Today, there is little news production equipment that doesn’t claim to be MOS-compliant, and most new installations are specifying MOS-compliancy. So it’s more than likely that there is MOS in your future. Beyond the acronym and the hype, what are the benefits of MOS? And how does it help produce a superior news production?

First, let’s define some basic terms. MOS stands for “Media Object Servers,” such character generators, still stores or clip players. These are often called MOS Servers, although it’s a bit redundant. A MOS Object, or simply media object, is a CG image, still or clip created by a MOS Server. NRCS could refer to a newsroom system such as iNews®, ENPS® or Dalet.

In the MOS Protocol, the MOS Server sends metadata and pointer information about MOS Objects such as clips and graphics to the NRCS. The producer can insert these MOS Objects into a story. The NRCS then builds a “running order,” or sequential list of all the MOS Objects needed to play a story to air, and then sends that “running order” back to the appropriate MOS Servers.

MOS compatibility provides two considerable advantages to the news production workflow. The first is the MOS Protocol itself. By adopting a common communication protocol, the industry benefits from improved interoperability among equipment. This means that broadcasters have a wider range of choices, and vendors have further opportunities to port products between platforms and to enhance feature sets. In the short term, this often means replacing existing proprietary formats that have worked well for a long time - an unsettling proposition. In the long term, however, MOS is a rich and extensible protocol, and is bound to grow and develop as user needs evolve and additional products come on board.

A prime example of the functionality provided by MOS is demonstrated in the process by which an automation system can intercept the open standard MOS communication between the newsroom system and the media servers. This enables the automation system to monitor the creation of media objects, and then to control playback of the media objects while receiving updated rundown information from the NRCS.

The second significant advantage of MOS is the introduction of a networked GUI interface for controlling media servers from the newsroom client. This is usually referred to as the MOS ActiveX® Control. The following image shows Chyron’s MOS ActiveX Control running within an NRCS client. It is a template-based CG control interface designed for quick creation of the most common types of news graphics.

ActiveX is a software technology that allows a small application to run inside another as if it were part of that larger application. In this case, Chyron’s ActiveX is called up from the ENPS or iNews client and used to create a graphic and insert it into a story. The Chyron® MOS ActiveX is easy to operate and supports many standard Windows® operations such as cut-and-paste editing and drag-and-drop. It also supports keyboard shortcuts for users who prefer not to use the mouse.
Chyron enables the NRCS to offer a wide assortment of MOS interfaces. In some instances, these Active X Controls can interact with each other in interesting manners. It could be possible, for example, to drag and drop an image file from one MOS Server such as a still store, into another one, such as a CG, using Chyron’s MOS ActiveX Controls.

There are undeniable benefits to MOS compatibility. It should be noted, however, that in the fast-paced, high-pressure world of news production, any change is apt to be problematic. Adopting a MOS solution for graphics considerably impacts the entire workflow. Significant, up-front planning and training is required to bring the operation up to speed. The entire news production team must be involved: the newsroom staff, Engineering, IT, Graphics, control room and the newsroom/production studio. Looking forward, however, integrating MOS provides an opportunity to more effectively manage the creation and flow of graphics assets.

Successful transition to a MOS newsroom system requires a team approach and careful forethought. Like most operations in the broadcast industry, news production workflow differs widely from one facility to another. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. At Chyron, we have developed a training program based around the various “roles” in news production and how they interact. While the title and number of people performing each role may vary widely, the roles should be clearly defined before installation and training commence.

The most pivotal role in the MOS graphics operation is that of the system administration staff, usually comprised of one or two persons from the engineering and/or IT departments. MOS System administration goes well beyond networking issues such as IP addresses and firewalls. The MOS administrator must also coordinate the content, the playout machines and the users. How will the content be organized? How will it be labeled and sorted? Should users be segregated into specialized groups with tailored access rights?

The graphics department creates the content used by the MOS system. This includes the standard templates and shells that are used every day, plus the full-screen and over-the-shoulder images used to highlight stories. The MOS upgrade brings in asset management tools and metadata policies for handling all media objects.

For the graphics creation process to be efficient, the primary concept to keep in mind is “reusability.” Images should be created that can be repurposed in a variety of formats, with standardized resolutions and aspect ratios. Standardization of graphics brings a unified, strongly branded look to the news production. It is also vital that the team define and enforce a metadata policy. Without correctly-formatted metadata entered when the graphic is created, it becomes difficult to locate and reuse an image.

The newsroom is where the rubber hits the road and the most significant changes occur when MOS is implemented. It is also where the most resistance is felt when the new workflow is introduced. The MOS ActiveX Control enables reporters and producers to accomplish everything from filling out template-based graphics to editing clips. Since the newsroom staff is directly involved in graphics creation, accuracy can be greatly improved.

How readily, however, will a new method of graphics creation be accepted? At the outset, these changes could make it more difficult for the news staff to meet their deadlines, therefore, the initial implementations should be kept simple. Shortcuts should be in place to quickly insert the most commonly used graphics (e.g., reporters’ lower-third supers, live locators, etc.). Fumbling for a mouse could be distracting and hinders a speed typist. Will every producer want to preview their graphics and create their own OTS graphics? If not, the desktop news production world makes it easy to pass that task along to another staff member working on the same story in the NRCS system.

Finally, in the production studio, a MOS-produced news story is ready to go to air. A number of factors come into play, all of which require pre-show planning. How many playback channels are available, how are they usually used, and does the MOS System know to send the correct graphic to the correct channel? Is playback triggered by automation, a live CG operator or the TD operating a GPI button? Can the MOS System accommodate all of these scenarios?

MOS Protocol allows last-minute changes to graphics, and running orders to automatically be sent from the NRCS to the playout machines. This is critical to producing cutting-edge, breaking news stories. Will the studio operators know how to react when this happens? Will the playout machine behave on air? These key questions must be considered while evaluating, installing and commissioning a MOS graphics system.

MOS benefits dovetail neatly with the industry trend towards desktop news production. MOS brings control to the networked news client, right on the desktop computer, providing more creative content and the ability to easily make the last-minute changes endemic to breaking news situations. The result is greater efficiency in the newsroom and a high-caliber, polished news production.