Thursday, April 8, 2010

NEW at NAB 2010: K2-FCP-CONNECT version 1.1

New today, just in time for NAB the new version of our K2-FCP-CONNECT including our GV-CONNECT Plug-in for Final Cut pro.

Included in this version:
  • Aurora Playout link to placeholder, and send to placeholder! the tighest yet integration of FCP in our productions and News Workflow
  • Centalizsed admistration in the system preference pane, making it even easier to configure, maintain.
  • Enhanced usablity
Download it here: CLICK ME this version replace all the previous versions at no cost. it requires a Licence to run, see you Grass Valley representative to get noe.
Download the documentation here: CLICK ME


Come and see it at NAB on the GV booth in the south hall.

For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Coming Soon at NAB


Coming Soon at NAB, the new Grass Valley Content Management Application for Live Production!
Enhance your GrassValley Live production system and its integration with your Post Production island.
Stay tuned

For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

UPDATE MARCH 2011: Editor format matrix support on K2 shared storage

Format available on the K2 are depend of what K2 video server is used and what version. for more information on format availability on k2 video servers, please refer to the servers section of the grassvalley.com web site or click ME

-EIP stands for Edit in Place, media do not need to be transferred to the editor storage for editing.
-DSM is an Aurora DSM Server
-Partial support means that the editor can edit AVCI generated by our K2 system, but that the editor does not yet write back AVCI. so final sequence has to be render in another "green" supported format such as DV100.
-XDCAM HD, we do support XDCAM EX, HD and HD 422.

For dedicated information on each editor, use the Label filter list on this blog in the right hand side columns as shown in this picture:

For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Did you know? EDIUS import of FCP XML?

Did you know that you can import FCP projects in EDIUS 5.1.x and above? this is really an interesting workflow especially if you want to import your FCP work in EDIUS and then use the LAN remote render engine of EDIUS the XRE.

here is what is supported at the import time:

Currently supported:
Clip (video, audio, still)
Clip Transition (dissolve)
Sequence clip
Freeze Frame
MultiClip (Currently selected clip)
Color bar and tone
Color matte

Currently not supported:
Title (text) clip
Transition at the end of clip
Transitions other than dissolve
Keyframe
Video filters 


For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

Friday, December 4, 2009

NEW VERSION of K2-FCP-GV-CONNECT v1.0.1.15

A new version of the GV connect bundle is available and REQUIRED to work on 7.1 version of Summits and K2 SAN.
it is backward compatible with earlier versino of K2 Summits, K2 SANS and K2 3.3

Find the documentation HERE and the software HERE

And remember to check the compatibility matrix Here

For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

New K2 and Avid Application note available for download

GrassValley just released a new application note on using K2 and Avid together. follow this link to download the pdf:
http://grassvalley.com/docs/Application_Notes/servers/k2/SER-4035M_K2_Avid_AppNote.pdf
For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

New K2-FCP-GV-CONNECT application note

Grass Valley just released a new Application note on using FCP with our K2 systems.
follow this link to open the PDF file:
http://grassvalley.com/docs/Application_Notes/servers/k2_fcp_connect/SER-4034M_K2_FinalCutPro_AppNote.pdf


For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

!UPDATED Jan 2011 FCP support Matrix, update October 2009

as of JANUARY 2011 here is the latest supported matrix for FCP and MAC OS support in our K2 SAN environment.






For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

Saturday, October 24, 2009

K2 and Avid, XDCAM HD 422 Transfers

The FTP transfer mechanism with the Avid Interplay Engine has just been released around IBC, that more and more customer are using it to transfer content in XDCAMHD to and from our K2 Video Servers.

The configuration is extremely simple as it requires no additional software on the GrassValley side of the installation.
Avid is using our Open Architecture using MXF transfers over FTP to transfer XDCAM HD 422 to and from ISIS. in order to achieve that, you will need to purchase the Interplay Transfer Engine option from Avid and configure it to do FTP transfer with our servers and you will also require your editing stations (MediaComposer, NewsCutter, Symphony) to be connected to an ISIS or Unity MediaNetwork in order to have the XDCAM HD FTP option available in the Avid interplay transfer engine options.

