Grass Valley upgrades K2 server products with AVC-LongG support

The newest upgrade to Grass Valley‘s K2 server products includes powerful compression support for Panasonic’s new AVC-LongG (Advanced Video Codec/Long Group Of Pictures) compression type, which the company announced at NAB 2013.

Grass Valley’s K2 Summit and K2 Solo are the first broadcast servers on the market to support playout of the AVC-LongG recording format, which is part of Panasonic’s new AVC-ULTRA codec family of products. The new versions of K2 Summit and K2 Solo will be available in August, with software upgrades available for models sold within the past year. Older versions of K2 Summit are field-upgradable.

“With support for Panasonic’s new AVC-LongG recording, Grass Valley takes advantage of the sophistication of our K2 architecture to allow for the rapid implementation of the newest ENG formats in the industry,” says Mike Cronk, senior vice-president, marketing, Grass Valley. “News organisations and media groups looking for the latest generation of ENG cameras will now have the confidence they need to deliver content using a proven server platform.”

K2 Summit and K2 Solo are based on Grass Valley’s unique architecture that delivers the highest bandwidth capability of any system in the industry. The K2 Summit and K2 Solo guarantee that on-air channels never drop a frame of video, while simultaneously delivering consistent bandwidth for file transfers and editing operations. In addition, Grass Valley’s newly announced EDIUS 7 nonlinear video editing software also supports the AVC-LongG format.

Panasonic’s AVC-ULTRA offers recording in full HD to meet a variety of user needs from mastering to transmission. AVC-LongG, designed for applications where file size is critical, offers up to 10-bit, 4:2:2 sampled recording in a much smaller file size, saving storage costs and transfer times over MPEG-2 while maintaining equal or better video quality.

“Our customers have been eager to utilise the high video quality and efficient workflow of AVC-LongG from shooting to editing and playout,” says Kunihiko Miyagi, director of Panasonic’s Imaging Business Division. “Thanks to our long-term partnership with Grass Valley, AVC-LongG editing on EDIUS 7 and material management on K2 servers will be possible. We believe that AVC-LongG content captured by the Panasonic AJ-PX5000 P2 cameras and AJ-PD500 recorders will enhance data transfer efficiency while maintaining high video quality, allowing us to provide our customers with an improved workflow.”