VSN Tapeless Television. End to end automated and digital solutions for broadcast and Audiovisual Markets

vsnIPTransfer was the best ally for exchanging 2010 WorldCup videos

2010-07-22

During the Football World Cup 2010, vsnIPTransfer experienced its highest peak of activity to date concerning the transfer of contents related to a sports event. From the very beginning of the competition daily transfers over the Internet were registered, mainly related to special moments lived during the games, interviews, summaries, press conferences, etc. This technology has been used for long-distance contributions towards the five continents, mainly from South Africa. TV networks such as Telmex or Televicentro, in South America, experienced one of the highest video transfer rates from the African continent towards their broadcast centers, avoiding the use of satellites for their contributions thus resulting in significant savings in costs.

"vsnIPTransfer proved an essential tool to our production team in South Africa. Since satellite availability was a limited and expensive resource, we used a somewhat slow Internet connection. Nevertheless, the tool allowed us to transfer around 20 minutes contents daily. Our journalists would capture and pre-edit the video material before transferring it to Bogotá. We would receive these contents at the channel as a video file and perform the final edit, making them ready for broadcast", says Fabio Escandón, Production Infrastructure Manger of Telmex Colombia. On the other hand, Jordi Utiel, VSN's CEO, explains: "We are really happy to know that our technology is helping those professionals that need to work with high-quality media contents on a daily basis".

VSN continues to work with the aim to improve the technology applied to this powerful tool. Next September, the Spanish company will be presenting their new vsnIPTransfer applications at the IBC, featuring an improved and redesigned user interface. The solution implements the new UMP protocol, developed in its entirety by VSN and waiting for a patent. This protocol will make transfers 20-60% faster than the current version as it is up to 8x faster than standard FTP. As a novelty, they will be presenting the new module vsnIPTransfer Live, which allows transmitting live media contents with broadcast quality over IP networks.

VSN attended the opening of the new Tech and Science park ORBITAL40

2010-07-14

Last Monday 12th July, VSN representatives attended the official presentation of ORBITAL 40, Terrassa's new Technology and Science Park. The park is a unique space committed to integrate high value-added activities (research, business activity, transfer, education, innovation, initiative) and vertebrate one of the most important intensive areas on knowledge and technology based on innovation and creativity of the E-9 European Axis.

The opening ceremony of ORBITAL 40 took place at the premises of the Audiovisual Parc of Cataluña, one of the focal points of this Technology and Science Park and the place where the VSN headquarters are located. Ms. Cristina Garmendia, Minister of Science and Innovation; Mr. José Montilla, President of the Generalitat, and Terrassa's Major, Mr. Pere Navarro, attended the inaugural event. Thanks to this project the city of Terrassa will surely become an internationally renowned media research and development spot and will surely attract the interest of companies in this sector. Garmendia declared to the media that the Ministry of Science and Technology has supported the city with an estimate of 6,7 million euros between the 2008-2010 period.

VSN moved their headquarters into the Audiovisual Parc of Cataluña in 2008 with the aim to take part in this large project to foster the audiovisual sector. With the start of the Park ORBITAL 40, the Spanish company will actively participate in the exchange and transfer of knowledge and technology for generating and making the most out of the synergies among universities, research centers and private companies.

VSN participates in the project to create Catalonia's Audiovisual Ring

2010-07-08

Last 5th July, VSN's director and CEO, Jordi Utiel, took part in the signing of an agreement amongst the Government of Catalonia, companies of the audiovisual sector and telecommunications operators with the aim to start a trial run to boost Catalonia's Audiovisual Ring. As a result of the agreement, the signing parties will cooperate on the initial stage of this project by contributing resources and knowledge to develop the infrastructure, connectivity, services and applications that add value to the audiovisual field.

The project promotes the development of a new service platform based on a broadband telecommunications platform aimed at the audiovisual sector. The different agents of the sector will thus be able to interconnect through the new infrastructure, allowing them to make use of different services and state-of-the-art IT technologies. For example, the large bandwidth will allow for a faster transmission of voice, data and images, sharing computing applications, business management and audio/video processing and use of collaborative work tools, among others. The trial run will take a complete year and will serve to determine and try the most interesting services, the needs of the new platform and develop all necessary infrastructures.

VSN will supply this project with their audiovisual content exchange solution vsnIPTransfer, which has already been implemented in more than 200 TV channels and companies of the sector to exchange media materials over IP networks. All these companies have already replaced the use of videotapes, couriers and satellite/radio links with this VSN software solution. The tool will also feature, for the first time, the brand new vsnIPTransfer Live technology, for the exploitation and exchange of live events with broadcast quality over low-capacity IP networks

“Interconnection of high-capacity networks will add value to all business activity in the sector plus foster economical innovation"explained Jordi Utiel. "VSN will carry on cooperating on initiative and R&D projects as they are proof of our interest in contributing to the progress of the audiovisual sector"

The signing event was chaired by Jordi Ausàs and Joan Manuel Tresserras, Governance & Public Administrations and Culture & Media counselors, respectively. The companies who signed the agreement were The Catalan Corporation of Audiovisual Media, the i2CAT foundation, Orange Catalunya, Tradia Telecom, Media Pro, XAL, Comunicàlia and ACN. The Director of Telecommunication Networks and Infrastructures, Mr. Josep R. Ferrer, and the Secretary of the Media, Mr. Carles Mundó, also participated in the agreement.

VSN leads an audiovisual research project to foster local culture

2010-06-28

The CulturaLive project, with participating entities such as the i2CAT research center, UPC (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) and the business association TDI (Televisions Digitals Independents), is utterly innovative, as it develops a cross-connection of live contents by integrating IP (Internet) and DVB-T (DTT) technologies.

Currently, local televisions show a great potential regarding broadcast of local live events, but they limit their exploitation due to the lack of a specific technology that facilitates both delivery to other televisions and management of copyright. Thanks to this project, all this audiovisual work will be within the reach of larger audiences. In order to support the bandwidth required for a live high quality television, a network of interconnected servers will be available. Furthermore, the project will allow increasing audiovisual content consumption through the increasingly popular Web televisions. This, in turn, will be an alternative for all those televisions which cannot broadcast due to lack of the corresponding DTT license.

VSN is currently selling vsnIPTransfer; a solution for media content distribution over IP. The Spanish company has a growing server and client node infrastructure that will allow its customers to offer live contents' exchange service resulting from the aforementioned project. "Through the CulturaLive project, VSN has added to vsnIPTransfer the distribution over IP of media live contents with broadcast quality under digital rights license", says Jordi Gilabert, VSN R&D Director. "This solution offers three new business models for the local TV sector: new contents market, savings in signal transport as compared to satellite and the international promotion of the local live events".

The research project, which will be coming to an end next July, has been promoted by the Catalan foundation i2Cat and managed by AGAUR (Agencia de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i Recerca) with funds of the European program InfoRegio 2009. This initiative is a clear example of the interest in contributing to fostering local cultures and their communication as it will allow local producers to offer their contents to international distributors thus gaining a new market for their products and the international cultural promotion of the local customs, cities and peoples.

VSN showcased its latest products at BroadcastAsia 2010

2010-06-21

For the seventh consecutive year, the Spanish company met with the professionals of the audiovisual sector during the 15th edition of BroadcastAsia, which took place last June 15-18th in Singapore, gathering a larger number of visitors than in previous editions.

At the show, VSN showcased its set of open and modular solutions for a 100% tapeless workflow, among which we can put in the spotlight the newest vsnarchive version 4, which concentrates the digital archive and on-line contents management solutions in a single multiplatform application (Windows/Mac). This application was presented installed on a Mac platform fully integrated with Final Cut Pro. A considerable number of professionals showed an interest in this tool and asked for a demonstration. They also showed an interest in the client Newsroom version, vsnnews terminal, also integrated with MacOS editing software.

“This year, the show was more hectic than last year's edition. We are particularly satisfied as our new solutions for an integrated workflow with Final Cut Pro are being widely accepted in Asia" explained Fernando Carrasco, Operations Engineer and Director of VSN's affiliate in Dubai. Santiago Beraza, VSN International Sales Engineer, also present at the show, said "We took advantage of this event to keep contact with our clients and partners in the region. Quite a lot of people asked for demonstrations of our solutions, which are becoming very popular in this continent due to our recent commercial missions in the area."

VSN is preparing the forthcoming events in the broadcast sector. The Spanish company will attend as exhibitor, the Broadcast & Cable and IBC shows, to be held in Brazil and Amsterdam next August and September, respectively.

VSN attended SET Sul 2010

2010-06-14

Last 7-8th of June, VSN took part in SET Sul 2010, which was organized by the Brazilian Broadcast Engineering Society (SET) in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The event, besides bringing together 140 professionals from the audiovisual and telecommunications sectors, coming from areas such as engineering, production and programming, it also gathered around 30 TV networks from the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná.

On its 2010 edition, the schedule of events featured a series of briefings, demonstrations and theory courses related to electronic media production and distribution in the areas of Television, Radio, Internet and Telecommunications. "These series of presentations have proved very productive to us", says Iván Leal, General Director of VSN in Brazil. "They let us to establish new interesting contacts for the company and we have put in perspective the opinion of great professionals on the situation of the broadcast sector in Latin America."

The Brazilian Broadcast Engineering Society (SET) organizes various activities- conferences, seminars, courses, study groups, publications and trade shows- with the aim to foster and interact with the broadcast sector, which is currently growing, diversifying and transforming in Latin America.

VSN unveils its new vsnarchive4

2010-06-09

Nowadays, both production companies and TV channels are de facto factories of contents, for whom it is essential to have a solution that allows them to efficiently organize their productions and make them ready for a multiplatform, linear or on-demand distribution, via conditional access. In order to guarantee the profitability of these companies, VSN launches its new archiving and document management software vsnarchive4 .

