Profile: Chyron Corp (CHYR.O)

Chyron Corporation, incorporated on April 8, 1966, is a provider of graphics as a service for on-air and digital video applications including newsrooms, studios, sports broadcasting facilities, and corporate video environments. Chyron’s graphics solutions include the Axis World Graphics (Axis) online content creation software and order management system, on-air graphics systems, clip servers, channel branding, and graphics asset management solutions, all of which may be incorporated into its BlueNet end-to-end graphics workflow. It also offers a suite of professional services that encompasses creative services and project management. The Company develops, manufactures, markets and supports hardware and software products, which are designed to provide broadcast-quality graphics and audio for live and pre-recorded productions and to improve workflow and video asset management for broadcast operations. The AXIS Graphics Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications provide Web-based, self-service graphics creation for distribution to broadcast systems, the Web, mobile and print without the need for specialized systems or software.

The Company offers a range of graphics products, which are designed to provide broadcast-quality, real-time, HD/SD, 2D/3D, graphics creation and playout for television stations, networks, video production and post-production markets. AXIS Graphics is available to the broadcast and video constituency. Axis World Graphics provides a Web interface for creating looks for television stations.

Broadcast Hardware Products

The Graphics System/CG family is comprised of real-time, 2D/3D graphics platforms and systems that integrate a Windows front end with real-time video processing to provide performance for television graphics applications. The HyperX3.1 and LEX3.1, can also play out 3D (three dimensional) stereoscopic graphics. The HyperX3.1 is its graphics system, is used by major local, regional, national and international facilities. Its broadcast graphics systems run Lyric and Lyric PRO, graphics creation-to-playout software, system-specific software; and/or a variety of third-party applications and plug-ins. Extending Lyric beyond its own systems, it also offers Lyric plug-ins to Avid and other non-linear editing systems. Lyric PRO offers manual update, as well as an indispensable set of update tools. Optional, third-party live data import applications can be added for linking data from websites, RSS feeds, Social Media sites, and news services. Lyric-based systems integrate with its CAMIO newsroom integration and graphics/video asset management, as well as its iRB rundown builder, enabling journalists and producers to remotely create graphics, based on Lyric templates for playout on Lyric-based systems. Lyric PRO is the cornerstone of its BlueNet end-to-end workflow and order management system.

Channel Box features 2D/3D design and playout for branding applications, including tickers, crawls, snipes, bag and tag, promos and end-credits. The system’s real-time video, graphics effects, clips, and audio can be integrated with automation, or the system can be used as a standalone branding device. Station promos only need to be built once, and Channel Box automatically adjusts the animation lengths for new voice-over tags, text and graphics during the live broadcast and credit squeezes at the end of shows. It adds revenue-generating commercial content, advertising show sponsors or coming-up next promos.

Advanced wavelet compression is designed to provide storage and playout of channel branding, promos, snipes and DSK. XClyps can be easily integrated as a single system, or multiple XClyps systems can be networked. Built on Microsoft. NET Technology, assets can be transferred across the network. Due to an application environment that provides maximum flexibility, XClyps can be controlled remotely via VDCP, Grass Valley, PBusII protocol, Intelligent Interface protocol over serial or TCP/IP, and GPI.

AXIS Graphics and Software as a Service (SaaS) - Graphics on Demand

The AXIS Graphics is a Web-based solution for online graphics production. The AXIS Graphics suite of Web-based services and applications are designed to provide proven workflows, including quick creation of customizable, high-resolution maps, financial quotes, three-dimensional (3D) charts and graphics, weather displays, plus a virtually unlimited set of tools to create topical news graphics.

Software Products

The Company's broadcast graphics systems run Lyric and Lyric PRO, its graphics creation-to-playout software, system-specific software, and/or a variety of third-party applications and plug-ins. Lyric is a graphics creation and playback application that is provided on its graphics systems. Using Lyric, graphic artists can create multi-layered 2D/3D graphics on a Duet system or offline, on a PC for later playout/export to broadcast. Content can be created in one location and transported by local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) to another device or facility using standard network protocols.

Major features include intelligent transitions that enhance live broadcast, by enabling playback of transition elements and messages in any order, at any time; live data update executed within transition; continually rendered static and animated graphics, allowing transitions to be executed at will; control of multiple scene graphs for support of animations; persistent elements completely integrated with graphic animations, and 3D texturing.

Lyric and Lyric PRO offers additional functionality to its 3D text renderer. Lyric PRO has expanded touch screen hardware support for Lyric’s Touch GraphX, which gives a presenter the ability to trigger Lyric PRO graphics via a touch screen. Lyric PRO’s Touch GraphX enables creation of touch-enabled graphics. Lyric PRO offers manual update, as well as a set of update tools.

Newsroom Integration and Asset Management

CAMIO's asset management tools, search engine and visual browser enable locating graphic templates, enter text for titling and select images and move files to complete the graphic. Completed objects are associated with a story, and then the stories are ordered by the NRCS and sent to a Chyron system playlist for playout to air. Changes in the newsroom rundowns are automatically and instantly reflected on the Chyron output devices, offering a streamlined and accurate newsroom production environment. MediaMaker, a technology that integrates Chyron graphics with file-based workflows, uses CAMIO content management and Lyric file-based rendering to create graphics for use in editing systems such as Apple Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Adobe After Effects. This extends the entire BlueNet workflow including Axis World Graphics content creation and order management system, into the editing suite. MediaMaker gives video editors and graphic designers access to the same graphics and animations that are being used live on the air.

The integration of Adobe XMP metadata into CAMIO enables the packaging of configurable metadata with files. It can be used within CAMIO to auto-populate template fields in the graphic and enables conditional use of graphics in a template. Errors are minimized and naming conventions can be automatically enforced, resulting in time savings. XMP metadata can also be mapped into CAMIO’s default metadata fields to expedite searches.

Chyron's order management system (OMS) enables a journalist or producer creating graphics from the Chyron LUCI interface from within a newsroom computer system, from LUCI within iRB, or from the order interface itself, via a Web-based interface. The journalist or producer can specify deadline, description and metadata, and can attach files. Once the graphic is fulfilled and uploaded by the art department, it is automatically placed in the story without further intervention by the journalist or producer.

The Company competes with Vizrt Ltd., Harris Corporation’s Inscriber subsidiary, Miranda, Pixel Power, Orad Hi-Tec Systems Ltd., Avid Technology, Inc. and Ross Video Ltd.