GRASS VALLEY AURORA PLAYOUT 7 User manual

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Aurora Playout 7
PL AY BACK CO N T R O L F O R L I V E
S T U D I O P RO D UC T I O N R U N N I N G
WINDOWS 7/XP
Up to six-channel system playlist•
management for K2 or K2 Summit
systems
Ability to trigger the Orad Maestro•
graphics server directly from the
control room
Manual or automatic channel•
assignment
Mirrored playback of backup channels•
GPI triggers for and from external•
devices
Xkeys template support for channel•
and application control
Jog/shuttle and slow/fast control•
MOS NRCS connectivity for instant•
rundown management
Insert, move, or delete an item in a•
playlist without interrupting playback
Quickly cue/recue next/previous•
stories
Automatically skip items that are not•
ready
Out cue preview – see seconds to end•
of story with auto re-cue
Trim clip – can trim top/tail of clip to•
adjust rundown story length
Head frames displayed in playlist•
Viewable duration countdown for•
each story playing
Editorial duration field for accurate•
timing in iNEWS, AP ENPS systems
Housekeeper management tool for•
manual playlist and clip selection
Integrates with Grass Valley Aurora•
Edit nonlinear editors
Archive play with RS-422 VTR control•
K2 BaseCamp Express support for•
lo-res playback of stories in Playout
and at NRCS
The Grass Valley™Aurora™production
solution integrates with the entire news-
production process, from acquisition,
ingest, and media browsing, to quick-
turn editing, craft editing, and automated
playout.
The Aurora Playout system offers highly
coordinated live studio playback from the
K2 media server/media client and the K2
Summit™production client. Designed for
workflow efficiency and flexibility, it can
automatically create and adjust playlists
from a MOS-compatible newsroom
computer system (NRCS).
Highly Coordinated News
Playback
The Aurora Playout system features
integrated playback capabilities to
deliver the workflow efficiencies
that live television studio production
environments demand.
With its intuitive user interface, the
Aurora Playout system lets you control
up to six fully mirrored K2 playout
channels using manual or automatic
channel assignment. Users can
then manage the system’s playlists
manually or via a Media Object Server
(MOS) protocol-compatible newsroom
computing system.
For example, the Aurora Playout
platform includes a MOS-compatible
plug-in module so that producers and
assignment editors can easily enter
a story’s name, desired duration, and
other descriptive information to form a
MOS object. To streamline story creation
and increase story accuracy, Aurora
Playout also makes its playlist available
to editors using the Aurora Edit system.
A list of stories to be edited is available
as a simple pop-up list on an Aurora
Edit station. All an editor needs to do is
select a story, view its associated script,
edit the story, and then send it to a
Grass Valley playout server system. The
story’s slug, ID, and duration information
remains unchanged, improving accuracy
and speeding story creation.
Graphics Triggering
Aurora Playout has a new interface
to the Orad graphics playout engine,
Maestro. With this new addition, editors
can place MOS-driven graphic elements
on an Aurora Edit timeline and then
transfer graphic timing information
directly to Aurora Playout. As the story
is then played to air, Aurora Playout
can frame-accurately trigger the Orad
graphics server for direct play-to-air.
Clip Trimming
During the broadcast, should you be
running late, Aurora Playout allows
you to trim a story even though it’s
already on the server. Aurora Playout
can dynamically adjust in and/or out
points directly from the rundown control
interface. This can be done using a hi-res
channel from the server, or a lo-res proxy
with the addition of the K2 BaseCamp
Express content management system.
Aurora Playout lets you control up to
six fully mirrored K2/K2 Summit playout
channels using manual or automatic
channel assignment.
KEY FEATURES

