VCS

www.vcs.de

Combining the proven workflow engine and data management of dira! Radio with the unique requirements of television production, VCS has created a suite of products specially aimed at providing the basis for a fully integrated television production workflow. The powerful content management features of the dira! engine combined with seamless integration from production systems creates an end-to-end workflow, from concept to airplay.

Beyond the production network, dira! Television offers ground-breaking playout options. Leading among them is the Cartplayer for video, an instant, one-touch, random access playout device specifically targeted at news, game shows, and talk formats. Producers can respond to what’s happening in the studio with a video clip at the touch of a button. This product is supplemented with the Schedplayer for video, a lightweight but fully featured single-box automation enabling full playout, even from OB vans and regional sites.

dira! Radio and Television solutions integrate seamlessly with ENPS via MOS. Designed for fast turnaround of editorial content, dira! Radio and dira! Television solutions are the first choice for dynamic and demanding broadcast environments.

Supported ENPS Workflow

Running Order Control

This device allows ENPS to dynamically build and control a playlist within the media server. Changes to the Running Order in ENPS result in immediate changes to the sequence of media objects queued for playout by the media server.

Item Status

This vendor sends real-time status information during playback and other functions which is displayed through ENPS writers and producers in real-time. This includes the use of a minimum set of standard status messages which enable color coding and the automated movement of the ENPS timing bar.

Automatic Placeholder Creation

ENPS can automatically create and name placeholders within this vendor's server into which finished clips ready for play out can later be edited, saved, or recorded. The name and other metadata used to automatically create this placeholder is drawn from the related ENPS Story and Running Order. The vendor then updates ENPS with duration and other information as the placeholder is replaced with the actual media.

Story Send

This product uses the full body of text within ENPS documents, including all media pointers and custom metadata. This product also dynamically tracks the sequence of Stories and Assignments within active ENPS Running Orders and Assignment grids.

Media Awareness

This device sends ENPS a description of the media it stores. The description contains structured metadata and a pointer to the media object. This information is used by ENPS to return media in search results. Pointers are used to link media to ENPS documents, including Stories, Running Orders and Assignments using simple drag and drop workflow.

MOS Redirection

This product works with ENPS to transfer media between machines and locations using instruction and metadata from ENPS. When stories containing media are moved from one ENPS location in ENPS to another this vendor offers the option to automatically transfer the media contained in the stories without further user interaction. This can be used to automatically transfer media between servers and NLE's within a single newsroom, or between multiple newsrooms and production servers in different cities.

VCS dira! ActiveX Plug-in

This vendor provides an ActiveX plug-in for ENPS which allows users to view audio clips and drag media from the ActiveX directly into an ENPS script from the ENPS user interface.

© 2009, The Associated Press. All rights reserved. All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. AP\'s reviews were limited to a test environment, and products may perform differently within your own production environment and workflow. Performance may also vary with other factors, including periodic ENPS and partner software releases. Only you can determine if a specific product or combination of products will meet your needs. AP MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY REGARDING THE PRODUCTS DESCRIBED HEREIN, INCLUDING WHETHER OR NOT SUCH PRODUCTS ARE COMPATIBLE WITH ENPS OR THE MOS PROTOCOL.