Grass Valley Group's Kalypso Video
Production Center Draws Millions In Orders, Big Crowds
NEVADA CITY, Calif., April 26, 2000 — From
Australia's national network to the leading mobile production company in
the United States, the Grass Valley Group is winning millions of dollars
in orders worldwide for its Kalyps™
Video Production Center family. The digital media leader today announced
shipments of 30 Kalypso systems and orders of more than 60 systems to
news, sports, and mobile teleproduction customers, in applications ranging
from Olympic sports coverage to digital facility rebuilds, and said that
standing-room only demonstrations and two select awards at this year's
National Association of Broadcasters Convention (NAB 2000) bode well for
the future of the Kalypso family.
"With strong orders already booked and packed demonstrations at NAB,
we feel very, very good about the acceptance of and excitement about the
Kalypso family," said Tim Thorsteinson, president and chief operating
officer of the Grass Valley Group.
And with good reason. As the hub of a teleproduction environment, the
Kalypso family combines industry-leading switching and powerful
mix/effects (M/E) capabilities with an open, networked architecture that
offers a precedent-setting degree of operational integration. With 80
inputs (video or key) it offers fingertip control of a number of
previously off-board functions to streamline workflow, from greater M/E
capabilities to a programmable clean-feed system—all from a familiar
Grass Valley™ control panel interface.
Using a Kalypso system, broadcasters can readily customize graphics and
keys for multiple clients and place significant levels of control into the
hands of a technical director.
Organizations worldwide have been quick to get their hands on the
Kalypso system, including:
- Applied Electronics.
The Grass Valley Group's exclusive
distributor in Canada, Applied Electronics has purchased three Kalypso
systems to equip temporary production facilities in Scandinavia to
broadcast the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. The stations using the Kalypso
systems—YLE (Finnish Broadcasting Company) in Finland, SVT (Sveriges
Television AB) in Sweden, and NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation
Ltd.) in Norway—comprise a temporary broadcast consortium created for the
Olympic broadcast and will share digital signals originating from
Sydney.
- Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC).
As part of its digital
rebuild, Australia's national network has ordered 10 Kalypso Video
Production Center systems for rollout in all major cities nationwide,
including Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Hobart, Darwin, and
Perth. ABC expects to go on air with standard-definition transmissions
this fall and high definition in January 2001.
- Emirates Media/Abu Dhabi TV.
In a major upgrade to its news
and sports transmission facilities, Emirates Media/Abu Dhabi TV has
invested in two new Kalypso systems: one for a new sports channel studio
and the other for a new news studio. The Kalypso systems will provide
everything from automated effects and device control to centralized
production control and M/E capabilities.
- NEP Supershooters.
NEP Supershooters, a world-class mobile
production company based in Pittsburgh, Pa., has installed the first
mobile Kalypso system in its new Supershooters SS20 mobile unit. The
high-end truck—which made its debut at NAB 2000—will use the Kalypso
system to support NEP's coverage of live, large-scale sporting and
entertainment events, such as ESPN's "Sunday Night Football."
- Trio Video.
To meet the fast-paced and complex demands of
network, cable, and corporate broadcast clients, Chicago-based Trio
Video, the leading mobile television production company in the Midwestern
United States, will install a Kalypso system in its newest mobile
teleproduction truck.
- WAGA-TV.
The Atlanta television station owned and operated by
FOX Television Stations, Inc., will use the Kalypso system to help convert
its news production control room from analog to digital.
In addition to millions in orders and the rapt attention of convention
attendees, the Kalypso Video Production Center also garnered two major
awards at NAB 2000. It was the unanimous choice of a select group of
Television Broadcast editors for the magazine's annual "Editor's
Pick of Show" award. It also was the recipient of TV Technology
magazine's STAR 2000 award, which was created especially for NAB 2000 and
given to only 14 manufacturers who exhibited superior technologies.
"It's a true testament to the design and power of the Kalypso Video
Production Center that prominent publications such as Television
Broadcast and TV Technology deem it a winner," said
Thorsteinson.
The Kalypso Video Production Center is an important component of the
Grass Valley Group's Media Without Bounds™ initiative which focuses on the transition of
broadcasters to Digicasting™—on
enabling them to store, prepare, archive, distribute, and brand content
over multiple channels and any media. As part of the company's Media
Production systems, the Kalypso family unleashes customer creativity
in live operation and post-production settings.
The Grass Valley Group knows more about high-quality video than
anybody else—especially as video goes digital. Interactive television.
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.
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