NEW! GV STRATUS News Bundles

At IBC this year we announced the availability of system bundles offering the full power of GV STRATUS news production functionality for smaller size operations. The offering provides remote field editing and proxy streaming/editing even using high latency networks.

With our new news bundles, producers can get stories to air faster giving them the opportunity to engage viewers faster than ever before, with compelling reporting and fully edited, ready-to-air packages.

Bundling our solutions makes them more cost effective and easier to implement.

GV STRATUS Newsroom Bundles are available in two configurations. Both systems support up to 15 users/editors and they differ only in terms of storage capacity and I/O.

• GV STRATUS Newsroom Express: 2 bidirectional I/Os, 600 GB storage (based on K2 Solo 3G portable media server)
• GV STRATUS Newsroom Pro: 4 bidirectional I/Os, 8 TB storage (based on K2 Summit 3G Transmission Client)

You can find out more on our website. To discuss a bundle for your facility, please contact your Grass Valley representative or drop us a mail. 

For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com

IBC 2015 - DAY 5: improvements to the Advanced Logger - check it out!

Last day of another fun IBC! Over the past few days we've been telling you about a whole range of new features and functionality that we are adding to GV STRATUS. And as well as new additions, we constantly work on improving and enhancing existing tools taking on board our users' feedback.

We have put a lot of work lately on the GV STRATUS Advanced Logging Panel. For starters, button panels and customised buttons can now be easily managed from the asset list. The logging panel is now a whole Logging Suite, highly customisable and full of nice new functionality.

Buttons can be rearranged, resized and repositioned in such a way that they can mimic a specific formation, for example for a soccer team.  And you can add a background picture to help you get closer to the action and log live events more efficiently. 

All this new functionality, coupled to the recently-introduced ability to send buttons and whole panels via GV STRATUS Messenger, makes it a lot easier for operators to share their work and save time amongst logging and production teams.The new and improved Advanced Logger is the ideal tool to log all sorts of live events, from sports to press conferences, from reality TV to political debates and from musical concerts to religious congregations. You name it, we provide you with the tools.

Do contact us if you would like a detailed demonstration. For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com

IBC 2015 - DAY 4: NEW Scheduled Transfer tool in GV STRATUS

Good day from the IBC show floor! We've had an exciting and busy weekend, with our booth being chock-a-block with visitors, clients, partners and friends. See for yourself:

We start the week telling you about a new tool that we are introducing on the already very flexible GV STRATUS tool set: the Scheduled Transfer tool.

You'll see it looks similar to the Ingest Scheduler, and that makes it intuitive and within minutes you'll know how to use it. What is great about the new Scheduled Transfer tool is that it lets you automate daily, routine tasks, freeing you up to take care of more creative tasks. It allows you to schedule asset transfers in advance between K2 bins or onto an external storage location. So if you're recording that all-important live event, and you need to have a specific section of it transferred out to an editor, or to an external customer, or simply send to the playout server, just schedule and forget!

Combined with the GV STRATUS' existing asset management capabilities, you have the flexibility to add metadata, create workflow rules that can archive, notify users, transcode, etc, as soon as the live event has started to transfer.

We will be happy to give you a full demonstration at our IBC booth 1.D11. See you there!

For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com

IBC 2015 - DAY 3: send to YouTube directly from GV STRATUS!

This year's IBC is well underway and we are thrilled to uncover even more exciting and useful new features with our next release of GV STRATUS.

Come by Hall 1.D11 to the Grass Valley booth, and see for yourself how fast and easy we have made it for you to publish directly to YouTube from the GV STRATUS client!

It's a simple as creating a workflow rule on our GV STRATUS Control Panel, where you enter the credentials of your YouTube account. This is totally invisible to all users, and only system administrators need to access this information (and only one time during set up). Once this is done, users simply need to check a metadata field to send to YouTube, they can monitor the transfer from within their GV STRATUS seat....

And as for the video quality and format, you can choose to transcode using one of our well integrated 3rd party transcode engines (again, this is transparent to the user and it just happens in the background, as it's part of the rule set up), or even faster and better, you can choose to send the GV STRATUS natively created proxy (which we will soon offer in three different resolutions to suit varying workflow needs), so that transcoding is not needed and the upload to YouTube can be lightning fast!