The two main innovations of this powerful solution are the integration of the on-line (sharer) and near-line (archive) content management in a single tool and the compatibility with MacOS and Windows (multiplatform). It offers an advanced DAM (Digital Asset Management) covering every single ingest and cataloguing process as well as online (high/low-res), nearline and offline storage management (HSM). vsnarchive4 makes all contents available to the users through a smart and transparent management of their location at all times. Both document specialists and search clients (local or remote) can use a viewer to select the different segments to be catalogued or partially restore them regardless of the media type (data tapes, hard disk drives, video tapes, etc.). vsnarchive4 now offers an unprecedented powerfulness and ease-of-use.

The tool can be used independently or totally integrated within the complete set of VSN solutions. Furthermore, it can be completely integrated with the different non-linear editing software in the market. VSN also announces a special migration offer to the new version for all vsnarchive users.

With this new product, the Spanish company takes a step forward in its strategy to offer the highest third-party integration while maintaining their philosophy of "one single provider", wherever is needed.

VSN announces the launch of its new Renewal Plan

2010-05-31

The company's renewal plan aims to increase their customers’ work capacity at an affordable price. It consists in the replacement of older VSN models for ingest, MCR automation, news production, character generation, archive and legal copy solutions. This equipment will be replaced by updated versions of vsnautorec, vsnmatic (version 3.1), vsnairnews, vsncg+, vsnarchive and vsnlegalrecTDT, respectively and will be delivered installed on servers with the latest hardware technology. In addition to this, the company will offer a one-year free maintenance contract. Prices and conditions will be made available via telephone with VSN or an authorized dealer.

Video Stream Networks launches this plan at the right time to invest in the audiovisual sector and adapt equipment and working methods to the new technologies, such as the new formats required for the "analog switch-off", the digital age, with the widescreen format 16:9 and high definition HD, developments in editing equipment, increased archive capacity, content sharing, etc.. Many companies are already benefiting from this initiative.

The content exchange solution vsnIPTransfer gets to Afghanistan

2010-05-24

Saba Media Organization, the non-profit cultural organization in support of free mass-media initiatives in Afghanistan has acquired VSN's content distribution and contribution tool. This is the first project of the Spanish company in that country.

The Afghan organization will be soon installing a vsnIPTransfer server with satellite connection in their Kabul headquarters with nodes in two additional locations in Kabul and Dubai (this one with cable connection) from which contents will be up and downloaded. So far, an FTP standard was being used for video delivery, which slowed down operations, specially when using an internet access over a shared satellite. At the moment, there is no better internet service in Afghanistan.

Last March, VSN computer developers went to Dubai to train the team technicians of Saba Media, which has plans to expand the vsnIPTransfer nodes network to their clients. As Mohammad Sohaib, Technical Manager of Saba Media in Dubai, said: "thanks to vsnIPTransfer, Saba Media Organization will substantially increase the amount of video hours exchanged among different nodes of the organization, both national and internationally."

VSN celebrates its First Sessions for Spanish Partners

2010-05-14

The goal of these meetings, gathering integrators from different Spanish cities, was to present the company's latest developments at the corporate, commercial and technical levels. During the sessions, they went over the latest VSN developments for Mac, the advanced graphics system vsncg+ and the latest versions of the scheduling, traffic and management solution vsncreaTV. They also showed the latest novelties in their content distribution and contribution tool vsnIPTransfer and the new UMP links optimization protocol, an important R&D project in which the company is currently involved.

A workshop was held on different case studies on important international installations; and the new Support and Renewal plans for the update and enhancement of VSN equipment at an affordable price were also presented. The company has recently launched its new vsnOneTV models, an affordable ingest, playout and graphics system on Dell platforms, which were also shown during these sessions.

The first Sessions for VSN Partners, which included a dinner show and overnight at the new La Mola Hotel and Conference Centre in Terrassa, were highly valued by the dealers. "This meeting with our integrators is a crucial part in our strategy to boost the channel. If our partners grow our business grows with them, that's pretty straightforward, and that's why we want to provide them with the best support", explained Jordi Utiel, VSN President.

VSN introduces the new vsnlegalrec DTT

2010-05-04

The analog switch-off can be framed within a wider process of technological restructuring affecting broadcasters, viewers and manufacturers of broadcast equipment alike. In this respect, VSN has recently updated its smart and low-cost compliance recording solution, which is now compatible with digital broadcasting.

The new vsnlegalrec DTT allows to record in Windows Media format the signal received in digital television stations while maintaining all the features of the previous version. To facilitate signal distribution to a greatest number of viewers, the system offers the two streaming modes, that is, with or without Windows Media Server. Its channel searcher allows to easily spot the channel you want to record without you needing to introduce the required parameters manually. Along with its sister application, vsnlegalplayer, the required materials are retrieved and exported to a separate file. The capture date and time can be embedded into the video for visual registry purposes.

So far, the company sold more than 60 units in Spain, where the final transition to digital occurred last March and where no analogue signal is available any longer. The company also launched a Trade-In Plan aimed at replacing the older versions of vsnlegalrec for new hardware equipment including the digital broadcasting recording software at a low price. Many broadcasters are already taking advantage of this plan.

VSN renews its corporate identity and launches its new Website 2.0

2010-04-29

Video Stream Networks, a leader company in digitization and automation solutions for broadcasters, presents its new corporate identity which becomes apparent in a new logo with an easier and modern typography and the launch of its new website.

The new corporate identity maintains its slogan “OneStop, Tapeless TV” conveying the idea of a whole set of broadcast digital automation solutions, all from a single manufacturer, for an end-to-end workflow. The identity change is part of a broad restructuring program concerning the company's new Marketing department and strategy, that has set in motion the plan called VSN 2.0 aimed at developing a more active and bi-directional communication with mass media, clients, partners and social network communities.

The basic element and common link of the program is the company's new website 2.0 with improved structure and quality of contents. The new website stresses the importance of clients and dealers and many of the site changes address them. Currently, we are still working to develop new sections and prepairing documentation in order to offer the following:

Information of and access to applications meant for different user groups such as final customers, dealers, journalists, social network users, etc.
Photo gallery and corporate videos
Downloadable technical documentation on VSN products and case studies including photos, video and personalized comments.
Access to the program and to the company's support website
Possibility to subscribe to contents published regularly, social networks and, very soon, to the corporate blog.

“We want our new Website to become a communication tool for our dealers. There, they will be able to find and download technical documentation of all our products and we will publish all the information they consider relevant for their business, which is our business too." explained Marc Centelles, Marketing manager of VSN.

More than 40 professionals attended VSN´s exclusive presentation at NAB 2010

2010-04-20

VSN attended the annual meeting of the NAB broadcast trade show, held last April 12-15. The meeting was a great success for the Spanish company. At NAB, VSN demonstrated their new generation of broadcast software for Apple and the new versions of vsncreaTV and vsnIPTransfer. They also called their Latin American dealers for a company presentation during which they went over the main novelties of VSN in the last year and reported on the plans and goals of the company. The announcement was an unprecedented success and more than 40 professionals of the sector attended the presentation at the VSN stand.

“Our new releases have greatly impressed our dealers and customers from Latin America, specially in Brazil, with whom we had conversations concerning really interesting projects for our company", said Jordi Utiel, General Manager and CEO of VSN, who also stressed the interest that VSN's new Mac platform is arousing among the public: "Some customers who currently work with VSN have already expressed a commitment to purchase our solutions for their new Apple workstations"

The Spanish company is very pleased as their new solutions for an integrated workflow with Final Cut Pro have been very well received among the Apple Centers and Integrators (VAR) in the USA, which allows anticipating new business opportunities in the first TV broadcast market in the world.

In the short run, the goal of the company is to offer a complete set of broadcast automation solutions on a multiplatform environment and attain their ambitious world sales objective for 2010.

VSN showcases vsnIPtransfer at MIPTV 2010

2010-04-19

Every year, MIPTV comes along as the most important meeting point for TV media production and distribution professionals. This year it was held last April 12-15. For the first time, VSN joined the 2010 edition with the purpose of widening its market in this sector. To that aim, the company introduced vsnIPTransfer, a powerful solution for the exchange of broadcast-quality contents.

“ It is potentially a great market for VSN and the truth is that it is being very well received at the show. vsnIPTransfer is an innovation that breaks away from the current traditional methodology when it comes to sharing video contents", explained Marc Centelles, Marketing manager of VSN. "We are currently investing in R&D in order to introduce technological improvements and new applications that allow us to increasingly adapt our tool to this sector."

vsnIPTransfer performs the HD/SD content exchange via IP. It allows to directly send the contents to a node or publishing them on an available server on the Internet. The contents can be accessed and previewed and, depending on the configuration, you can download to a local computer or even send it to a remote location where the software was installed. Its open and flexible technology brings about drastic cost reductions when compared to satellite systems, MW links, FTP or tape shipping.

Sectors like news agencies or content production and distribution agencies are already taking advantage of this groundbreaking advance.

Televicentro automates their news production system with VSN

2010-04-15

The TV broadcaster leader in Honduras, Televicentro, plans on launching their new high definition News Production Center by the end of May or beginning of June.

Pioneering the HD introduction in Honduras, Televicentro is preparing the transition. 'Our idea is to consolidate in one single step the move from analogue to digital and the transition towards HD in one single step', states Rafael Villeda, Executive VP of Televicentro. 'That's why we decided to move towards HD production first'.

For their HD News Production, Televicentro entrusted VSN with the full management of their workflow, which includes a 4-channel automation system (vsnmulticom), an automated ingest solution (vsnautorec), a 4-In/8-Out video server, 15 clients for their newsroom and a compliance recording system for their four main channels. All of it based on VSN's storage and network architecture, thus guaranteeing a full integration of their systems with other third-party solutions and technology such as Sony and Miranda. The new full HD News Center is part of the expansion that Televicentro plans on developing in other areas of the channel.

