Management of audiovisual assets

Computerized systems for newsrooms were developed to organize news production and allow this information to be shared by all team members easily. Most of the savings that result from automation come from the streamlined use of videotapes. That is, costs are reduced by a lower consumption in the number of tapes that are used for the production of news, by the purchase of fewer breeding machines and by the maintenance costs of less equipment.

As an interesting alternative to the questions and doubts caused by a decision of this nature, Grass Valley Group recently announced new solutions for the management of audiovisual assets, central monitoring equipment and control systems.

As new media are taking shape, common hardware standards are enabling broadcasters and video professionals to capitalize on the efficiencies of integration.

This group recently introduced powerful software solutions for accessing and managing growing digital AV asset storage houses, increasing interoerability and addressing the total cost of ownership.

The software includes the ContentShare 1.0 version, and it is an application similar to a browser, developed on the standards of Internet technology, so that the access and proper management of audiovisual assets (Media Assets) is as easy as using World Wide Web. The system is based on GVG's ContentShare platform. This demonstrates the potential this platform has to become the industry standard. Likewise, it is also presented as the unifying strategy for cost reduction for software developers and end users. As of this announcement, companies such as Avid Technologies and AVstar Systems LLC are supporting these developments to increase the search and registration capabilities of their systems.

NetCentral Software jointly made its appearance. An SNMP-based application that addresses the total cost of ownership of networked stations through a remote monitoring and configuration apparatus.

This is GVG's initiative to offer solutions that enable video optimization and other digital content distribution strategies. Media without bounds is this company's proposal for the industry. The key to this optimization is the ability you have to locate and link assets without the worry of their location, storage format, or source application.

In the same way, the tasks of monitoring and configuring can be centralized operations on the desktop under the control of a system that alerts maintenance technicians about any anomalies. These tools are critical to reducing facility operating costs.

The transition to digital is creating a rapid growth of digital asset storage houses. Content creation applications still work in complete isolation. A producer, for example, might be forced to use three different apps to review their audiovisual files, production scripts, or approve a piece of animation. Complicating matters further, digital assets are frequently spread across various file types, disk storage systems, and different servers. And despite the natural relationships between these assets — such as a script that requires an audio effect and the effect itself — most apps don't allow users to register, locate, and link these assets outside of their domain.

The ContentShare platform gives clarity to that hidden dimension of interoperability, having apps work together to discover and utilize these assets that were created by other apps somewhere else and on another platform. In this way, the platform offers a unifying solution that reduces costs for developers and end users, while eliminating the need for custom software interfaces between applications that are compatible with ContentShare.

This platform extends to a wide range of storage equipment and allows users to find assets, no matter where they may be stored, by utilizing a conventional Internet browser.

AVstar Systems LLC has been the first company to adopt this technology and is currently incorporating it into its low-resolution search systems and editing equipment to allow the location and linking of files within the premises and between them in a real environment of the news world.

Grass Valley Group provides a free license within the ContentShare toolkit for developers. Details of this information can be found in www.contentshare.com. The software is supplied with Profile XP platforms.

NetCentral software has the ability to address the costs of ownership of digital video servers by centralizing the monitoring operation of Profile XP platforms and related systems, no matter where in the world they are located. Grass Valley Group plans to extend the app's capabilities to all of its next-generation products, including switchers and routers.

Application developers will also benefit from the SNMP-based solution because they won't have to continuously choose the status of each appliance under their control. In the event of any abnormal condition, a message will be sent to the applications notifying the problem, its severity and recommending what kind of action to take.

Learn more at www.grassvalleygroup.com