Program-making system DV Station

 

Review contents:

Post-production systems of DV format The mobile DV-solution from Apple AVID systems for TV programs post production in DV format Canopus DV Storm2 Pro System NewsBaseDV System Serial-4-Cam for preparation of material at multicamera shooting DV-installation: variants are possible Videoediting stations of DV format from Matrox Company Systems of Pinnacle Liquid Edition series DV Rack from Serious Magic Program-making system DV Station

Still recently for designing of studio for program production it was necessary to make a critical solution, what equipment would be supplied: the inexpensive program applications for PC or professional stations of nonlinear editing which are more expensive many times. Today due to the open standards used in AV/IT-technologies, network equipment and storage systems, the task is solved much easier. DV Station of Sony company based on standard IBM PC repeatedly checked up and well proved itself, is inexpensive, easy integrated and scaled modular solution in which the capacity and flexibility inherent in professional programs are realized. The system allows to reduce expenses for hardware and software, their support and training of the personnel, the production efficiency of small studios is increased.

The doubtless advantage of this editing system is simple and intuitively clear interface which specialists with small operational experience and even without it can easily become familiar.

For content preservation and control in DV Station the compression format with fixed data stream 25 Mbit/sec is used, that provides high picture and sound quality, excludes any necessity of apply of expensive capacious solutions for storage and for large network resources.

The kept and edited clips can be overviewed with the help of QuickTime program. Any other special software for viewing or a powerful hardware for operation with graphics are not required.

The kept content is available for viewing, editing and including in the program over standard IT-network, and it may be used for terrestrial, corporate and Internet- broadcasting.

Structure diagram of DV Station system

The whole process of program production can be divided into some stages as follows:

• Acquisition, processing and storage of material. The material is shot by any camera, recorded on tape or “skimmed” from network, and then will be transformed to DV format (DV Native). DV Station is a file system, therefore it is possible to import still images and digital audiotracks from CDs. Then prepared material is processed at any PC or is sent to DV Station system;
• Preview and EDL compositing. For viewing of clip library on DV Station it is possible to use key words or others metadata. Clips are accessible to viewing as copies of low resolution (in MPEG-4 format). Using the chosen fragments, the necessary scene which then as EDL is sent in DV Station for final editing is made;
• Editing. If work needs any additional material the preliminary digitization is necessary. Editing can be carried out on any personal computer or notebook, connected to workstation DV Station, using a wide set of 3D and other effects in real time. After editing finishing the subtitles, music and announcer comments are embedded. For editing application Sonic Vegas is used;
• Control. For the storage organization of content, rights of access and other system resources the standard IT network administrator is used. The opportunity of remote control by server through Windows Internet Explorer is stipulated. The exchange of mediafiles and projects between workstations is carried out by simple dragging of icons;
• Delivery. DV Station is provided with wide set of options of program transmitting for broadcasting, in the Internet, translation in educational and corporate institutions.

The user interface of Vegas editing application

The edited program can be transferred over standard video server, to place in the Internet (in QuickTime, RealNetworks or Windows Media Player format) and even to use for mobile telephony and portable devices such as pocket computers (PDA — personal digital assistant).

DV Station system easily adapts for the solution of any task. It can be used as independent station or to include in structure of existing infrastructure. The open and flexible platform for data storage may keep files of any format. Applying of RAIDs for increase of reliability of data storage is possible.

Sony designed Browser tool provides a logical and simple method for viewing of the volume data. Both the kept options of low resolution, and the materials received in the real time mode are available for viewing. On the basis of the selected scenes the EDLs on which then and final editing are made.

In DV Station system the uniform file format on QuickTime base is used. From the acquisition of content to display the format of file compression does not change, so, the picture quality is not deteriorated also. Due to single format of files the control of streams will be considerably simpler.

As the equipment which reliably works in structure of DV Station, cameras and tape recorders DVCAM, professional monitors, computers VAIO PC, the CRT- and LCD-monitors, microphones and columns which are produced by Sony are recommended.

DV Station modules are the following:

• Server of low resolution Proxy Engine — allows to view through copies of low resolution and to carry out the editing from any network computer;
• Browser — intuitively clear tool for viewing. It enables quickly compose the necessary scene, which may be kept in standard format (HTML, ALE), and then would be sent to any other system user by e-mail. The received information allows quickly find the DV materials necessary for editing which are stored in central server;
• Tooling Media Asset Management (MAM) — provides the efficient data control over network.

Material provided by Sony Business Europe representation office in Moscow