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NRCS Integration
The Aurora Playout platform is
compatible with newsroom computer
systems using the MOS v2.8 protocol,
such as iNEWS, ENPS, and Octopus.
This includes running an embedded
plug-in within the NRCS applications,
creating MOS objects for tracking stories
throughout the workflow, viewing scripts
generated from the newsroom systems,
and reporting status of stories as they
are sent from the editor and played out
to air.
K2 BaseCamp Express Support
When K2 BaseCamp Express is
present, you can search for media using
customized metadata, restore or send
media to or from archive, or just preview
stories using lo-res video, eliminating the
need to tie up a hi-res playout channel.
In addition, journalists can preview lo-
res feeds and finished stories directly
from the Grass Valley plug-in that is
embedded within the NRCS application.
Standards-Based PC Configuration
The Aurora Playout system runs on a
standard PC. This reliance on standards-
based technologies allows broadcasters
to leverage the cost efficiencies of
rapidly evolving technologies. This
approach makes upgrades easier too,
typically involving a simple software
upgrade or board swap.
K2 BASECAMP EXPRESS – INTEGRATING AURORA SYSTEM APPLICATIONS
When the K2 BaseCamp Express
content management module is added to
the Aurora system, Ingest, Edit, and
Playout will all have access to the
same media search and metadata
management tools previously only
available within Aurora Browse.
K2 BaseCamp Express lets you
add general and custom metadata
and has expanded sortable results,
collections, dynamic keyword marking,
and integrated on-the-fly logging
functionality.
The expanded results window, with
dynamically positioned columns, enables
you to choose what metadata is shown
in sortable results. Each user can
customize their view using the column
picker to show technical, general, or
custom metadata when viewing search
results.
Enhanced Search –• use filters for
flexible and efficient searches
Explore View –• explore devices or
on-line folders directly without using
search tools. If you know where the
media is, just go there. You can see
both shared storage and inventory
from standalone ingest and playout
servers
Transfer Tool –• now integrated into
the K2 BaseCamp Express Explore
View tools, allows you to drag and
drop files and monitor transfer
progress between devices
Collections –• a virtual folder
workspace allows you to create
public or private folders so that you
and others can contribute references
to the media. Some of the uses for
Collections include selecting clips for
projects, selecting clips to be archived
or restored, and requests for the
media manager, all without actually
moving or duplicating media.
Keywords –• mark keyframe locators
and keywords with in/out points and a
description to identify selected media
for use directly in editing
Scene Detection –• the K2 BaseCamp
Express scene detection engine scans
for visual changes in the picture to
make review of media faster
Pinnable Windows –• the K2
BaseCamp Express panels are now
pinnable and relocatable so you can
customize and resize K2 BaseCamp
Express tools within the application
Custom Metadata –• create and
search metadata fields including
variable- and unlimited-sized text
fields, date, pick list, and numbers

PRODUCT DATA SHEET
AURORA SYSTEM WORKFLOW
250 kb/s Web-Res
Multicast Video and
Audio for Monitoring
Embedded SDI
Incoming Feeds
RAID Shared Storage
1.5 Mb/s Low-Res,
Thumbnails and
RealVideo
Web Pages
and Metadata
Aurora Browse
Journalist Workstations
Aurora Browse
Browse Edit System
Servers and Encoders
K2 Shared Storage
Combine K2 with
RAID Shared Storage
Aurora Edit
High Resolution Editing
K2 Playout Client
Aurora Playout
K2 Ingest Client
Aurora Ingest
100Base-T or Gigabit Ethernet Newsroom LAN
100/1000Base-T Ethernet Facility LAN
Gigabit Ethernet or Fiber Channel
SPECIFICATIONS
Playback
Control up to six playout channels•
(fully mirrored)
AMP control protocol•
32 GPI inputs and 32 GPI outputs•
Aurora Edit Interface Standard
Features
Assignment list of unfinished stories•
Automatic transfer to Grass Valley•
server/storage systems
Newsroom Interface Features
Playlists from running order via MOS•
2.6, MOS 2.7, or MOS 2.8 protocols
Plug-in to enter metadata and link•
to script
ActiveX plug-ins for iNEWS, ENPS,•
Octopus systems
Archive – play to tape, file to data•
tape or K2 BaseCamp Express archive
contribution
PC Operating Systems
Windows 7 (32/64-bit) or Windows XP
Professional SP3 (32-bit)
ORDERING INFORMATION
Please contact your authorized Grass Valley representative.
www.grassvalley.com/sales

PRODUCT DATA SHEET
Our customer support and services offerings ensure optimal system performance and maximize uptime. These services include call centers staffed around the clock, commissioning,
professional training courses, and technical maintenance programs and service agreements.
www.grassvalley.com/support
CUSTOMER SUPPORT & SERVICES
© Copyright 2011 Grass Valley USA, LLC. All rights reserved. Grass Valley, Aurora, and K2 Summit are trademarks of GVBB Holdings S.a.r.l. All other
tradenames referenced are service marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Specifications subject to change without
notice. SDP-4010D-2