In this Industry Insights roundtable, we speak with industry vendors to discuss the current pain points, the progress of cloud adoption by broadcasters and the significance of security in the journey towards cloud production.

We delve into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead as broadcasters and media companies navigate the ever-changing landscape of cloud technology. 

Industry Insights: Embracing cloud solutions for enhanced media production workflows

What are the current pain points for cloud media production?

Jon Finegold, CMO, Signiant: The biggest challenge we see is around the economics — not just cloud storage, compute and egress costs but many underestimate the costs of homegrown solutions. Engineering teams lean towards building it themselves and the cloud providers offer many powerful tools to build anything you can dream up but media operations teams need speed and agility. Working with off-the-shelf SaaS solutions can help make costs much more predictable and, if designed right with modern APIs, still offer engineering teams the ability to extend and integrate products to meet specific business requirements. 

Venugopal Iyengar, deputy COO of digital, Planetcast International: The pain points of moving to the cloud include security issues, latency issues, bandwidth and storage capacity. However, technology providers with proven expertise and gold standard, proprietary infrastructure are building solutions that overcome all these hurdles, ensuring a greater sense of trust in cloud workflows among the media and entertainment community. It’s also important that cloud solution vendors deliver predictable project costs and seamlessly enable multiple plug-in integrations for cloud production and support workflows to enable a better customer experience with more transparent pricing.

Grigory Mindlin, general manager of broadcast, Disguise: We’re in a transitional period, companies are trying to switch to the cloud, but they also have a lot on prem. From a preparation and cost standpoint, many broadcasters may not be ready to move the whole system to the cloud yet, so lots of the current pain points are around working on prem and the cloud at the same time.

Sam Peterson, COO, Bitcentral: Every organization will have a different answer to that. Certainly, many of our customers have very unique use cases. Ultimately, our main focus is on the production and delivery component. Of course, the cloud is absolutely essential where consumer delivery is concerned.

Stephen Tallamy, CTO, EditShare: Cloud technologies are now mature — that is not the issue. Where we still see resistance is in seizing the opportunities that the cloud brings to transform workflows and business processes. Whilst you can lift and shift to the cloud as a first step: you need, as a business, to re-evaluate what you need to do to serve your users creatively and cost-effectively, and develop the workflows that will achieve that. 

Rick Young, SVP and head of global products, LTN Global: There are two key pain points that I think are posing challenges for organizations across the value chain. One being the ability to reliably and predictably deliver low latency feeds into cloud environments, and the other being able to affordably deliver produced events and linear channels from cloud environments to final destinations. Both scenarios can be neatly handled with a mission critical global IP network.

Jonathan Smith, cloud solution area expert, Net Insight: There are three competing technical parameters that productions fight with, latency, quality and bandwidth.  Latency and bandwidth are often detracting factors when using a cloud environment, so maintaining quality in a cost-effective way can be a challenge.

Miroslav Jeras, CTO, Pebble: As a technology partner we understand one of the pain points is the potential for security breaches and the need to protect sensitive media content while it is stored and shared in the cloud. Additionally, the lack of standardization of cloud services can make it difficult for media production teams to manage live signals and minimize latency.

Julián Fernández-Campón, CTO, Tedial: There are many, but the two more important pain points are cost: How much I will have to pay for my cloud media operation and what are the variable costs, and efficiency? Will it work as seamlessly as on prem does?

David Rosen, VP of cloud applications, Sony Electronics: Two major challenges are moving big files around and finding them when you need them. Big files and unpredictable internet conditions make that a challenge. Solutions like Sony’s Ci Media Cloud reliably deal with these conditions by using file transfer acceleration, built in retry mechanisms and delivery notifications. 

Raúl Alba, director of solutions marketing, media and cloud, Avid: While media production in the cloud is gaining traction, there are still several pain points in increasing its adoption. These include not only in-house knowledge about cloud technologies to maintain production systems, but also media companies’ recent investments in on-prem technology and understanding or the true total cost of ownership of on-prem systems. There are also concerns about security and reliability and the complexity of hybrid workflows, particularly in the way media is ingested and egressed.

Frederic Petitpont, co-founder and CTO, Newsbridge: Discoverability of media assets is a large pain point. Many customers want the ability to search through their content in the same way they use Google. However most MAMs lack the full text (semantic) search capability to enable this.

Charles d’Autremont, CEO and founder, Cinedeck: Bandwidth limitations present challenges in remote work and disrupt workflow continuity, but external issues like this aren’t always easy to rectify. At the ingest end of the chain, it is important that delays are minimised so that editors can get to work straight away. By recording ISO streams directly to the codec required for editing and file delivery, it is possible to dramatically reduce the time taken from capture to initial editing.

Chris Kelly, solutions manager for production workflows, Ross Video: Pain points are mostly a function of expectations for how the system will behave. There’s an expectation that there will be delay; this isn’t like SDI or IP in an on-prem control room where signals are sent and received within a frame of delay, and I think that’s mostly accepted. Where it gets complicated is when you have on-set displays being fed by a cloud resource, and then fed to the ground only to be shot by a camera that’s then sent back to the cloud for a program output; that delay profile gets a lot trickier. 

Geoff Stedman, CMO, SDVI: The most often mentioned challenges with cloud media production are related to latency, especially for live production. Depending on location, limited connectivity to the cloud, particularly for moving large media files, can also be a bottleneck.

Where are we in terms of adoption?

Jon Finegold: Prior to 2020, we saw steady growth of cloud adoption year over year. Then when the pandemic hit we saw an explosion of cloud adoption with nearly five times the amount of data being moved into and out of the cloud on the Signiant Platform. Most media companies are now using the cloud in some way and most remain in a hybrid state with some workloads in the cloud cloud and some on-prem — a trend that looks like it will be the norm for the next several years.

Venugopal Iyengar: Increasingly, traditional broadcast customers are looking to migrate to hybrid models that build on the security of on-premise solutions with the flexibility and scalability of cloud. This approach can also have OpEx benefits over fully cloud based approaches. While we’re seeing media brands embrace hybrid models as a flexible and logical approach to cloud adoption, it’s worth noting that the technology is mature — cloud-based production, media management and distribution workflows are in action today, and proving to be successful on the global stage.

Grigory Mindlin: The world’s biggest broadcasters and media companies lead the way as they have the budgets to adopt first and take chances. I believe those companies are somewhere like a third of the way, meaning they’re doing some things in the cloud. It’s not ubiquitous, I can’t think of a single broadcaster that’s moved everything 100% onto the cloud, they’re all somewhere along the journey.

