On The IBC Exhibit Floor: Imagine Communications

Imagine Communications | Stand 4.A01| www.imaginecommunications.com

Imagine Communications is unveiling a range of business-driving enhancements to Versio Platform, the latest evolution of the company’s groundbreaking and industry-proven playout software solutions.

Versio Platform offers a complete playout and media workflow solution from ingest, prep and playout to automation, graphics, master control and branding. The market’s first cloud-native, microservices-based playout solution, Versio Platform supports baseband, IP, and hybrid IP/SDI scenarios and can be deployed on-premises or in a private or public cloud environment.

Support of industrytandard format for streaming of proxies (MPEG-DASH) — Imagine has added MPEG-DASH support to Versio Platform, enabling extremely high-quality and low-latency proxies for quick turnaround review of media that simply is not possible using other systems. Ubiquitous across browsers and player plugins, this industry-standard streaming format simplifies implementation by significantly reducing the need for custom code or licensed codecs for any customer-specific UI or API.

The use of MPEG-DASH was pioneered for OTT delivery, but has now been proven as a scalable, cost-optimized solution for a wide range of high-quality video applications. The MPEG-DASH format also easily carries multiple audio programs and caption/subtitle tracks in industry-standardized formats. Other available solutions require either additional proprietary equipment to perform this function, or vendor-specific proprietary implementations.

Simultaneous support of ADC and Versio with Versio Redundancy — Media companies using Imagine’s ADC automation can now continue on their platform of choice, while layering in new features and capabilities that the Versio playout engine offers. Imagine will demonstrate how customers can use Versio Redundancy to synchronize ADC and Versio playlists and integrate content metadata to existing environments. This unique capability enables media organizations to operate hybrid environments of legacy and next-gen systems, as well as enabling a seamless and staged migration to Versio Automation for operations transitioning to full next-generation architectures.

Adobe After Effects graphics in Versio Master Control — Versio Master Control offers a complete software-based solution with innovative, user-friendly tools that enable media companies to maximize operational efficiency. At IBC, Imagine will demonstrate tight integration of Adobe After Effects (AE) with Versio Master Control, enabling export from AE to Versio with sophisticated, embedded metadata and triggers for interactive, real-time playback.

Direct operator control of customizable graphics assets, as defined by the broadcaster’s graphics design team, ensures a consistent look and feel beyond simple text-based templates. Other competing solutions use a proprietary graphics environment, which requires specialized, trained designers and operators. The integration of industry-standard Adobe AE creation tools within Versio Master Control enables media companies to open the door to a broad pool of graphic designers and advanced capabilities from Adobe.

Containers in Versio Automation —Imagine is introducing “Container” functionality in Versio Automation. Containers are high-level packages of primary and secondary events, which can be treated as a single object. These objects can be created manually or generated from a Traffic system and are easily expanded, collapsed and re-ordered. This innovative approach to schedule management streamlines media workflows and significantly improves operational efficiency compared to traditional, cluttered systems.

Pooling and Redundancy in Versio Ingest — In Versio Ingest, Imagine will demonstrate new pooling and redundancy functionality. Rather than “fixed channels,” Versio Ingest will distribute record bookings across available channels of all chassis to ensure that main and redundant records are never on the same server. Pools can reserve channels for scheduled records, secondary events, crash records or “unassigned.” This industry-first capability offers media organizations an intelligent way of leveraging fewer hardware devices, simultaneously supporting contemporary and legacy hardware such as Imagine Nexio media servers, and reducing overall cost.

Read all of TVNewsCheck’s IBC 2018 news here.