News Technology & Live Sport
See it now
Gravity for the newsroom
SHAUN McTERNAN, product manager, Media Production introduction of Gravity, an elegant, fully-
Systems, at Solid State Logic, reports.
formed and completely scalable modular
answer to the question of how to cost-
ee it Now’ was the title of a first on the scene for breaking news as a effectively transition a newsroom to an all-
‘S
pioneering documentary television professional news crew with HD cameras - and digital future. Gravity is a collaborative, Web-
programme presented in early 1950s to the viewer, it doesn’t matter who got there enabled, proxy-based, video production editing
America by legendary CBS journalist first or how the relevant media was captured. environment, which has been merged with
and broadcaster Edward R. Murrow. They want the news immediately, and they comprehensive media asset management
Although the American public, as it turned expect to be able to access it through whatever capabilities, thereby unifying in a single
out, wasn’t quite ready for the immediacy of device they have available to them at the time. system the entire news production and
Murrow’s hard-hitting documentaries, television This sense of urgency has precipitated the distribution workflow.
viewers worldwide today are anything but need to unify and accelerate broadcast Now operating in the US at the heart of
reluctant to get their news. They want it now, as workflows and delivery schemes in every three leading news networks, Gravity provides
it happens, from anywhere in the world - and aspect of broadcasting, and no area is feeling the benefits of a format- and codec-
not just on their television screens. the pressure more than the newsroom. independent platform that allows these
That demand for immediacy in modern news networks to work in any format, or
programming - coupled with the growing Gravity brings it all together simultaneously in multiple formats.
number of devices from which to access that
news - is the greatest challenge to the modern It no longer makes competitive sense for a A solid, stable foundation, with in-built
broadcast newsroom. It has never been more news operation to use disparate databases, user flexibility
important to get stories on air before the interfaces and administration modules. To lead
competition, and in a range of formats that until the pack instead of chasing it, newsrooms must Members of SSL’s Newsroom Systems
only a few years ago were scarcely imagined. transition from being a repository of development team have already earned three
The technical aspects today of being able to interlinked, often fractious legacy parts to a Emmy Awards and a Technical Oscar for
‘see it now’ are a far cry from the 35mm film single, streamlined, integrated, feature-rich and advancements in these fields, and their depth
that was used to capture events of the 1950s. A consistent platform that has the additional of experience has been brought to bear on
daily avalanche of content - in a multiplicity benefit of being able to be accessed from Gravity from the ground up. Because system
of formats - now arrives from everywhere. It is anywhere in the world. architecture is a vital consideration for anyone
just as likely that ‘Citizen Journalist’ with his Solid State Logic (SSL) has addressed this planning an all-digital newsroom, the Gravity
digital video camera or mobile phone will be and many more issues through the team has designed it to run on open standard,
Gravity’s LiveEdit
high-performance, Windows-based PCs and
application enables a
servers with scalable and user configurable
broadcaster to
GUIs. Gravity includes - in a single system -
manipulate
encoders, decoders, asset managers, storage
pass-through channels
servers, package production tools, schedulers
on the fly, removing
and transcoders. However, the system is so
or adding informative flexible that these components can be
and pre-prepared combined within a central core or be deployed
content within across remote locations throughout the world.
seconds of the
transmission point.
Gravity’s got your back age 38.
Gravity’s MediaWAN backhaul technology
allows networks to install encoders at remote
locations and automatically ingest video and
audio content to central servers, making it
Continued on P
36 IBE NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2008
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