Sam Peterson: We’re in the early stages of cloud production, certainly compared with archive and asset management, which are much further developed. We’ve seen some experimentation with limited live workflows, such as production switching, but it’s early days for sure.

Stephen Tallamy: Inevitably we are in a time of transition. We have users who have enthusiastically embraced cloud workflows — including the remarkable power of cloud-hosted editing — while some see the cloud as a backup and archive for now, and others prefer to keep their media on premises. As production and post companies are challenged to find new solutions, so the advantages of the cloud will become more attractive.

Rick Young: Cloud workflows have evolved considerably over the past couple of years. Broadcasters are no longer just experimenting with new ways of working, they are embracing and deploying cloud-based solutions across real-word, live production environments. Customers are adopting cloud-enabled solutions to drive scale and flexibility, and increasingly, as a means of enabling efficient content versioning to cost-effectively reach fragmented audiences through global multi-platform digital distribution strategies.

Jonathan Smith: In recent years we have seen a massive increase in the number of live events produced by our customers; a lot of these increases have been associated with lower end productions.  In many cases these have been completed in a cloud environment, so the adoption has accelerated quite rapidly.

Miroslav Jeras: With the advent of remote productions, broadcasters are leveraging the cloud to increase operational efficiencies — since a reduction in costs is a natural by-product of no longer sending staff out on location. As experts in playout automation, we know there is also a desire to use virtual playout in the cloud for offering greater flexibility and spinning up pop up channels quickly. However, we also know that for now many broadcasters want to adopt hybrid workflows that leverage the use of legacy equipment on-premises whilst deploying cloud-based technologies.

Julián Fernández-Campón: It really depends on the use cases. Some use cases like localization, collaborations and remote production are widely used already, and other use cases that are quite dependent on the size of the media post-production are getting less adoption.

Raúl Alba: Many broadcasters have already adopted cloud technologies for some parts of the workflow, like distribution or playout, and now they are slowly expanding adoption to other parts of the workflow, like media production. Cloud adoption is not running at the same pace across all geographies, with North America and Northern Europe at the forefront of adoption.

Frederic Petitpont: Not where we would expect it to be. The hybrid approach of part-cloud and part on-premises remains popular with broadcasters. We know from the International Federation of Television Archives’ latest annual research that more than 35% of respondents fear the cloud will be more expensive, almost 30% believe they already have sufficient storage, so have no need for the cloud, and almost one-quarter of respondents had concerns about data protection.

Charles d’Autremont: The media and entertainment industry has seen a rapid growth in the adoption of cloud technology for all aspects of workflows. Production and post-production organisations have shifted to cloud because of its flexibility, scalability, and accessibility. The industry is still in the early stages of cloud adoption, but with the development of more solutions and tools, this will only increase and eventually become the norm.

Chris Kelly: I’d say we’re in the early adopters’ portion of the curve as we’re all watching things produced in the cloud, and most viewers wouldn’t know the difference. REMI has been around for several years, and many of those principles are at least parallel with cloud production which has I think accelerated some adoption. I think mass adoption is still in our horizon though it’s getting closer, and how we think about cloud will probably shift and adjust as we get closer to cloud production being a common reality. 

Geoff Stedman: Where we see a lot of adoption of the cloud for media production is with edit workflows. There has been a lot of innovation with cloud-based editing software so that an editor can access and edit content from anywhere without having to move content to a local computer.

Where is security in your customer’s mindset?

Industry Insights: Security and APIs in broadcast media asset management

Jon Finegold: Security concerns are at an all-time high and we hear it over and over from the market. In fact, it’s been a good growth driver for the Signiant Platform, driving companies to finally retire legacy solutions like FTP, harddrive workflows and older software. Customers require cloud and SaaS services that are built with a “security first” mind set.

Venugopal Iyengar: For an existing linear channel, security can require a paradigm shift when moving to cloud, as customers may need to re-validate compliance with security requirements. Security will always be a top priority for media companies, especially when handling unreleased content. Increasingly, it’s possible for cloud to be at least as secure as on-premise and hybrid production models.

Grigory Mindlin: Security is really important. As it moves to the cloud, there’s been even more secure protocols. Some of our customers have increased their security and adjusted how they provide access to their network for vendors accordingly.

Stephen Tallamy: Concern over security is perhaps the biggest reason for the reluctance to move further into the cloud. It is really important to develop very strict protocols not only to protect against intellectual property theft but also against commercial cyber threats like ransomware. That may mean doing things which are counter-intuitive: remote editing is a standard today, but post houses are finding they need to establish connections from the center out rather than opening up portals for editors to log themselves on.

Rick Young: Security has been at the forefront of the agenda for our customers dating back more than a dozen years when we first started enabling cloud based, IP transmission workflows. This continues to this day but with the right core technology and understanding of business needs, security can remain a concern but not a blocker for our customers.

Jonathan Smith: Security is at the front of most consensus customer minds.  As we move into the IP transport domain, especially when over public connectivity, the need to secure feeds and hand-offs is of the utmost importance.

Miroslav Jeras: Security is at the top of the priority list. The current political landscape means cyber security threats and concerns of being on the receiving end of a hacking attack are at an all-time high. Customers want security of their content, especially content they can monetize, and they want full transparency around what measures are in place for disaster recovery when placing a system in the cloud, where their on-premises infrastructure is also protected.

Julián Fernández-Campón: They are all aware that security is a must and they are always looking for solutions where security is embedded within the system and the vendor itself.

David Rosen: We’ve seen a dramatic shift in customers’ perceptions of the security of the cloud. There used to be a sense that if your content wasn’t in your own facility then you couldn’t be sure it was safe. Time and experience has taught us that on premise facilities are no safer than cloud infrastructures. 

Raúl Alba: Security is top of mind, and delegating this to third party vendors like cloud providers is not something all of them are ready to do. One interesting thing is that the security of the average broadcaster is less strict than the standard security in the public cloud. Cloud infrastructure vendors have a business because their solutions are secure.

Frederic Petitpont: Security in the mind of our customers relates to trust when working with SaaS. Pentesting can be quite expensive, and that’s also why they are working with SaaS. Security issues are much less likely with cloud editing workstations, and customers are able to use the RBAC (Role-based Access Control) authentication mechanism to provide access to content.

