Grass Valley Delivers Full AVC-Intra Workflow Solutions

An ongoing collaborative technology development between Grass Valley^™ and Panasonic Corp. has delivered seamless interoperability with Panasonic's AVC-Intra compression format across Grass Valley's complete line of HD media servers and editing products, streamlining a variety of content creation processes for an end-to-end video compression solution.

"Since the introduction of AVC-Intra, we have recognized the value of this next generation codec for our customers and have worked diligently to provide seamless compatibility across many Grass Valley product lines," said Jeff Rosica, Grass Valley's executive vice president and chief sales & marketing officer. "AVC-Intra is now a market-accepted format for production and we're committed to supporting it across many of our product lines."

The AVC-Intra codec uses intraframe (single frame), AVC compliant compression algorithms to allow users of Panasonic's solid-state P2 systems to record HD data into smaller files on a P2 card and to store more content on Grass Valley servers for mission-critical playout and editing applications when compared to other professional codecs.

“AVC-Intra is now a market-accepted format for production and we're committed to supporting it across many of our product lines.”
— Grass Valley's Jeff Rosica

The combination of intraframe coding and 10-bit 4:2:2 color at a highly efficient bitrate has made AVC-Intra an extremely popular choice for both news and production editing. Grass Valley's EDIUS and Aurora editors both support AVC-Intra as a native editing codec, and the format is fully supported by Apple and Avid editing products. News operations using Panasonic camcorders and Grass Valley servers and editors at WABC New York, KWCH Wichita, KS, WBNS Columbus, OH and WTHR Indianapolis, IN, along with many others, enjoy a seamless AVC-Intra workflow from acquisition through playout with no transcoding required.

More than 100 AVC-Intra based, multi-channel Grass Valley K2 Summit^™ and K2 Solo^™ media servers and K2 Dyno Replay Systems have been delivered to prominent organizations for news, live event, and television production. In addition, Grass Valley now offers full open file compatibility with AVC-Intra among its popular news production line of Aurora^™ and EDIUS^® real-time HD nonlinear editing platforms.

"Broadcasters are always looking for new and advanced technology to help them store and transfer their content in the most efficient way, and that's exactly what the AVC-Intra codec is designed to do," said Tadao Shimozuru, director of professional AV systems B.U., Panasonic Corp. "No format can be successful without the support of key vendors like Grass Valley, which has been a great partner in the evolution of the AVC-Intra format. Grass Valley has helped show its customers how frame-based compression positively affects HD editing, storage, and playout."

Some broadcasters are using AVC-Intra 50 to maximize their recording space while maintaining high-quality content. The AVC-Intra 50 codec delivers high-quality and fast file transfers over a Gigabit Ethernet networked environment. Other customers are employing the AVC-Intra 100 compression format for key+fill production switcher sources and high-quality graphics playback. Many K2 Solo servers have been sold for this purpose and for use with Grass Valley production switchers.