Grass Valley announces IP-connected live production advances plus move towards the cloud

Grass Valley has announced a series of cloud-based product introductions and new, soon-to-be-released strategic initiatives aimed at improving media workflow flexibility, scalability and performance.

During this challenging time for the world and the broadcasting industry, Grass Valley is delivering solutions that help content creators and media organisations manage during the current crisis while also ensuring they are prepared for the future with tools that help them deal with the unprecedented demand for more content by enabling them to unleash the creativity of their teams.

For live production, Grass Valley has launched the LDX 100 camera platform, a high speed, native UHD camera built specifically for the rigors of IP-connected workflows, such as remote or at-home production because it connects directly into the contribution network, eliminating the need for an external control unit.

Complementing the new camera platform is the launch of the company’s newest production switcher engine, K-Frame XP. Featuring true single-stream, full raster processing at 2160p, the K-Frame XP takes the complexity out of 4K UHD workflows, removing the processing power barriers that have existed that forced compromises in I/O count and even in the on-air look. Popular Grass Valley switcher control surfaces Kayenne, Karrera, GV Korona and KSP are compatible with K-Frame XP, allowing customers to leverage their existing investments.

Marco Lopez, Grass Valley’s senior vice president of live production, commented: “Our customers have seen big increases in demand for 4K UHD content and many of them are using IP workflows to support this growing demand. These two new platforms deliver on the Grass Valley promise to enable storytellers to unleash their creativity while increasing their workflow efficiency.”

Grass Valley has also provided a glimpse into the future with the first public reveal of the GV Media Universe, a concept designed around a comprehensive ecosystem of cloud-based tools and services interconnected with existing solutions, partner offerings and a community of marketplaces for the production of live media.

The GV Media Universe, which will be formally introduced during the company’s online event, GV Live Presents – Innovate 2020 on 23 April, is designed to help overcome media companies’ reticence to move their workflows into the cloud.

GV Media Universe, powered by its core technology platform, GV AMPP, provides media companies with access to the enormous flexibility and elasticity of the cloud and opens the door to pay-as-you-go models while mitigating any concerns about the cloud, such as frame accuracy and timing. During GV Live Presents – Innovate 2020, viewers will also learn that this solution is already on-air, being used by a major brand to deliver live content around the world.

The company also launched GV Stratus One Pro, an all-in-one production suite that allows content creators to be faster and more efficient with a small footprint solution. The new platform is one of two new additions to the GV Stratus One product family, alongside the new GV Stratus One Express.

Tim Shoulders, Grass Valley’s president, said: “Our customers need suppliers to help them get to a sustainable future business model in which they can adapt to changes in viewer behaviour quickly, achieve a higher level of resource utilisation and deliver more professionally produced content to an ever growing number of platforms. They expect Grass Valley to be one of those suppliers and we’re committed to being there for them. I believe that introductions like our fully IP-connected live production suite and the debut of the GV Media Universe concept can only be accomplished by a company like Grass Valley, with our tradition of excellence and large pool of talented technologists. We’ve listened to our customers and we’re moving together to a place where we can prosper long into the future.”

Interested viewers can register for GV LIVE Presents – Innovate 2020 using this registration link: https://grass-valley.brand.live/gv-live-presents