| Master Control
ASTRA MCR provides frame accurate playout for master control with interfaces to most all popular traffic systems. By controlling new and legacy devices, ASTRA offers a clean migration from analog to digital based workflows. With Astra MCR, one operator can easily manage a large group of channels. Solutions are available for a single channel station or a large facility with many channels at one site or from multiple sites.
ASTRA CMS manages all content on the video servers and centralized storage systems. It contains a rules-based file transfer engine that automatically moves content to the desired location. It can be extended to include archives and production storage systems to provide a comprehensive view of all your content. Proxy generation and desktop viewing is also available as well as multi-site web viewers with inter-facility file transfers.
ASTRA Ingest automatically or manually ingests content from live feeds, video tape or files and provides a focal point for QA. Metadata can be automatically generated, loaded from traffic or added manually.
ASTRA News or ASTRA Studio can be added to provide a fully featured solution for single operator control of a broadcast with news bulletins. |
News and Studio Production
ASTRA News provides a simple multichannel videoserver and graphics control to the production studio. Its MOS interface supports all popular NRCS systems and an ActiveX interface enables an ASTRA view from within the NRCS system. Placeholder workflows allow for quick and error free production.
ASTRA Studio is a fully automated studio production system; where a single operator controls the overall look and feel of the broadcast while all the studio technology is under ASTRA automation control.
ASTRA CMS manages all content on the video servers and centralized storage systems. It contains a rules-based file transfer engine that automatically moves content to the desired location. It can be extended to include archives and production storage systems to provide a comprehensive view of all your content. Proxy generation and desktop viewing is also available as well as multi-site web viewers with inter-facility file transfers.
ASTRA Ingest automatically or manually ingests content from live feeds, video tape or files and provides a focal point for QA. Metadata can be automatically generated, loaded from the NRCS system or added manually.
Integration with ASTRA MCR delivers a highly automated workflows solution for 24 hour news channels and daily news programs to reduce the workload and stress in the news studios. |
| Content Management
Aveco's ASTRA CMS is a content management system that is more than just a database that tracks assets; it is also a comprehensive workflow engine that controls applications and the devices that make up the broadcast workflow.
Media assets are tracked in ASTRA CMS regardless of how they were ingested or where they reside. Using both push and pull scenarios, ASTRA CMS syncs up with the internal databases of equipment used in a broadcast facility, such as videoservers, NAS/SAN storage systems, archives, NLE, and production systems.
The rules-based ASTRA CMS file transfer engine automatically moves files based on user defined criteria. That criteria is based on a file's metadata that is easily edited or created within ASTRA CMS. The file transfer engine can also direct files to other applications to automate workflows, such as automatic proxy generation or transcoding for alternate distribution channels (iPads, mobile phones, Internet, etc.) and then directing the resulting file to a streaming device – all without user interaction.
All locations and versions of a file are tracked and reported so when the time comes to purge content, all copies can be automatically deleted or a report generated for manual deletion. Metadata management can be done at the high-res level or from automatically generated proxies. Content can be archived and retrieved from a NAS or tape-based archive. With tape-based archives, ASTRA CMS will operate with archive managers (if available) or with certain systems directly, without the need for an archive manager. |
Ingest
With everybody looking to go tapeless for day to day operations, a cost-effective solution is needed to deal with the large inventory of video tape.
ASTRA Ingest provides manual and automatic ingest options including ingesting from cart machines, control of signal processors as well as Quality Control procedures to make the ingest workflows as easy as possible.
ASTRA CMS provides a single database managing the metadata of all assets, low res browsing and archive control. If there is an existing database of videotape library, that data can also be ingested into ASTRA CMS so you have a complete view of all your facility’s content.
Multi-site Solutions The ASTRA architecture is ideal for multi-site operations including disaster recovery sites and regional ad insertion sites. ASTRA CMS provides a view of all assets in all sites and automated file transfer based on playlists, rundowns or user definable rules. With ASTRA Browse, all sites have web based views of all the content at all sites. |
| ASTRA Solutions Matrix
ASTRA is an integrated set of applications that can be combined in any combination to provide complete solutions. ASTRAs unique architecture allows most applications to be added, updated, or reset without impacting the overall operation of the system. Aveco will work with you to put together a package of applications to meet your exact needs so you do not need to pay for functionality you do not need.
For example, in a News playout application, you may start with ASTRA News and add XDCAM Ingest and proxy capability. There are no limits to what applications you can choose for your desired solution. |
