Grass Valley Enhances K2 Dyno S Capabilities with Telestration Feature

As part of an ongoing investment to provide top-quality replay solutions for live sports and entertainment productions, Grass Valley announced that its widely-used K2 Dyno S Replay Controller now includes an added optional feature —tOG-Sports telestration developed by RT Software.

K2 Dyno’s integration with tOG-Sports means replay operators have a fast and powerful telestration tool directly available to them on the K2 Dyno S touchscreen interface. With this capability, replay operators can provide compelling content to viewers using split screens, key frame tracking zoom, spot zoom, as well as various other illustration tools such as traditional lines, circles and shaded regions.

“We’re excited to integrate our tOG application into Grass Valley’s K2 Dyno S Replay Controller. It establishes new levels of creativity and efficiency for those working in live production, especially sports,” remarked Mike Fredriksen, Commercial Director, RT Software.

Grass Valley’s K2 Dyno S includes a highly intuitive touchscreen interface, the K2 Summit® 3G media server infrastructure, and increased content/metadata integration. It supplies replay operators of all levels with a comprehensive, easy-to-use and extended toolset that provides logging, content management and even full craft editing capabilities, so that operators can produce replays and highlight packages seamlessly and on the fly.

“Live production is becoming increasingly complex, and the live sports sector is especially competitive. Grass Valley is committed to delivering the best-in-class replay technology so that operators around the world can stay ahead of the curve, and our involvement with RT Software only enhances this notion,” said Mike Cronk, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Grass Valley. “With the new optional tOG-Sports capabilities, the K2 Dyno S is the only replay system on the market that allows operators to manage effects right on the touchscreen as opposed to having to move from computer to replay system. This results in a huge time savings for operators.”

US Food and Drug Administration Completes HD Upgrade
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US government agency responsible for advancing public health, recently rounded out a three-year high definition (HD) upgrade with a new 3 M/E Karrera Video Production Center switcher with K-Frame and a Concerto routing switcher from Grass Valley, replacing HD-capable equipment from a variety of other suppliers. With the help of broadcast supplier Digital Video Group, the FDA was able to complete the upgrade over the 2013 winter holidays and its Gaithersburg, MD studio is now fully HD operational.

“Given the wide body of work we generate, upgrading our facility to HD was necessary in order to provide our internal and external clients with high-quality programs. Our audiences are used to seeing HD programming at home, so it’s come to be expected in every viewing experience,” said Chad Heupel, Director of Communication Media, FDA. “It was an effortless choice to selectGrass Valley because given the dwindling resources of the federal government, everyone is forced to do more with less. Grass Valley solutions are a huge proponent of efficiency, which is right in line with our needs.”

The move from SD to HD is of huge importance to the FDA, as the migration will enhance thewide variety of programming it produces for internal use, as well as other federal government agencies through Inter-Agency agreements. Productions include the FDA’s Center for Tobacco webcasts, as well as programs for the agency’s Center for Food Safety and Nutrition that educate FDA inspectors, food manufacturers, and consumers on food safety. The FDA also produces programming for the US Army, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and the Health Resources Service Administration (HRSA).

The Karrera Video Production Center, now available with K-Frame, delivers a modular approach to production switchers. It encompasses an intuitive, easy-to-learn control panel, touchscreen side panel interface and delivers full 3G 1080p50/60 HD support while drawing less power than other switchers in the market. Together, with the Concerto routing switcher, the Karrera gives the FDA considerably more production flexibility and power to meet the needs of its various internal and external production clients.

“The Food and Drug Administration’s consumer and regulatory mission necessitates the right technologies are in place, allowing the agency to deliver the absolute best content to its clients and the public,” said Andy Jackson, Senior Vice President of North America, Grass Valley. “We designed the Karrera with advanced, high-end features at a mid-market price, so agencies of all sizes—especially those that often work with limited staffing such as the FDA—can take advantage of its array of features and stay within their budget.”