Top 10 Avid | Stream IO Video Server Benefits

Everyone loves a list, don’t they? Whether they are the biggest blockbusters of the year or the top selling songs of the decade, lists are a great way of getting a quick snapshot of cultural highlights.

Now while we cannot guarantee a movie smash or a number one single, we feel pretty confident that our latest ingest and playout solution, Avid | Stream IO, will continue to prove a big hit with customers. To help you understand why, we’ve created an Avid | Stream IO video server benefits list of the top ten features that make it stand out from the crowd in the market.

Martin Appleton, Avid’s director of video servers, describes how hundreds of channels of Avid | Stream IO are already in regular use in broadcast operations around the world less than a year since launch.

“Our customers value the ease with which Avid | Stream IO can be dropped into their existing infrastructure, in many cases replacing aging Avid AirSpeed servers, enabling their teams to keep producing efficiently,” Appleton says. “It is also giving them confidence that they have a solution which can adapt to their changing needs in the future.”

And remember, these are only the top ten. There are loads more capabilities which Avid | Stream IO brings to the table to deliver efficient, reliable, and stable workflows to power news, sports, and studio productions.

Avid | Stream IO video server benefits:

1. Flexible channel configurations

• With two, four, and eight channel options available, easily get the solution which best fits your production requirements. The channels are flexible so they can be set up in the configuration you need for the most efficient use of the solution. From one in and one out, to eight in, none out, and any combination in between.

2. Simultaneously record multiple resolutions

• From proxy to HD and UHD quality video input and output, make the best use of bandwidth and storage with the option to record proxy and high res simultaneously to your storage platform. Edit in proxy, deliver in high res for the best quality output.

3. Your view, your way

• As the ingest operator, set up the view you need and easily swap between different views, from single channel to all channels, to meet adapting workflow needs for ingest and playout. Adaptable on-screen displays add to the sense of being in control at all times.

4. Live preview incoming feeds

• Don’t be in the dark about what’s being recorded, and no need to be in the control room with access to a multi-viewer. Use the proxy preview features to check that the incoming feed is what you need or that what you are playing out is correct.

5. Range of deployment solutions to meet your needs

• Many broadcasters operate on-prem, but organizations are also looking to virtualize or move their infrastructure to the cloud in the future. With options for on-premises deployments, running on COTS hardware, Avid | Stream IO is a software-based solution that integrates easily into your existing ecosystem. But as it can also be deployed in a cloud instance, with no change to the licensing, it has the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances in the future.

6. From SDI to IP-based workflows

• In a similar vein, SDI is not going away anytime soon, so it is critical to have a solution that meets the needs of today, but also for the new generation of ingest and playout protocols. As Avid | Stream IO supports SDI and will shortly support both compressed and uncompressed IP streams. This means you can continue with existing SDI infrastructure and migrate to IP-based at your own pace.

7. Build your own playlists

• Avid | Stream IO is not just for ingest, but for playout too, for the most efficient use of your channels. Operators can create, build, and update playout playlists on the fly, making changes right down to the wire.

8. The control options you need for ultimate flexibility

• The built-in, web-based, remote console in Avid | Stream IO provides key capabilities for standalone ingest and playout. For control over multiple servers and channels, Avid control applications like MediaCentral | Acquire and MediaCentral | Capture for ingest and MediaCentral | Command for playout offer extensive capabilities, plus there are standard control protocols to enable ingest and playout from third parties via API or VDCP.

9. Work securely from anywhere

• Ingest from anywhere, playout to everywhere. Web-based, password controlled, secure access to enable on-premises and remote working. 

10. Template-based to maximize efficiency

• So many formats, so many choices, so many things which can go wrong. Take the stress out of ingest and playout by using the easy template builder to create the ingest and playout templates you need to make it easy for operators to get it right first time, every time.

Want a quick summary of the key benefits of Avid | Stream IO? Check them out in this Fast Fact Guide.