NAB 2008 Marks Official Release of VIZRT's VIZ QUATTRO Next Generation Clip and Still Store

February 28, 2008

Source: Vizrt

The new Viz Quattro from Vizrt will make its official debut at NAB 2008 (SL4805) in Las Vegas this April. Viz Quattro is an enabling feature that bridges the graphics and the video workflows. It is a breakthrough solution that enables an operator to create fully animated graphics containing multiple videos from a single desktop interface.

Viz Quattro was developed as an extension to Vizrt's Viz Content Pilot content management and Viz Trio character generator to access Vizrt's Media Asset Management solutions. By integrating graphic workflow solutions such as Viz Content Pilot with video asset management solutions like Viz Video Hub, Viz Quattro extends the HD and SD channel branding with an intuitive solution for browsing and adding videos content on top of the current images and 3D elements. Viz Quattro is designed for broadcast and postproduction use.

"With Viz Quattro, our users now have access to a station's entire video database from one desktop," said Petter Ole Jakobsen, Chief Technology Officer of Vizrt. "They're not limited to pre-selected clips, but can access all media files in the database themselves. They no longer need to go to other work stations to perform different tasks involved with cutting and integrating video clips and graphics together. And because of the integration with the full Vizrt solution and the newsroom systems, there is no re-training required. The front-end remains the same, so they continue to operate from the same interface as they're used to."

With Viz Quattro as an interface between Viz Content Pilot and Viz Video Hub, searching for video clips is done from graphical templates just as users would search for images or data elements from a newsroom system or directly from Viz Content Pilot.

Viz Quattro fully integrates with Vizrt's media asset management technology, which allows the user to search all of a station's media files from one desktop. With starting solutions as the Viz Video Hub 40, Viz Quattro can interface with an initial storage space for up to 40 hours of DV25 video and 100,000 still images. The Viz Video Hub 40 solution can be upgraded to the Viz Video Hub plug-and-play media asset management system, allowing for a storage capacity of up to 2,000 hours of DV25 video. In addition to DV25, other formats supported by Viz Video Hub include: DVCPRO, DV50, IMX30, IMX50 and HD DV100 format.

Through the Viz Video Hub integration, Viz Quattro provides users with direct access to the most powerful search options, most recent material, best search options, and pre-editing functions.

Viz Video Hub comes bundled with two video editing functions that can be launched directly from the search front end: Ardendo PreCut and Ardendo EasyCut. Ardendo PreCut enables up to twenty users to simultaneously rough cut video and create new clips. The Ardendo EasyCut feature is a slightly more advanced timeline-based video editing tool. With either option, the newly created material can be browsed continuously and is available immediately. For more advanced editing, Viz Quattro also integrates with Apple's Final Cut Pro. As one example, this enables the user to conform an edited clip back to Quattro directly from Final Cut Pro's interface.

Viz Video Hub also supports file management on other servers, such as those from Omneon, Grass Valley and Avid Unity. Supported newsroom systems include Avid's iNEWS, AP Broadcast's ENPS, Octopus, OpenMedia and DaletPlus from Dalet.

Viz Quattro features an integrated order management system: if an appropriate clip, image or graphic can not be found, users can place orders directly from the search window. Information, such as the desired media type or a special deadline, can be specified in the order.

Viz Quattro also features an unprecedented integration with Vizrt render engine, the Viz Engine. Viz Quattro supports both automatic and manual transfer of both videos and graphics information to the Viz Engine playout server. The Viz Engine is used as a real-time compositor where video and graphics are rendered and played out in real-time from the same machine. Because graphics are not pre-rendered, changes can be applied up to just before air.

An example of the workflow is as follows: Journalists create a story in the newsroom system. Pre-defined graphic templates are selected within Viz Content Pilot, which is integrated into the newsroom system. From the template, the journalist can search and select images or videos directly in the database. The filled-in template is then added directly to the newsroom system's play list. Viz Content Pilot or Viz Trio trigger the created content to air, and the clip transfers to playout. Transfer management and the playlist is handled within Viz Video Hub. Viz Engine acts as the playout server, performing real-time video and graphics compositing.

Vizrt acquired Ardendo on April 27th of 2006. Based in Stockholm, Ardendo offers a range of software solutions for digital archiving, ingest, transcoding, browsing, and system integration media management for broadcasters moving to IT-based production and archiving.

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