Switzerland’s Canal9 migrates to HD with Grass Valley Solutions
Canal9, based in Sierre, Switzerland, has selected several Grass Valley solutions to enable its transition from SD to HD services. Grass Valley has supplied a K2 Summit production client with a K2 SAN server configuration, the GV STRATUS application framework for nonlinear production including EDIUS editing capabilities. and GV Edge integrated playout system. Canal9 has signed a five-year agreement with Grass Valley.
“The move from SD to HD is of huge importance to Canal9 because we are absolutely committed to giving our viewers the best quality of service possible,” says Stéphane Sassano, CTO, Canal9 Association. “Grass Valley’s solutions have made the transition simple. Their intuitiveness and ease-of-use has given us the time and freedom to be creative. We couldn’t be more pleased with our new HD system—it’s met all our requirements head-on.”
The strength of Canal9’s new Grass Valley system lies in its consistency, with a seamless integration from ingest through playout. Additionally, the open nature of the technology means that Canal9 has a large choice of formats to work with.
The K2 Summit production client is the only media client that supports end-to-end SD/HD workflows in DVCPRO, MPEG-2, AVC-Intra, H.264/AVCHD, and DNxHD formats. It integrates with GV STRATUS to offer an ideal solution for live events, production and news. GV STRATUS offers a wide range of software-centric tools for the full nonlinear production workflow, offering support for ingest, editing, content aggregation, logging, transfer and playout. It combines with EDIUS to offer powerful editing functionality. GV Edge integrated playout is a robust, software-based playout system with a purpose-built, high-availability architecture for mission-critical, 24/7 playout applications.
“We’re delighted to be making the announcement today with Canal9, supporting them in making the shift from SD to HD,” adds Said Bacho, senior vice-president of EMEA, Grass Valley. “We understand that our customers want to push the envelope in terms of quality output without breaking the bank, which is why we develop our solutions in such a way that they require minimal manpower to use. This project with Canal9 really shows how Grass Valley is leading the way in delivering live production solutions which offer both quality and value.”
Joel Antonin, Co-CTO, Canal9, comments: “It’s been a real pleasure working with Grass Valley on this project. Its support from planning through to installation has been invaluable in helping Canal9 ensure that it will continue to deliver best-in-class services to its viewers across Switzerland.”