Digital workflows
iVDR enables you to leverage IT infrastructures by supporting 100baseT, gigabit Ethernet, IEEE 1394 FireWire, and IP-based Fibre Channel networks. This way, users can quickly transfer materials between M-Series systems and other networked storage devices. They can also swap clips in industry-standard formats, such as AVI and QuickTime, with news editing apps or other graphics apps.
The advent of the M-series and other digital recording devices comes to resolve concerns about the total costs of ownership of tape storage systems. The combined operation, maintenance and consumable costs of tape-based systems are much higher than digital systems. And more than that, the ability to network and integrate these devices with automation systems or remote monitoring of devices (such as SNMP-based systems), allows tasks to be carried out with minimal human intervention.
Other manufacturers of products that replace VTRs
During the last Siggraph fair, in San Francisco, Accom showed its DDR for uncompressed SD and HD video, the WSD/HDi. Costing $32,000 in the United States, the WSD/HDi includes a hard disk array inside the chassis, and is one of the most compact and economical options for recording HD video without compression.
The WSD/HDi import/export utility allows you to interface with networks of workstations, rendering computers or film printers without worrying about the format of the files. The equipment includes a Gigabit Ethernet interface and can be managed from any computer through a browser.
The WSD/HDi was designed specifically for networked production environments, including mixed networks of Windows, Irix, and Mac OS X platforms. This type of workflow is relevant for groups working in graphic creation and digital cinema.
A more popular product is Digideck DVR, from Fast Forward Video, which is presented at IBC 2003. Based on IDE discs and available with Y/C inputs and outputs, two channels of unballaged audio, genlock, timecode input and output, and RS-422 port, the Digideck DVR can record up to 9 hours of video to a single disc and can optionally be ordered with RGB outputs, management software from Windows, and one or two input and output channels.
Fast Forward Video also has the Recon line of ultra-compact digital recorders, and the popular Omega Deck, a high-performance, low-cost recorder used by numerous sports networks and producers around the world.
Doremi Labs, another very renowned manufacturer of video servers, has the line of MCS (Multichannel Video Server), and the simplest V1 of VDRs with different models and features, for users who want to record HD, SDI or another video format.
Finally, EVS, "heavyweight" of live production systems based on video servers, offers several solutions for the configuration of network systems intended for OB or sports production.
