Vibrint Spotlight

Vibrint Makes The Cut At WHDH-TV In Boston

Boston's News Station Begins Transition to Nonlinear with Vibrint NewsEdit(tm); Cuts-only Edit Bays Will Be Integrated with Avstar Newsroom Computing System and Grass Valley Group Profile Video Server

BEDFORD, Mass., September 29, 1999-Vibrint Technologies, Inc., a developer of innovative, standards-based, digital news production solutions, announced today that 7NBC (WHDH-TV), Boston's news station, has installed two NewsEdit systems for use in its cuts-only edit bays. The two systems will replace existing tape-based systems and will initially be used to edit breaking news and to create teasers and highlights packages for the station's six hours of daily news programs. The NewsEdit systems will also be integrated with the station's existing Avstar Newsroom Computer System and Grass Valley Group Profile Video Server. NewsEdit is also in use at WMUR-TV in Manchester, New Hampshire; KSHB-TV in Kansas City; KWHY in Los Angeles; and New York 1 News in New York City.

Owned by Sunbeam Television, WHDH is a top-ranked news station in the country's sixth largest television market. According to Steve Harrington, Director of 7NBC's News Operations, the station began its evaluation of nonlinear technology by looking at systems from several leading vendors including Avid, Sony, Leitch, and others. The station decided to install two NewsEdit systems because it is the best nonlinear editing solution to offer the speed and simplicity needed to get breaking news to air quickly. "First and foremost, our focus is on getting the news to air fast, and accurately-before anyone else," said Harrington. "The more elaborate nonlinear systems are great for feature pieces, but the pace at 7News is fast and hard. We don't have the luxury of sending the staff off for weeks of training, and then retraining them every time they come off of a stint in the field. Vibrint's solution is so easy to use that I am confident our editors will be cutting teases the same day we put the systems online."

In addition to using the NewsEdit systems for editing hard news, 7News plans to use the systems to increase the video content of its news teasers. A typical tease today might include just two or three video clips. With Vibrint NewsEdit, the station believes it will be able to increase the count and provide the latest video on a breaking news story. The station will also use NewsEdit to create highlight packages and voice overs for sports programming.

The ability to integrate NewsEdit with other leading technologies was also a key factor in 7NBC's decision. "My job is to manage the station's assets," said Harrington. "With Vibrint, I can take advantage of our existing systems by integrating NewsEdit with our Avstar newsroom computer system and our Profile Video Server. We don't have to wait for special plug-ins or future development efforts. That's a big plus." Integration of NewsEdit and Avstar will allow 7News editors to view text scripts and news rundowns on their NewsEdit editing systems. Stories will then be transferred in faster than real time to the Grass Valley Group Video Server for playback.

Vibrint NewsEdit is the first truly open and standards-based solution for hard news editing. NewsEdit has been optimized to meet the time constraints of hard news production and has been designed so that even non-technical personnel, including journalists and producers, can perform quick edits in pressure situations. Key features include: editing from tape-to-disk without pre-digitizing; audio/video punch-in; frame-accurate editing; overwrite edit mode, which is similar to tape-to-tape insert mode; splice edit mode which inserts a new clip between existing ones without re-doing all previous edits; simple effects including dissolves and wipes; and, fit-to-fill for inserting pre-produced graphics, variable-speed clips, or still frames into an existing story hole. NewsEdit runs on the Vibrint VideoServer(tm), an MPEG2 server that relies on the Microsoft(r) Windows NT(r) file and operating systems and standard networking and storage.

After gaining in-house experience with the systems, Harrington's goal is to convert his remaining seven cuts-only edit bays to NewsEdit.

Broadcasters attending the RTNDA Convention (September 29-October 1) can arrange private demonstrations of NewsEdit by contacting Vibrint at 1-877-842-7468 (toll-free US) or 781-275-4088.