NAB 2019: F&F Productions Taps EVS’s VIA Technology for Live 4K UHD Production

F&F Productions has selected the latest VIA technology from EVS (Booth SL3816). Moving into production of Full HD 1080p and 4K UHD HDR content, the mobile-production-facilities provider is equipping three of its signature GTX series units with EVS XT-VIA and XS-VIA production servers and the recently announced XNet-VIA Ethernet-based live-media-sharing network. The units can be transitioned to IP at a later date, with the VIA-based solutions already benefiting from enhanced live IP support of industry-tech stack standards like ST 2110 and NMOS.

F&F Productions will install EVS XT-VIA and XS-VIA production servers and XNet-VIA Ethernet-based live-media-sharing network.

As part of the deal, which was agreed to at the 2019 NAB Show, F&F Productions will also upgrade its existing fleet of EVS live production servers to the latest Multicam 16.00 operating system. This will significantly increase the internal bandwidth of one of the largest inventories of XT series servers in North America, enabling F&F Productions to deliver expanded capabilities and meet the demands of live productions in higher resolutions.

The move gives F&F Productions more capacity and greater flexibility to produce content in multiple formats — including Full HD 1080p, 4K UHD, and HDR — and will enable the upscaling of 1080p content to UHD 4K for playout. The XT-VIA servers will be used to replay, edit, and produce all content going into the mobile units; the XS-VIA servers will record multiple audio and video feeds and provide instant control and multiple channels of playback operations. The servers are all linked to XNet-VIA, which gives the LSM operators in the three EVS VIA-powered GTX mobile units three times the bandwidth of EVS’s legacy SDTI-based network. This will allow them to move high-resolution recorded media between the XT-VIA and XS-VIA production servers at greater speeds.

“As demand for UHD 4K HDR content grows,” said Marc Orgera, VP/GM, F&F Productions, “it’s important that we are able to provide proven, flexible solutions that can produce multiple formats to meet our customers’ ever-changing needs. By expanding and upgrading our extensive EVS fleet, we now have greater capacity and speed, meaning we can deliver more. The new VIA-platform–based products that we’re investing in also give us the option to transition the units to IP when we decide that the time is right.”

EVS SVP, The Americas, Quentin Grutman added, “We’re seeing real momentum building for delivering productions in higher resolutions, and our customers are recognizing the potential of our VIA suite of products as the best way to address the new demands that they face when dealing with UHD 4K, 1080p, and HDR, as well as IP-based workflows. Having a facilities provider like F&F Productions commit to our latest technology shows we are central to the growth of this movement.”

On display at the EVS booth are the XT-VIA and XS-VIA production servers, XNet-VIA, and a range of EVS’s other industry-leading technology that connects creative teams, reduces technical demands, and enables efficient live production workflows in any environment.

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