Avid then provides a tool to list of clips in our server and you can drag and drop to your bin to trigger the transfer to the Avid editor shared storage and on the way back to the K2 use the "Send to playback" menu from within the editor.

If you are interested in transferring content between GrassValley K2s and Avid systems, make sure to check this blog often as GrassValley works continuously to make the story better.

For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

New K2 Production Storage offer and Customer Success Story with GV Connect.

Since the release of GV connect, GrassValley also released a new Shared Storage solution aligned more to the needs of Post-Production than massive news or ingest/playout centers.
This new K2 Production Storage Provides either a Fibre Channel or ISCSI (ethernet) architecture to connect Editing clients such as EDIUS or Final Cut Pro.
K2 Production storage can support ingest K2 MediaClient, but does not provide supports for direct attached Playback server. a transfer model is used to send to playback in that case.

K2 Production storage now complete our Shared Storage offering already proposing K2 SAN and our K2 Nearline:

  • K2 SAN : Ingest, Editing and Playout supported on the SAN directly.
  • K2 Production Storage: Ingest, Editing supported from the SAN directly, transfer to Playout
  • K2 Nearline: NAS solution for Near-Online activities and low bandwidth editing in CIFS

K2 PS, has just been released and we are already pleased to announce our very first Installations at a major site in Texas.
the configuration provides 650 Hours of storage at 100Mb/s Media, transfer capability to our K2 ingest Server and a stand alone K2 playout Server, allowing content to be edited for 10 Final Cut Pro workstations.

GV Connect is used to browse the content of the servers and trigger the transfer to the K2 PS, where editors can start editing as soon as the transfer starts.

Once the editing is done, GV connect is then used to send the finish package back to another K2 MediaClient used for playout, while a Final Cut Server coupled with an encoding engine transcode the same material out of Shared storage to other destinations.


For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

HOW TO: Reconnect to growing file media in FCP



Thanks to Jim P. for this how to document.
Although our FCP GV Connect plug-in does a lot to streamline and simplify the process of finding content in our servers, if you are editing a greowing file and that FCP crashes or you quit FCP while you are linked to a growing file, there is no way for us to reconnect FCP to the growing files automatically. you will have to do it manually.
here is the procedure written by Jim.

Final Cut Pro behavior when closing project and application with a  growing file in the bin.

Launch FCP, add a growing file to the bin, use elements of the file in the timeline.
Close the project, then re-open the project – no issues with files.
Now close FCP and then reopen it and again open the project with the growing file inside the bin. The file shows up as Media Offline


So follow the instructions to Reconnect.



 Locate the clip as suggested
Here:



Then it will inform you that you are re-linking to a growing file...



So click on Continue and then you will see this



Finally the timeline redraws with all of your elements from the growing file(s).


Now you can finish the edit.

For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

Monday, October 5, 2009

Media transfers between K2 MediaClients and Avid Editors how to video:

hello, here is a video demonstrating Media transfers between a GrassValley K2 MediaClient and an Avid editor.
REMEMBER this is working only with Windows based Editors as Avid does not have transfer tools for MAC OS.


if the audio is not good enough for you, here is the transcript of the comments:


Welcome to this presentation
we will talk about transfer workflow between Grass Valley MediaServer Client from the K2 family to and from Avid editor either via a std alone Interplay transfer Engine or a Interplay Transfer Engine Server.

As you can see on this slide we do support transfer of different types of Codec,
I-Frames codec are transferred using the GV K2 DHM plug-in with the Interplay transfer Engine while long-GOP media are transferred using the FTP mode of the Interplay Transfer Engine.

AVC-I support will come early 2010 when Avid supports AVCI Exports.

Now to get this to work, you will need to install the Grass Valley K2 Avid DHM on the machine that host the Interplay Transfer Engine, in my example I run the Interplay transfer engine on the MediaComposer Machine itself.

Then you will need to install the Grass Valley K2 Avid Ingest Browser application on the Editing machine.
The K2 T Server goes on the K2 MediaClient (K2 Summit, k2 Solo, etc..)

The configuration is done mostly through Host file configuration as described in the installation and configuration guide and onto the Interplay Engine configuration utility.

