IBC Q&A: Evertz’s Mo Goyal talks evolution of Dreamcatcher and vision for ‘facility of the future’
After a long, steady buildup, the Evertz Dreamcatcher video-replay system officially hit the market at NAB2013 in April. Now, with the system installed in a handful of mobile production units (including Mobile TV Group’s new 33HDX triple-feed truck and NEP’s ND3 trucks for Sunday Night Football on NBC), Evertz is continuing to push the platform’s viability at IBC2013.
With a touch interface (VUE), advanced features like a Mosaic layout, and the ability to create HD, close-up replays drawn from a 4K camera shot, Dreamcatcher has plenty of promise. It also faces a number of challenges, however — most notably winning over a freelance replay-operator base that is unfamiliar with the new Dreamcatcher system.
At IBC, Evertz is presenting two Dreamcatcher systems: an eight-channel 3G/HD/SD (suitable for 4K productions) and a six-channel HD/SD model for more cost-conscious productions.
SVG sat down with Evertz Director of Company Marketing Mo Goyal to address the evolution of Dreamcatcher and its latest news at the show.
How has the market for Dreamcatcher grown since NAB, and how has the sports-specific sector reacted?
The market space has been very receptive to what we are showing them. Sports is a market space looking for alternatives, and they are eager to see new things come up because it’s all about faster production and doing things quicker. Any tool that helps them do that is going to be well received.
The engineering guys love it because of the smaller form factor in the truck, and operators who are familiar with other technologies like EVS, K2, Orad or any others jump on this and have reacted extremely well. They see touch user interface — VUE — and they already know it from their everyday life [with tablets and phones]. What would have been three or four steps in the past is now one step.
Have you reached out to freelance replay operators to expose them to Dreamcatcher and make them familiar with the system?
We have actually brought in a lot of operators to do demos that have picked it up very quickly. When they see it, they get it. So, at this point, we have a nice group of evangelists that like Dreamcatcher and are helping to spread the word. It is the biggest challenge, though, and we know that. You are introducing a technology, and operators are going to be concerned that they might have to learn a whole new system. But it really isn’t like that at all. Once we get operators in there — junior or senior operator — the reactions have been very, very positive, and they have picked it up very easily.
With Dreamcatcher operating in a handful of mobile production units, how do you see it growing over the next six months?
In terms of the next year or so, we are seeing a lot of excitement in the industry. We have a lot of people that are interested. But there is still a challenge because we are the new kid right now. We expect this to be very successful, though. We want to be that alternative that is as good as or better than the [established] guys.
A big message for Evertz at IBC this year is the “Facility of the Future” and the company’s role in building that facility. Can you tell us a bit about the Evertz vision for this facility?
The SDVN (Software Defined Video Networking) technology we have is all about connecting different segments of the workflow to become one. Then we talk about using some of the IPX and the inherent networking architecture that is built into the Dreamcatcher; it really changes the dynamic of how media is used and managed.
The traditional workflow of finishing an event, taking those drives, physically bringing them over to your facility, and utilising them — that disappears because it is all networked and that information can be already captured. As the event is happening and the operator is cutting a clip for that event, back at the home shop, they are already creating a promo using that [content]. So it becomes a more efficient workflow for creating shows from those events because the content is available faster to everyone — especially once you start talking about 10-GB and 100-GB [connections] between facilities.