The technological change in Latin America demands solutions in every field. VSN is actively working on the area in order to cover these needs and, thanks to the close cooperation with their dealers, has already participated in several relevant projects such as Televicentro.

La Voz de Galicia trusts VSN the automation of their new regional channel

2010-03-24

Galicia will soon have a new young, urban, independent digital TV channel; a window always opened to participation. The new private regional channel Vtelevision will be the first launched by the La Voz de Galicia group, which is the owner of the DTT regional private license for this autonomous community.

After a long and demanding selection process, Vtelevision chose NRD, Video Stream Networks' integrator, as the best option to build up a tapeless, end to end fully automated channel, not requiring an excessive investment, and able to be efficiently operated by a reduced team of professionals.

The young broadcaster works with P2 equipment integrated with the VSN modules; from scheduled ingest (vsnautorec) to a fully redundant master control (vsnmulticom plus two video servers VMax), the project comprises a 16-client news production system vsnnews -6 of these in their branch offices-, a 2-channel playout, teleprompter and synchronized graphics, archive and MAM (vsnarchive), and the traffic and management solution vsncreaTV, integrated with the La Voz Group´s own advertising system, which required tailoring by VSN.

Vtelevision also chose the new and revolutionary virtual set vsnfreemove for three cameras and one external input. For this installation, VSN has guaranteed a full integration with third-party equipment such as a graphics system VizRT and a Miranda video router.

“This project is especially gratifying to VSN for two reasons. On one hand, we know too well the rigorous process carried out by Grupo La Voz in selecting the winning project; involving very powerful competitors. On the other hand, we had a strong motivation to install our first fully automated broadcast system in Galicia", Pedro Serrano, VSN Sales VP, explained.

VSN in South Africa on a business mission

2010-03-22

Video Stream Networks, S.L., continues the internationalization of their philosophy 'Broadcast automation and digitization by a single manufacturer'. This time, the company arouse the interest of the South African broadcasters and integrators.

VSN delegates in the area met different local broadcasters and broadcast system integrated companies. During the encounters, the company demonstrated their modular and open solutions and organised practical workshops for South African customers. The company begins to consider potential projects in different South African countries and are planning to organize an educational demo workshop on VSN solutions for several public broadcasters from the southern area of the country to take place by the end of the year.

It is remarkable the interest that the broadcast-quality content exchange tool via IP, vsnIPTransfer, has arisen among the South African contacts. "We are really happy with the outcome of this mission. At first, we thought that entering the South African market would be harder and slower for us but we are starting to get known. Both small integrators and big companies showed an interest in VSN and our solutions so we are currently working on several offers to hand to our commercial contacts in the country.' says Fernando Carrasco, Manager of VSN Dubai and responsible for the mission to South Africa.

For VSN, South Africa is a strategic access point to other countries in Southern Africa. The company wants to exploit their entry into the whole region by establishing mutual trust relationships with the integrators in the area. Despite of their limited resources, the South African broadcast professionals show a deep knowledge of the field and take technical decisions very seriously. The company will do a personalized follow up of all the meetings and business contacts and will continue to work to increase their presence in the African continent.

A VSN installation selected among the best 10 broadcast projects

2010-03-16

Digital Studio magazine, leader in the production and broadcast sectors in the Middle East, has selected the 10 best broadcast installations in the area in 2009. The Syrian National TV ranks third in that group with a 7 million dollar project featuring a VSN news production automation system.

The installation, comprising two studio sets, a newscast system, networked NLE, a graphics system, video servers and a data tape robotic library is totally controlled by VSN solutions. You can find further details on it on the following case study, published in the company's new website.

http://www.vsn-tv.com/es/cliente/case-study/28/Syrian-National-TV.html

The 10 best broadcast projects are the subject of a special article included in the February 2010 issue of Digital Studio. The magazine, part of the ITP publishing group, is becoming a reference for the Middle East broadcast sector offering the industry professionals a view of the state-of-the-art technology and the latest market trends.

VSN continues to develop their commercial strategy aimed at seeking and supporting new dealers in the Middle East and recently signed an interesting project agreement with an Afghan regional broadcaster.

VSN attended CABSAT 2010

2010-03-12

Video Stream Networks was present as an exhibitor in the 2010 edition of the CABSAT trade show that took place last March 2-4.

"The outcome this year was very beneficial to us. We barely stopped seeing broadcast professionals and we've met our clients in the region. The United Arab Emirates are fully committed with the use and development of new technologies and continues to be a hub for broadcast professionals in the Middle East. For VSN it is really important to make known our digitization and automation philosophy for broadcasters, all from a single manufacturer", said Fernando Carrasco, Operations Engineer and Manager of the VSN branch in Dubai.

The company organised several demonstrations of their products for potential clients and reached an agreement to develop a training program in Syria aimed at several Arab broadcasters by the end of 2010. They are also considering other possible projects in Iran and Egypt that came out of this trade show.

CABSAT MENA has become one of the most important industrial venues in the Middle East increasing the exhibition area and the number of exhibitors every year. This year the show featured 2.000 square meters and 34 companies more than last year's edition.

The Middle East is an strategic region for the broadcast sector due to the high number of broadcasters currently facing full digitization projects for the first time. VSN has been consolidating their local network of dealers and integrators in the region since 2007 and continues to give them sales and technical support in situ.

VSN's commercial mission to Peru

2010-03-09

"Our continuous deployment on site, the ability to perform consultative selling and the continuous support to all our dealers regarding the television projects in the country, from their inception to contract awarding, has been one of the unique elements of our commercial work in Latin America" explained Andrés Harriague, South America's region Channel Manager.

Last February, VSN Latinoamérica carried out a series of demonstrations to some clients hand in hand with TELVICOM, dealer of the company in that country. Video Stream Networks has been very well received in Peru. Since the first VSN system, sold to the Congress of the Republic in 2006, multiple expansions have taken place along with additional projects which have consolidated the brand and image of the Spanish company in the country. As an example: the two TELMEX-Televisión 24-hour cable TV broadcast channels featuring VSN TAPELESS technology in their production, purchase, playout and graphics environments.

Through TELVICOM , VSN is managing several private and public media projects, putting special emphasis on academic environments, which have already yielded excellent results in other countries. The company already has facilities in the following universities: UNIACC, Santiago de Chile, Católica de Guayaquil, San Francisco, Quito, San Pedro Sula in Honduras, etc.

VSN will continue to visit all those countries where the company maintains operations through their distribution channel. The goal will be to promote their new products, which will be presented at NAB 2010. The company will be highlighting their new multiplatform versions of News and Archive & Traffic which can now be installed and run on Apple and Windows platforms.

VSN to unveil its new Mac platform at NAB

2010-02-25

VSN (Video Stream Networks, S.L.)has been attending the NAB show in Las Vegas for seven years. In the 2010 edition, the European company will team with its dealers and customers to unveil the latest versions of vsnnews terminal, vsnnetsharer / macsharer and vsnarchive, now running on MacOS and/or Windows platforms even within a single network.

The capability to seamlessly integrate the popular VSN solutions with Apple’s FinalCutPro editing software is now reality. Features like drag&drop between different modules, specific plug-ins to assign editing projects to a playlist, and new attractive user interfaces, will provide VSN customers with a greatly enhanced level of flexibility to design their production architecture.

Most existing systems can also expand and benefit from a greater workflow efficiency, a lower cost of ownership and better communication among the existing ‘islands’.

VSN will also introduce new client versions for the traffic & scheduling solution, vsncreaTV, and the powerful vsnIPTransfer, the ultimate IP content exchange tool, both of them running on the Mac and Windows platforms. The short-term target of the company is to offer the complete set of broadcast automation solutions in a true multiplatform environment.

All these new products are set to largely increase the turnover of VSN’s partner channel aiming at a very ambitious 2010 sales target worldwide.

VSN strengthens its structure in Brazil

2010-02-12

Video Stream Networks, a leader company in broadcast digitization and automation, strengthens its structure in Brazil by incorporating Roberto Calmón in its branch office. VSN's new representative in Salvador de Bahía will be part of the team of Iván Leal, Director of VSN do Brazil.

Roberto Calmón is an Electronic Engineer from the Universidad Federal da Bahia. Since 1987, he has worked for Rede Bahia, the main communications group in Brazil. As technical director, he has been responsible for the management of the group's stations. From among his most outstanding projects we find the implementation of five TV stations and two FM radio stations affiliated to TV Bahia and his advise on the technical specifications for the "Investment Plan on Technology" of Rede Bahia's Radio and TV stations.

VSN is particularly interested in Brazil, a country that represents an important part of the broadcast market in Latin America and requiring a particular logistic and commercial strategy. For that reason, the Spanish company will be offering a wider coverage and is currently developing an ambitious service and support plan in this country.

Please, click here to contact with VSN Brazil

S&S Technologies and VSN provide product training in Sri Lanka

2010-02-08

After the recent agreement with the Independent Television Network (ITN), one of Sri Lanka’s pioneering TV stations, S&S Technologies and VSN provided its personal with training about its ingest, storage and playout systems. The Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), Sri Lanka’s national television, was also invited by both partners to attend a presentation on the company´s solutions.

ITN is now interested in the news production system, vsnnews; the graphics generator, vsncg; and the virtual set, vsnfreemove. The broadcast station has relied on VSN’s solutions to start its migration process towards a tapeless technology.

At present, TV stations of nearby countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and India itself, are also in the process of developing tapeless technology. VSN is aware of it, and it is working on the achievement of several projects in the area. S&S Technologies, dealer of the company in India, has already negotiated several offers in the country.

VSN succeeds at BES EXPO 2010

2010-02-04

Video Stream Networks, a pioneer company in the development of software for the digitization and automation of TV channels attended as an exhibitor the BES EXPO 2010 trade show held last January 29^th -31^st. This Exhibition and Conference on Terrestrial and Satellite Broadcasting was the sixteenth in the series of events organized by the Indian Broadcast Engineering Society, the country's most important association of broadcast professionals. The event was positively valued by the exhibitors, delegates and visitors who attended the show.

