Tying It All Together

The newsroom systems that sit at the core of every TV-station newsroom continue to grow in complexity. That is a result of incorporating digital technologies and taking advantage of next-generation standards like XML, MXF (Material Exchange Format) or MOS (Media Object Server), which all help content to be transferred around a facility more easily.

The Associated Press will trot out a number of new features for its ENPS newsroom system. First up is the automatic archive, which Bill Burke, Associated Press product manager for ENPS, says will send an XML copy of incoming content to a content- management system.

“It will work in the same way that our MOS protocol allows us to mirror content that is on the online server,” he explains. Users will be able to find content that is located in deeper storage in a folder on the desktop, allowing them to access more information.

Also look for a demonstration of “Federated Search,” which lets a user search across multiple storage devices and systems from one point. Users at one workstation can search through databases for content and get back material as if it were an MOS item. “The key is the rank-and-file journalist can become an expert in asset management and search the systems seamlessly,” says Burke.

Some work needs to be done for the feature to be rolled out. Topping the list is a gateway that can interact with systems from other vendors. Burke says that as long as a device is MOS-compatible, it will be easily searched. Also look for the ability to add plug-ins from other vendors into ENPS. He says that will be important for dual-monitor nonlinear editing.

Avid's will be touting integration and simplification with its iNews newsroom system. The company holds product specifics close to the vest until the show, but Dave Schleifer, Avid VP, broadcast and workgroups, offers a sense of what those features will do. “The goal this year is to tighten the different steps needed to build a story or news piece [particularly the video-editing step] and ensure that the system infrastructure becomes less complex. As digital-newsroom functionality deepens the tools available to journalists and producers, it is more important than ever to make interfaces more intuitive. We'll be showing a Web client graphical-user interface for iNews that works with standard Web browsers and is also optimized for PDAs, so that we can help our customers extend the reach of their newsroom computer systems.”

New to the La Crosse, Wis.-based manufacturer's NewsKing NewsRoom automation will be use of the Windows operating system, SQL servers and Microsoft Word to provide drag-and-drop functionality and instant access to scripts, wires, newscast rundowns and archives. Also new is NewsKing ClipTracker, software that runs between the NewsKing newsroom-automation system and any video server. It tracks every video clip and gives the user the ability to choose which server, editing, browsers and other gear the user wants to use.