Chris Kelly: It was a lot harder (though not impossible) to hijack an analog signal. In recent years, there have been some high-profile and not-high-profile incidents that influenced the on-air product. I believe all customers see these incidents and recognize that we’re living in a new world where people don’t necessarily work within the four walls of their office, but that very special attention needs to be put in place to mitigate the security risk that’s introduced when you open that door.

Geoff Stedman: Security is always top of mind for our customers. All media companies want to protect their content as well as tightly control who has access to their content. Fortunately, there are well-architected methods for securing cloud-based content and workflows to ensure that work can be done by only those who are authorized.

Industry Insights: Embracing cloud solutions for enhanced media production workflows

The post Industry Insights: Cloud adoption, pain points and security in broadcast appeared first on NewscastStudio.

The cash-only deal is valued at approximately US $58.8 million and is expected to close pending regulatory approvals.

Tata’s clients include MotoGP, DP World Tour, World Rally Championship and a variety of other international broadcasters and sporting leagues.

“Our combined forces of The Switch’s strong presence in North America and Tata Communications’ global position will create a formidable powerhouse in the global media ecosystem helping enterprises harness emerging digital consumption patterns to drive innovation and disruption. In addition, The Switch production infrastructure as a service model will allow Tata Communications customers to accelerate adoption of remote production from any event around the world,” said Tri Pham, chief strategy officer, Tata Communications.

“The team at The Switch has worked hard creating a market leading live production and transmission offering in the US and beyond. We are extremely proud of our achievements and the trust that Tier 1 media companies place in our services. As the media industry evolves, The Switch has an ever larger role to play in the future of live sports and entertainment and in helping our customers maximise their lucrative content. With Tata Communications we will accelerate this journey providing stability, investment and vision in support of future growth. I am excited for the future of The Switch and the opportunities that this brings to our team and customers,” said Eric Cooney, president & CEO, The Switch.

“The global media & entertainment industry is at a once-in-a-generation digital transformation driven by a fundamental change in consumer consumption behaviours. Tata Communications is already helping some of the largest global sports federations, broadcasters and OTT platforms manage this disruption through our next generation digital media platform. With The Switch team, we will now be able to develop holistic, scalable solutions encompassing live and scheduled programming for television, leveraging pre-recorded and filed videos for new content creation as well as all post-production. The Switch and Tata Communications teams, together will help the industry evolve to the next level of at-venue and at-home fan engagement,” said Dhaval Ponda, global head of Media & Entertainment Business, Tata Communications.

On completion of the transaction, The Switch will join the Media and Entertainment Services (MES) business of Tata Communications under Dhaval Ponda.

The post The Switch acquired by Tata Communications appeared first on NewscastStudio.

Accelerated offers businesses, including TV stations, a wide variety of highly customized, specially outfitted vehicles that can aid in newsgathering and weather forecasting, including the recently launched CBS News Detroit Next Weather Tracker.

For Baltimore, the company used a Ford Expedition SSV and converted it to what it calls the Vision Series Storm Chaser with CNG Platform, according to an announcement. 

The truck includes a DriveLive POV Camera System, a host of weather instruments and is fitted with our exclusive LiFePO4 equipped MVP-E power system.

The vehicle includes bonded cellular transmission capabilities via TVU Networks with switching via Blackmagic Design’s Smart Videohub CleanSwitch. 

Although the vehicle is designed for weather tracking, the livery imagery posted on Accelerated’s site showcase the vehicle as having just the station’s standard WBAL branding and does not appear to reference it specifically as a weather truck. 

In an industry that loves giving catchy names to everything from a camera mounted on a tower to mobile weather lab, it’s a bit surprising that the station didn’t give the vehicle a name along the lines of “Thunder Truck,” “Storm Ranger” or “Beasts.”

The exact equipment on mobile weather vehicles varies, with some including everything from a full portable radar while others are little more than a standard news vehicle with a camera or mobile device feeding video back via cellular signals — but they often are referred to with a catchy name on-air and with an accompanying logo.

Of course, there’s always time for that to be introduced.

It’s always possible WBAL management didn’t feel the need to brand the vehicle or it could be referred to on air with a variety of different names, depending on what type of weather it’s being used for that day.

The lack of weather branding on the outside also gives a bit more flexibility to use the truck for non-weather stories as well without having to worry about the printed graphics on the outside matching the assignment (which may not matter in many cases).

WBAL’s vehicle is also a significantly less dramatic design than others delivered by Accelerated. Many recent weather vehicles are being done in full vehicle wraps with imagery of stormy clouds, lightning bolts and radar scans along with bold, dramatic typography. 

This vehicle appears to stick more to standard decal-style markings that have traditionally been used on news trucks, vans and cars.

The post WBAL gets new weather truck — but opts out of any fancy branding appeared first on NewscastStudio.

Now, as the world emerges from the grasp of COVID-19 and the safety protocols started in 2020 largely relaxed, it appears this is one trend that may be sticking around. 

While this approach to remote guests doesn’t allow for the same quality that a professional-grade studio or video conferencing setup can achieve, it does open the door to more cost-efficient and faster access to more sources and viewpoints, which all in all can give TV news producers an edge when done correctly. 

It’s always been popular for TV journalism to incorporate on-camera interviews from not only witnesses to newsworthy events but also experts in fields related to the story at hand. This typically meant venturing out with a camera and lighting gear and filming an interview on location or, in cases when that wasn’t physically possible due to geography, make arrangements for a remote interview.

Pre-pandemic, the idea of a “remote” interview often required the interviewee to travel to a local station or broadcast facility with satellite or fiber connectivity. They’d typically be seated in a space outfitted with studio-grade background, lighting and audio hookups in front of a studio camera. 

For live appearances, most subjects are depicted looking directly into the camera, though it’s not uncommon for long-sided framing to be used when interviews are conducted remotely for recorded story packages.

Long sided framing, which can be done both for sit-down interviews or in-the-field ones, involves placing the body and head of the subject to either the left or right side of the frame. The person typically is positioned in a way that they are facing toward the long side, which helps convey the idea that a conversation between two people is being captured.

In some cases, interviewees may be shot long-sided even if there isn’t someone isn’t actually sitting or standing there conducting the interview, though this is more commonly done with individuals who are accustomed to being interviewed on-camera, such as spokespeople and other correspondents. 

Although not as common, it is possible to do long-sided shots remotely as well.

This January 2021 interview with a guest included a fully lit camera setup in both locations with the subject shot long-sided, but also incorporated wide views of the setup to emphasize the interview was done remotely.

