Tutorial: How to Use the Grass Valley T2 iDDR in Your Worship Video Workflow
Combining the versatility of a ton of I/O ports and file format support, along with the security of an embedded OS and user-friendly hardware controls, the Grass Valley T2 provides you with a recipe for success. In this tutorial, I’ll introduce you to the Grass Valley T2 iDDR and how it can easily integrate into your house of worship video workflow.T2 iDDR Panels and I/O
The T2 from Grass Valley is a complete self-contained A/V playout appliance designed to be rackmounted. On the front (Figure 1, below), you will find a 7” LCD touchscreen, USB ports, 1/4” headphone jack and hardware shuttle controls, just like a traditional VTR.


Workflow Issues the T2 Solves
Sure, you could use the PC as a makeshift playout server, but the T2's value really shines in two key areas, versatility and security. How often does something like this happen at your church: “Hey, are you the AV guy tonight?” “Yeah.” “Can you show my video in the service?” “Sure can, what do you got?” “It’s a YouTube video my cousin made for me.” “Okay, let's see what you have. I’m sorry, we are all Mac, we can only use H.264 or QuickTime videos.” “Oh, okay. I guess I’ll just use my backup then. Thanks.” With the T2's extensive file format support, that same interaction could look more like this. “Hey, are you the AV guy tonight?” "Yeah.” “Can you show my video tonight at the service?” “Yeah, I’ll take care of it.” The T2 supports a wide variety of modern and legacy codecs and file formats (Figure 4, below) in standard and HD, eliminating a pain point like this. That is just one aspect of the T2's versatility.
Security
Now let’s look at security. Have you ever come into the booth before a service and found files saved to the desktop or video games installed on the PC? The T2 features an embedded version of Windows that can't be automatically updated by Microsoft and won't allow users to install anything undesirable (Figure 5, below).
T2 Storage Options
Combining the versatility of a ton of I/O ports and file format support, along with the security of an embedded OS and user-friendly hardware controls, the Grass Valley T2 provides you with a recipe for success. The Grass Valley T2 was recently updated and reintroduced as the series 2 models with better and faster storage options. The T2 recorders are available in three versions, but the only difference between them is the storage (Figure 6, below).
Grass Valley T2 Series 2 iDDR Intelligent Digital Disk Recorder/Player
Grass Valley designed the compact 3-channel (1-record/2-playback) T2 intelligent digital disk recorder (iDDR) to be flexible, cost-effective and high-performing with three levels of storage configurations — Express, Pro and Elite.
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Grass Valley T2 EXPRESS Series 2 Recorder/Player with 2x 500GB HDD RAID-0
$12,980.00 |
Grass Valley T2 Pro Series 2 Recorder/Player with 4x 500GB HDD RAID-10
$15,980.00
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Grass Valley T2 Elite Series 2 Recorder/Player with 2x 1TB SSD RAID-0
$19,980.00 |