NAB 2017: SAM’s Morpheus UX Defines a New Era in Multichannel Playout

SAM (Booth SL1805) will offer hands-on demos of its new Morpheus UX, a user-definable control interface for the company’s Morpheus playout automation and ICE CiaB product line. Morpheus UX, unveiled March 7 and available this month, is set to change the face of multichannel playout by giving customers an unmatched level of adaptability so they can precisely customize their channel views and focus on the specific functionality they need.

In introducing Morpheus UX, Neil Maycock, EVP/GM, media software solutions, SAM, commented, “Today’s playout environments vary massively both in scale and complexity of channels. With virtualization set to increase the ability to launch additional services, a new way of looking at control is essential. Morpheus UX is the result of a thorough analysis of today’s playout operations, where it’s abundantly clear that one size no longer fits all. What’s required is the ability for customers to define their own user interface, on a channel-by-channel basis if desired. They have to be able to quickly access core functionality rather than pour through unused items or menus.”

Customers also need to be able focus on significant events — such as live feeds or potential error points — rather than using up large amounts of screen space with “green” events guaranteed to go to air. Drawing on its worldwide experience as the most trusted name in playout, SAM’s ethos with Morpheus UX was to challenge the long-held belief of what a channel playlist view should consist of and to deliver a fresh approach to playout automation. This technology puts the customer in control, and, the company says, there’s no other interface like it on the market.

With Morpheus UX, ICE, and Morpheus, customers can build user-defined panels that precisely match their playout operation, and they can build screens made up of as many of these panels as they need. Specific functions can be built into any screen in any layout and recalled at any time. Unnecessary or rarely used functionality can be hidden away, and functions required at the touch of a button are front and center. Examples of panel types and functions include the following:

• A panel that shows only upcoming live events
• A screen for a supervisor who can see the next four events across 10 premium channels and add emergency control buttons to advance or pause the playlist for each of those 10 channels
• A traditional, fully featured list view with secondary events, event status, and multiple countdown timers
• For live interaction, a complete master control mixer can be built with program bus cuts, DSK and DVE control; this is fully interactive with the running playlist to ensure everything is contained in the automation as-run
• A “shotbox” of graphic events can be built and put to air immediately during live events
• Customers can aggregate the control and monitoring of channels that have been split across multiple automation points of presence, which improves operational responsiveness when controlling remote disaster recovery systems

With Morpheus UX, one operator can far more easily manage complex playout environments with each channel able to benefit from a different look. Morpheus UX reduces the cost of ownership for client seats, enhances data-center deployments and ensures that operations can be located anywhere to further reduce opex costs. Plus, its editing tools are intuitive for quick and easy screen development.

“At SAM,” Maycock said, “we’re constantly pushing the envelope in terms of product development. Morpheus UX really breaks new ground in playout automation and is a testament to our collective experience in continuing to lay the foundations for the broadcast workflows of the future.”