In my example, I am running the Interplay Transfer Engine on the MediaComposer PC itself, it’s called a standalone transfer engine (vs Server) then I need to Check Stand alone setting “accept incoming transfer setting’ Dialog box, choose the type of transfer, AAF in our case.

Then enable playback transfer in the playback section, enter the name of the K2 Mediaclient you want to send to from this editing machine. The name of course has to eb same as the one in your host file.
Then you will need to enable ingest transfers and add the name of the K2 Mediaclient you want to transfer from.

Once this is done the configuration is finished, you need to start the interplay engine, launch MediaComposer and the Grass Valley K2 Avid Browser
Use the K2 browser to find content you want to transfer from the K2 to the editing machine, drag and drop the clips to a MediaComposer Bin, the transfer starts and once it is done you can edit it.

Once you are done editing you can then send the timeline back to the K2 Server by choosing the Send to Playback option, type a tape ID in the dialog box, that tape ID will translate to be the Clip name in the K2 word.
Hit OK, then the transfer starts.

After a while the clip will show up in the K2 default Bin, and you can start playing it out before the transfer ends.

the installation documentation can be found HERE
For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

Thursday, September 3, 2009

RELEASE: FCP CONNECT

here it is we officially released today FCP GV Connect.
it is available for download on the GrassValley web site along other software updates products.

Download page from Grassvalley .com for K2-FCP-GV-CONNECT


• Select “Broadcast Products”
• Select “Servers”
• Select “K2 Final Cut Pro Connect”


the documentation is available HERE

GV PREREQUISITES:
  • K2 SAN CONDOR RAID SYSTEM
  • k2 3.3 and or k2 Summit 7.0

Apple PREREQUISITES:
  • MAC OS X Leopard 10.5  ONLY for now. we did not qualified Snow leopard yet.
  • Final Cut Studio 2 or 3
  • Apple XSAN Client 2.2.1

For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

IBC is coming up

IBC is in few weeks now. we will show the release version of our FCP GV CONNECT tool with more surprise to it.
Including a new Live Ingest to Editing workflow with metadata exchange from our Dyno replay controller system and a new product as well that will be announced at IBC. so make sure to stop by the Grass Valley Booth # 1D.11 Hall 1 and ask for me.

For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@grassvalley.com

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Some news about gv connect

FCP GV Connect is about to be released still some details to wrap up, but the release should be available by the end of July '09.
here is a quick summary of the feature set:
•IMPORT:
oBrowse K2 (SAN or Stand alone) file structure to find, preview and add or transfer clips to bin
oBrowse Aurora file structure to find, preview and add or transfer clips to bin
oBrowse Aurora file structure to find, preview and add Sequences to bin
oBrowse local or network path for Quicktime files to preview and add or transfer to bin as well as adding sequences to bin.
•EXPORT:
oExport one or multiple clips or sequence to a K2 system (SAN or Stand alone)
oTwo preset available
oExport and quick export



For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@Grassvalley.com

Friday, May 22, 2009

File Format supported with K2 and FCP

Here are the format supported starting version 3.3 and 7.0 of K2 and K2 Summit:

K2 SD:
DV25-50
IMX 30-40-50 (MPEG 2 I-frame SD)

K2 HD:
XDCAM HD

Summit 7.0:
DV100 (DVCPROHD), DV50 and DV25


For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@thomson.net

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

How to Edit with EDIUS on a K2 stand Alone Media Client

Here is a presentation going thought the configuration of the K2 Connect utility that let EDIUS editing application see the content of a Stand alone MediaClient, K2 SD, K2 HD r K2 Summit, transfer the files to the EDIUS local storage, edit them and send them back.

basically what you need to make this working, is only EDIUS, a K2 MediaClient and a network connection between the two.

you can view this presentation in full screen by pressing the little screen projector icon on the presentation toolbar.




For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@thomson.net

Thursday, April 16, 2009

K2 Stand alone and Final Cut Pro workflow

Here is an illustration for the Hot bin workflow using Final Cut Pro.


