Another of NRK’s employees’ “inventions” is the multi-camera server recorder.
Normally when capturing video material you can just capture one camera’s stream to the computer/hard disk at a time. So previously when I wanted to capture two cameras live I had to route each camera to a different computer, and then synchronize with TC (timecode). It works, but is a hassle and well for every camera you need a computer with TC and video capture capabilities. (This setup is part of the racks and network we have available at the University, nothing easy to take with you.)
(Video-mixer – for mixing the show live. From POTW 02 2007)
With this invenstion, instead of backing up each video-camera’s content to its own tape, they backup all of the cameras (up to eight – from what I understand) directly to their servers. This way they can see “on-the-fly” whether the backups are being saved as they should. This solution saves them a lot of time and even a whole position while out “in the field” (transportable?). Previously they always needed a person responsible to check that all camera’s were being correctly recorded to the tape decks, the VB position. See the original post at NRKbeta.
Basicly creative use of hard-disk video recorders/servers (EVS?).