Remotely shot long-sided framing has also been accomplished using fully lit camera setups on both ends, but with the actual conversation taking place via some type of audio-video hookup between the locations. This wasn’t unheard pre-pandemic, but started showing up more during COVID-19 as travel become more challenging but local crews could still be dispatched.

No matter what the setup, someone being interviewed remotely can hear the distant correspondent or anchor are fed in via an earpiece and with the ability to see that person on a monitor positioned off camera (though faux long-sided “interviews” are sometimes shot with the person answering questions from a list provided by the reporter or simply providing a generic statement that can be used in a report).

The demand for remote guest shots increased as cable news added more channels and many of the shows on them started to rely heavily on often live interviews with experts, analysts and pundits to fill time. This could be a solo exchange with just the guest and anchor or include the (now often infamous) panel format. These shots are typically done with head-and-shoulder framing with the guest looking directly into the camera as opposed to long-sided.

These segments have the advantage of being relatively inexpensive and easy to produce, especially given that they can fill multiple blocks of a program and, because they can often stir up debate among guests, tend to be a good way to attract viewers. Bookers need to find and contact guests and make arrangements for them to get to a location with a camera hookup, but overall this could be significantly less expensive than having multiple correspondents or reporters packages created to fill time. 

In many cases, local affiliated stations could be used for these appearances, which are also known as “inserts.” In major metro areas, facilities with dedicated insert studios also sprouted up that networks could pay a fee to use.

Panels and interviews can also include one or more guests being in-studio if that was physically possible for them and often there would be a mix of in-person and remote guests. 

Before the pandemic, it wasn’t unheard of for a guest to appear from their home or office, but producers understood that these internet connections often didn’t have the bandwidth or reliability to provide a full, television quality picture (especially once HD took over as the norm).

Picture quality from home or office interviews is also hampered by the comparatively low-quality cameras installed in many consumer-grade hardware and audio was also problematic because guests had to rely on built-in microphones on their device or consumer-grade headphones or ear buds with microphones.

There can also problems with feedback and delays when an interviewer would pose a question and the guest might be seen on camera for a few fractions of a second longer than might seem natural with the last portion of the question echoing back.

Because of all this, broadcasters often still prefer to have guests travel to a studio for remote appearances. 

As the years went by and technology improved, higher-end video conferencing systems could sometimes be leveraged instead, offering near-broadcast quality video and audio, though this could vary based on the system’s specifications.

Then 2020 came along.

When entire communities began closing down in March 2020 and scientists were still only starting to understand COVID-19 and how it spread, leaving home wasn’t a viable option for many. 

Major networks did start dispatching professional grade gear and ordering up fiber lines into the homes of key anchors and other on-air talent, a practice that quickly became more common.

In this November 2020 show, ‘NBC Nightly News’ anchor Lester Holt anchors the broadcast from his home. He’s seated in front of a large flat screen TV panel that’s showing a photo of the ‘Nightly’ set, but is not actually seated in the studio.

“NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt anchored months worth of the signature evening newscast from his New York City home thanks to collection of lighting, audio and video gear the network sent in. Other networks had setups deployed as backups to key anchors’ homes.

Not all anchors remained at home. For newscasts with multiple anchors, many networks opted to split the show between two locations to not only encourage social distancing but also have a backup in the event something happened in either place, though it was probably more likely a technical glitch would take down the remote anchor.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Savannah Guthrie (@savannahguthrie)

Some shows did remain in studio, but either were done with only the anchor in the studio with little to no floor crew, or by spreading out talent and crew farther apart at the anchor desk, in multiple venues of the same studio or across multiple spaces. For various periods of time, ABC, CBS and NBC all had at least one anchor broadcasting from home during the height of the pre-vaccine pandemic. 

However, most broadcasters were reluctant to bring in guests, especially in the early days of the pandemic, because that meant, quite literally, opening the door, to the virus possibly sneaking its way in the building. The same issue extended to correspondents and reporters as companies tried to limit foot traffic, especially in newsrooms that tend to be open workspaces.

Local TV stations also started sending portable chroma key walls and lighting gear to meteorologists’ homes, where they would be set up in various locations, including garages. 

NBC anchor Al Roker delivers a weather forecast from his kitchen in March 2020.

So, not only did remote guests start appearing from home offices, dining rooms, kitchens and spare bedrooms — but reporters did as well. Remote shots and standups, especially from outdoor spaces, started appearing after some time, but reporters also likewise appeared from a variety of mostly home-based environments.

As interest in news skyrocketed thanks to COVID-19, some viewers took to commenting on talent’s decor and choices of reading material when bookshelves showed up behind them. And, of course, plenty of children and pets made guest appearances during live broadcasts — and incidents with talent or guests getting caught without pants or amusing or entertaining objects in the background went viral.

The big difference was that most of these appearances were done using what might be classified as “consumer-grade” video calling tools such as Skype, Zoom, FaceTime or Google Hangouts (now rebranded as Meet) that typically send video and audio data across standard internet connections. 

At least some of these tools had already been growing in popularity as a way for friends and family to see each other’s faces when geography separated them and businesses would even use them for meetings among staffers scattered around the globe. For these purposes, people were largely willing to put up with lower picture quality. In addition, many of the devices the calls were being made on had small or lower resolution screens, so the sometimes lower quality video was sometimes harder to discern.

These tools are distinct from higher quality systems often referred to as videoconferencing or telepresence solutions that businesses and organizations might have installed to allow for higher quality, more immersive “video calls.” Often these systems are outfitted with higher quality hardware, better and dedicated internet connections and multiple screens. The disadvantage of them, however, is that they often require pricey proprietary hardware and might only be able to call between like-systems. 

Even prior to the pandemic, TV networks had started relying more on systems such as these to bring guests in remotely, though these would typically only feature a single person looking at the camera.

Often these arrangements relied on slimmed down versions of a full teleconferencing setup with only a single camera and screen and could be brought into homes or offices temporarily or permanently installed at convenient, central locations. In other cases, large companies or organizations invested in these types of systems in order to make it easier for their experts to appear on TV shows — though these were often based in a set location and still required the person to make their way to that part of the building or campus. 

During much of COVID-19, TV networks and stations were all but forced to fall back on using lower quality video feeds for at least some remote appearances because it simply wasn’t practical to outfit every potential guest, reporter or anchor with the connection and gear needed for a better quality feed.