To use FCP to edit in place from a stand alone K2 follow that procedure:
First you need to connect to the media drive from the K2 mediaclient. in order to do that you first must share the V:/ drive from the mediaclient:
Go to the K2 Mediaclient windows -->my computer --> right click on the V:/ drive --> sharing and permissions, share the volume and name it DEFAULT (this is important) -->advanced permissions-->everyone check all permissions (you can set permissions to only the admin user if you prefer)-->apply/ok

On the MAC -->finder -->Go menu --> connect to server --> type in the IP address of the MediaClient like this: smb://xx.xx.xx.xx/default --> click the little + sign to add it to your favorites --> connect

Now the default drive is available in the shared section of the finder.

Now that the "plumbing" is done you can start editing: two scenarios:

With the GV CONNECT plug-in:
If you are using the GV connect plug-in you will need to edit the host file on the MAC to set the Stand alone server IP addressing the host editing tool in the GV application folder, create a user account for the MAC user on the K2 (with admin privileges) and then set the permissions on the sabretooth license service in the service manager

-From FCP --> tool-->GV CONNECT --> import tab --> you see all the available content, import to the bin as any as needed --> close plug-in
-Edit
- when done editing --> tool --> GV CONNECT --> export tab --> select custom or quick export (TIP: Set the quick export to the hot bin then you can do a GV connect quick export directly from the tool menu) --> export and close.

Without the GV CONNECT plug-in
-From FCP --> Right click on the bin --> import file --> using the browse button navigate to DEFAULT/ Asset (if K2 Classic) or Media (is K2 Summit)/navigate the bins to find content.
-Edit
-when done editing select your sequence to send back --> right click --> export --> Quick time movie, select the right format that match the K2 system setup --> browse destination: navigate to the default drive/ navigate to the hot bin --> export.

Note that by using the GV CONNECT plug-in this process is highly streamlined.

For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@thomson.net

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

EDIUS; that file based workflow monster

Working in a lot of different workflows from News to live production, sports, and channel playout, being able to ingest, edit and transfer the result of your editing on the playout server so it can be shared / played or archived whatever the source or destination file formatis, is important.

For that kind of workflow where source format are multiple, EDIUS is the dreamed solution.
You can thrown literally any type of files to it, EDIUS will play them, edit them and with it's integration to the K2 systems, will have the right tools to export that back to the playout system.

Here is a list of files format that I used recently with EDIUS for a project:
HDV, AVCI, AVCHD, DV, J2K, MPEG2 Long GOP, XDCAM HD... and yes, I have been able to mix all of this in my project and make a Master that was playable on a K2 Summit DV100 MediaClient.

EDIUS allowed me to ingest all the files from the different camera vendors, files from my archive and edit, manage the aspect ratio and raster sizes and output a DV100 file back to our K2 Summit MediaClient.

Export from EDIUS in .m2t, MXF, GXF, AVI, QT, MPEG2...

If you want to know more about EDIUS file format compatiblity follow that link: CLICK ME and scroll to the bottom of the page for an extensive list of Supported Project formats and Video Formats.

For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@thomson.net

A well kept secret for editors: K2 HotBins!

The K2 MediaClient stand alone or K2 Server for SAN environment offers a great feature for editors to export files to the MediaClient or SAN and have this files seen by the server and shareable /playable right away by the K2s.

Per the K2 documentation:
A service that will monitor a watched folder, also known as a source
directory, that you specify. Files placed in this watched folder are
automatically imported into the K2 system by the HotBin service


The Capture service is used to setup watch folders that will automatically import files dropped into the watch folders to a predetermined K2 bin.
once the import is over, the files are playable by the K2 MediaClient and are shared as well for other editors or transfer/archive engine.

the Hot bins supports Quicktime, MXF OP1A and AVI type-2 (DV only)for import as well as the "hotbin" XML import is capable of receive MXF O-Atom following the P2 specifications as well.

For more information about the K2 hot bin features follow that link to the PDF system guides: CLICK ME

typical use case is for an editor to ingest a tape on it's local storage, edit, add effects and so on and export a flatten file to the HotBin K2 folder. once the import is done by the editor the K2 Capture service pick up the file and make it available in the K2 bin for playout.
this is a great and simple file based workflow, especially in live production environment where files edited need to be playback as soon as possible.

For any question concerning this subject contact Régis André: regis.andre@thomson.net