On factors driving the growth

Across India, as new facilities are being built, and existing ones are upgraded to digital and high definition operations, the need for collaborative work environments and automating many of the processes that were traditionally performed manually has been critical to remaining successful and competitive. The Grass Valley Ignite integrated production systems allows a broadcaster to streamline the production of its newscasts and other programs while giving the staff the ability to be more productive. The system which controls a switcher, audio mixer, video play out devices, graphic devices, and robotic cameras also reduces on-air errors and allows stations to create more news content with the same (or fewer) amount of people.

On the technology trends

What we see is a move towards automating manual processes whenever possible to save resources and get the most value out of the technology. Indian broadcasters want to add new services, but at a cost-effective price. The Grass Valley Ignite system, which has been increasing its market share in India because of the reasons cited above, allows them to do this in the most efficient way. We are also recognizing that newsrooms need to be as efficient and fast as possible, so the Grass Valley Aurora HD editing platform helps them do just that. The Aurora platform also includes powerful asset management capabilities not found on any other editing system.

On a prestigious project undertaken by the company

TV9, the 24-hour news channel serving the Andhra Pradesh province of India, has recently upgraded its production facilities to supercharge its file-based workflow. The station, based in Hyderabad, had used Grass Valley Profile servers from its launch in 2004. Now it uses Grass Valley K2 media servers to support its editing and play out functions. The station, owned by India's Associated Broadcasting Company (ABC), has used Grass Valley Aurora Edit workstations from the start. Ten seats are provided for journalists and editors, with comprehensive functionality including titling capabilities. Another two Aurora Edit seats are included in a dedicated editing room to enable craft editing facilities such as 3D DVE and color correction.

All the edit workstations share content through a common K2 media server with RAID storage. This also acts as the ingest store as news reports come in from journalists.

Once stories are completed, they are handed on to primary and backup K2 servers for playout. All media management and system configuration is controlled through workflows established by the Grass Valley App Center with simple Windows based software running on a PC on the same network. The main news studio includes a Grass Valley Kayak production switcher for a polished output. Other programs from TV9 are produced using the Grass Valley Indigo AV mixer, which combines an audio-follow-video mixer with production switching.

On company's product range

Grass Valley addresses the newsroom with its Ignite Integrated Production System, Media FUSE suite of multiplatform production tools, Storage Area Network (SAN)—which is based on multiple K2 Media Servers configured in a shared storage architecture—and the Aurora (7.0) platform. The Grass Valley Ignite HD system can be ordered with one to four M/Es, up to 32 control ports, and is completely scalable from 24 to 96 video inputs and 24 to 96 audio inputs, The control room system offers an integrated Grass Valley Kayak HD video switcher and optional audio mixer, that simplifies production and allows a single operator to run an entire newscast. Optional video and audio panels are available for those broadcasters who want to employ a manually operated system. Ignite systems are also multi-distribution ready for when a broadcaster is prepared to add the Media FUSE Web and Mobile Option. The Grass Valley Media FUSE suite helps broadcasters increase the amount of multi-formatted content for multiple distribution platforms by as much as five times that of traditional manual processes.