MA Lighting’s first entry in the video market a few years back wasn't nearly as successful as its existing control options. While the grandMA was still the console of choice for many media server programmers, the company's video tools just weren’t on the same level. Over the last couple of years, MA's tools have been perfected, culminating in the MA VPU (Video Processing Unit). The biggest advantage of this device is how seamlessly it fits within a grandMA workflow. “If you know the grandMA2, you know the MA VPU,” the manufacturer says.
The feature set of the server itself, while rivaling its competition, is not necessarily ground-breaking. Depending on which flavor of VPU you are using, you have two full HD outputs on most versions (four outputs on the highest version). Up to 32 layers of video are supported, which is much more than the competition. However, only four layers are supported in HD, which is a little less than the competition.
The server comes with a 17GB content library, live video input, sound playback, pixel mapping, and the list goes on. The two basic features that seem ahead of the curve are the internal EDID management and effects. The server has an internal EDID chip for faking connected outputs when they aren’t there and managing them when they are. Competing servers have some EDID support but not to the level of the VPU. As with most other servers, there is a stock effects library, and the VPU also allows you to write and import your own effects.
The real power of the VPU comes
with the seamless integration with the grandMA2. I think “seamless” is an understatement of how intuitively the VPU fits in. The server is plug-and-play, which saves a lot of setup time. Once you have control of the server, the console is populated with thumbnails of all the content on board. You get a preview of what is happening, and you have extremely fine control of every possible aspect of video. As with other devices in an MA System, the server uses the same show file, so by adding a server, you are adding redundancy to the system.
The system uses an intelligent backup structure. One VPU can serve as a backup for multiple machines. If any one machine goes down, the backup can replace that machine from a dialog in the console. If you have a video router, this process can be quite quick, though it doesn’t happen instantly as it does with d3. However, very few other media servers on the market today take advantage of this idea.
If that isn’t enough, the VPU can also feed into grandMA 3D, MA Lighting’s pre-visualization software that can be used to pre-viz console output. You can now pre-viz an entire event with everything from lighting to video and then be ready to go on site.
The VPU fits in perfectly with a grandMA2 and further blurs the lines between lighting and video. It hits a price point similar to its competitors such as PRG's Mbox and has comparable hardware, while bringing the programmer unprecedented control on the already popular console.