Avid Updates Its Subscription-Based Production Ingest And Playout Solution, Avid | Stream IO

Today, in a press release, Avid, the media tech and tools developer, announced updates to its Avid | Stream IO software subscription platform for broadcast production ingest and playout, including additional channel count, playlist building, closed captioning and new codec support.   

“To improve performance, Avid | Stream IO’s channel count has doubled to now support up to eight channels in a single system, with the flexibility to configure inputs and outputs freely,” the release said. “This is in addition to the existing four channel configuration available since launch. Enabling eight channels in a single solution delivers greater value to customers by reducing the overall cost per channel.”

Alongside the increased channel count, content teams are now able to build media playlists ready for playback during production directly from the Avid | Stream IO web remote console. Calling this development “ideal for manual operation,” Avid said it also offers “a solution for business continuity” by providing a back-up should studio playback automation be unavailable for any reason, “meaning shows can stay on air in the event of such a failure.”

With this release, Avid | Stream IO now supports closed captioning on playout, giving teams the option to preserve and include closed captions on both ingest and playout. Increased codec support is also now available, with AVC-LongG12 and 25 formats added. 

Avid | Stream IO runs on COTS hardware and is available through subscription. Together with the Avid FastServe® family of video server solutions, Avid | Stream IO provides a range of options for media content producers seeking to upgrade from their existing Avid AirSpeed® systems. 

Tim Claman, Chief Product Officer at Avid, explained in the release, “The enhancements in this new release of Avid | Stream IO are part of our drive to enable Avid customers to stay ahead of the increasing demand to accelerate the delivery of quality news, sports and live entertainment content.” 

Since the introduction of Avid | Stream IO in August, a growing number of broadcasters – including BQ Prime (formerly BloombergQuint) and RÚV in Iceland – have been taking advantage of its continuous stream of ingest and playout innovation, the company said. “With a flexible architecture that can be configured to ingest or play out SDI streams today and in the future various IP-based formats, Avid | Stream IO allows production teams to migrate from legacy workflows and on-premises deployment to cloud and IP workflows at their own pace,” said the release. “It also allows them to increase efficiency by combining different ingest sources in a single configuration. ”

Designed especially for live entertainment and multi-camera productions, Avid | Stream IO supports all common production formats​, including SDI. Compressed IP streams SRT / RTMP are coming soon, while NDI and then SMPTE 2110 will follow later next year​.  

For more information, visit www.avid.com/products/avid-stream-io