NAB 2016: Grass Valley debuts automation engine for VOD/OTT workflow Michelle Clancy
| 13 April 2016
Grass Valley is introducing iTX On-Demand, a video-on-demand (VOD)/over-the-top (OTT) solution that automates the VOD process for both pre-recorded and live productions.
grass valley itxTo be launched at NAB 2016, the module is available as an option with Grass Valley’s iTX Integrated Playout Platform, or alongside third-party playout solutions.
“Customers already rely on iTX for its efficiency, quality and resilience — as evidenced by the fact that iTX delivered more than 17.5 million hours of television last year,” said Mike Cronk, senior vice president of strategic marketing, Grass Valley. “iTX On-Demand specifically addresses non-linear production in a way that dramatically speeds time to air. Now users will be able to save money in the production of content and make money in the growing advertising market. It’s a win-win.”
iTX On-Demand manages the production of VOD assets from the start of the production process. iTX recipes within the On-Demand system contain all the assets for each VOD work order, allowing complex tasks to be automatically performed in parallel with linear production workflow, without the need for manual intervention.
The system also creates complete broadcast masters by adding or removing commercials, promotions and programming, inserting dedicated branding, watermarks and captioning. Broadcast masters are then transcoded to create different VOD versions in parallel, with specific metadata for different platforms. The entire solution is highly automated, using a streamlined process that reduces the need for expensive duplicate operations.
For pre-recorded shows, VOD can be started hours in advance by pre-packaging assets — no need to wait for the transmission time because iTX On-Demand can source all the transmission-ready media and render the VOD assets. This means broadcasters can publish content to multiple platforms in advance of playout.
On the other hand, for live shows, iTX On-Demand works with growing files to generate broadcast masters with promotions, commercials and branding driven from the iTX recipes. This means broadcasters can generate on-demand versions as the show is airing, minimising delivery time to just minutes after the show finishes, not hours as other systems require.
“This will give our customers an opportunity to capitalise on the changing habits of viewers,” added Cronk. “Not only will they be able to serve the content for VOD, but they’ll be able to do it more quickly and more cost-effectively than ever before.”
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