Grass Valley Group Showcases New Digital Media Solutions, Internet-Related Capabilities For Media Without Bounds At NAB 2000

—Next-Generation Digital Solutions Across All Product Lines On Display At Booth #L11018, Las Vegas Convention Center—

NEVADA CITY, Calif., March 20, 2000 — For a new media age that is all about content—and whose content is a lot about video—the Grass Valley Group will showcase next-generation solutions across all its product lines at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention (NAB 2000)—including a new set of Internet-related technologies. The products are all part of the digital media leader's Media Without Bounds™ initiative.

Based on the belief that video professionals need the freedom to access, create, manipulate, query, and distribute digital assets across any media, at anytime, and from anywhere, the Media Without Bounds initiative relies on four core components that encompass all facets of content creation and distribution: Media Software, Media Connectivity, Media Production, and Media Platforms.

MEDIA SOFTWARE & INTERNET

Media Software enables widespread media access and centralized device monitoring and control. At NAB 2000, the Grass Valley Group will showcase its ContentShare™ software platform for accessing and managing digital assets and its NetCentral™ application for Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)-based remote monitoring and configuration.

The Grass Valley Group's new WebAble™ Internet technology for simplifying and streamlining the re-purposing of high-quality video for Webcasting and Web distribution will be previewed at NAB. WebAble is a suite of software tools that allow Web publishers to locate, access, and manipulate their media assets (video, audio, and metadata), design Web pages with a host of standards-based tools, and publish to the Web with the push of a button.

MEDIA CONNECTIVITY

Media Connectivity solutions bridge the worlds of traditional video routing and standard computer networks. At NAB 2000, the Grass Valley Group will showcase a 128x128 frame and a standard-definition-only input/output card for its 7500 WB wideband digital router; an enhancement to its 7500 NB narrowband audio router that will enable a smooth transition to digital audio at a significant savings of cost, power, and space; three new additions to its 8900 Series line of standard-definition modular products; and nine new additions and three enhancements to its 2000 Wideband Series line, which provides critical high- and standard-definition distribution and conversion capabilities within a host frame. The Grass Valley Group will also discuss its recently announced plans to offer 50 Hz support for its M-2100 HD master control system.

MEDIA PRODUCTION

Media Production solutions are designed for a future in which video professionals must make high-value content available for multiple distribution pipelines quickly and easily. At NAB 2000, the Grass Valley Group will showcase the latest addition to its Grass Valley™ Kalypso™ Video Production Center family. The Kalypso family combines industry-leading switching capabilities—including powerful effects capabilities, compositing, and device control—with an open, networked architecture that offers an unprecedented degree of operational integration. The company will display a new 2 mix/effects (M/E) version of the Kalypso family, as well as a 4 M/E version.

In an important development for those who convert 35 millimeter film materials to digital form, the Grass Valley Group will discuss its recent announcement to incorporate 24p capabilities into the Grass Valley 110 HD production switcher.

MEDIA PLATFORMS

Media Platforms provide video storage, production, and manipulation while supporting multiple formats and resolutions and providing the open architecture necessary to meet both the current and future needs of content creators and distributors. At NAB 2000, the Grass Valley Group will highlight the high-definition addition to its Profile^® XP Media Platform line. The platform provides a portal for the rapid access, management and distribution of video, audio and data assets—all while maintaining the broadcast-quality video and audio for which the Profile server line is known. Widely regarded as the cornerstone of the transition to digital content creation and distribution, the Profile platform is also the industry's most open, supporting JPEG, MPEG, DVCPRO, and HD formats today and MPEG Transport Streams (MTS) in the future.

The Grass Valley Group knows more about high-quality video than anybody else—especially as video goes digital. Video on demand. Digital cinema. Data-enhanced broadcasting. Internet. It's a world of Digicasting™—of Media Without Bounds. Whether online or on the air, the Emmy^® award winning Grass Valley Group, a privately held digital media leader, has the hardware, software, and new media technologies necessary to get content wherever it needs to go.

For the latest Grass Valley Group product information, see www.grassvalleygroup.com .