Broadcast & Distribution – Quantel has a nice presence in the sports broadcasting segment where its Enterprise sQ servers are used to store live video feeds on a frame by frame basis. This allows for instant editing.
And, since these servers are networked over fiber Ethernet connections, editing can be done in one location, content stored in another and captured in a third.
What is perhaps unique to the Quantel approach is that they never alter the original captured video. To create the reply, highlight reel or other derivatives, they perform editing as usual, but they are only creating metadata about where to start and stop a clip. This metadata is saved and can be imported into other editing platforms like Premier, Final Cut Pro or Avid. They call this edit decision list Frame Magic.
At CCW we got a demo of the Touch Live solution, which was an upgrade for this system that their sports customers were looking for. It is similar in functionality to the Evertz DreamCatcher consol, but Quantel includes a fully functional Pablo editor and color correction suite with the product – a much more full featured editor than is offered with DreamCatcher.
The LiveTouch panel is purpose-designed and has a mix of dedicated and soft-programmed buttons with a jog/shuttle wheel for fast and accurate clip navigation and a slow motion T-bar for precision playback speed control.
The company explained that the system will be used in a sports production facility where a single operator will be responsible for creating highlights from 4-5 games simultaneously. Apparently, there are additional assistants watching these games to cue the replay operator to go to a particular game as they are about to score a touchdown or a close call was just made. This sounds like a pretty stressful job on a Sunday afternoon.
The replay operator can select cameras, create the replay, do a slo-mo for fast turnaround. This saved clip (remember it is not really a clip but metadata that references the full video) can also be dragged into a timeline to do editing. Here, you have a full function editor that can do chroma keys, add effects, color correct, add graphics, track players or objects, etc. These kinds of activities can done in parallel by a second editor or after the event.
The workflow is two-way – editors can access the highlights, with no media movement and the panels can play back any completed sequence.
Live Touch was first demonstrated at IBC and will be available for customers by Christmas. – Chris Chinnock