Come and learn more at our booth this IBC!

For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com

IBC 2015 - DAY 2: EDIUS Project Templates

Hello IBC-ers, day 2 of the show and we are uncovering another great new feature to be released with our next version of GV STRATUS: EDIUS Project Templates. This will save you time and effort for editing elements which always follow the same format in terms of number of editing layers, audio, bumpers, logos, overlays, effects, etc. For example, you edit the same promo for 5 different days of the week, and all that changes is the overlay text. Or you just need to change the voice over for different languages.

Or perhaps you always use the same style for your "Coming up next" news teasers and you just need to fill in the video track. That's where Project Templates with our latest versions of EDIUS and GV STRATUS will come in extremely handy. Create the template, save and reuse as many times as you wish without having to redo all the work.

Even better - manage your templates using GV STRATUS asset management capabilities: search, classify, apply user permissions, etc...

Our Senior Director of Product Management for GV STRATUS, Régis André, tells us all about it in this video. But even better! Come and see it for yourself at our booth this IBC!

For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com

IBC 2015 - DAY 1: come and see our snazzy new GV STRATUS User Interface!

We first launched GV STRATUS at IBC 4 years ago. We are proud to now offer you a product that is feature-rich, solid and flexible. We felt was time to refresh the user experience, though, so we have modernised our user interface. We can't wait for you to come and see it at IBC 2015!

We have new icons, a new animated splash screen and a whole set of usability improvements. Here's just a brief mention of some of the changes:

• Better use of the screen real state: more assets can be displayed, space between tabs and panels is better used, etc.
• Easier to expand borders, drag panels, scroll through lists....
• Thumbnails can be resized by simply expanding the column size
• Vast improvements to the Inspector Video Player: overlays can be moved, you can drag mar in/out points, you can zoom in the timeline to better access markers!
• Full screen viewer now shows transport controls and the marker timeline (which again, can be zoomed!)
• And many more!

Here's a peek preview:

We made these enhancements after listening to constructive feedback from you, our users, so we thank you for your input and support in helping us make GV STRATUS an even greater production tool!

Do come by our IBC booth 1.D11 to learn more about our brand-spanking new GV STRATUS user interface!

For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com

We are excited!!! IBC 2015 - here comes GV STRATUS!

Grass Valley is coming to Amsterdam for our annual IBC attendance and we are excited to unveil our GV STRATUS new look! You don't want to miss on a whole st of exciting new features that we will be unveiling throughout the show. You can have a peek preview of our next major release coming out a few weeks after the show! Drop by our booth, or even better, contact us to secure a demo slot.

Do keep coming back to this blog, as we will be writing a new entry each day of the show telling you about a new and exciting new feature!

See you in Amsterdam!

For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com

More improvements for reduced-scale GV STRATUS systems

Following the great success of GV STRATUS at IBC 2014, we would like to, first, thank all our customers and partners for the interest and support shown during the 5 days of the show. Our 3 GV STRATUS pods were extremely busy and visitors were impressed with all the new features and workflows we introduced: user permissions, Aspera integration and many more.

Specifically for this show we wanted to show how a relatively small, and very affordable system, could provide a huge variety of workflows and support hundreds of user requirements. For the first time in a trade show, we chose not to have a K2 SAN with GV STRATUS, but a number of K2 Standalone Summits all with a GV STRATUS Express core server (the smallest of the core servers we offer). 

Among the new features in GV STRATUS v4.0 that help keep system cost and size under control are: 

1. Our pre-existing conform and render engine now also performs porxy scavenge and encoding. This allows you to have a pool of identical engines where you can prioritise tasks as needed, without the need to purchase additional dedicated hardware.
2. This conform/render and scavenge engine can now run on the GV STRATUS Express core server. For systems that have very reduced production requirements (1-2 video servers, 1-2 user clients), this reduces even further the amount of hardware that you need to purchase for a fully-fledged GV STRATUS production and workflow management system.  
3. Such a small system can support up to 20 users with GV STRATUS clients with its full set of tools, or EDIUS XS low-res editors offering a wide range of post-production and editing tools. Users can work collaboratively sharing, editing, enhancing content simultaneously!

