Archive notice: This article was originally published on April 13, 2010. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
American manufacturer Broadcast Pix is showing its latest development, the multiformat self-operating compact studio with the solid name “Granite™”, for the first time at this year’s NAB in Las Vegas.
The new flagship combines the innovative Fluent workflow, which recently also enriched the Slate family, with an HD video switcher (up to 2M/E) and an HD video server. Broadcasters thus have a versatile design tool for on-air applications at an unrivalled price, explained Studio Hamburg Media Consult International (MCI).
As a digital multiformat system, Granite processes SD-SDI as well as 1080i and 720p signals on both the input and output sides. It can be upgraded to 1080p and higher HD standards in future.
In conjunction with the HD server, the Fluent workflow concept offers up to 120 minutes of clip storage, including the latest intuitive character generator from Harris. The multiviewer displays video and file sources as well as watch folders, in which finished contributions can be made available to the switcher directly from NLE systems such as Final Cut Pro.
Granite will be available from July in three configurations (1M/E Granite 100, 1000 and the 2M/E 5000). The previous Broadcast Pix philosophy remains current: a Granite 100 can grow into a 5000 system, for example. A Slate system can also become a Granite through an upgrade. The hybrid HD/SD/analogue Slate system uses the same switcher panel and Fluent application.
In its 3RU chassis, Granite offers eleven HD/SD-SDI video inputs, expandable to 22. The server also provides up to 14 further inputs through its PCI Express connection, including a clip channel, two animation channels and four graphics channels, all with key. Each SDI input automatically detects which format, synchronous or asynchronous, is present.
Granite provides eight outputs, six HD-SDI and two DVI. Up to six keyers with DVE picture-in-picture functionality deliver the minimal latency required especially for live productions of only 33 ms – including all operations. Latency remains the same regardless of how many animations, lower thirds or DVEs are incorporated.
The separate 2RU Granite server houses an Intel quad processor and up to 2 TB of storage in a RAID 10 configuration. In addition to activating sophisticated graphics, text and animations, the server can optionally control studio equipment such as audio mixers, cameras, streaming applications (ViewCast) or video servers (Harris, Omneon).
The Granite system starts at EUR 20,000 and therefore costs only a fraction of what would have to be budgeted for a discretely assembled solution consisting of a video switcher, multiviewer, video server and graphics system, according to MCI.