In this edition, VSN has reinforced its motto "OneStop Tapeless TV" by putting the emphasis on the benefits and cost reduction that dealers and final clients of this technology experience in times of crisis. This was accomplished by giving customized demonstrations of its more than 20 new versions of automation products for SD/HD TV channels, all developed by a single manufacturer.

Telmex Colombia automates its multichannel broadcast playout station with VSN

2009-12-31

The Mexican communication services provider trusted again VSN for digitalizing its channels, this time in Bogotá. In the complex process that a technological change like this represents, the robustness and the easiness of implementation/operation of the VSN solution were the main reasons for this choice.

It is worth mentioning that the VSN-Telmex business relationship started some years ago, when 2 of the company channels in Lima-Perú were automated. The strength and robustness that the performance of the servers and automation software has shown in 24x7 environments has been recognized by the engineers of the Mexican company.

The system that has been installed at the new Magdalena facilities includes three SD/HD servers for 1 ingest channel and 2 playout channels, which share a centralized 16TB fiber storage that allows the production and broadcast of six (6) channels (5 on-air channels + 1 spare channel).

All server channels are automated by the control software vsnmulticom, the powerful solution that allows to control all the elements which take part in the broadcast playout process (4 VTR, 5 Master Switchers, 5 character generators, 1 router).

The contents are directly ingested by the VMAX servers and stored in the centralized storage system. Five (5) editing stations FINAL CUT PRO allow the access to them. After their editing/post-production, the contents can be copied back again to each channel.

One of the advantages of the VSN workflow is that it allows to work in a collaborative environment, where all devices can be accessed from anywhere in the network according to administration privileges.

The integration with native code editing machines based on MAC platforms has been crucial in order not to interrupt the production process, which do not use any video tape.

Presentation of VSN in Syria and Lebanon

2009-12-15

VSN's new integrator in Lebanon, the Media Research & Systems Integration (MRSI) company, organised last December a roadshow in Damasco and Beirut aimed at introducing the Spanish company to several local broadcasters.

VSN Dubai´s representatives visited the Syrian TV and held a meeting with representatives from the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU), the association of broadcast professionals in the Arab countries. This final meeting turned out in a likely collaboration agreement with the association involving training courses offered by VSN to local TV channels on broadcast automation processes. TV stations such as Al Manar TV in Lebanon and Al Kout TV in Kuwait has shown an interest in VSN's products and the Spanish company has made a bid for a potential project with the Lebanese channel Ahad TV.

VSN at Inter BEE 2009

2009-11-06

VSN (Video Stream Networks, S.L.) continues to dig on its ‘OneStop Tapeless TV’ slogan. Therefore the Spanish company will be present at Inter BEE 2009 (Tokyo, Nov 18th-20th) for the first time to showcase more than 20 new affordable SD/HD broadcast automation products by one single manufacturer.

The target for this new event is to expand VSN’s partner network, covering Japan, by means of a new marketing campaign that reinforces the idea of turnover improvement and cost reduction that the VSN technology provides to the dealers and end users in these hard times. It’s also remarkable this year to mention the FOC trial offer of VSN’s IP contribution tool, vsnIPTransfer, for all broadcasters and content providers.

At InterBEE, VSN will be presenting a new range of all-in-one ingest, playout and graphics videoservers under the VMax, VXtreme and vsnmatic family names. On-screen graphics have been absolutely redesigned for the brand new vsncg+, fully integrated with the popular vsnmatic playout.

About automation, vsnmulticom9 shows several interesting new features including improvements in the synchronization of servers with playlists, and an enhanced workflow design. The traffic and scheduling tool, vsncreaTV, is now multiplatform (Oracle, SQL, MySQL, etc) and features a new flexible and powerful program contract and emission rights management tool. Integration with 3rd parties’ automation (i.e. Harris) is simple and straight forward in the new version.

For Newsroom and Live Production, vsnnews will be shown with the new MOS capabilities to interface with other graphics systems and NRCS. Reliability and flexibility have been greatly improved with a new level of redundancy (playlist) and a smart resources manager for huge SAN configurations.

VSN is also presenting vsnarchive3 (DAM), its third generation multimedia digital archive solution. The partial retrieval process and a more complete messaging system about the peripherals’ status are part of a remarkable set of exclusive features.

ADTEL acquires NRD Multimedia

2009-10-09

The two companies, with a long history in the market, had a well-consolidated position in their respective activity sectors. With this new purchase, the new conglomerate expects to expand and complete their services portfolio by guaranteeing global solutions to their clients both from the audiovisual sector but also from other fields as well as providing the new solutions needed by the technological integration of the audiovisual and telecommunications areas.

Jordi Utiel, President of the VSN Group: "With this purchase, we firmly believe that ADTEL reinforces their range of solutions and services, a leader in the field of Telecommunications and high-frequency, and it's a great match for the TV automation, systems integration and audiovisual production solutions in tapeless environments offered by NRD."

The strategic agreement between the groups ADTEL-NRD and VSN (Video Stream Networks), the Catalan company of the automation and digitization software manufacturing group, is also maintained with the goal of boosting the distribution and implementation of the VSN products as well as the ADTEL-NRD systems and solutions both in the national and international markets.

Domingo Ruiz, President of ADTEL: "We want to deliver more complete solutions to the current NRD clients so our aim is to consolidate a conglomerate which is able to warrant the best services to our current clients as well as to future clients of ADTEL and NRD."

VSN shows more than 20 new products at BROADCAST 09

2009-10-05

VSN (Video Stream Networks, S.L.) continues to dig on its ‘OneStop Tapeless TV’ slogan. Therefore the Spanish company will be present at BROADCAST ‘09 (Madrid, Nov 3rd-6th) for the 7th time to present more than 20 new affordable SD/HD broadcast automation products by one single manufacturer.

The target for this year’s event is to expand VSN’s partner network in several countries, by means of a new marketing campaign that reinforces the idea of turnover improvement and cost reduction that the VSN technology provides to the dealers and end users in these hard times. Its also remarkable this year to mention the FOC trial offer of VSN’s IP contribution tool, vsnIPTransfer, for all broadcasters and content providers.

At IBC VSN is presenting a new range of all-in-one ingest, playout and graphics videoservers under the VMax, VXtreme and vsnmatic family names. On-screen graphics have been absolutely redesigned for the brand new vsnmagicCG, fully integrated with the popular vsnmatic playout.

About automation, vsnmulticom9 shows some interesting new features including improvements in the synchronization of servers with playlists, and enhanced workflow design. The traffic and scheduling tool, vsncreaTV, is multiplatform now (Oracle, SQL, MySQL, etc) and features a new flexible and powerful program contract and emission rights management tool. Integration with 3rd parties’ automation (i.e. Harris) is simple and straight forward in the new version.

For Newsroom and Live Production, vsnnews will be shown with the new MOS capabilities to interface with other graphics systems and NRCS. Reliability and flexibility have been greatly improved with a new level of redundancy (playlist) and a smart resources manager for huge SAN configurations.

VSN is also presenting vsnarchive3 (DAM), its third generation multimedia digital archive solution. It allows a more efficient use of the available storage through its exclusive H.264 encoding process. If data tapes are selected for deep archive, the partial retrival process and a more complete messaging system about the peripherals’ status are part of a remarkable set of exclusive features.

VSN opens a new branch in Brazil

2009-09-15

Video Stream Networks, a leader company in digitization and automation TV broadcast solutions continues its international expansion project with the opening of two new branches in the Brazilian cities of Sao Paulo and Salvador de Bahía. The Brazilian market represents a 70% of the overall broadcast market in Latin America. It is a huge country that demands tailored commercial and logistics strategies so the opening of this branch office constitutes a big challenge for the Spanish company.

Besides offering the market's most complete digital automation solution to the Brazilian TV channels, VSN Brazil will be putting into practice a really efficient 24x7 technical service and support program to reinforce the relationship of close cooperation with its customers. According to Iván Leal, general manager of the branch in that country: "In these times of technological transition, based on a radical change of the open TV operating mode, the relationship provider-customer has to be one of total collaboration and not just a business relation or the mere supply of a high-quality product. In this respect, we will be making a difference as we will be offering a top-quality service to our customers."

VSN thus continues to move forward its internationalization and expansion process. In the last four years, the company has opened four branches in different parts of the world and, today, over 900 TV channels in more than 80 countries trust their most critical operations in the most demanding environments to VSN's broadcast solutions.

VSN offers free trial of vsnIPTransfer at IBC

2009-09-08

VSN (Video Stream Networks, S.L.) will demonstrate the 4th generation of the successful vsnIPTransfer, multiformat broadcast-quality content exchange solution via IP, that has been widely adopted by news agencies, content providers, advertising companies, correspondants, etc. This flexible and open technology allows dramatic cost reductions compared with satellite, MW links, FTP or tape shipment.

Further to its well known SD/HD multiformat capabilities and its high transmission speed through DSL, 3G, SHDSL, etc, vsnIPTransfer4 offers:

Complete forecast and ENG task managment. Integration with Avid’s i.News
Partial download (In/Out cue points)
Web environment featuring remote download management
MAM and local workflow integration
Web, client-server, Flex… flexible and customizable GUI

The VSN staff will be provide details about this offer during the show at booth 7J10.

The company expects vsnIPTransfer to become the standard broadcast content exchange tool in many countries, as it has already happened in Spain.

New Benfica TV channel selects end-to-end HD vsn system

2009-09-08

Benfica (Lisbon, Pt) joins the group of 6 top European football teams that offer their own thematic TV channels through different platforms. Benfica and Portugal Telecom signed a new agreement recently that allows Meo (PT’s CATV platform) to broadcast the new channel starting November ’08 through its ‘Sports’ package.

