SSL Gravity weighs in on multimedia needs

By Carl Lindemann

Solid State Logic is best known for its audio consoles. Now, the arrival of its long-anticipated Gravity Media Production Management System at NAB 2008 puts a new face on a familiar company. The system represents a new generation of hybrid solutions combining content acquisition, preparation, production, media management and monitoring suitable for the needs of the emerging multiplatform media universe.  It is a provocative product that challenges traditional engineering notions. With Gravity, the race for dominance of mind and market share for such integrated suites is on.

Gravity is presented as both a news and sports platform. The idea is to open the floodgates to ingest media from anywhere and to spit it out to anything. “Platform agnostic” is the catchphrase, and the idea is to keep the focus on content instead of focusing on the details of piecing together broken bits of our multimedia universe.

Gravity is a suite bundle that integrates encoders, decoders, asset managers, storage servers, package production tools, schedulers and transcoders. For example, HD and SD editing with effects take place on the same time-line. As feeds pour in, editors can get to work on proxy files while recording is still underway. It can generate multiple output formats simultaneously in different resolutions to deliver to any platform. On top of all this, it can connect operators across a LAN, WAN or MAN and is scalable, too.

Gravity runs on standard off-the-shelf PC-based server hardware helping to keep costs manageable. It also eases the task for SSL to manage and maintain the turnkey packages.