A fantastic solution for Sports Trucks: the power of 20 editing stations without having to carry around an SAN that is not meant to be carried around.

Contact us for further details on how GV STRATUS can serve you with affordable, portable, easy-to-use non-linear production systems.

For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com

IBC 2014 DAY 5: new capabilities with RMI tool...

The last day of IBC 2014 is here, and with it, most visitors and exhibitors must be feeling those tired feet.... In the spirit of closing day, we will cover a couple of simple but very powerful new features that we are introducing with GV STRATUS v4.0.

We have added some great improvements to our existing RMI tool (Removable Media Interface), which allows you to easily preview, pre-select and quickly import media from file-based cameras (e.g. XDCAM SxS, P2 cards...).

1. You can import the full set of camera metadata to GV STRATUS
During the shoot, the camera operator may have been adding different metadata information to the recorded material, or perhaps the producer added comments and markers on their way back to the station.

With our new metadata mapping tool, you can select the metadata fields from the camera format that you want to transfer to GV STRATUS and, voila! all those precious notes and comments are imported to GV STRATUS along with the video asset.

Magic!

2. RMI now works wonderfully with GV STRATUS low resolution clients
In other words, you do not have to invest on a high-spec client with high resolution connection to K2 storage in order to import your field camera content. Simply connect your camera or reader to your PC, navigate using RMI, choose your clips, and quickly import. You can even continue to do other GV STRATUS work whilst the import takes place in the background.

Easy!

And cheap! No longer you need to invest in high-resolution connected workstations. The standard newsroom / production low-res client will perform this operation, allowing many more of your users to work with their field footage before importing it to the K2 storage in high resolution.

And just in case you were wondering, we have of course implemented the new user permissions capabilities to the ability to import RMI media (or not!)....

Quick! - come and see us at booth 1.11D or visit our IBC microsite to book a demo!

It's been another exciting IBC for us, with a new version launch including great new features. We look forward to hearing your user feedback and implementing GV STRATUS v4.0 at many customer sites soon!

Keep an eye on the blog for more posts featuring more interesting features and workflows!

For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com

IBC 2014 DAY 4: new features on Ingest Scheduler with GV STRATUS 4.0

At GV STRATUS HQ not only we work hard to introduce new functionality and features to our tool-set, but also we are continuously looking to add improvements for existing tools. And this is what we have just done with the Ingest Scheduler on our new GV STRATUS v4.0

We have listened to lots of user feedback and implemented plenty of improvements to our crash record and scheduled ingest tool:

• Scalability: the Scheduler now supports up to 160 ingest channels! We have spent considerable effort to test at peak load and are satisfied that large ingest production facilities can now deploy our solution and scale as needed. 
• Channel Grouping: we have been asked a lot to implement the ability to group ingest channels, so that specific users or departments have dedicated channel groups. For example, say that the News Ingest team always users K2 Summit Channels 1 and 2, and the Sports team always uses Channels 3 and 4... Now you can create and name Ingest Channel groups so that it's easy and convenient for everyone to use their dedicated channels. 

• New Ingest monitor: a new monitoring list actively refreshes at pre-set time periods, so you can see at a glance all of the scheduled recordings and what is in progress now.

• Expand/collapse all button: small but powerful! When you have in excess of 3-4 recording channels, it's now very easy to quickly collapse them all to maximize your screen real-state, and equally, at the push of a button, expand them all in a flash!

As you can see, we strive to always make our tool-set more user-friendly, flexible and powerful... GV STRATUS simply aims to provide you with the best non-linear production and workflow tools in the market.

Come by our IBC 2014 booth 1.D11 or visit our IBC microsite to book a demo!

For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com

IBC 2014 DAY 3: sending finished clips in multiple formats with GV STRATUS 4.0

We are constantly listening to our users' feedback and, as well as user permissions, we are introducing a highly requested feature with GV STRATUS 4.0: the ability to send finished files to K2 destinations in different formats. 

For example, say that in your newsroom or production facility you air your content in both SD and HD. From the new release of GV STRATUS, you can now create multiple format destinations, and send your SD sequence and your HD sequence to different (or the same) K2 destination, perhaps one for the SD playout room and the other for HD purposes. 