The target is to offer three dedicated news programmes, delayed matches, younger teams’ footage, training sessions, etc, to Meo’s subscribers. Benfica has the intention to build a centralized digital media archive with all its valuable contents. The new channel is being built on location at Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.

The famous Portuguese club selected GMTS to run and setup the necessary infrastructure to make all this possible. Both partners decided to build a brand new tapeless system straight in high definition, based on XDCAM HD format. GTC (vsn’s partner in Portugal) will be in charge of deploying an end-to-end solution for ingest, newsroom, archive, master control and traffic-scheduling. GTC has a proven track record of previous vsn installations, including a partnership with SIC for the Portuguese Parliament Channel ingest and postproduction system.

GTC will install a powerful SAN central storage fed by a 6-channel ingest solution (vsnautorec) and serving 10 Thomson-GV Edius editing suites. The asset management (vsnnetsharer, HD version) is fully integrated with the vsnarchive solution that controls a 105-TByte Qualstar LTO4 library. The newsroom playout and remote licences, the graphics and integrated teleprompter will be supplied by vsn too. Finally GMTS will install a fully redundant master control room setup managed by the powerful vsnmulticom8 automation.

The production management, scheduling, ad contracts and so on will be managed by vsncreaTV. This closes the circle of a trouble-free integration between the different areas that will allow all partners to meet the very tight deadlines forecasted.

The Benfica TV Channel is set to become the most important broadcast project installed by GTC with vsn solutions in Portugal so far.

La Télé (Switzerland) goes 'OneStop' digital HD with VSN

2009-09-02

The Vaud-Fribourg TV project (recently named La Télé), comprising 5 classic regional channels (TVRL, ICI TV, CHANNEL NV, TV Max and TV VAL) and partly owned by the Regional Government, gained its digital regional broadcast licence in 2008. La Télé intends to broadcast general programmes with a fresh and young journalism style. The ‘multimedia’ journalists should give the channel a competitive advantage in its market.

With four branches and the main technical headquarters located in Laussanne, La Télé has appointed Visuals Switzerland to supply and integrate the complete new digital infrastructure. The standard video format to be used is HDV all along the production chain. The Newsroom solution (vsnnews) includes a total of 22 seats, some of them located in the local branches and contributing (text, video, audio content) to the central system. Playout, graphics and teleprompter (all from VSN too) are fully synchronized. The associated digital archive is vsnarchive3, the new H.264-based version.

The master control features 2 vsnmatic playout videoservers and vsncg graphics server, controlling the routers and peripheral devices for a totally automated operation.

Due to the very tight deadlines, the whole system is being installed in less than one month. The operators and journalists’ training will be done in a very short time frame for the same reason.

La Télé joins Canal9 and Mediatheque Valais in the group of VSN customers in Switzerland. In fact, Canal9 recently expanded its VSN installed base with 2 MCR playouts and a graphics server, after operating a huge VSN newsroom for over 3 years now.

Rede Massa automates its 4 channels with vsnmulticom

2009-09-02

TV in Latin American, and particularly in Brazil, is currently in the full process of migrating to HD. As a result of that, huge investments and complex installations have been undertaken to migrate, in some cases, from analog to digital and from tape-based to TAPELESS systems. Fully aware of this situation, the giant Spanish manufacturer of broadcast management software Video Stream Networks, VSN, as it is best known in the region, is currently undertaking a powerful investment process in Brazil that considered the opening of an affiliate, VSN do Brasil, "to attend in a direct and competitive way the internal demands of this market with a robust and affordable solution", Pedro Serrrano, VSN's Sales VP, announced.

As regards the very first installation in Brazil, Iván Leal, VSN do Brasil Sales Manager, explained to us that his proposal was subject to a careful technical analysis carried out by the channel's engineering area due to the complexities of the solution required by Rede Massa, one of the most important network heads of the SBT giant in the south region of Brazil.

“The installation is rather complex in both its operation and integration, it involves a range of equipment from different brands and models, which were absolutely necessary to integrate in a full tapeless workflow while resulting in the fewer possible impact on the station's own workflow and daily work routines. To that purpose, a robust and user-friendly system was needed, capable of switching from a manual to an automatic operation mode very quickly and as much redundant as possible throughout the whole process".

The channel already featured a platform of Harris' Nexio and Grass Valley's K2 servers for content digitisation, storage and playout of its 4 On Air channels, divided into SD and HD (two of them with redundancy). The installed automation system allows for the control of 6 ingest server channels, 6 playout channels, 2 VTR and router, 1 ingest remote control station, 3 rundown remote control stations, and 1 content transcoding server vsnmulticom transfer.

"The change of technology in Brazil is demanding solutions in every area. We're concurring in a series of projects of a different nature and we're planning to migrate some of our most demanded applications to the Portuguese language to get closer to our end-users", the executive emphashized.

ITN automates two channels with VSN

2009-09-01

The Independent Television Network (ITN) – Sri Lanka's pioneer television station with a focus on Children’s, Women’s and religious programs has been in operation since 1979. Currently, ITN covers most of Sri Lanka's territory; though they’re planning to install one more repeater to eventually become an island-wide broadcaster.

After a competitive -requirements and price-wise- open bidding, S&S Technologies won the tender. The project consisted of the supply, installation and training of video router, ingest, redundant playout and network editing storage systems for their Sinhala and Tamil channels.

VSN was in charge of supplying 2 ingest systems (vsnautorec), 6 TB network editing systems (based on vsnstorage and vsnnetsharer) and MCR PO and automation (VMax + vsnmulticom).

One of the reasons to choose VSN as the system's main provider was the scalability and openness of a system, which can easily grow in number of NLEs, number of ingest and PO channels, increase its storage capacity, etc. The system is ready to automate almost any CG in the broadcast industry as well as to integrate with VSN's Newsroom Technology (vsnairnews).

In only one week, VSN engineers set up the system at ITN’s site in Colombo and trained the ITN staff, thus overcoming the two major fears of the client: integration and control of third party devices (VTRs, videorouters, NLEs…) and training ITN’s staff in the new tapeless workflow.

VSN strengthens its ‘OneStop’ concept at NAB 09

2009-04-02

At NAB Las Vegas, VSN (Video Stream Networks, S.L.) will emphasize the ‘OneStop Tapeless TV’ leit-motif that the company has been promoting for over 3 years now. VSN offers a complete set of open non-proprietary automation solutions for a SD/HD TV channel by one single manufacturer.

The new version of vsncreaTV (scheduling and traffic) is now able to seamlessly integrate with all the classic vsn range (ingest, archive, mam and vsnmatic playout). vsncreaTV allows small & mid-size TV channels to streamline their workflows for a visible benefit. vsnairnews (live studio playout) is now offered in full redundant and synchronized configuration, as requested by the Syrian national broadcaster recently. VSN is also demostrating a MOS-compatible version of its newsroom solution, now interoperable with third parties’ NRCS.

NAB will also see the new vsnmulticom9, likely to be one of the most powerful and complete automation software solutions today. It features new interesting functionalities such as a) ‘Virtual Matrix’ programming function (to manage connection-disconnection processes with one single playlist), b) One DVE channel control (i.e. to launch PiP effects during advertising breaks), c) bidirectional synchronization with vsncreaTV scheduling plus integration with Harris and other 3rd parties traffic, and d) new plug-ins for a seamless integration with MAM and archive solutions by Ardendo, Avid, etc.

vsnautorec will be showcased with 2 new versions that allow either double simultaneous encoding (high res and proxy) or immediate streaming to the daily server after ingest process starts. This new feature enables edit (or browse)-while-ingest processes from NLEs such as Grassvalley Edius5 and Apple’s Final Cut Pro.

VSN is also unveiling the new vsnarchive3 (DAM), a new generation of digital media archive solution, featuring a more efficient use of storage space through a unique H.264 encoding profile. Finally the powerful re-designed vsncg+ (character generator and graphics server) pushes VSN one step beyond in the broadcast graphics servers’ domain. vsncg+ offers an unique combination of high quality graphics, fast and flexible authoring tools and an unrivalled combination of manual and automatic operation when combined with vsn playouts.

VSN unveils the 4th generation of vsnIPTransfer at NAB 09

2009-04-02

VSN (Video Stream Networks, S.L.) will demonstrate the 4th generation of the successful vsnIPTransfer, multiformato broadcast-quality content exchange solution via IP, that has been widely adopted by news agencies, content providers, advertising companies, correspondants, etc. This flexible and open technology allows dramatic cost reductions compared with satellite, MW links, FTP or tape shipment.

Further to its well known SD/HD multiformat capabilities and its high transmission speed through DSL, 3G, SHDSL, etc, vsnIPTransfer4 offers,

Complete forecast and ENG task managment. Integration with Avid ’s i.News
Partial download (In/Out)
Web environment featuring remote download management
MAM and local workflow integration (vsnnetsharer, etc)
Web, client-server, Flex… flexible and customizable GUI

vsnIPTransfer customer groups have recently started to sign agreements to exchange some content, as this technology makes it easy for them to integrate central servers with conditional access for all their members. Comunicàlia, ACN and TDI have already settled some agreements.

The key difference is that each node’s user can preview all the content (proxies), select the relevant fragment (total or partial), the desired file format (no matter the original format) and download. This singular technology adds the process programming tool plus a complete integration with local workflows to become something unique today.

TVG rolls out VSN’s traffic system

2009-03-30

In late 2008, Galician Radio-Television Company awarded VSN the integrated traffic & broadcasting system for TVG. VSN’s proposal comprises the scheduling system installation vsncreaTV, in redundant servers configuration, integrated with eBD by OasysSoft. Both companies are developing for TVG an ambitious customized management system for the Emission, Production, Economic Resources and General Secretary departments.

