AVECO proudly announces the latest addition to its acclaimed ASTRA Studio system – the Rundown Designer. This innovative tool fundamentally changes how broadcasters plan and manage their shows by eliminating the need for an external NRCS .
A Gamechanger in Studio Automation
While ASTRA Studio continues to support all major NRCS brands such as Octopus, ENPS, and iNews, providing seamless integration for large-scale newsroom productions, the new Rundown Designer introduces a simpler and more flexible alternative.
Users can now create and manage complete show rundowns directly within the AVECO ecosystem — no newsroom required.
The first release of the Rundown Designer already includes everything needed to prepare and take a show on air — from story scheduling and clip management to graphics, lighting, and camera control. Thanks to its integration with other AVECO products such as GEMINI, CG Manager, and Story Designer, broadcasters can produce fully automated shows from a single, unified environment.
The Rundown Designer also supports existing ASTRA Studio Templates, making integration into any existing setup fast and intuitive.
A Versatile Tool for Every Situation
The Rundown Designer’s primary purpose is to enable the full use of ASTRA Studio without an NRCS system. However, it can also run side-by-side with any existing or future newsroom integration, serving as an alternative or backup solution.
Typical use cases include:
- Building a complete rundown using the web-based interface, sending it to ASTRA Studio via MOS, assigning it to a PCR, and running the show as usual.
- Preparing backup rundowns for breaking news or technical issues, ensuring that production continues even when the NRCS is unavailable or not flexible enough.
- Using the Rundown Designer as a disaster recovery tool, guaranteeing that the studio can always go on air with a great-looking show based on existing ASTRA Studio Templates.
ASTRA Studio Without NRCS – Full Automation at Your Fingertips
For the first time, it’s possible to use the complete ASTRA Studio feature set without any NRCS system. The Rundown Designer allows users to schedule ASTRA Studio Templates, clips, graphics, lights, robotic cameras, macro recalls, and everything else required for a fully automated production.
It also supports AVECO’s HTML5 plugins, including:
- Story Designer – for scheduling automation directives (e.g., cameras, lights, jingle players)
- CG Manager – for Redwood White graphics scheduling
- GEMINI – for clip browsing and insertion
For customers without GEMINI, Rundown Designer can still handle media assets using ASTRA’s built-in MAM functionality, which is both robust and powerful.
Perfect Add-on for Existing NRCS Users
The Rundown Designer can act as the sole source of rundowns or work in parallel with an existing NRCS. ASTRA Studio is capable of receiving rundowns from multiple sources simultaneously — for example, broadcasting a rundown from Octopus in one PCR while running another show from Rundown Designer in another.
Thanks to ASTRA Studio’s multi-studio architecture, all this can be achieved using a single or mirrored automation server, allowing shared device resources, media assets, and control panels across multiple PCRs.
Additionally, the Rundown Append feature enables users to combine rundowns from both Octopus and Rundown Designer, seamlessly switching between stories during live production.
Easy Deployment and Flexible Operation
The Rundown Designer can run directly on the ASTRA automation server, ensuring a seamless and secure experience with minimal cybersecurity concerns. Its architecture also supports virtualized deployments for maximum flexibility.
Users access Rundown Designer via a modern web-based interface, available from any device connected to the network. No internet connection is required — the system works fully offline and communicates with ASTRA Studio using the MOS protocol, ensuring lightning-fast updates to stories, including on-air items.
Conclusion:
With Rundown Designer, AVECO opens up the power of ASTRA Studio automation to a wider range of broadcasters — from regional stations to large media networks — regardless of whether they use an NRCS or not.
For the first time, every studio can enjoy the freedom, reliability, and efficiency of ASTRA automation — and the confidence that the show will always go on.