Broadcasters from around the world gather at the 2006 ENPS Client Conference

Las Vegas - At the 2006 ENPS client conference, Product Manager Bill Burke and Mike Palmer, AP’s Director of Broadcast Digital Distribution Systems and Strategy gave the attendees a glimpse into the future of ENPS, AP’s industry leading news production system. Representing all corners of the broadcast industry, the attendees were given unprecedented access to the entire team of managers and developers that make ENPS the standard bearer for newsroom production.

“The idea behind the client conference is to allow our customers direct access to the people responsible for the core technology in their newsrooms. Customer feedback has always been a priority for us because they’re the ones who use it to produce the news and often have valuable input because of that experience,” said Burke. “Many of the popular features in ENPS are a direct result customer input.”

The primary topics of discussion were the new features in ENPS 5.0, on display at NAB. The My ENPS feature has been enhanced to allow users a top level view of their most critical material. My ENPS now stores dynamic searches of any wire or local content and monitors media folders for new video, still, or graphic content. Journalists using ENPS as part of a group can now see remote rundowns and assignment information from remote sights. And the new tabbed list window lets users go back and forth between the My ENPS window and the list window.

Additionally, the new script media pane provides an area in which all media (video, audio, stills) can be previewed in line with the text that describes the media. This lets the journalist see all the visual elements that make up their story at a glance.

Other new features shared with the conference attendees included the new “always on” briefing bar and the detachable ActiveX window. This new feature allows users to run up to three plug-ins in the window and tab between them. This means that users can, for example, have a web browser, graphics plug-in and a non-linear editor plug-in open simultaneously. The widow can be sized to full screen or displayed on a second monitor.

A good example of this functionality is the new integration of Apple Computer’s Final Cut Pro non-linear editor with ENPS. Using a third party plug-in made by Gallery, editors using Final Cut Pro can now see ENPS scripts and rundowns within Final Cut Pro, and with the ActiveX component, producers can review the published Quicktime material in ENPS. The published Quicktime material can also be previewed in the new script media pane.

About AP
The Associated Press is the world's oldest and largest newsgathering organization, providing text, audio, news photos, graphics, video and technology to more than 15,000 news outlets worldwide. More than 3,300 television stations, radio stations and networks in more than 50 countries use its broadcast news software and systems, including ENPS, AP NewsCenter and AP NewsDesk. AP's broadcast division is based in Washington, D.C.