Or maybe your facility produces news content in DVCPRO HD, but promos in AVC-I 100. Again, you can now create different format send destinations, and the producer or editor will be presented with the relevant choices and ensure the right content reaches the right playout or external location. 

Another winning feature introducing flexibility, speed and ease-of-use to your production environment with GV STRATUS 4.0!

Come by our IBC 2014 booth 1.D11 or visit our IBC microsite to book a demo!

More tomorrow, day 4!

For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com

IBC 2014 DAY 2: fast remote transfers with GV STRATUS 4.0

Do you need to send lots of large video files from your GV STRATUS/K2 system to remote locations outside your facility? Are you a field editor who wants to quickly transfer your high-resolution final edit ready for on-air, alongside with the rushes?

Look no more - at IBC 2014 we are launching our new tight integration between GV STRATUS 4.0 and Aspera fast delivery solutions, using their secure FASP protocol. This is not just a push/pull watch folder workflow: we have added the new protocol to our toolset via our RESTFUL API, allowing GV STRATUS users to simply use a check box or folder that will automatically transfer to remote sites using the Aspera FASP protocol (read more here). 

Once all basic configuration and servers have been set up at each end, all background operations are transparent to the user: using GV STRATUS workflow rules, different "send profiles" can be set up, so that, for example, Current affairs and Sports content are delivered to different destinations. All metadata information is also sent (Closed Captions, Metadata, Thumbnails). 

You can quickly send raw material from the field directly to the ingest folders within the GV STRATUS system, ready for a producer's review and editors work. Equally, you can send from a bureau to the central production office dramatically reducing transfer speeds and time-to-air. It is even possible to set up an email alert to send to the producer when content has arrived and is ready for them to check!

With this seamless integration of the Aspera fast delivery solutions within the GV STRATUS production environment, our users can now benefit from a considerably faster and secure file exchange (even with unstable and low-bandwidth WAN connections), reducing production cycles and getting programming to air much faster.

Come and see a demo at the GV booth, 1.D11 during this IBC. 

We are co-hosting a cocktail reception on Saturday at the Aspera booth, 7.G30, come and join us for more information, networking and cool bubbly!

For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com

IBC 2014 DAY 1: User Permissions with GV STRATUS v4.0!

Today, with the opening of IBC 2014, we are unveiling GV STRATUS v4.0!

A long list of new features, exciting workflows and tight 3rd party integrations arrives with this release, which will ship in the next few weeks.

We start with a bang! A new, long-awaited feature that we are introducing today is user permissions!

A number of specific users / groups (typically system administrators) can have the new role of "Security Manager". Using the GV STRATUS Control Panel, they can assign READ, WRITE, DELETE permissions per asset and / or per folder to specific users and / or groups.

This allows for very granular allocation of user permissions so that each user and group has access to the media assets they need, and no more. Equally, you can assign the correct level of interaction to read-only, or modify assets' properties or even delete, to specific areas of the system without everyone seeing everything. Of course, it is also possible to have certain assets or bins being accessible only by certain user(s).

We have even provided an option for system administrators to enable/disable security features as convenient. This is specially important for existing GV STRATUS customers who may want to take a gradual approach to implementing user permissions by carefully planning first and activate when ready, or when you have special events for which you need to override usual permissions and make temporary changes.

We will soon be releasing more information and updated user and configuration guides with full details.... If you'd like to learn more, do contact us on the email addresses below!

Come and see us at IBC, booth 1.11D or visit our IBC microsite to book a demo!

More tomorrow, day 2 of IBC 2014!

For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com

New GV STRATUS features to be revealed during IBC!

If you are attending the IBC convention in Amsterdam, do make sure to drop by our booth 1.D11 to witness the wide range of new functionality, features, workflows and new third party integrations that we are launching at the show.

Visit our IBC microsite to book a demo!

For those who are not travelling this time, great news! We will be publishing a series of daily blog entries revealing a new and exciting new GV STRATUS feature each day during the show, starting this Friday.

Subscribe to our blog to receive regular updates on new posts. Trust me, we have some very exciting new functionality that you will not want to miss!


For any question concerning this subject contact regis.andre@grassvalley.com or beatriz.alonso-martinez@grassvalley.com