Vizrt Live Production has become a complete cloud-based production system. Vizrt has also joined AIS cloud and VMware to production software, this new release handles workflows for traditional programming, live event streaming and others.
The Live Production package combines Viz Vectar Plus, Viz Engine, Viz Trio and Viz Mosart into a single cloud-deployable system with functionality covering switching, real-time graphics, video and production automation that can be accessed in the cloud, remotely, locally or from a hybrid set-up.
“Live Production in the cloud was developed to increase flexibility and reduce risk at the same time. Petter Ole Jakobsen, co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer for Vizrt said, “Now, broadcasters can launch or shut down capacity according to their needs, and customise their use of traditional control room facilities.”
Vizrt Live Production is now in a better position to ensure that broadcasters and other media organisations have access to the right resources to serve productions at any time. Vizrt’s Customer Success team deploys the system for the user to cloud data centres like AWS, Azure and Google, which helps users to set up and start production quickly. Combined with annual or month-to-month payments, this means customers have options to control deployment of the required tools where and when they need them, in order to accommodate their contributors and clients in a flexible manner.
Niels Borg, Senior Product Manager Automation and Switchers at Vizrt said, “Content sources can be brought in from around the world via the NDI transport protocol. As users are not tied to a physical location, they can access the best team for each production. For example, the producer can monitor the production from one location while a technical director operates production automation or switcher from another and the graphics artists deliver Vizrt graphics from home.”
NDI 5 native
As NDI belongs to the Vizrt Group, Live Production is not surprisingly the first production system to take advantage of the NDI v5 updates, including connectivity across WAN and LAN networks, running onsite and in the cloud on the same sync, audio-over-IP integration with digital audio systems, and the ability to bring in any camera with a browser as a source from any connected place.
Use cases include agile productions without a fixed hub, OB in the cloud, disaster recovery and distributed productions. The Live Production system allows organisations to work with sources and crews located anywhere in the world – on the same system, the same production and in sync. Vizrt Live Production is now available and ready for production.
Meanwhile, Vizrt is developing further cloud-based options that help broadcasters and content providers keep up with the industry’s evolution toward software-defined functionality, IP-video and the cloud. Apart from the updated Live Production suite and the IP NDI v5 video standard, which makes it possible to connect to any device, in any location, Vizrt is partnering with AIS Business and VMware to make cloud-based tools and infrastructure available to broadcasters in Thailand.
Moving Thailand’s Broadcasters to the Cloud
The three companies have developed a robust workflow with enough flexibility to deploy on-premises, and then extend to the cloud as and when required.
The architecture of the AIS Enterprise Cloud, with nationwide network connectivity and 5G, was developed for organisations to use to initiate new systems quickly, reducing time to deployment, and shut them down again later to control costs. Such systems are useful for adding extra capacity for temporary events, for example, or short term disaster recovery facilities, because they help users avoid the delays and hardware purchases that normally make temporary expansion impractical.
In particular for this case, AIS’ local experience means they can deliver systems that specifically target local customers. Regarding Vmware, since Vizrt has been running its software on the VMware platform for many years, and the AIS Enterprise Cloud supports VMware products natively, choosing to move to AIS was a straightforward decision.
As storage is a central feature of content systems, one of the main advantages of the cloud is not only flexibility but also scalability. Customers can use this workflow’s cloud storage for temporary media, or they can keep their assets permanently in the cloud, using it as an archive. Its storage tiering features mean that even very large archives can be stored on the platform.
Flexible Access
Specifically, the workflow initiative involves Vizrt’s Flexible Access packages, made available from the AIS Enterprise Cloud data centre through their servers on the AIS network. VMware’s software resides in the same cloud supplying compute power, storage management and security features.
Vizrt’s Flexible Access packages now include the Production Control Suite, Newsroom Suite, Extended Reality Suite, Channel Branding Suite and, most recently, the Live Production Suite. Another will soon follow called Media Workflow Suite.
Tanapong Ittisakulchai, Chief Enterprise Business Officer, AIS Business, said that AIS’ main purpose is helping partners put their systems on the cloud, thereby giving them access to new customers or allowing existing customers more flexibility. “Vizrt’s expertise lies in the vertical markets of broadcast, media and publishing. By working with us, their customers would have new ways of using Vizrt software as part of a wider migration to the cloud,” he said. vizrt.com
