New deal brings Appear’s X Platform into Grass Valley’s Media Universe Alliance, delivering high quality, low latency advanced video codec support for contribution, distribution, and cloud production applications.
21 April 2022, Oslo, Norway — Appear, the global leader in media processing and delivery technology, and Grass Valley, a leading technology provider for the live media and entertainment market, today announced the signing of a global preferred alliance member agreement. The partnership adds the power of Appear’s X Platform to the Grass Valley Media Universe, giving Grass Valley customers a complete solution for high-quality, low latency, broadcast contribution, distribution, DSNG, cloud-based live production, and real-time viewing of video feeds. Under the terms of the agreement, Grass Valley will integrate Appear products, including the X10 and X20 platforms, with its open standards NMOS and Orbit Orchestration control platforms.
With the pace of adoption rising for cloud and remote production workflows, flexible and efficient encoding is a pre-requisite to unlocking the best that IP-based technology has to offer. Open standards play a crucial role in giving broadcasters and content owners access to a wide ecosystem of interoperable technology. Open standards add the reassurance of consistent performance with solutions from multiple vendors, maximising available options while reducing uncertainty and risk.
With this alliance in place, Grass Valley customers have a new tool for ultra-low latency and high-quality video encoding for synchronized multi-camera open standard SRT video streams. These streams are fed directly into the Grass Valley Agile Media Processing Platform (AMPP), the cloud-based technology platform that underlies the Grass Valley Media Universe. AMPP is capable of supporting multiple streaming protocols over public and private networks.
The Appear X Platform is a high-capacity, versatile, ultra-low latency platform for high-speed video networking, enhanced IP security and advanced compression for the remote production, contribution and distribution markets. Appear’s encoder supports 4K UHD and 10-bit 4:2:2 video, HDR and SMPTE 2110 inputs for all IP contribution. Furthermore, Appear’s ultra-low latency X decoder enables broadcast operators to interact dynamically with cloud resources without sacrificing system responsiveness.
As a member of Grass Valley Media Universe Alliance, Appear is a certified trusted partner of Grass Valley. The X Platform has been thoroughly tested in combination with Grass Valley’s platforms not only as it pertains to delivering high quality, low latency SRT streams and JPEG XS across WAN with light touch lossless compression, but also in having the X platform controlled via NMOS and Grass Valley’s Orbit control system to build automated workflows. Unlocking the ability to automate the encoding and decoding of MPEG SRT, JPEG XS, transcoding, A & V manipulation all in one platform.
Costa Nikols, Vice President Global Sales Enablement & Training, Grass Valley said, “The Grass Valley Media Universe is intended to bring existing and new technologies together in ways that generate new opportunities for our customers. This alliance with Appear directly furthers that cause.
“The channel density and multi-functional processing capabilities of the X Platform combined with our Media Universe gives customers unrivalled flexibility, providing the ultimate combination of low latency and stream synchronization required for high-quality cloud live production. With this alliance our customers get access to the best of both, Grass Valley and Appear, all under a single commercial contract.”
Alex Pannell, Chief Commercial Officer at Appear added, “We see the partnership with Grass Valley as an exciting proposition for the market. Open standard, IP-based workflows are becoming more desirable to broadcasters and operators, and the combination of Grass Valley’s Media Universe and our X Platform is a one-stop shop for building this workflow. Grass Valley has a substantial global customer base for good reason, the Media Universe has helped their customers break free of inflexible traditional operational and infrastructure models. We’re excited to bring the X Platform to those customers and look forward to helping more broadcasters and operators through this agreement.”
As part of the alliance, Appear’s X Platform will be showcased at IBC on Grass Valley’s stand 9.A01 and Appear’s stand 1.C61. Grass Valley and Appear personnel will be on hand to answer any questions..
About Appear
Appear is a leading provider of media processing and delivery technology. Headquartered in Oslo, Norway and with customers in over 100 countries, Appear provides the backbone that production companies, telcos and broadcasters rely on to make immersive live experiences possible for their viewers. With world-class products and expertise, Appear’s focus on modularity, efficiency and high quality helps customers stay ahead of competition in a market where expectations and requirements are constantly changing and evolving.
About Grass Valley
We love live! Grass Valley is the leading technology provider for the live media and entertainment market. We work with 90% of the world’s major media brands, powering their media centers, mobile production units, 24-hour newsrooms, and sports streaming platforms. As the number one trusted partner in media technology, we enable content owners and service providers to create and deliver compelling live experiences in the most efficient way. Whether it’s IP-native cameras or state-of-the-art cloud production platforms, we’re at the forefront of groundbreaking live media innovation. We continue to pioneer market-leading advances based on cloud and software efficiency to transform live content for the streaming era today and in the future. Headquartered in Montreal, Grass Valley has been engaged in the media technology business for over 60 years. grassvalley.com.
