Granite 2000
Broadcast Pix has introduced Granite 2000, a new addition to its Granite family of live video production systems that features a new wide 1 M/E control panel. The company also announced an enhanced control panel for its 2 M/E Granite 5000 system. The Granite 2000 is available now, and the new panel for the Granite 5000 began shipping last month.
Both control panels provide faster access to all of Granite's video and file-based content, housed on an integrated server. The new panels, combined with Granite's Fluent file-based workflow software, enable a single operator or small team to create live video for broadcasts, webcasts, events, and other productions.
“Granite provides so much power to combine live video and file-based content that we just had to bring out some larger panels to access it all,” said Ken Swanton, president of Broadcast Pix. "No other switcher control panels enable a single operator to create such amazing live video."
The Granite 2000 control panel provides a much larger work area than the Granite 1000, which is still available for small studios and production trucks that need a more compact system. The new Granite 2000 expands the number of input buttons from nine to 16 (and reaches 32 with shift), doubles the number of keyer buttons from three to six, and increases auxiliary output buttons from two to 10. It also adds key priority controls, as well as mnemonics to display auxiliary output assignments.
Granite 5000 The Granite 2000 panel adds more device controls to provide faster access to the full complement of Granite's built-in Fluent file stores for clips, animations, and graphics (including ones from the built-in CG), as well as controls for external devices like robotic cameras, audio mixers, video streamers, and video servers. Plus, it adds a dedicated bank of controls for Fluent Macros, the industry’s only file-based macros, to create powerful effects.
The enhanced Granite 5000 control panel adds the new features that debuted on the Granite 2000, including dedicated Fluent Macros buttons, control of all aux outputs, and key priority controls for each M/E. In addition, the new Granite 5000 panel includes additional capabilities for the new bank of Fluent Macros controls.
Both new panels also feature patented PixButtons for every input, key, and content library. PixButtons enable operators to switch both video and file-based content with confidence, because they dynamically display the file names on the buttons.
The Granite 2000 is priced at $34,995, complete with wide control panel, 3 RU switcher, 2 RU server, Fluent workflow software, clip store, animation and graphic stores, Harris CG, and multi-view support for two monitors (expandable to four). The new Granite 5000 control panel replaces the previous 2 M/E control panel at no additional cost. The Granite family also includes the Granite 1000 with a compact 1 M/E panel and the Granite 100, which can be controlled from a touch-screen, mouse, keyboard, or Apple iPad app ($9.95 download).
