Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Powered by the Cloud: Taking a fresh look at virtual live events

27/11/2020

Grass Valleys Ian Fletcher takes TVBEurope behind the scenes of its GV Live Presents - Engage 2020 event, which was produced entirely in the Cloud.

By Contributor

Published: November 27, 2020

Grass Valley's Ian Fletcher takes TVBEurope behind the scenes of its GV Live Presents Engage 2020 event, which was produced entirely in the Cloud.

target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Grass Valley's Ian Fletcher takes TVBEurope behind the scenes of its GV Live Presents Engage 2020 event, which was produced entirely in the Cloud.

https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/powered-by-the-cloud-taking-a-fresh-look-at-virtual-live-events title=Share via Email class=share-email>

When the pandemic hit in March 2020 and proceeded to become a global health crisis, the lights were turned off in production studios, sports arenas, and venues around the world.

At the same time, all live business events, such as exhibitions and conferences, were canceled - webinars and Zoom calls abounded as the broadcast technology community strived to maintain the critical connections and conversations that drive our industry forward. At Grass Valley, we were intent on maintaining engagement with our customers and partners, whether they were working in their home or office. We created a fresh and innovative approach to keep our customers informed and help establish an air of normalcy during a time that was anything but normal.

Pivoting to the virtual world In March 2020, GV Live Presents was born. At its core, this initiative is about engaging with customers, partners, and industry peers and keeping them engaged. We wanted to deliver a comprehensive debate and vision programme on the key topics driving the TV industry, new product launches, customer case studies, deep-dive product demonstrations, and webinars - entirely on a virtual platform.

The Engage 2020 live newscast that took place in October this year formed a key component of this virtual offering. Our aim was to create a truly innovative and engaging programme, giving customers and partners a vital opportunity to connect with us in the absence of the annual industry gatherings in Las Vegas and Amsterdam.

Making it happen To bring the events to life, we decided there was no better way to showcase the capability of a newly launched, Cloud-based SaaS product - which is ideally suited for live production environments - than to produce a whole live event ourselves.

We used our game-changing GV AMPP (Agile Media Production Platform) Cloud-based production system to run the entire live production for both events. The very same technology that our customers - like esports giant Blizzard Entertainment - deployed to connect with their global audiences helped create our virtual offering. We gave attendees a firsthand look at how this revolutionary approach to live production could seamlessly handle multiple live feeds from various locations worldwide.

Production for the event was spread across seven sites and two continents, with everything from animated graphics, live video feeds, and master control orchestration through to pre-recorded live video feeds, interviews, and panel sessions handled entirely in the Cloud. The new GV AMPP System Dashboard was pivotal to the smooth running of the production, providing an overview of the entire infrastructure deployed to put the live newscast together. It let us bring lots of different components - the main production switcher, multiple clip players, and a secondary mixer - onto the same screen, so we had a clear view of exactly what was happening across the entire workflow.

Taking a virtual, Cloud approach also freed the production team from being in a single physical location. We had a small production crew of three, including the director and technical director (TD), in a Covid-safe environment at the Florida studio, audio and master control were handled from the UK, and clip playback out of Belgium.

Although the TD was calling the shots from Florida, none of the vision processing was done there. Instead, we took the four live camera feeds, and fed them into our GV AMPP 1RU servers, where they were encoded and sent to an AWS datacenter in Oregon - at low latency - over the public internet. Additional feeds were coming in from our offices in Breda, in the Netherlands, Newbury, UK, and Crown Point in Grass Valley, California as part of the multi-camera, multi-person discussions.

One of the live newscast's standout features is the minimal delay between the presenter communicating to panelists at the other side of the world. Although the video feeds of each of the panelists were arriving at the datacentre at slightly different times because they were coming from different parts of the world, GV AMPP automatically time-aligned the feeds and seamlessly managed latency throughout. As a result, the Grass Valley leaders could interact and engage naturally, without any awkward pauses or time lags.

It was quite a complex show for us to pull off, but GV AMPP was flawless. We didn't experience any technical problems during the entire production.

Changing the virtual game Grass Valley not only revolutionised Cloud-based remote production with GV AMPP, we showed that innovative virtual events - when done right - are a real gamechanger and provide an entirely new platform for the industry to connect and communicate.