Slowly, it became the norm to turn on TV and see someone being interviewed in a spare room with odd lighting and having the feed break up and “buffer” throughout the segment. However, not counting severe technical meltdowns, guests and talent were still largely able to get their point across to viewers and other panel members despite the lower quality.

Here NBC’s Lindsey Reiser interviews an expert remotely via a computer. NBC captured shots of Reiser sitting in front of her laptop asking questions using professional camera gear but recorded the guest off the computer feed.

It also become more common to see someone being interviewed via these same types of tools for a pre-recorded package, with their picture showing up in the familiar jumpy look while cutaway shots of the correspondent or reporter might be captured with a higher quality camera that was recording directly to disk without requiring transmission over crowded internet lines. Often these types of setups also include reverse cross-shot style views showing the reporting facing a computer or TV screen conducting the interview remotely, which serves, at least partially, as a way to acknowledge the fact the interview is being done remotely.

As TV news moves forward, it’s still common to see guests continue to show up via lower quality feeds from home or office spaces — and it’s likely to continue.

For one, the pandemic sparked a huge increase in people’s familiarity with video calls and the accompanying tin-y audio, stuttering video and even inevitable dropouts.

This arguably means the average consumer is more familiar with and willing to accept the lower quality picture and occasional glitch since they themselves might be experiencing it regularly. An increased number of companies are also remaining hybrid or allowing employees to work remotely permanently, meaning more business communication will be taking place using these types of tools, which still don’t have parity with professional broadcast equipment. 

Producers and bookers also benefited from the ability to book guests or panel members on short notice and without having to deal with the logistics of getting the person to a station or studio to appear live. Instead, a potential guest could conceivably get a request and be on air within minutes without having to leave their home (or put on pants). While this type of benefit is more obvious during breaking news (when broadcasters would often rely on “phoners” for reporters to “appear” on air via audio until they could get in front of a camera), it also has implications in today’s near constantly evolving news cycle.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic this also had the added advantage of being able to interview medical professionals from inside their hospitals, often just a short walk from where they were treating patients. Not only did this reduce the amount of time they had to be away from patients, it also added an added dimension to the story of overworked doctors and nurses struggling to save lives. In many ways, this meant delivering updates and observations from the front line of the pandemic.

By increasing the potential pool of guests, networks also have gained the ability to feature a broader scope of voices, views, perspectives and expertise, increasing the diversity among the normal slate of faces appearing on TV. In cases where an offbeat or more obscure topic is being discussed, featuring some of the handful of experts in that area becomes much easier.

That said, there are some words of caution that producers, bookers, guests and panelists should consider.

First, with the wider acceptance of lower quality video feeds does open up the door to book potentially dozens, hundreds or even thousands of more guests, it’s still important to vet everyone in terms of both their expertise, experience and professional history in the subject being discussed as well as considering how much value a guest might bring to the segment (in other words, don’t book more guests just for the sake of booking more guests). 

Most networks have avoided shooting remote interviews long-sided, which could suggest, at least on a subtle basis, that the interview subject and reporter were in the same room. If long-sided framing is used, it’s probably important for the interviewer to be shown seated in front of a computer or other device screen at least once during the segment so viewers are given an accurate picture of how the interview was done.

Guests should also, when possible, be comfortable with appearing on TV or speaking in public and, if necessary, coached on how to make a TV appearance look and work effectively. For example, guests should be reminded to always look at the camera (or, as appropriate, a fixed spot off camera), rather than the picture of the anchor or reporter on their screen.

Not everyone can speak off-the-cuff and respond clearly, concisely and objectively to questions anchors pose, so this should be considered as well.

For guests and panelists, it is of course always a good idea to find a quiet place where you’ll be undisturbed (with a reliable internet connection, of course). This includes making sure family members and pets steer clear of where you’re sitting and remember to remain quiet.

Backgrounds should be kept clean and simple if possible. Walls of books or clutter can be distracting and open the possibility of something appearing on air that shouldn’t.

Lighting is also important and so-called “ring” lights can be a good option for an easy and compact option. If there’s no time to order a unit, sitting in a room with plenty of natural or ambient lighting can help. Guests can also move lighting from other rooms into a space temporarily.

If no additional lighting is available, avoid sitting in front of windows, because they’ll most likely wash the picture out during daylight hours and provide annoying reflections when it’s dark out.

Guests should also clear out any personal photos or artwork if they don’t want them to appear in the background.

When using a laptop or traditional monitor with built-in camera, it may be necessary to adjust the angle of the screen to avoid having too much framing along the top of the picture. Often the way users naturally position screens for being able to see what’s on them results in too much headroom and getting a better framed view can require positioning the monitor at what may seen like an unnatural angle (though this can sometimes have the added advantage of reducing the temptation to glance at the screen).

Crews should, when possible, check the shot ahead of air, for both good framing and to check for anything odd in the background or items that, when someone sits in front of them, end up looking odd or could be mistaken for something else.

While the majority of these types of remote appearances are done from a home or office, there are alternative options that have been used for remote TV interviews via computers or mobile devices, including a rented home or other space or enclosed office at a coworking space. Some remote interviews have even been conducted from vehicles or RVs parked near a good wifi signal or using cellular data networks (which typically result in lower quality feeds).

In cases of individuals who are regular contributors or find themselves called upon to be on TV frequently, it can be convenient to designate a space for such appearances, taking into account how it looks on camera and how isolated it is from errant sound and other people. Some regulars on the TV news circuit have even invested in a mini “set” that could include a collection of furniture and decorative items specifically selected to appear on camera, hanging prints or imagery related to their area of expertise and quasi-permanent lighting.

Digital screen backgrounds typically require better lighting setups, since cameras, particularly ones in consumer-level devices, often have difficultly adjusting for a bright, backlit background if the person in front of it isn’t lit well. These also require having a graphic available to display that could range from a local cityscape to an image related to the subject matter typically discussed.

Those who appear as part of their professional role with a company, organization or institution can also use “step and repeat” style imagery provided by a graphic designer. In general, it is best to avoid using a single logo in the center of the screen since this will be covered by at least part of the body. The same rule goes for using an image that has a key focal point in the middle of the screen (it’s also important to consider what a face and body will cover when placing any objects in the background and they might appear to be awkwardly jutting out from someone’s head).

Some networks can also provide guests with branded imagery to show on such screens, so outfitting the space with a monitor that accepts a variety of input formats can be a good move.

