Orders Exceed 100 For Grass Valley Group's Award-Winning Kalypso: Company Announces Industry's Most Extensive Built-In Controls

Amsterdam, IBC, 7 September, 2000 — The appeal of Grass Valley Group's award-winning Kalypso Video Production Centre to professionals in gruelling sports and live production environments is growing rapidly with more than 100 orders placed.

Today's announcement about Kalypso, which leapfrogs the capabilities of traditional switchers, also highlighted the integration of several internally based capabilities.

These advanced features range from internal still store with animation playback and internal digital video effects, to advanced integrated device control. With this vast menu of on-board capabilities, the Grass Valley Group's Kalypso Video Production Centre now provides broadcast and video professionals more production power than ever.

"Traditional switchers provide limited device control and require the purchase and integration of expensive third-party hardware to provide the functionality which today's sophisticated production environments demand," said Tim Thorsteinson, president of the Grass Valley Group.

"Not the case with Kalypso, which offers the industry's most unique, advanced architecture for built-in facility control and an extensive array of features. Since Kalypso's introduction, we have steadily added new features and enhanced its performance to meet the demands of live and sports customers. We are committed to delivering the most advanced production system."

Customers enlisting the power and unique open, networked architecture of Kalypso run the gamut. These range from Boston-based WGBH (the leading content creator for the United States' Public Broadcasting Stations with more than 50 million viewers each week), to recent European and Middle Eastern Kalypso buyers including:

• Euromedia in France, which used Kalypso in a mobile unit for the French Open;
• The BBC which purchased three systems for regional news studio upgrades;
• Eurohits in The Netherlands which will use Kalypso in a production environment to produce music videos;
• And Emirates Media in Abu Dhabi which will use Kalypso for producing news programs.

As the hub of a production environment, the Kalypso Video Production Centre 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.

Built-in Device Control

Built-in device control of the Grass Valley Group's Emmy^® award-winning Profile™ XP Media Platform now gives content creators access to, and control over, more broadcast content than available from any other server/switcher combination.

Kalypso's device control interface allows user to create Profile play lists to provide sequencing for multiple video clips and can also control VTRs. In addition, Kalypso can control the Grass Valley SMS 7000 router so reducing error and improving workflow when the technical director is required to change router destinations during a production.

On-board Digital Video Effects

Debuting at IBC, Kalypso's new frame-based transform engines add up to six video and key channels of high-quality, internal digital video effects for cube, slab, multi-box and other effects — eliminating the need for expensive external DVE channels. Unlike other switcher solutions which require purchases of multiple external DVE (digital video effects) channels or storage devices and less efficient production techniques, the Kalypso's new features are all integrated into the main switcher system.

Integrated Animation Still Store

The new SuperStill™ advanced still store system features up to eight simultaneous outputs and can store up to 100 stills of video, key or mask in any combination for a built-in graphics capability, and will soon support animation. This reduces or eliminates the need to have external still stores and logo animation systems.

This newest round of software and hardware enhancements to Kalypso answers demand for more production value, more control, and offers the means to lower costs in applications such as multilingual and multi-client productions. Coupled with a huge 80x46 internal routing system, Kalypso is the most robust tool for live productions available on the market today.

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Notes to Editors

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, visit /.

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