The awarded project’s scope:

Control and management for own and alien production (internal & external)
Royalties/emission rights management
Broadcast management, integrated with continuity

The system will be integrated with the corporate databases (Oracle) and with other pre-existent modules, such as:

Continuity (grids, playlist structures and as-run-logs)
Advertising
Analytic and financial accounting
Documentation
Press (EPG)
Internet
Teletext (scheduling and Now & Next)

vsncreaTV is VSN’s scheduling and traffic system. Developed for web environment, its implementation is simple and its interface is clear and intuitive, enabling a perfect integration with continuity, accounting and advertising management systems from third companies. Among others, vsncreaTV is used by Canal Blau, Ecuador TV, Benfica TV, 8TV and XTVL, the last two in conjunction with eBD.

eBD (www.ebdsoft.com) is a Web and User Experience Development Platform for the development and publication of Web applications, which allows creating a presentation layer, being single, graphic, structured and easy to use. It can interface with different custom-made applications, pre-existing in customer’s company, with al market databases, and being compatible with all browsers

Syrian TV streamlines news operation with VSN

2009-03-30

The Syrian national TV channel had previously selected VSN as the desired newsroom and automation solution, as some other private channels in this country were pretty satisfied after optimising their workflow with the Spanish company’s solutions. A good interoperability with Arabic fonts also helped to make the difference. Both studios are equipped with six Sony BVP E30 standard definition cameras although wired for eight, Sony vision mixers, Sony VTRs, Evertz mulitviewers, Miranda graphics equipment as well as solutions from Harris and Tektronix.

VSN products are commanding various areas, programmed lines ingest vsnautorec, asset management, network editing (60 workstations with FC infrastructure), redundant studio playouts, 60-seat NRCS system (vsnnews), teleprompter, complete digital archive (vsnarchive, HSM plus a 132TB LTO-4 robotic tape library) will be supplied by VSN. The Spanish company also guarantees a full integration with graphics and other third parties’ equipment.

The news centre is connected to Syrian TV’s main centre via microwave link and fibre optics. The master control room will be run by the powerful vsnmulticom automation solution, in a fully redundant configuration, driving two parallel VMax videoservers.

Sami El Shafai, executive director of Salam Media Cast claims the systems integrator always seeks to provide state-of-the-art solutions to comply with industry standards and clients’ requirements. “Our goal has always been to provide our clients with flexible and upgradeable solutions that are state-of-the-art but also cost effective. We couple this with our in-house competence in terms of providing the most appropriate design, workflow, engineering, training and after sales support,” he said.

ORTAS management selected VSN for a fast roll-out for their brand new facilities. As they point out: “having one single company in charge of most systems guarantees a painless commissioning process and minimises the training cycle for our staff”

VSN takes HD tapeless workflow one step beyond at IBC

2008-09-04

Today, most advanced broadcasters tend to closely integrate automation and content creation areas (master control and newsroom) with planning, traffic, and management environments. Such integration brings about a patent increase of efficiency plus the ability to follow up every process in real time.

Being aware of this fact, vsn will be presenting at IBC the new versions of their traffic and planning solution vsncreaTV 2.4, and automation tool vsnmulticom 8.5. These two applications embody new exclusive features in high-level environments no matter whether they are used together or separately.

vsncreaTV 2.4 is now multiplatform compatible (Windows, Mac, Linux, Web…) thus allowing simultaneous multiple client operation irrespective of the web browser being used. Likewise, vsn has added the Bi-sync technology that provides a total low-level synchronisation with automation solutions. Thus, vsncreaTV’s playlists and grids can be opened from vsnmulticom 8.5 directly in such a way that even changes concerning secondary events, auxiliary scenes, and overlays will be synchronized.

Other innovations in vsnmulticom newest version 8.5 include the advanced integration with contents manager vsnnetsharer (catalogue integration and automatic transfer of contents towards play out, all of that in a multi-language environment), and the improvement of operation with EVS servers. Additionally, the new optional module vsnmulticom impac provides a powerful playlist automatic modification tool that allows users adding or deleting gap-filling blocks in an intelligent manner based on the criteria established by the master control operator.

Visitors to our stand 9A30 (IBC’s Hall 9) will have the chance to see for the first time a new software generation specially designed for archiving and content management purposes: vsnarchive2. Besides being compatible with all standard media and robots, vsnarchive2 now includes a set of powerful capabilities such as external device interface, management of all tapes or disks non included in the robots, plus partial recovery from any format or media. Depending on their needs regarding remote access to the contents depository vsn clients may opt for installing the new search and content recovery web client, or the traditional software client.

vsnarchive2 is so flexible that it allows to even configuring a fully tapeless archive system, only based on non-linear IT store units as with version H 264.

VMax videoserver series from VSN

2008-09-04

vsn (Video Stream Networks, S.L.) has just launched a new range of videoservers designed to take advantage of the latest available IT hardware and the high-end XMIO2 video board series from Matrox. Several models will be on show at IBC 2008 under the VMax brand name.

Following the standard VDCP specification, the VMax servers are SD-HD multiformat compatible and offer most standard features such as play-while-rec, input-output modularity (up to 2 In x 4 Out), flexible storage capacity featuring fibre channel and/or SAS storage, closed caption, etc. The VMax series has been designed to become the best possible partner for vsnmulticom automation. As a matter of fact, vsn is offering a very cost-effective, yet complete and redundant master control configuration through a compact bundle comprising a VMax videoserver and an embedded vsnmulticom software solution.

VMax is joining the VXtreme family of very affordable videoservers with embedded automation that vsn has already been selling successfully in several regions.

This new family of products will help vsn customers to go one step beyond in terms of workflow flexibility for production and continuity. On the one hand it allows a simple straightforward integration with third parties’ tools, yet providing a extremely powerful all-in-one HD solution from one single manufacturer when required.

Mediapro's football channels choose vsnmulticom

2008-09-03

Grupo Mediapro has recently renewed its agreement with Real Madrid CF and Barcelona FC for producing and broadcasting the clubs’ own thematic channels. Mediapro is the firm holding rights exploitation agreements with various football clubs competing in the Spanish Premier League. Coinciding with the start of the 2008-2009 Spanish league season, the group decided to launch a brand new high definition sports channel intended to be delivered through various platforms. Negotiations with said platforms are still underway.

Unitecnic, a company belonging to Mediapro in charge of developing engineering projects in the field of professional audio and video, is now in charge of the installation and startup of the new technological platforms for these new three TV channels.

Renovation undertaken in Real Madrid TV has focused on the installation of a master control system based on vsnmulticom8, which is thoroughly integrated with the traffic, rights management, and planning vsn solution vsncreaTV. The latter controlling a Vector Box server, among other devices. Additionally, various tailor-made developments have been carried out by vsn with an aim at accomplishing a complete integration of the current production and archiving systems with the new master control system in a tapeless environment.

Technological renovation in Canal Barça has been profound. In this particular case, the set vsnmulticom-vsncreaTV constitute the brains of the new master control system, where Unitecnic has recently installed a wholly redundant system based on two XT playout servers with two EVS channels (plus two other additional ingest channels), a Pro-Bel Aurora matrix, and a Miranda branding system. On a second stage, both vsn modules will communicate with Ardendo’s archiving system through developing a specific interface.

For Unitecnic the summer of 2008 has been very hectic. They have also been granted the setting in motion of the new high definition channel Gol, which had to be installed and fully operational for the start of the league season. In this particular case, the automation solution vsnmulticom8, which has been installed in Imagina’s building in Esplugas, is also in control of a two XT server redundant system. Graphics are VizRT’s with whom vsn is highly integrated through control of secondary and auxiliary events. The ingest system (a two-channel XT) premises are located in zone 22@ and all transfers across both premises are managed by the vsnmulticom transfer module.

Currently, over 150 on-air TV channels, some of them for over 12 years, rely on vsnmulticom as their preferred master control system, and continue to rely on its new version 8.

vsnIPtransfer4 unveiled in Amsterdam

2008-08-29

The way broadcasters and content providers from different countries are rapidly adopting high-quality content transferring systems like vsnIPTransfer is astounding. This is mainly because they contribute to dramatically reducing operating costs, and they’re easy to use. Substitution of slow, unsafe procedures such as FTP and courier companies or those far-too expensive like satellite links is now at the reach of everyone from the industry.

Because of all that, the Spanish company vsn has made a great effort to develop and introduce at IBC the fourth generation of this tool, as well as an ecosystem of web environments associated to the IPTransfer technology. By keeping its well-known video quality and speed optimization features, vsnIPTransfer4 means a step forward in terms of workflow integration within the most habitual production environments, contents management, and contribution among remote systems.

From among its new functionalities we find an advanced hierarchy of use permissions, the possibility to order and carry out remote content transfers (both in the client version and via Web) and a new and advanced API allowing third-party companies integrate all this technology with their own applications. vsn is also presenting two new modules included in this version: an advanced administration service of nodes and servers, and a catalogue management client for editors that allows to modifying contents (and their corresponding metadata) from all local and remote nodes.

But more importantly,vsnIPTransfer4 embodies an exclusive production forecast management system that is able to operate by itself or, alternatively, can be integrated with various NRCS systems like Avid i.News. Once forecasts have been published, any remote node may ‘subscribe’ to virtual contents so said contents will be automatically submitted to every ‘subscriber’ as soon as contents get to the server node. When all downloads have finished, people selected will be notified that materials are available, even though these contents can be viewed and edited soon after the transfer has begun.

Visitors to the vsn stand will have the chance to see some fully customizable news and general contents web portals that utilize this technology.

Commonly, most clients of the IP transfer system can be found within TV groups, news agencies, independent TV channels, field correspondents, companies having wide AV content catalogues, etc. In summary, whichever entity in need of distributing/transferring broadcast-quality contents among different points at a low cost is a potential client of the new vsnIPTransfer4.

vsnmulticom on the four Unedisa's DTT channels

2008-08-29

VEO TV is a national free-to-air private broadcaster in Spain. Pioneering the DTT transition, VeoTV is part of the Unidad Editorial Group (Unedisa), owner of ‘El Mundo’, ‘Marca’ and ‘Expansión’ newspapers among others.

