News

Fast Forward Video To Offer Grass Valley REV PRO As New IT-Centric Storage Option For Analog Cameras (8/2/2007)

Grass Valley Open Alliance Partners Allow Broadcasters To Leverage REV PRO Removable Media In Their Tapeless News And Production Workflows.

Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS) announces that Fast Forward Video (FFV) will develop a new dockable digital recording solution for existing analog cameras that incorporates the Grass Valley(tm) REV PRO Digital Media Drive

This collaborative development effort between Grass Valley and FFV is part of the Grass Valley Open Alliance Partner (OAP) initiative and the Grass Valley REV PRO Certification Program. The REV PRO Certification Program includes companies like FFV, which have announced support for the IT-centric removable media and more open and flexible approaches to newsgathering and field production using the Grass Valley Infinity Series products.

As part of a new product line Fast Forward Video will market an A/D conversion device, using a built-in REV PRO drive that mounts on the back of an existing analog camera and converts the signal from analog to digital, so that it can be recorded on REV PRO media. This new product, in essence, turns the analog camera into a file-based digital recorder, supporting tapeless news and production workflows.

Users will gain all the advantages to capture, store, edit, exchange and archive that comes from the low cost, removable and durable REV PRO media and thus provide a cost-effective alternative for customers making the conversion to a file-based infrastructure.

"We're pleased to work with Fast Forward Video and all of our OAP members to bring customers a variety of IT-centric options in digital media recording and distribution," said Marc Valentin, president of the Grass Valley business within Thomson. "The growing list of OAP members provides proof that the Infinity series of products has caught the attention of customers worldwide."

Fast Forward Video, has joined the wide range of equipment vendors as a full member of the Grass Valley OAP initiative. Their offering extends the benefits of the Infinity tapeless, file-based end-to-end workflow to owners of legacy cameras. Grass Valley OAP members have come together to speed development of seamless compatibility between their respective systems and digital file formats captured with the Grass Valley Infinity Series camcorders and played on the Infinity digital media players/recorders. Together these partners represent key utility tools and applications software that broadcasters and video professionals use in their tapeless news and production workflows.

"There's a lot of excitement surrounding the Infinity camera and its removable media, so to meet an anticipated demand we're developing a conversion device tied to a REV PRO drive that will allow customers with analog cameras to leverage the benefits of this new, readily available digital recording media and provide them with choices in formats," said Scott Keating, vice president of sales and marketing for Fast Forward Video.

About the OAP Initiative

The Grass Valley OAP program is a move away from the dictated approaches and proprietary recording, storage and playback formats that have caused frustrations and workflow inefficiencies for broadcasters and video professionals - and signals these leaders' support for true openness and format flexibility to support the demand for more collaborative, efficient workflows.

Integrating full IT connectivity, compression choices, true contribution-quality high-definition format support, and the unique ability to freely use off-the-shelf removable recording media such as REV PRO(tm) cartridges or standard, professional grade CompactFlash memory, the Infinity Series of digital media camcorders and digital media recorders is at the core of the OAP program.

About Infinity

The Grass Valley Infinity Series of next generation acquisition, recording and storage devices is designed for a networked world. Using the best IT-base recording media, IT connectivity, and next generation compression, it is a revolutionary and truly open approach to ENG and EFP workflows. The Infinity Series of products includes the Infinity Digital Media Camcorder and the Infinity Series Digital Media Recorder, the REV PRO-35 Digital Media Drive and REV PRO-35 Removable Media.

www.thomsongrassvalley.com

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