The idea of the remote interview has also been enhanced thanks to advances in technology that allows broadcasters to simulate in-person interviews between people who are in different cities, countries or even continents.

In this view, former President Barack Obama is not in the same room with Oprah Winfrey.

For example, Oprah Winfrey conducted a remote interview with former President Barack Obama this way during the pandemic in November 2020. Both were seated on matching chairs. Winfrey was in a real room and the wide shots were framed to allow space for Obama to be inserted as if he was seated across from her. In reality, he was in green screen studio and captured by quality cameras under professional lighting setups. 

This image shows former President Barack Obama on a green screen. His chair matches the one Winfrey sat on.

In shots where both were on-screen, such as wide two-shots or cross-shots, the two images are combined to create the illusion the pair were sitting across from each other when in reality they were sitting thousands of miles apart. 

“The Drew Barrymore Show,” in what could be seen as some pretty good accidental foresight, had its New York set equipped with the ability to “bring in” guests remotely from the Los Angeles area, where many celebrities are based. Again, these celebs are captured in California sitting on matching chairs and have their images combined with Barrymore on set in New York.

This was done for a reunion interview between Barrymore and her “Charlie’s Angels” movie co-stars. Although Barrymore and Lucy Liu were in New York but seated farther apart than is typical, Cameron Diaz was made to appear as if she was on-set thanks to the virtual production tools.

These setups typically include audio hookups between the pair still allowed them to hear each other as well as video screens placed in a way so that, when one person is looking at it, their eye line is matched to where the other person’s face would be. 

COVID-19 vaccines and boosters are highly recommended by multiple public health officials and experts. COVID-19 vaccines and boosters have undergone extensive testing and monitoring to ensure their safety. Scientific research has shown the vaccines and boosters to be very safe and highly effective any may help stop you from contracting COVID-19 or resulting in less severe symptoms and chance of hospitalization or death. For more information about COVID-19 and coronavirus, visit the CDC website. You can locate a free vaccination site or clinic near you at Vaccines.gov. As with any medical decision, you should always discuss your options with your doctor.

The post How the pandemic likely changed TV news production for good appeared first on NewscastStudio.

The vehicle’s debut comes ahead of a slate of original programming set to hit the market this fall, expanding upon the newscast launched this summer on CW 50, WKBD.

In true Detroit fashion, the Next Weather Tracker made its official debut at the North American International Auto Show as part of the Ford truck exhibit.

“These are not inexpensive investments for sure, and I think it just further solidifies our plan to really make a mark in this market with starting our new local newscast,” said Brian Watson, general manager of CBS News Detroit, in an interview with NewscastStudio.

“It’s another sign of the seriousness and investment and support that we have from our parent company,” said Watson.

CBS News Detroit worked with Accelerated Media Technologies on the vehicle customization and buildout, using a Ford F150 Police Interceptor as the base. That particular model of F150 is built in neighboring Dearborn.

“We’ve got a couple of unique things installed within the truck that gives us the advantage over our competition,” said Paul Pytlowany, news director at CBS News Detroit.

With an eye toward winter weather, the vehicle includes sensors that can read both ambient air temperature and the road surface temperature.

“We also have a slush cam in the wheel-well that allows for in-situation readings of snowfall accumulating,” said Pytlowany, with Detroit seeing approximately 33 inches of snowfall annually. 

The vehicle includes 5G bonded cellular transmission capabilities via a LiveU LU800, which can use up to eight modems and serve as a production hub with support for multiple cameras and audio feeds.

A 360-degree rotating camera is included on the roof along with the weather sensors and enhanced LED lighting. Blackmagic Design’s Smart Videohub CleanSwitch and SmartView Duo are also included for video switching and routing.

The back of the vehicle includes a 55-inch monitor for remote reporting.

On the marketing front, Watson expects to heavily showcase the Next Weather Tracker as a differentiator for CBS News Detroit and a further extension of the newly launched Next Weather brand.

The post CBS News Detroit prepares for the elements with Next Weather Tracker appeared first on NewscastStudio.

The vehicle serves as the station’s mobile weather lab and includes multiple cameras, weather sensors and storm tracking tools.

Set Design

WKRG

View a gallery of this project…

Accelerated Media Technologies – who has worked with other Nexstar stations and cable network NewsNation – handled the build-out, which uses a Chevy Tahoe as the base. 

The vehicle is based on AMT’s Vision Series platform and includes 5G transmission and cellular news gathering via TVU Networks.

The Beast includes a 360-degree rotating camera on the roof along with a Pulsar 800 weather sensor from Columbia Weather.

Inside the vehicle, small cameras are included for live hits. The cameras include AMT’s DriveLive Camera system.

Blackmagic Design’s Smart Videohub provides video monitoring and routing inside the vehicle 

The back of the vehicle includes a 43-inch monitor for remote weathercasts and field reporting, such as at Friday night football games.

Along with shark teeth and storm graphics, the vehicle includes the “beast” branding in a streaky, hand-drawn font. The beast branding also extends to a special hashtag created for the vehicle, #Beast5. 

The Beast joins WKRG along with a new studio that launched in late June. 

The post Nexstar’s WKRG 5 adds mobile weather vehicle, ‘The Beast’ appeared first on NewscastStudio.

What is media orchestration?

Christer Boom, Vice President of Product Management at Net Insight, defines media orchestration as: “a replacement for traditional media asset management systems, allowing for the monitoring and control of many productions as well as the execution of operations that require minimal operator input.” 

Media orchestration uses automation and AI to learn the workflow, eventually running complex production tasks itself. This allows network executives to save both the costs and time typically involved in production labor. Media orchestration can’t do everything, but it runs each system that can be learned automatically, minimizing the work your production staff has to do.

How does media orchestration work for broadcast?

Naturally, media orchestration can be a boon when it comes to broadcasts, whether radio, TV, or podcasting. In the early days of its conception, media orchestration, such as Media Asset Management software, was used to automatically distribute and archive content playout. Now it can do much more. 

As stated above, media orchestration works through an automated process. It uses intelligent programming to sync with your existing workflow programs and learn your workflow. It even uses built-in decision making systems to streamline your workflows, making for fewer of them. From there, it organizes manual and automated tasks, so that the manual tasks can be handled more efficiently. It can manage files, track data, create schedules, send notifications, and more. 

When it comes to broadcasts, it always feels as though you’re running up against a deadline. Even if the broadcast comes across smooth and coherent to viewers, there are dozens or hundreds running around behind the scenes to make sure everything goes as planned. Media orchestration gives your team the support they need so they can relax, and you can be confident in your broadcast.