The GV Live Presents program and the Innovate 2020 and Engage 2020 virtual live events speak to Grass Valley's status as a true industry pioneer; we don't just talk about breaking barriers - we do it. We're excited to show even more innovation in the coming months.

GV Live Presents - Innovate 2020 and Engage 2020 events have been hugely successful, allowing us to connect and engage the media and entertainment community. The two live newscasts drew over 5,0
LINK: https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/powered-by-the-cloud-taking-...
See more stories from tvb

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

21/08/2026

Clear-Com Appoints Venuetech as its Main Partner for the Middle East

eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......

21/08/2026

Techex Names Stuart Almond as Chief Revenue Officer

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Avid Brings Agentic Media Production to IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Avid brings agentic media production to IBC2026

Avid will unveil how it is transforming production to help media organizations unite content, agentic workflows, and business insights at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterda...

21/08/2026

Grass Valley Connects SDI IP and Software as One Unified...

New routing, modular processing, orchestration and monitoring capabilities bridge dedicated hardware and software-based processing as part of the Dynamic Media ...

21/08/2026

Indiana Pacers Selects DAZN As Exclusive Streaming Partner

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Chyron To Showcase Newsroom Advancements At IBC 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Broadpeak to Launch Multiview as a Service at IBC2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

University of Maryland Deploys Sony FX30 Cameras

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Study: FAST Sports Programming Surges

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Spectrum SportsNet LA Launches in Former Cox Markets

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

ESPN Airs Its Most-Watched WNBA Game

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/08/2026

Wisycom Wireless and DPA Microphones Support Pope Leo XIV...

When hundreds of thousands of people gather to hear a single voice, there is no room for compromise. Every word must be delivered clearly, every wireless transm...

21/08/2026

Telestream and ScorePlay Turn Live Sports into Immediate...

Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, today announced a strategic partnership with ScorePlay, the AI-powered media infrastructure that spo...

21/08/2026

NUGEN Audio Launches New Post and Producer Subscription P...

NUGEN Audio announces the launch of its new Post Plan and Producer Plan, two flexible subscription offerings designed to give audio professionals short term acc...

21/08/2026

Join the Screen Currency 2026 Ask Me Anything (AMA) Online

Join the Screen Currency 2026 Ask Me Anything (AMA) Online 20 August 2026 (L-R): Adrian Coates, Grainne Brunsdon, Deirdre Brennan, Rachael Perkins Got questio...

21/08/2026

Irish Lottery heist documentary to air on RT

Beat The Lotto dives into the plot behind the 1980s National Lottery scandal 24 August 2026 at 9:35pm on RT One and RT Player Beat The Lotto is the story o...

21/08/2026

The Late Late Toy Show kicks off search for this year's stars

The countdown to the most wonderful night of the year has officially begun! Host Patrick Kielty is gearing up for another unforgettable Late Late Toy Show nig...

21/08/2026

New children's series Bellie and Whizz at Big School set to air on RT KIDSjr & RT Player from Monday, 24th August

Meet puppet duo Bellie and Whizz, who are about to explore all the big feelings ...

20/08/2026

NEP's Summer of Soccer Didn't End at World Cup: 1,100+ Domestic Productions Follow the Final

From host-broadcaster and rightsholder support in June and July to MLS, NWSL, US...

20/08/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 27: San Jose Sharks' Emily Garner - Production Tales From the Shark Tank

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: Veritone To Showcase Enterprise AI and Media Supply Chain Automation

At IBC this year, Veritone (14.A56) is bringing two connected themes to the booth: architectural independence in enterprise AI, and the automation of the media ...

20/08/2026

Telestream and ScorePlay Partner to Connect Live Sports Ingest with Media Management

Telestream and ScorePlay have announced a partnership combining Telestream's...

20/08/2026

Grand Slam of Curling and Rock League Sign Multi-Year Deal with ESPN

The Grand Slam of Curling and Rock League have announced a three-year agreement with ESPN, bringing more than 300 hours of live curling coverage to U.S. audienc...

20/08/2026

Nielsen Announces Measurement Enhancements Ahead of Fall TV Season

Nielsen has announced a series of enhancements to its Big Data + Panel currency measurement methodology, taking effect August 31. The updates were developed in ...