VeoTV decided to trust vsnmulticom as the main tool to manage and automate the Master Control of the new DTT channels. The vsn solution has been installed in a fully redundant architecture for the main channel (VeoTV) and a standard configuration for Tienda en Veo and 2 multiplatform English Teaching channels (Madrid and national) bradcasted also via Imagenio (Telefonica’s DSL TV platform).

Several other vsn modules will be managing the ingest process, the content transfer, and the schedulling process. TSA will be in charge of the system integration. The reliability of this proven solution (over 15 years now) and the vsnmulticom’s capability to control and integrate any kind of devices in a master control room have been the key issues considered by Unedisa to award this interesting project.

vsn at NAB 2008

2008-04-01

At NAB Las Vegas, vsn will demonstrate its complete set of solutions that conforms the most powerful, yet affordable, broadcast automation system available today. A real HDTV channel on show from one single manufacturer will prove the vsn commitment to further evolve their proven solutions, now operating in full HD, thus, increasing the ongoing business support of the dynamic vsn dealer network, especially in America .

From ingest to playout, NRCS (both ENPS MOS-compatible systems and the highly integrated standard vsnnews), MAM & archive (featuring H.264 support now), open format videoservers, flexible automation, scheduling and traffic, HD graphics server and monitoring solutions will be demonstrated at LVCC (booth N3714). The powerful vsnmulticom automation will be shown in 2 different versions, A/B configuration (for MOS-based news workflow) and multichannel playout, controlling an Omneon videoserver environment.

The vsn booth will be manned by a large crew of representatives from the different world branches, including Jorge Mompo (Miami , ex-Sony SEL) and Pablo Arce (New York), in charge of expanding the dealer and partner network of the company along with vsn 's installed base in North America .

vsn and Ommeon help launch a new UTV channel in India

2008-03-25

UTV Global Broadcasting Ltd (UGBL), the broadcast arm of UTV Software Communications Ltd, is in the process of launching a bouquet of channels. UGBL is responsible for not only TV channels but also creating a distributing platform for these channels. The latest addition is UTV Movies, a 24-hour Hindi movie channel. Launched on 24th February 2008, it is the only Hindi movie channel in its genre to give importance to viewer opinion, recognizing the Hindi movie viewer as the real star. The channel bases itself on the universal passion for Hindi movies, and promises to be entertaining, mazedaar and bring freshness to Hindi movie viewing on television. With one hit movie everyday, and exclusive access to behind the scenes action, the channel will change the way Hindi movies are watched on television.

UTV decided to trust vsnmulticom as the main tool to manage and automate the Master Control of the new channel. The vsn solution has been installed in a fully redundant architecture and is managing a total of 8 channels (for ingest and playout) of an Omneon Spectrum videoserver, along with a ProBel Sirius router (96x96), a second ProBel Freeway (32-port), an Eyeheight master switcher, one Ross DSK unit and 3 Sony VTRs, among other devices.

The robustness and stability of the previous 2 vsn systems featuring similar configuration at Zoom TV and Star News (both also in India) were key in the process of decision. The integration and commission was awarded to Ideal Systems Asia Pacific.

vsnIPTransfer3 at NAB 2008, with HD support

2008-03-14

This revolutionary technology is changing the way how TV Stations and content providers exchange their main assets and materials. vsn will present the newest version of vsnIPTransfer at NAB, which is rapidly getting a strong hold on diverse markets.

Basically, in Spain most of broadcasters and carriers have already accomplished diverse and exhaustive tests with excellent results. Different groups such as TDI, Vocento and Localia among others, have already begun to operate their contribution content exchange.

Via vsnIPTransfer, reaching amazing operational cost reductions. The main Latin American TV Networks are already testing this new technology. Specifically with their minds and targets set on the next Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, where the Spanish company will deploy a large local support operation and remote assistance to ensure transmissions' reliability of clients and operators.

The main improvement of the new version is the operative flexibility capable to integrate with any standard format (including now MXF, QT-MOV, etc.) previously to download. The latest addition for version 3 is the support for all MPG2 HL Codecs (HDV, XDCAM HD, etc.). Other HD formats will be supported shortly in the upcoming versions. A perfect integration is guaranteed under any existing workflow, while, at the same time, total compatibility with customers' existing servers.

With vsnIPTransfer, loading and downloading processes are largely reduced, reaching the point of transferring direct signals through an ADSL standard line, with an efficient treatment of available bandwith. All content search and selection is done through an interface that access the metadata directly embedded in the content and its “proxy” version (low resolution), before real time transfers.

The technology presented by vsn in 2008 incorporates the latest advances in encoding and decoding, video compression, signal treatment, and IP transfer; all of it managed by a very intuitive and simple GUI. The software can also manage the associated administration process to commercialize contents. Likewise, it includes an extremely powerful statistics tool. As of today, version 2 allows point to point transfers, or, as an alternative, the management through a central server system (normally done by Web), either proprietary, or hosted by vsn.

Main customers for the IP transfer system are network broadcasters, news agencies, independent TV stations, news bureaus, companies with a broad AV content catalog, etc.

Ecuador TV newsroom and archive go digital with vsn

2008-03-14

The introduction of digital systems based on IT architecture is popularizing throughout Latin America . Several broadcasters are digitizing and automating their content creation, archive and content distribution processes with the open and affordable solutions of the vsn group.

Especially interesting is the new contract signed between vsn and Ecuador-TV, the first governmental channel in this country, which will begin its emissions next June. “It was an important contract because the channel starts from scratch, and it will be almost completely tapeless. Ecuador-TV acquired XDCAM Sony camcorders, our vsnautorec ingest servers for programmed satellite feeds, a central storage server for news production, where all the content is shared among journalists, integrated with Vegas NLEs for these journalists, the vsnnews NRCS and live playout system, controlling a vsncg character generator and the vsnprompter teleprompter, plus a complete scheduling system vsncreaTV .

Last but not least, Ecuador-TV has also purchased the vsnarchive solution to be integrated with a Sony Petasite robot, featuring proxy operation to later retrieve the original content stored in the robot”, Jordi Utiel , president of vsn , explains.

The creation and assembly process of the human and technical team took one year but finally President Fernando Correa's commitment to launch ‘a state-owned educational channel' (Jan 07) is a reality now. Xavier Lasso, channel director, quoted that the channel programmes will soon include music, art, culture, science, amusement, information and open opinion.

With a tapeless workflow, Ecuador-TV joins an installed base of more than 600 broadcasters that previously trusted vsn for modernizing their systems.

vsn announces new contracts in Spain , Greece and Africa

2007-08-28

More TV channels are joining the vsn MCR and News Production solutions installed base. In Spain only Promovisa has recently built several brand new complete systems for Televisión Murciana, Interalmería TV and Thader Digital (Molina de Segura). All of them feature news production, live content and master control automation from vsn . Onda Cádiz has also expanded its actual vsn system with a state-of-the-art LTO4 tape robot associated and controlled by vsnarchive

The Spanish (private) national broadcaster La Sexta has recently launched its second channel on air, mainly intended for DTT coverage. Same as their first (analogue and DTT) national broadcasting, vsn multicon has been the selected automation solution to manage the MCR. vsn multicon provides a seamless and robust integration through the control of EVS and Grassvalley servers, Vizrt graphics, master control switcher, etc.

Televisió de Catalunya (TV3) decided to pioneer the HD transition in Spain by launching (several months ago) the first HD pilot channel (through DTT). TV3HD emission control has also been assigned to vsn multicon . This is the 9 th channel on air through different platforms automated by vsn for the Catalan public broadcast company.

In Valladolid , TV Castilla y León is finishing a complex digital archive migration process that will allow the channel to easily access, use and distribute all its legacy content. The latest vsnarchive version facilitates the process, manages the DAM and integrates with the DV Lince live production and newsroom in place since 2002.

Ariston, new vsn dealer in Greece , is moving very fast and getting some very interesting results. After their Athens Open House held in May, 3 Greek TV channels have chosen vsn to automate their ingest, network editing, master control and graphics (NTV Crete, Star Lamia and TRT).

Last but not least, more African broadcasters decided to trust vsn for their recent digitisation processes. vsn France reported new contracts to supply ingest, playout automation, network editing and logo-graphics for ORTM ( Mali ) and T élévision Nationale du Burkina Fasso (TNB) .

New vsn releases at IBC 2007

2007-08-27

vsn will showcase the powerful broadcast automation system vsn multicon, that boasts of robust performance and high-end features. With 80 channels on air and 10-year proven operation, vsnmulticom provides full control of all devices in the MCR and/or PCR. Compatible with VDCP servers such as Omneon, EVS, Thomson-GrassValley, Sony, Avid/Pinnacle, etc, vsnmulticom also manages tape robots, subtitling systems, graphics from many third parties. It offers multichannel automation and various levels of redundancy.

Also starring at IBC , vsncreatv is a scalable and accesible multidepartment broadcast traffic and management system that makes broadcast planning easier. vsncreatv manages content, costs and advertising, along with multichannel playlists and blocks. Broadcast logs and historic logs are easily accessible for billing and future planning. vsncreatv provides a multiplatform solution based on Web technology (HTML and Java), so no client software is needed.

vsn will continue to reinforce its “HD Commitmment” in Europe. By purchasing affordable SD servers and automation, vsn customers are granted a guaranteed HD upgrade price for a period of 18 months.

vsn keeps expanding its installed base in Europe and Middle East and also its complete range of broadcast automation and network solutions

vsnIPtransfer unveiled at IBC 2007

2007-08-23

The Spanish company vsn-JustEdit will unveil a new state-of-the-art content transfer technology over IP at IBC 07, for the first time in Europe .

