Masstech, Avid Team Up on Comprehensive Newsroom Workflow Solution for Philippines’ TV5

Masstech has joined forces with Avid on the first phase of a project with Philippines’ TV5 to build a newsroom facility that will enhance digital workflow the broadcast news outfit.

“We see massive growth potential in scalable content management solutions for newsrooms, as broadcasters continue to invest in infrastructure to automate their production processes,” says Brad Redwood, VP International, Masstech Group. “Masstech has established a strong reputation for providing cost-effective digital archiving to broadcasters such as TV3 in New Zealand and more recently, ABS-CBN in Manila. Winning this contract with TV5 reinforces our unique capabilities in media asset management and we are pleased to collaborate with Avid to provide TV5 with a fully integrated solution that will support their transition to a state of the art digital newsroom.”

The comprehensive broadcast solution incorporates Masstech’s Topaz for media asset management (MAM), Avid iNEWS and Interplay Production asset management solution, Spectra T950 library, and LTO5 library.  At the core of the new facility is TOPAZ, which will interface with both Avid’s Interplay Production system and iNews Newsroom Computer Systems (NRCS) via Media Object Server Communications (MOS) protocol, enabling newsroom staff to search, browse, identify, and quickly access news content for production purposes. Masstech’s archiving systems support MOS protocol by fully integrating Avid’s iNEWS system and NewsCutter editing systems with MAM and workflow automation.

Journalists can quickly search news archives and capture only the desired footage at their desk. Using the TOPAZ web-based browser application on their iNEWS workstation, they can search the archive to locate media content via the clip name, archive date or other key metadata. TOPAZ manages the transfer of key metadata between the TOPAZ archive database and the Avid Interplay production database.

After ingesting, media clips are archived from within Avid NewsCutter and Interplay Assist module, allowing journalists to search and preview stories by browsing a low-resolution proxy. Once the appropriate media files are located, users select the desired clip or just sections of them using the TOPAZ XT-Edit partial restore, hence calling back only footage that is required rather than the whole file. This means zooming in on a particular scene for example, a policeman pointing his gun, rather than the entire crime scene.

TOPAZ will allow the journalist to embed references to the video for a story in Avid iNEWS so they can later research historical footage. Journalists or newsroom assistants may search locators or create shot-lists of archived content they wish to use in a news bulletin. Once the desired footage is marked, journalists can edit the media content using Avid NewsCutter. Any clips sent to archive with the same name as an existing clip, will not be re-archived, preventing file duplication and saving storage space.

“Being awarded the contract with TV5 is a significant milestone for us,” says Paul Slowey, Head of Bid Management and Systems Integration for Avid Technology APAC.  “We are once again delighted to have the opportunity to work with Masstech on a project of this scale. TV5 will benefit from our combined expertise in newsroom systems and we look forward to providing the most sophisticated software tools to increase the visibility of information and drive efficiency for their newsrooms.”

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