Avid Technology has announced that NBC has purchased Avid video and Digidesign audio workflow solutions in preparation for the network’s broadcast of the XX Olympic Winter Games in Torino, Italy.
The Avid products are to be used by NBC to construct a comprehensive, digital SD and HD production pipeline that expands the video and audio workflow it implemented for the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Torino will be the fourth consecutive Olympics in which NBC uses Avid technology. This year the network will deploy its largest shared-storage solution, and it will serve as the heart of an editing and graphics workflow that includes HD production.
NBC’s Torino production facility will comprise six Avid Unity ISIS systems and three Avid Unity LANshare shared-storage systems, totaling more than 100TB of storage; 36 Media Composer Adrenaline systems — 29 of which are equipped with the Avid DNxcel board for HD capture, real-time editing and output for high-end editorial finishing.
For audio, the facility will have a Digidesign ICON integrated console environment featuring a D-Control console and a Pro Tools|HD 7 Accel system for recording, producing and mixing audio in 5.1-channel surround sound.
For graphics, there will be five Deko 3000 HD character generators and five Thunder HD production servers to deliver all the on-air graphics; and Avid Professional Services for on-site training and support.
Additionally, NBC will use the Avid DNxHD format to facilitate HD production at 1080i/25 resolutions within an Avid shared-storage environment. Because Avid DNxHD files support full raster 8- and 10-bit media, they deliver the quality of 10-bit uncompressed HD images — but with the bandwidth of SD files. When fully operational, NBC will be equipped to handle more than 100TB of HD media in a shared-storage environment — or 800 hours of HD footage.
For more information, visit www.avid.com.
