NAB 2016: Grass Valley Teams With Dejero on Newsgathering Solution, Accelerates VOD with iTX On-Demand

Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, and Dejero will demonstrate at NAB 2016 the integration of Dejero’s LIVE+ Control monitoring and management tool with Grass Valley’s GV STRATUS video production and content management system. This integration creates a seamless path from Dejero field transmitters to the newsroom for broadcast-quality video transported across IP networks, all within a single window of GV STRATUS.
The demonstration will take place in both the Grass Valley booth (SL106) and Dejero booth (N2918). Both companies will show how recorded content captured on Dejero transmitters and transported to Dejero servers is selected from within the GV STRATUS web monitor and ingested for use as an asset in news production. This solution will illustrate the convenience and timesaving of a centralized system with a simplified workflow.

“Reporters have many more tools available today to cover news stories from remote locations, including mobile transmitters, notebook computers and even smartphones,” says Brian Cram, CEO, Dejero.“This means there is more content than ever coming into the studio. This partnership helps news organizations manage and leverage that content to produce more compelling broadcasts.”

Dejero simplifies the remote acquisition, cloud management and multiscreen distribution of professional live video over IP. Providing best-in-class adaptive bitrate encoding, IP network bonding and intelligent connection management, the technology allows users to send content using any combination of cellular, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and portable satellite connections. This multipath capability creates a resilient, high-bandwidth link for the transport of live video and recorded content from virtually anywhere. The LIVE+ platform of cloud-managed transmitters, software and servers enables broadcasters, media organizations and mobile production companies to reliably transport broadcast-quality video instantly, reliably and cost-effectively.

“There is incredible pressure today to deliver breaking news quickly and efficiently,” says Mike Cronk, SVP of strategic marketing, Grass Valley. “By bringing these two powerful tools together, we are streamlining the process of content ingest and making it easier for news organizations to incorporate timely clips into their news programs.”

Designed for simplicity, efficiency and speed, GV STRATUS is a full set of production tools in one application that helps users better manage entertainment, on-air operations and news production media workflows. With task-driven tools that operate in a variety of environments, GV STRATUS can be specifically tailored for each user’s job function, increasing efficiency and enabling more effective collaboration throughout the entire production lifecycle.

Grass Valley Reduces Time to Air for VOD with iTX On-Demand
As viewers continue to consume more on-demand video than ever before, Grass Valley is introducing iTX On-Demand, a new and innovative video-on-demand (VOD)/over-the-top (OTT) solution that automates the VOD process and reduces prep time for both pre-recorded and live productions—available as an option with Grass Valley’s iTX Integrated Playout Platform or alongside third-party playout solutions.

“Customers already rely on iTX for its efficiency, quality and resilience—as evidenced by the fact that iTX delivered more than 17.5 million hours of television last year,” says Mike Cronk, senior vice president of strategic marketing, Grass Valley. “iTX On-Demand specifically addresses nonlinear production in a way that dramatically speeds time to air. Now users will be able to save money in the production of content and make money in the growing advertising market. It’s a win-win.”

iTX On-Demand manages the production of VOD assets right from the start of the production process. iTX recipes within the On-Demand system contain all the assets for each VOD work order, allowing complex tasks to be automatically performed in parallel with linear production workflow, without the need for manual intervention.

iTX On-Demand creates complete broadcast masters by adding or removing commercials, promotions and programming, inserting dedicated branding, watermarks and captioning, all  faster than real-time. Broadcast masters are then transcoded to create different VOD versions in parallel, with specific metadata for different platforms. The entire solution is highly automated, using a streamlined process that reduces the need for expensive duplicate operations.

For pre-recorded shows, VOD can be started hours in advance by “pre-packaging” assets—no need to wait for the transmission time because iTX On-Demand can source all the transmission-ready media and render the VOD assets. This means broadcasters can publish content to multiple platforms in advance of playout; effectively winning back lost hours in the critical C3 window and potentially recognizing millions of dollars in lost revenue every year.

For live shows, iTX On-Demand works with growing files to generate broadcast masters with promotions, commercials and branding driven from the iTX recipes. This means broadcasters can generate on-demand versions as the show is airing, minimizing delivery time to just minutes after the show finishes, not hours as other systems require.

“This will give our customers an opportunity to capitalize on the changing habits of viewers,” adds Cronk. “Not only will they be able to serve the content for VOD, but they’ll be able to do it more quickly and more cost effectively than ever before.”

iTX On-Demand will be demonstrated in the Grass Valley booth (SL106) at NAB.