Masstech to Unveil Media Asset Management Updates, LTFS Support

Masstech Pte Ltd. marks its 10th Anniversary this year with the launch of the Diamond collection, a new range of low cost Apps’ for workflow and interoperability using drag and drop operations, as well as new software updates for its streamlined Media Asset Management (MAM) product line at NAB 2012.

Joe French, CEO and President of Masstech said: "We are now going to the next stage of our product evolution. Apart from a stylish new user interface, our customers will see more value-added features that will enable them to optimize efficiency in digital workflows. As Masstech continues to lead the way into the next decade with innovation, we are announcing more cutting-edge tools for MAM and mini MAM and look forward to unveiling these exciting developments at NAB 2012."

Following close collaboration with customers, Masstech will release a ‘News’ version of its Emerald version 7.5LE mini MAM for LTO tape archiving, high quality speed (HQS) transcoding and content management on one common platform. The ‘MOS’ enabled Emerald introduces a new one step ‘single search’ process to find any piece of content – completely within an AP-ENPS or Avid iNews interface. Emerald automatically links audio and video to the story so users can search and find media using their existing workflow. The complete hardware/software system is priced at $69,900 including 3 years support.

The featured Topaz streamlined MAM will be previewing a next generation user interface and gaining performance enhancements including support for 64bit Windows OS, LTO-5 LTFS material interchange and portability, and also features an improved database with more efficient searching capabilities. Customers will also have the option to integrate Masstech’s new Diamond range of drag and drop ‘gates’ for integrating simplified workflows and high speed content transfers to or from Topaz.

All of Masstech’s solutions for digital archiving and restoring will now come equipped with support for LTFS material interchange and portability. LTFS provides a platform for interchange of media, however, adopting a tape format alone is not sufficient. The full benefits can only be achieved when managed by products like LTFS enabled Emerald, Topaz and Diamond content management and MAM systems.

Iris version 3.7, a compliance recording solution, comes equipped with browser support for Windows 7 support and IE9, a new search function for closed captions, a GUI make-over and Masstech’s own CUB-2000 PCIe board for SD-SDI or HD-SDI with 16 channel audio support for HD and low cost HD logging.

New Diamond applications for efficient file workflows
Diamond collection of workflow and interoperability Apps’ provide drag and drop functionality directly from the desktop ‘gate’. Diamonds are built are powered by their HQS engine.

Diamond blue is a high speed portal that enables interoperability and connectivity for simplified workflows within an Avid or FCP ecosystem. It integrates with Avid and FCP non-linear editing (NLE) systems as a standalone utility product, or it can integrated with asset management tools when combined with Emerald or Topaz. From Diamond’s desktop ‘gate’ icon, users can invoke a choice of file based workflows that bridge broadcast systems and IT infrastructure. Diamond simplifies workflows with drag and drop operations, for example, to export from an Avid editor to a storage location or Video Server, the sequence is dragged from the edit bin into the desktop Diamond gate where the HQS engine performs the flattening of the video and delivers the required file format to the desired destination server.

Key product features:

• A high speed portal that enables interoperability and connectivity for simplified workflows within an Avid or FCP ecosystem.
• Integrates with Avid and FCP NLE’s as a standalone utility or it can integrated to a MAM system like Emerald, Topaz or Indigo.
• Drag and drop files to the desktop Diamond Gate.
• Selectable file based workflows that bridge broadcast systems and IT infrastructure.
• Built-in HQS engine performs the flattening of the Avid video and delivers the required file format to the desired destination server.
• Ability to create proxies from source content.

Diamond pink is a standalone application for any broadcast or production environment where file based loudness adjustments are required. It is a single pass process that enables files to be dropped into the desktop Diamond gate for automatic measurement of the loudness levels according to ITU-1770 metrics. If the loudness does not comply with a country standard or a user specified range, it automatically adjusts the loudness to the target value and transfers the corrected files to any destination folder. Loudness adjustments are performed inline without affecting any other information in the file. It does not rewrap, transcode, or even read the rest of the data. Diamond goes straight into the file to measure and adjust the audio. The original integrity of the file is not altered, except for correcting its audio levels.