The benefits of media orchestration

Media orchestration is so widely used in modern broadcasts because it offers a wide range of benefits. From taking tasks out of your team’s hands to making the tasks they do handle easier, media orchestration will change the way you produce.

Some of the benefits include:

• Coordinated workflows. Media orchestration automatically organizes your workflows. It doesn’t just take work off human production teams. It helps them organize the tasks they need to complete and multitask to meet deadlines more effectively. 
• Syncs with existing systems. Don’t want the hassle of having to switch from your existing systems to a new media orchestration system? Media orchestration programs can sync with your existing production systems, using them to learn your workflow and improve. 
• Allows for scaling. With media orchestration, you can cross geographical lines by broadcasting to several different sites at once, all through the same function. This is perfect for broadcasts with dreams of reaching a global scale.
• Saves money and time. The more you’re able to make use of media orchestration, the more you’ll save on money. Media orchestration can also save your team time, so you can allocate that time to more important things or even enjoy more downtime. 
• Works remotely. Media orchestration is often operated from the cloud, so you can use it remotely from your device. This has become especially valuable in the age of social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The future of broadcasts with media orchestration

The digital age is still running at top speed, and shows no sign of stopping, even two years after the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, broadcasts have become more and more innovative. Podcasts are the new radio. Web series and Twitch or YouTube streams are watched by tens of millions. Independent creators are putting their broadcasts out there, even with limited production teams, and they’re gaining traction.

So it only makes sense that media orchestration is gaining in popularity. For those producing on their own or with small teams, media orchestration is a must in order to keep up with the fast-moving entertainment industry. It takes hours and hours of work out of their hands and allows them to easily handle playout and distribution, just as it helps major news broadcasts.

“Media orchestration is a fundamental tool to help eliminate production mistakes, ensure a high-quality show, and lower operational costs for production teams. Using some media orchestration solutions, producers gain a nearly 60% decrease in errors during broadcasts, and audiences at home receive a superior viewing experience,” said Ulrich Voigt, Vizrt.

The post What is media orchestration for broadcast? appeared first on NewscastStudio.

• Monarch EDGE encoder and decoder appliances for REMI enabling video professionals with 4K/multi-HD video transport for live, multi-camera events
• Extio 3 IP KVM extenders empowering broadcast production facilities to reimagine more dynamic workflows so that creative professionals can produce content anytime, anywhere
• ConvertIP SMPTE ST 2110 NMOS-aware and IPMX-compatible converter​s showcasing how broadcasters can easily monitor ST 2110 IP signals on HDMI or SDI monitors
• VERO ST 2110 signal generator and diagnostic appliance allowing users to validate ST 2110 devices for compliance before deployment
• X.mio and DSX LE5 ST 2110 NIC and SDI I/O cards facilitating the development of industry-leading on-premise solutions
• Matrox media framework helping broadcasters build virtual equipment rooms in the cloud that deliver an on-the-premise experience with zero compromises. Ask our experts for a sneak peek of the media framework solution.

REMI: Cover more live events with fewer resources

Monarch EDGE 4K/multi-HD encoders and decoders help organizations produce more broadcast-quality content with fewer resources by transporting multiple synchronized camera feeds over dedicated WAN, LAN, or internet and back to the studio—with glass-to-glass latency as low as 100 ms—for SDI-based productions.

Equipped with tally and talkback to facilitate bi-directional communication between on-site camera operators and in-studio personnel and genlock support to keep signals in synch, Monarch EDGE is purpose-built for REMI productions. Monarch EDGE Command Center further streamlines the REMI deployment process by allowing broadcast operators to configure and customize streaming, recording, and decoding settings and operating modes from any device on the network that supports a web browser.

Remote operations—reimagined

Extio 3 IP KVM extenders permit post-production facilities, control rooms, and OB vans to deploy secure and seamless 4Kp60 4:4:4 and up to quad 1080p60 4:4:4 video extension and switching support over a standard Gigabit Ethernet network, enabling remote connectivity for distributed teams and personnel.

Extio 3 also comes equipped with Aggregator Mode, allowing users to operate multiple source computer systems from a single Extio receiver unit located at a remote multi-display station and control them with a single keyboard and mouse set. Furthermore, by enabling the Tile View feature, users can access, monitor, and control up to four separate systems on one Full HD or 4K monitor to benefit from productivity-enhancing remote workspaces.

The post Matrox Video focuses on remote operations, workflows with latest products appeared first on NewscastStudio.

With this in mind, we recently spoke with Sydney Lovely, Grass Valley’s CTO, about cloud production the continued expansion of the AMPP ecosystem and new technologies impacting broadcasters like AI and machine learning. 

Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Grass Valley has become more and more of a cloud services company. What is the breakdown in terms of where you’re finding most of your business now? 

From my perspective, running R&D globally, about 70 to 80% of our engineering resources are software engineering and have been for quite some time. And even products like our iconic production switchers — they’re a complex beast with five million lines of code. So we’re not really new to the software game.

We’re still in reasonably early days in cloud adoption. And the way I would think about it is that technology falls into three main buckets. The first is the hardware-defined technology, like our production switcher is a good example of that, with complex software under the hood but people consume it through the form of hardware. The middle bucket would be products that are more software-based, and people have consumed in a traditional software way through on-prem servers or virtual machines. And those would be products like our playout systems or our MAM system, Stratus. And then the new third bucket is elastic or cloud computing capabilities. What we’ve seen is that over the last couple of years, those products that were traditional software solutions are moving pretty rapidly to the cloud, things like traditional playout systems.

Where are your customers looking to the cloud?

The things that are going to the cloud sooner are some of these derivative content or streaming channels, etc. 

In the past, our customers had to stand up totally different solutions for their digital and streaming channels than they’ve had to do for their live production environment. As you can imagine, that’s a real hassle for them. So being able to do that in a more joined-up manner is really helpful to them.

In terms of building out the Grass Valley AMPP ecosystem, where are you in that journey, and what is the roadmap?

If you look at one of the biggest drivers of cloud computing economically — elasticity.

If I’m doing something only two hours a day, those types of things really shine in the cloud because you can spin it up, you pay for what you’re using and then you shut it down.

And the areas that are always on are less economically interesting. However, the juxtaposition here is that the technical difficulty of playout is by far the easiest and live production is by far the hardest. So that’s one of the reasons that this whole industry hasn’t really moved to the cloud faster than it has.

