At last week’s Inter BEE in Japan, Marquis Broadcast and Ikegami unveiled a world technology first by demonstrating an end-to-end HD workflow from capture to playout using systems from three different manufacturers.
Enabled by Marquis’ Medway media highway software, HD material is transferred seamlessly with no transcoding, base band or tape transfers, between Ikegami’s FieldPaks to Avid editing systems and an Omneon video server. Compositions in HD are also transferred from Avid editing systems to the Omneon server.
The tight integration between the systems is a result of Marquis’ recently announced support for Avid DNxHD. Sponsored by Omneon, the project was initiated in response to demand from Japanese broadcasters wanting to improve workflows when using media captured by Ikegami HD cameras.
“By supporting the new DNxchange HD format, Medway further streamlines the entire playout process by enabling operators to retain HD resolutions without incurring file incompatibility issues when moving media between different systems,” said Granby Patrick, CEO, Marquis Broadcast.
Capturing media onto removable drives, as in the Ikegami FieldPaks, offers significant advantages for television production workflows. However, in order to gain maximum benefits from the use of removable media, new workflows and new integration technologies are required. Although in many cases the initial integration for processing media captured on removable drives is already in place, obstacles remain that prevent broadcasters from achieving seamless workflows. Marquis says that Medway takes care of these shortfalls by providing metadata capture and integration; consistent use of storage; shotlist pre-editing using proxies; and the ability to filter material using metadata and clip flags.
