining optimum signal quality.

Cinegy Air is deployed as part of the Tyrell Cloud Capture service at The Media Production and Technology Show, 2023. Video streams are presented from Cinegy Air in SRT format to Tyrell Cloud Capture where it is ingested ready for editing. Cinegy Multiviewer provides us with a visual tally on the streams whilst Tyrell Cloud Capture allows users to manage incoming streams, benefit from visual telemetry about the streams and direct them to other services within Tyrell Cloud.

Daniella Weigner, Managing Director of Cinegy, said “This is a great example of how we can work with a strong partner to create a rich solution that meets very specific needs. It really shows the benefits of well-conceived software solutions: our software and the Tyrell Cloud are both designed to be easy to integrate to create precisely tailored systems which accurately meet the user’s needs."

Tyrell will be demonstrating the Tyrell Cloud Capture service at The Media Production and Technology Show on Stand B40. Information on Cinegy Air, Multiviewer and the full range of products can be found at cinegy.com

Dot Group, leaders in data strategy, engineering and transport, has implemented its DataSprint transport service for FooEngine, the specialist business bringing a new approach to content processing and delivery. FooEngine offers a cloud-based, scalable service for media ingest, processing and delivery, and DataSprint’s high performance, secure delivery and fixed costs are a natural match.

Founded by highly experienced media professionals, FooEngine is a media logistics company with the goal of eliminating complex and time-consuming operations in media ingest, processing and delivery. The cloud native FooEngine solution accepts any codec and resolution and works through all the tasks required to prepare and quality check delivery versions and all the associated metadata.

“While we are not re-inventing the wheel in media logistics, we are making it go faster and more efficiently,” said Arran Corbett, CTO at FooEngine. “We set out to build a media processing and content delivery business using 100% cloud technology. Our very tight end-to-end workflows manage all video, audio and metadata transformations, so we can offer very competitive rates, based on per minute of content rather than per asset, and our clients can exploit their content libraries by delivering their content correctly and efficiently every time, as well as stand up new delivery specifications and endpoints very easily.”

The benefit of DataSprint for FooEngine is its ability to upload directly to an AWS S3 bucket through DataSprint, which provides a “fast lane” for users who need new workflows. “Over 90% of our data transport is directly to our cloud buckets (across both AWS and GCP) whether that be via cross account access or various on prem desktop clients,” Corbett explained. “But smaller, more independent content owners needed straightforward and secure accelerated file delivery, with an interface that they were familiar with, and DataSprint is the only solution that can do that at a fixed price.”

The ethos of FooEngine is to provide a stable and predictable cost, and so it looked to the market to find a supplier of data transport that could fit into that model. DataSprint was developed by Dot for precisely this requirement.

It is powered by IBM Aspera technology, recognised as the leading solution for fast, secure media file transfers. In response to user requirements, Dot used it to create a one-stop package at a fixed and affordable price, with no limits on transfers, users or workspaces. DataSprint also features a simple user interface and a ready ability to be integrated into automated workflows.

“Most data transfer solutions on the market are priced on volume, whereas most users want a fixed and predictable price,” said Lee Otterway, Commercial Director Data Transport, Dot Group. “Paying based on fixed commitments to volume plus additional charges for more users and new workflows just did not fit FooEngine’s business model. We worked together with them to size their requirements and set up a fixed price for everything, while still keeping the power and security of IBM Aspera under the hood.”

Find out more about Dot Group’s products and services at dotgroup.co.uk and you can see Dot Group at MPTS in Olympia 10-11 May 2023 on stand E25.