In Amsterdam vsn will showcase the latest generation of the ActivaStream product family, starring a peer-to-peer software tool, vsnIPtransfer . This flexible solution allows users to transfer high quality broadcast content through DSL or 3G lines between 10 to 20 times faster than the standard available technology today.

All search processes are managed by a powerful software application installed on a PC or a laptop. Users can access to the content catalogue, browse, select representative keyframes and preview the lo-res proxies, prior to any hi-res content download. Shortly after the transfer starts, incoming files can already be previewed and/or edited.

vsnIPtransfer is bound to set a revolution in the broadcast content contribution and delivery markets.

vsn 's IBC booth will host several real demonstrations using a local Wi-Fi network. SDI-quality content upload/download @3Mbps and live camera signal transmission @4Mbps will be shown and tested, both processes perceptibly lossless.

ActivaStream, a new vsn product family, features the latest available developments in encoding-decoding technology, video compression, signal processing and IP transfer, such as peer-to-peer technology, all managed by a very friendly and intuitive GUI. A 15-day vsnIPtransfer trial is available for download, both in Spanish and English languages.

vsn keeps expanding its installed base in Europe and Middle East and also its complete range of broadcast automation and network solutions

vsn integrates Activa Multimedia’s AutomaticTV

2007-08-23

The technical and commercial agreement between both Spanish companies will bring some very clear synergies. vsn will greatly empower its graphics and interactive solution range through the integration of AutomaticTV . The vsn customers will also gain access to the automatic content creation tools included, thus reducing their actual production costs.

Activa Multimedia Digital will benefit from the activity of the professional vsn dealer network that's experiencing a big expansion process around the world. The actual vsn installed base in many countries is also a natural market for AutomaticTV . The agreement is bound to include some other solutions from AMD in the near future.

AutomaticTV (featuring Brainstorm's graphic engine) is a hardware and software platform to create high quality ‘automatic' SD-HD content (from internal or external sources), and to add SMS interactivity.

In the ‘Content' area, AutomaticTV features Meteoplay3, customized SD/HD meteo bulleteens for every region in the world (under licence), Meteosat footage, isobars, ocean weather, beaches, mountains…

This unit manages multiple-format data sources. The TVSpot module allows a TV channel to design full-screen templates for advertising. The templates are accessed and filled by the customers themselves through IP, so the production cost is minimum for both parties. TVSpot easily creates agendas, billboards, etc . The ‘coming next' function includes also a video window.

The vsn SMSTV solution will be improved with several simultaneous features such as image resizing (‘L' chat), scrolls and ads/news banners, along with nice customizable graphics for elections, contests, scores, temperature, etc.

vsn acquires Activa Software

2007-04-10

vsn (JustEdit), presided by Jordi Utiel , and Activa Software, led by Jordi Gilabert, have recently decided to join forces so as to offer their worldwide clients the most complete and innovative technologies for automation, tapeless television, and content distribution over IP.

Following the complete acquisition of Activa Software by vsn , the spotlight at the NAB2007 show in Las Vegas (April 16-19 th ) will be the introduction of Activa Software-designed solutions at vsn 's newly re-designed booth (Las Vegas Convention Center, Booth N717).

vsn 's international distribution network will be in charge of presenting and installing already successful solutions like vsn master (previously named Multicon ) and vsn traffic (previously CreaTV ). Activa's products have gained an excellent reputation among broadcasters during their over 10-year existence.

Over 75 channels, including some as notable as Spanish channels La Sexta, TV3, ONO, IB3, and Canal9, as well as others like Star TV ( India ) and Porto TV ( Portugal ) join now vsn's already extensive worldwide reference list.

Through this merger, the entire Activa Software staff joins vsn 's R&D team and Jordi Gilabert joins vsn 's board. They will mainly focus on equipment control and IP transport. vsn will now have development centers in Alicante and Barcelona , virtually doubling their R&D capacity.

Jordi Utiel , president of vsn -Justedit : ”In upcoming events, clients will be able to witness the amazing synergy that the integration of Activa Software into vsn brings about. vsn product line includes now 35 software modules that cover the entire television workflow spectrum”.

Jordi Gilabert, President of Activa Software: “The technology that Activa Software brings to this union will greatly benefit from the size and the extensive commercial network that vsn has developed over the years, and will thus reach a much larger number of markets and projects”.

Needless to say, all previous commitments and services offered by both companies will continue to be lead by the same teams.

vsn, the core of the new Spanish DTT and latinamerican institutions

2007-03-20

Several new Spanish DTT channels are joining vsn 's installed base. Recently Canal7 and 8 Madrid ( Madrid ), awarded to Promovisa, launched vsn news systems for live production; Grupo Aierta's channels in Almería, Málaga y Murcia also trusted vsn . For their network production and master control room environments.

‘We're happy about the market's response. During the first quarter 6 DTT channels selected vsn in Spain and we expect a similar rate for the rest of 2007' , says Jordi Utiel , vsn 's CEO&President.

NRD ( vsn distributor) has been awarded several new turnkey systems, such as TV Cambrils , that today enjoys a very efficient though low cost tapeless production solution, Andorra TV's expansion featuring the external news agency feeds module vsn wires and the automatic proxy creation solution vsn render farm .

Another milestone is the award of a complete turn-key solution (over 1m€) for Canal Blau in Vilanova i la Geltrú ( Barcelona ) to NRD. This deal comprises a suite of integrated vsn modules, e.g. the new vsn master (MCR software-only solution) plus the scheduling and traffic tool vsn traffic . 300-hours 2-channel playout and 4-channel programmed ingest plus the complete vsn news digital newsroom with 14 seats, synchronized graphics and teleprompter, all together managed by a powerful vsn archive DAM that also controls a LTO robot library for off-line.

In Ciudad Real ( Spain ) we can find an innovative TV layout and installation concept developed by Group Promecal and Emco ( vsn dealer), called Tribuna TV . After previous experience in other Spanish cities, and based on complete tapeless workflow from vsn , Tribuna TV will operate soon a 24-hour DTT channel with minimum human and technical resources, bt the highest signal quality and optimal working environment.

In Latin America we can also mention some important successes for vsn , Canal 95 (Peru Congress), Canal 96 (Chilean Senate channel) and a bunch of universities in several countries.

Videocorp, Chilean distributor, was awarded a complete turn-key system for Canal 96 integrating different products from vsn and Sony among others. 3 simultaneous DV25 ingest channels, 90-hour centralized storage connected to 5 NLEs, one 2-channel playout server and a character generator controlled by vsn matic 3 were installed.

About Canal 95 (Congreso de Lima Perú, awarded to Telvicom), Antonio Rodríguez, Canal 95 Broadcast Manager states, ‘We really needed to purchase a tapeless system. 24-hour transmission was impossible for us while operating a standard configuration. Now the vsn system, operated by 2 people, enables 24x7 operation. We are even communicated with the NLEs operated by the Press with direct FC communication to the videoservers, up to 4x speed and without any transcoding.

vsn has also been in charge of executing an innovative project at the Santiago airport in Chile, where the news bulletins signal is encoded in MPEG-2 @4 Mbps and distributed to the Chilevision datacenter, a couple of miles away. The news clips are stored there and streamed to the decoders connected to the plasma monitors at the airport. After very heavy testing the solution chose by Chilevision was based on vsn legalrec , the same as the system chosen for the channel's legal compliance.

Canal 10 de El Salvador also awarded vsn a complete digital newsroom, master control playout, graphics, etc, for over $210.000 recently. It is the first reference site in this country for the Spanish company.

The success stories and many others are qualifying vsn as the most demanded and popular end-to-end broadcast solution in Spain and Latin America nowadays.

Revolutionary vsn IP contribution system at NAB 2007

2007-03-16

During its 5 th attendance to the most important worldwide trade show, Spanish company vsn will introduce this year its new IP content transfer technology.

The vsn activa stream series of products are envisaged to prompt a revolution in the way audiovisual assets are transmitted over IP networks or internet. The main advantage of the new system is that the loading-downloading contents time will be drastically cut, enabling live signal transfer over DSL and other standard broadband lines, thanks to efficient bandwidth management. All searches and content selection are carried out through a web interface that accesses directly the content metadata and “proxy” version (low resolution) file, before full quality content transfers.

The new technology presented by vsn includes the latest available developments in encoding-decoding systems, video compression, signal processing and IP transfer, all managed by a very friendly and intuitive GUI.

vsn's software also takes into account the Digital Rights Management (DRM), content watermarking and accountability associated to the commercial exchange in this channel, and includes a powerful statistic tool. This technology, currently in version 2.0, enables peer-to-peer transfers, unlike previous generations which required a central server.

The main target for this IP transfer system are TV groups, news agencies, independent TV channels, correspondents, and companies with important A/V content catalogue.

vsn HD Commitment

2007-03-15

After the recent success during its Latin-American tour, vsn will propose all broadcasters a formal commitment to protect all their investments in vsn systems at NAB'07, in response to the increasing demand and interest in HD systems.

The “ vsn HD commitment ” will allow TV channels to purchase SD ingest systems, content production, playout and graphics at actual prices, very affordable, guaranteeing an upgrade price to their HD equivalents. The only requirement is that the upgrade takes place in less than 18 months since the initial installation.

The Spanish manufacturer offers this written warranty so any channel that automates its processes will know beforehand the guaranteed cost of transition to HD.

vsn is investing extra resources in the development of new HD-compatible broadcast automation systems, e.g. the new module for file ingest/preediting vsn scenesHD , reported to be the fastest partner for Sony's XDCAM-HD format.

Jordi Utiel , CEO of vsn stated that “We had a good response and detected a high sensibility towards HD during our recent Latin-American tour. Therefore we'll visit again the majority of Central America and South Cone countries after NAB, besides touring several European and Middle East countries before next summer”.