Metus FlashNews

Flashnews is a newsroom computer system (NRCS) that handles the tapeless workflow in news environments, whether in a TV channel or a news agency. It manages all processes from the planning of news programs to the management of the show during on-air. FlashNews makes the job of journalists easier in preparing their stories, and it enables managers to meet every deadline.

An Affordable News Environment Not only is FlashNews itself affordable, it also fits into lower cost workflows. FlashNews does not require MOS, and can use the custom API and playlist formats of affordable playout and CG servers that do not have MOS technology, bringing a feature-rich high end newsroom solution to the industry, without the need for expensive integration and endless testing.

What are the benefits of Metus FlashNews?

• Cleanup - Archive & Seamless Integration with Metus MAM
  After the stories are broadcast, users can optionally send their videos to Metus MAM for archiving. Videos that are not archived by MAM can be automatically deleted after a set period by FlashNews via the built-in Garbage Collection feature. There can be separate deadlines for deleting the video files only, or both the video file and the story itself. Metus MAM, the enterprise media asset management solution, integrates seamlessly with FlashNews.  It is possible to browse and search the MAM directly from the Flashnews interface, copy videos from MAM to the Flashnews workspace, and archive videos from FlashNews’ interface back to MAM.
• Acquisition & News Planning
  The journalists can browse for and collate material to produce their story. They have a variety of information sources at their disposal: wire agencies, rss feeds, websites, the station’s existing media archive, or any external video file. Journalists can browse every source, whether it is a text document, video clip, picture or audio file, from the FlashNews interface. The time and number of the news shows per day, week, month, and an outline structure with placeholders are created on the FlashNews interface. The news stories on individual rundowns are assigned to journalists who can see the tasks assigned to them from their own login.
• Script and Video Editing
  Journalists write the news story, prompter script and CG text using the built-in word processor. As elements of the news story are completed, all users are updated about the state of readiness of the piece.  The journalist can record voice overs and undertake a rough edit from the materials collated in the workspace, using the timeline editor. If extensive video editing and compositing is required, the timeline can be exported to an NLE, rendered and the file imported back into the FlashNews workspace. If only cut editing and voiceovers are required, then rendering of the timeline is processed by FlashNews. The journalist marks the resulting video as the on-air copy and approves it, which notifies other users that the story is completed.
• Rundown Management & On-Air
  The stories are placed inside the rundowns using pre-prepared templates. The interface shows detailed information about the readiness of the stories inside a rundown (reporting issues such as video missing, prompter not approved, cg not approved, etc). Users with the sufficient rights (e.g the news mananagers) can publish the rundown. At this stage, the video clips and CG are listed as a playlist and sent to playout servers or the automation system; prompter texts are sent as a playlist to the teleprompter. Rundowns which are published before they are before they are fully complete can be updated at a later stage. When it’s time to go on-air, FlashNews notifies users of the status of the playout server, that the correct playlist is loaded and whether the playout server is active. Users with the necessary rights, can modify the rundown (add, remove, re-order stories, edit/update incomplete stories) and publish again. When a rundown is published while on-air, all three lists (playout, CG, prompter) are updated and stay in sync. FlashNews can even recognise changes made by playout operators and inform newsroom operators, who then have the option to match the rundown and the CG/prompter lists to the playout or to match the playout to the rundown, with a single command.
• Creative Tools for Journalists
  FlashNews gives journalists key creative tools including:
• A versatile feed and news reader complete with with video player
• A flexible text editor with spell checker and proofing tools
• Timeline based video editor for easy editing and voiceover

FlashNews allows the wires and news pools to be set up in a customizable hierarchy and organization. Users can create source information and story data in a way that suits them.

Built in Video Player and Editor
FlashNews has a graphics browser with thumbnail viewer. This allows journalists to get visual information about the feeds and stories at a single glance. The built-in timeline editors is designed to allow non-specialists to cut effective news clips. The built-in video players preview videos, giving in-out points and previewing the timeline.

Proxy Generation and Transcoding

FlashNews can automatically generate proxy versions of all materials including feeds and media files so that users can view videos without network slowdown issues and play back clips over the Internet. Flashews can also transcode between different formats and render a timeline. All transcode and rendering operations are undertaken on the server side so that users are free to work on other tasks on their client software.

Workflow and Monitoring

The ability to assign news items to journalists makes it easy to distribute and manage the daily work load. Journalists can at all times see which stories are assigned to them. Managers at a single glance view the state of the stories and which parts have not yet been completed. They can even track changes that have been carried out by users.

Security and Comprehensive Management Tools

There are separate and dedicated rights to view, edit, approve, schedule and publish news, which gives the manager complete control over the system. The user action log allows managers to search and browse activities undertaken by each team member.

Extreme Ease of Use & Multi Language

FlashNews is designed to be easy for non-technicians to use. The interface is intuitive, making it simple to operate the system with as few commands as possible. FlashNews is multi-lingual with support for right to left scripts. The user interface can be translated into multiple languages.

Tech Specs:

• Intuitive, graphical user interface, with video thumbnails
• Customizable news edit screen, configurable screen layouts
• Wide variety of input sources (video and text feeds from agencies, RSS, social media feed, web site)
• Intuitive, Outlook style news reader
• Easy and advanced search modes
• Keyword alerts customised for each user
• Seamless integration with Metus MAM, browse and use archived videosin your news production
• Built in video player for previewing and trimming videos
• Proxy file support for network based playback
• Customizable news edit screen, configurable screen layouts
• Custom workspace for each news item, organize all production materials for that news in one space
• Proxy based server side editing and rendering
• Timeline export to popular NLEs, for finishing complex edit projects
• Support for a wide variety of video formats (MPEG2, MXF, DV, H264)
• Desktop client: Win7 Pro, Server: Win2008 Server
• HD support standard
• Extensible User Account, rights, and approval mechanisms
• Desktop and web clients
• Versioning support for news items
• Unicode character support
• Flexible rundown management system publishes all edits instantly to playout, graphics and prompter before or during on-air
• Distributed architecture allows limitless expansion
• Supports various playout, CG and prompter products (check with us for an updated list)