20/08/2026

ORF Deploys Net Insight Nimbra Platform for Nationwide IP Contribution Network

Net Insight has been selected by service provider Big Blue Marble (formerly ORS Group) to provide its Nimbra platform as the core media transport solution for a...

20/08/2026

2026 US Open Launches Fan Activations Across New York City

The 2026 US Open will bring a series of free fan activations across New York City ahead of and during the tournament, which runs August 23-September 13. We...

20/08/2026

Bridge Technologies Adds TS Playout to VB330 and VB220 Monitoring Probes

Bridge Technologies will announce a transport stream (TS) playout feature for its VB330 and VB220 compressed monitoring probes at IBC2026 (Booth 1.A71). The fe...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: ENCO To Showcase AI and Automation Solutions

ENCO will demonstrate solutions across captioning, translation, AI production tools, automation, and virtual production at IBC2026 (Stand 7.A34, Amsterdam RAI, ...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: MultiDyne MRMC To Exhibit for First Time as Part of MultiDyne Organization

MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will demonstrate camera robotics and mot...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: Chyron Showcases Newsroom Workflow Solutions

Chyron will demonstrate news workflow solutions at IBC2026 (Stand 7.A23), marking the company's 60th anniversary. Highlights include updates to PRIME HTML, ...

20/08/2026

Spectrum SportsNet LA Now Available to Customers in Former Cox Markets

Spectrum SportsNet LA, the exclusive television home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is now available to Spectrum customers in former Cox markets following the clos...

20/08/2026

IBC 2026: swXtch.io Launches Expanded SRT Distribution and Native Multicast Services

swXtch.io will unveil expanded Global SRT Distribution and native multicast tran...

20/08/2026

Transformation Church Deploys Riedel Artist Intercom System

Riedel Communications has announced that Transformation Church in the United States has deployed a communications system built around the Artist intercom ecosys...

20/08/2026

Apple at 50: Author and CBS Sunday Morning Correspondent David Pogue on How a Tech Giant Became a Media Powerhouse

The bestselling author and longtime Apple observer explores how product launches...

20/08/2026

Orlando Magic's David Storm Reflects on the Franchises First Year With Its New ST 2110 Control Room and Massive Center-Hung Videoboard

The Orlando Magic entered last season with a dramatically upgraded in-venue prod...

20/08/2026

Indiana Pacers Name DAZN Exclusive Streaming Home Beginning 2026-27 Season

Pacers Sports and Entertainment has announced a partnership with DAZN, making it the exclusive streaming home of Indiana Pacers basketball. A team-branded strea...

20/08/2026

Ratings Roundup: Scotty Scheffler Win Tops the Week, ESPN Posts Most-Watched WNBA Game Ever on Cable

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...

20/08/2026

NHL Announces Germany Expansion with FC Bayern Partnership and 2027 Global Series Games in Munich and Cologne

The NHL has announced two major developments tied to its Germany growth strategy...

20/08/2026

SoundBridges TURN server tutorial

Set up your own private remote collaboration infrastructure SoundBridge have recently put together a tutorial video that provides users with a step-by-step ...

20/08/2026

Neyrinck revive Avid D-Control surfaces

New V-Control Pro features restore basic functionality Neyrinck's V-Control software has long been keeping older Avid control surfaces compatible with n...

20/08/2026

ROSE AYLING-ELLIS BEGINS FILMING SERIES TWO OF ITVS BAFTA-WINNING THRILLER CODE OF SILENCE

TV, BritBox and Mammoth Screen have announced that filming is now underway on th...

20/08/2026

Nielsen Incorporates New Enhancements To Improve Its Data Measurement Leading Into The New Fall TV Season

New York August 19, 2026 Nielsen today shared a number of key enhancements t...

20/08/2026

FAST Sports Programming Surges at More Than Twice the Rate of Sports Channel Growth

New Gracenote Data Hub analysis finds sports program titles up 31.2% and individ...

20/08/2026

Charter Completes $34.5 Billion Cox Acquisition

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

20/08/2026

SubtitleNEXT makes a significant leap in localisation eff...

At IBC, Profuz Digital will showcase at stand 8.A88 the SubtitleNEXT platform delivering innovative AI transcription integrations and stunning new features boos...

20/08/2026

Transformation Church Elevates Production Communications...

Riedel Communications today announced that Transformation Church, one of the fastest-growing and most influential digital ministries in the United States, has d...