Editing and More in the Cloud

  • By David Kirk

Editing and More in the Cloud

Contributing Editor David Kirk has a look at the ever more important role that remote editing and cloud distributed workflows are continuing to play…

Cloud-based video editing has long been a routine part of the broadcast production toolset, not least among TV news reporters accustomed to delivering complete stories as wifi-despatched files to their station’s main studio for fine-trimming. It is perfectly possible to shoot and edit entire programmes on a mobile phone, provided the editor is sufficiently motivated, patient and has very small fingers. Personally, I would not want to edit video on anything smaller than a laptop or, for preference, a 5K iMac.

Avid’s Media Composer | Cloud Remote extends real-time collaborative production to internet-connected Avid Media Composer | Ultimate editors. It is designed to increase production efficiency on location using global editing workflows, including access to MediaCentral or Interplay | Production assets. Operators work in a secure private cloud, uploading and sharing field assets via 4G or wireless internet while editing.

Features include full remote upload and download support for DNxHR media. Users can also now play back multicam group clips in 2 x 2 multi-angle view Clip color support distinguishes remote and local media in the timeline, showing how many assets will need to be uploaded or downloaded to meet deadlines.

Arvato Systems’ VidiEditor is a browser-based desktop editor aimed at enabling remote editing workflows, as well as enhancing journalistic editing and content preparation. Offered as part of VidiNet, the Vidispine cloud-based media services platform, it allows users to browse for content with instant preview in an optimised player. Features include frame-accurate editing and preview with drag-and-drop operation, audio channel duplication, audio levelling, the ability to record voice over directly into a sequence and various publishing options. “Remote editing workflows became instantly vital during the pandemic and are very much an established part of the broadcast workflow now,” comments Karsten Schragmann, Head of Product Management for Vidispine at Arvato Systems. “VidiEditor provides the ideal combination of an advanced back-end infrastructure with smart scaling to meet requirements with the intuitive front-end interfaces that users are demanding as the industry pivots towards cloud-based editing solutions.”

Blackbird’s real-time editing tools have been added to TVU Networks’ TVU Producer cloud-based live production and editing platform. The combination offers editors immediate access to multiple ISO recordings without needed to wait for files to be uploaded before starting projects. Blackbird provides frame-accurate editing at multiple skill levels. The browser-based platform supports up to 12 video and 36 audio tracks with real-time video and audio transitions, alpha channel overlays, colour correction, subtitles and closed captions. Blackbird also features direct publishing to social media platforms, as well as OTT, web and other digital platforms. TVU Producer allows live multi-camera video production in the cloud. Content can be transmit live to TVU Producer from any camera using TVU’s live video transmitters, receive live feeds from TVU Grid and TVU RPS, or use the TVU Anywhere app to receive live video from mobile devices. Other features include transitions, graphics overlays, audio mixing, closed captioning and live audience interaction. “The ability to access live video from TVU Producer, TVU Grid, and other areas of the TVU cloud-based platform makes it easier and faster for editors to access content from multiple sources,” comments Ian McDonough, Blackbird CEO.

Dalet Pyramid, the next-generation solution for Unified News Operations, includes a rich Web-based audio and video editor: Dalet Pyramid Cut - an evolution of the industry-standard Dalet OneCut, it brings the latest remote editing capabilities to journalists and craft editors. Its centralized media bin can store audio, video pictures, PDF documents, office documents, wires, contacts, and more. Production tools are directly connected so users can ingest various sources directly into the story itself. “With its cloud-native architecture, Dalet Pyramid Cut enables storytellers to edit from anywhere with no compromise on functionality”, states Raoul Cospen, Director of Product Strategy for News. “The tool is designed for fast turn-around news production, and it supports mixing of local and remote content, as well as access to IP streams”.  

 Dalet Pyramid Cut supports multimedia editing and scripting workflows for radio, TV and digital teams, and it integrates with Dalet CubeNG as well as leading graphic creation tools.

Grass Valley describes its AMS Express as a scalable NAS for small to medium-size media operations which integrates with Grass Valley’s existing editing systems, allowing customers to expand capacity quickly. Offering up to 384 terabytes of raw capacity (256 terabytes usable), it is built on top of the StorNext operating system and comes pre-installed with Grass Valley’s media assets tracking software. “Flexibility and future-readiness are very much front of mind for our customers, and the global pandemic has only served to highlight this need further,” says Marco Lopez, Grass Valley’s General Manager for Live Production. “In today’s environment, broadcasters and producers need solutions that help them adapt quickly without interrupting content flow. AMS Express meets these needs, allowing customers to grow their storage capacity in step with their business and easily pivot to a remote set-up when needed.”

IPV’s Curator Arrival, version 3.0 of its flagship media asset management platform, includes features designed to support remote and hybrid workflows, increase user efficiency and strengthen security. IPV Curator Clip Link builds on the AI-enabled search results introduced in version 2.3 with search highlighting. This includes highlighting for direct matches where the result corresponds directly with the asset’s metadata, as well as indirect results where the search has matched with parent metadata for a sub-clip. Curator Clip Link also now features List View, which gives users the ability to organise search results in a list view and customise metadata columns. Curator for Adobe Panel now features a new importer allowing cloud-hosted graphics files to be imported into Premiere Pro. This allows editors to retrieve the most up-to-date graphic assets stored in the cloud directly through Curator without needing access to other file storage devices. Swap-to and export functions, which were introduced in v2.3 with the ability to choose individual assets to swap, now include the ability to choose which hi-res version to swap to if there are multiple versions of the same file. Users can import subclips directly into the panel by marking in and out points in clips to import only the section needed, rather than the entire clip. “Our customers have made it clear that business continuity and uninterrupted video production workflows are critical to their operations,” says IPV Product Manager James Varndell. “Given the circumstances of the pandemic, the focus of this release was to ensure businesses could easily use Curator while working remotely, while also providing increased ROI. Curator Arrival makes it easier to edit and collaborate on video projects remotely in addition to simplifying administrative functions in Curator, improving user onboarding, and reducing cloud and hybrid cloud infrastructure costs.”

Telstra Broadcast Services Pty is gearing to broadcast major events to more parts of the globe and play a key role in delivering 24/7 programming to millions of people with the acquisition of the business and assets of MediaCloud Pty Ltd. The acquisition of MediaCloud will provide TBS with software-defined and cloud-based capabilities, media cloud delivery specialists and a London master control room. “The global media industry is expanding to cloud-enabled and software-defined capabilities,” comments Andreas Eriksson, Head of Telstra Broadcast Services. Adding these new capabilities alongside TBS’s existing global fibre and satellite networks sets us up to meet the evolving needs of the broadcast market as well as expand our value proposition to our global client base by providing a world-class broadcast operations in London.”

The Switch describes its MIMiC as an end-to-end offering that includes remote IP video production, clipping, editing and transmission. MIMiC allows customers to produce and deliver broadcast-quality live programming to and from anywhere in the world, including near-real-time social media highlights. It handles all aspects of the production workflow in the cloud, from editing and graphics creation to comms and talkback. Content producers have the choice of using their own crew or relying on The Switch to provide a full complement of experienced operators. For a TV sports event, for instance, rights holders can select a remote production service to produce the main game while using MIMiC to produce pre-game and post-game shows.