Marquis to Reveal Latest Media Integration Solutions at NAB 2012

Marquis Broadcast will reveal its latest media integration solutions at NAB 2012. The enhanced control capabilities of Medway 2.6, the latest version of its flagship media integration product, will be shown for the first time at NAB 2012 on booth SL12205. In addition, Marquis will demonstrate ‘Project Parking’, its new Avid archiving solution, which offers a fast and cost effective archive and restore process by creating a complete copy of any Avid project onto any storage device, plus X2Pro Audio Convert, its new cutting edge conversion application for delivering Final Cut Pro X projects to Avid Pro Tools for audio finishing.

“Our range of media integration products are designed for the data-intensive and challenging requirements of today's fast-paced broadcasting environments,” explains Chris Steele, product manager, Marquis Broadcast. “We aim to enable broadcasters and other users of digital media to achieve maximum efficiencies from their workflow processes and we are delighted to be demonstrating these new key product introductions at NAB this year.”

Medway 2.6 is a sophisticated software tool kit delivering a seamless and cost-effective integration between leading broadcast content applications. By unifying multi-vendor systems, Medway provides technical and operational workflows that optimise and integrate media clip and sequence transfers, media format conversion and transcoding, and metadata capture and integration. Medway 2.6 will now include Pre-Flight Check to verify a transfer before commencement, enhanced Audio Matrixing with Panning which allows for detailed control over how the input channels are mapped to the output channels, the ability to conform EDLs into single clips and support for Avid Media Composer 6 on both Windows and Mac platforms.

Project Parking provides a simple vehicle for archiving all media associated with a project, enabling Avid users to archive complete projects safely, quickly and easily between systems within the same facility or between sites. The portable nature of parked projects also makes them ideal for disaster recovery procedures, business continuity and inter-site workflows. X2Pro uses Marquis’ Media Highway, the core technology employed by Marquis’ media integration products to integrate Final Cut Pro X into professional audio workflows, delivering seamless integration between the two applications. In this way, X2Pro provides a smooth workflow between Final Cut Pro X and Avid Pro Tools, allowing users to take full advantage of the functionality of these world-class products now and in the future.

Marquis Supports Closed Captioning with Medway 2.6

Marquis Broadcast, specialist in content workflows and media integration software, has announced Medway 2.6, the latest version of its flagship media integration product, will support closed captioning. The latest version of Medway, which will be shown for the first time at NAB 2012 on booth SL12205, is a sophisticated software tool kit delivering a seamless and cost-effective integration between leading broadcast content applications. By unifying multi-vendor systems, Medway provides technical and operational workflows that optimise and integrate media clip and sequence transfers, media format conversion and transcoding, and metadata capture and integration.

“On 13 January 2012, the FCC issued the implementation schedule and standards for web captioning based on the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010,” explains Chris Steele, product manager, Marquis Broadcast. “This means captioned content must retain closed captions when broadcast on the internet. Because closed captions have been used over many years, archives of captioned content in multiple formats currently exist and the challenge is to convert this material into web content with the closed captions intact. Further issues are presented if the programmes need to be edited, shortened, or the commercials need to be removed prior to web broadcast.

“We are pleased to confirm that the latest version of Medway will support closed captioning, by ensuring that captions created on the Avid data track remain with the media through archive, transfer or transcoding process,” continues Steele. “This means media destined for the internet and the captions associated with it, can be edited at the same time, allowing easy conversion of material without caption loss, reducing manual operation and saving time.”

In addition to supporting closed captioning, Medway 2.6 will now also include Audio Matrixing which allows for detailed control over how the input channels are mapped to the output channels and includes control of the bit depth and gain of the output channels. Extended Panning allows for the selection of either the left or right component of a channel after the channels panning data has been applied.

In addition, Avid users can now also take advantage of the updated Avid Sequence Parking and choose to park the entire original essence of a sequence. This enhancement also enables the archive or transfer of the entire length of each of the clips referenced by an Avid sequence. The original OP1Atom essence can now be parked when this option is chosen. In order to give timely and up-to-date information on media transfers into Avid Interplay, Marquis can also now create a field in Interplay which is updated with the status of a transfer.