With our Grass Valley Media Universe approach, we said, “we have to solve the live problem first. And if we solve the live problem first, everything else should be downhill from there.”

We started with that live space and then just recently we’ve released an entirely new application suite around playout that lets customers deliver channels to air, brand them, subtitle them, monetize them with traffic, and so on.

We’ve also released our production application suite, with a native HTML editor, a fully elastic ingest service, etc.

We’ve really completed the core of the Grass Valley applications. Of course, we’ll continue to add applications to the ecosystem and enhance those applications, but at this point, you can build an entire TV station in the cloud based on the Grass Valley AMPP solution.

So now the shift towards opening up the platform to partners?

If you look at our customers, they’re under a lot of pressure due to digital disruption and the democratization of video in general.

They need things to be simpler and easier. So you used to have many, many, many, many different best-of-breed steps in creating a media supply chain, and each one of those things required specialized expertise on the part of the customer and the vendor community to pull all this stuff together.

We’re trying to really streamline this and make it far easier, so it really boils down to a simpler workflow for them.

Where do you see partners fitting into the AMPP ecosystem? Or are you looking at potential acquisitions?

At this point, it’s probably less about building it all ourselves or buying it. It’s probably more focused on the partner side.

We’ve spent five years building a true cloud-native microservices platform. And a lot of the partners we’ve talked to, there’s just no way they can get there on their own. But our customers need those types of solutions to be available in the cloud.

I think Andrew’s experience with building out those ecosystems is key, absolutely key. And so that’s something that has always been part of the vision for this. (Editor’s note: Lovely means Andrew Cross, Grass Valley’s CEO.)

Are today’s broadcast engineers comfortable with the cloud?

It’s a mixed bag. There are certainly traditionalists that are uncomfortable and if we contrast that with a lot of our more digital native customers, they’re extremely comfortable with it.

There are folks on the broadcast side that are still a little bit uncomfortable with it, but I’d say that’s really changed a lot in the last couple of years. Necessity is the mother of invention.

The platform we’ve built, it had an intention of making and giving those customers a familiar experience, so they don’t have to have a Ph.D. in AWS or in Kubernetes.

Would you say across the board that the industry is still lacking in the education necessary on this?

I think it’s changing. I’d say we’re beyond the first innings of the baseball game, so to speak. We’re kind of in the middle innings. So it’s a mixed bag, but some of our customers that came from very traditional backgrounds have learned this stuff very, very quickly. But there’s certainly a lot of demands on everybody because they need to keep their current stuff running. They need to adopt the new technologies and push forward.

How do you view new technology like AI and machine learning fitting into broadcast?

I see this unfolding in three phases. So the first phase is going to be AI and machine learning making what I’ll call editorial suggestions.

The next piece is going to be fully automated AI and ML with final director-level approval, we’ll call it. So it’d actually go through and create content, then you would approve it, and then eventually it’s lights-out, create it on your own.

Lights-out is created all by automation. So I think the lights-out stuff is a ways off.

We’re already there with the suggestive AI capabilities and even some of the capabilities that we’re able to take advantage of around creation with editorial approval, that second stage. 

For example, our automated caption creation is integrated into our AMPP platform and you can use it either way. 

Then I’d say on the live production side, we’re also starting to be able to see things like a capability around automated highlighting.

A lot of times with AI and ML, you think about it in terms of image analysis. It’s actually even simpler technology than that. It’s data wrangling. We’ve recently evaluated a partner technology that’s automated highlight generation where it’ll go through and take an entire soccer game, three hours long, and automatically generate a highlight reel.

The post Grass Valley’s Sydney Lovely on the cloud, AI and the road ahead appeared first on NewscastStudio.

The cloud-based solution works with the on-premise Kairos IT/IP platform (released in May 2020), which revolutionized video production by giving professionals unlimited control to deliver rich content to multiple screens and streams.

This new cloud-based solution enters the market amid the proliferation of streaming platforms and the increased demand for quality video content and high production value. With corporations hosting more hybrid-style events and houses of worship looking to enhance virtual services, the cloud is playing an increasingly important role in streamlining workflows for greater efficiency.

For industries, such as higher education and house of worship, where it may be costly to set up a full-scale production studio, Kairos Cloud-Based Solution can support the entire workflow in a simplified set-up. It consolidates video materials captured by cameras into the cloud and makes them accessible not only from the production site but also from remote offices and homes, allowing production teams to edit, produce and distribute content efficiently in real-time. Moving video production to the cloud means production sites can reduce their initial on-site investments and leverage the system to support hybrid workflows.

“While more and more organizations are looking to grow and enhance their video-based content, not all will have the space or budget to develop a full-scale production studio,” said Michael Bergeron of Panasonic. “That’s where flexible solutions like Kairos Cloud-Based Solution will become key to the industry’s future, giving all types of production crews a decentralized way to shoot, produce, distribute and deliver video content more efficiently.”

The new cloud solution shares the same software and underlying technology as the on-premise version, allowing for integration with any existing Kairos ecosystem. This means production crews can easily leverage the cloud and on-premise versions separately or together for a seamless production workflow.

Kairos Core on premise delivers a single frame of latency to local screens -necessary for IMAG applications, while a cloud account offers new features activation on a project basis. Adding the cloud component to a local hardware further enhances the flexibility and scalability for a production team at any level.

Kairos customers using the cloud-based solution will also have the option to leverage a Kairos Control Panel, with either the original AT-KC10C1 full size panel or the new AT-KC10C2 compact panel, to manage production workflows. The AT-KC10C2 (available Q4 CY2022) will enable the same level of operability as the AT-KC10C1 but in a compact layout ideal for fly-packs or smaller control rooms.

Kairos Cloud-Based Solution also offers a monthly subscription-based pricing model that can scale up and down depending on production needs, making it more accessible to those who do not want to invest in a full-blown studio. Production teams can also increase and decrease storage as necessary.

To expand the flexibility of the broader Kairos on-premise platform, Panasonic is also announcing the availability of Agile I/O, a new feature that provides AV professionals with additional input and output capacity and enhanced audio functions to support larger and more complex productions.

The new cloud-based solution, along with the Kairos on-premise platform, the new AT-KC10C2 compact panel and Agile I/O, will be on display at Panasonic’s NAB booth (C3607).

The post Panasonic expanding Kairos ecosystem with cloud solution appeared first on NewscastStudio.