For further information visit us at NAB on booth SL12205.

Marquis Enhances Archive and Retrieval Solution

Marquis Broadcast, specialist in content workflows and media integration software, has announced completion of work with Disk Archive Corporation to develop an enhancement to its fast and cost- effective archive and restore solution, Project Parking, in order to integrate with Disk Archive’s unique archive and content library, ALTO.

“Tapeless workflows are already firmly established in media acquisition, production and distribution,” confirms Alan Hoggarth, managing director, Disk Archive Corporation. “ALTO provides the same benefits for archives and content libraries, offering a scalable, flexible and highly secure alternative to a data tape library for media storage, with the emphasis on low total cost of ownership and low environmental impact.” The new development now enables Marquis’ Project Parking users, to create a complete copy of any Avid project and media onto ALTO, for easy archiving and retrieval of digital source media.”

“We are excited to be collaborating with Disk Archive Corporation,” confirms Chris Steele, product manager, Marquis Broadcast. “ALTO offers strategies for data storage that provide excellent performance and economic benefits while at the same time eliminating widely held concerns about the security and running costs of high capacity drives in data storage arrays. In combination with Project Parking, the complete offering now provides a powerful solution to archive and retrieval issues.”

The complete archive and retrieval solution is now available from your local Disk Archive representative. For further information please see: www.diskarchive.com or www.marquisbroadcast.com/project-parking.html or visit Marquis on booth SL12205 at NAB 2012 or Disk Archive on booth N4417.

About Disk Archive Corporation

Disk Archive Corporation specialises in developing and supporting high capacity, high availability solutions for long-term storage of large volumes of Media files in a true Tier 3 Content Library with high performance, low total cost of ownership and low environmental impact. Established in 2009, Disk Archive Corporation is a privately owned company drawing on more than 15 years’ experience designing, delivering and supporting Media Storage, Media Asset Management and Archive Management solutions. www.diskarchive.com

WTVF Selects Medway to Enhance Workflow

Marquis has announced the CBS-affiliated television station, WTVF, has selected Medway, Marquis’ sophisticated software tool kit designed to deliver seamless and cost-effective integration between leading broadcast content applications, to enhance its workflow at NewsChannel 5 Network in Nashville, Tennessee.

“We are now using Medway to import files into Avid ISIS for editing, check them into Avid Interplay and send finished sequences to the Avid AirSpeed MultiStreams for playout,” confirms Mike Rose, chief protographer at WTVF. “This saves exporting/importing times and helps all workflows because much of the work is “farmed” out, therefore not tying up the editor.”

“We chose Medway because it supports XDCAM 35 EX,” continues Rose. “Getting clips checked into Interplay is perhaps where we use it most. Medway watches a folder where our Rhozet Carbon Coder drops clips that have been flipped to XDCAM 35EX (such as user–generated content or network footage from CNN or CBS ) and checks them into a “Medway” folder in our Interplay database. We need to drop 50-70 clips a day. Before Medway, all of these clips would be ingested via baseband.

“In this way, Medway eliminates a great deal of time spent basebanding content,” explains Rose. “While real-time ingest may be more comfortable to old-time editors than importing a file, baseband ingest requires continual monitoring and cueing. Exporting content to the Omneon server once required a Quick Time export on the editor level, which took a good deal of time as XDCAM EX uses Long-GOP compression. Provided that any effects have been rendered, now, the only exporting is audio - which is quick - and the AAF file. This allows the editor to move onto other work.”

Medway also provides a path to get content to WTVF’s website, which is hosted by WorldNow. Medway moves news content over to the WorldNow video encoders, who host all of WTVF’s video content on newschannel5.com. In addition, Medway is used to move material from WTVF’s Avid ISIS to its Omneon server including promotion material for all the newscasts, and full length shows for WTVF’s second channel, “NewsChannel 5 Plus.” Marquis will be demonstrating the enhanced control capabilities of its latest version of Medway 2.6, for the first time at NAB 2012 on booth SL12205.

Medway Version 2.6 will be demonstrated at NAB 2012 from 16 - 19 April on the Marquis booth SL12205 in the South Lower Hall.

To arrange a Medway demo at NAB click here