July2012 www.tvbeurope.com


TVBEurope 21


Supersport Digital Delivery and Processing Project


SUPERSPORT IS part of the Naspers group in southern Africa alongside Multichoice and MNet and, despite its name, it broadcasts a broad range of channels. Prompted by a request from 20th Century Fox, it initiated a project to set up a structure to accept content delivery as files. Darren Munro, systems architecture engineer, described the system, following an introduction by George Boath of Telestream. One of the biggest challenges


for the whole project was that South Africa is very far away, and bandwidth is a big constraint. While countries in the northern hemisphere expect to have total capabilities measured in thousands of gigabits per second, the relatively few data paths into South Africa offer a capacity an order of magnitude smaller. The bandwidth constraints


forced Supersport to adopt UDP (user datagram protocol) acceleration. While it has experience with Aspera and Smartjog, for this project it went with Signiant because at the time of specification it was offering the best semi- automated process. Like many speakers in the


conference, Munro looked at the people issues. Because the traditional role of the librarian was becoming less relevant, as


fewer tapes were arriving and needing to be managed, the decision was taken to retrain librarians to manage the file- based content ingest. They now operate it on a pull model: the librarian initiates the transfer when they are ready to accept the content. Potentially there are a large


number of suppliers of content to Supersport, and each will have its own preferred format. The workflow within the station has to be designed to reflect this. From the point of ingest content is transferred to an EMC server, from where content can be accessed by other devices. These include a Dolby DP600 audio pre-processor. Dolby developed a protocol for Supersport that enables the creation of Dolby E and stereo soundtracks, with loudness processing, in one pass. Final Cut Pro editors are also connected at


although Supersport’s operational decision was to perform a final QC in baseband, to give the user a real sense of understanding the quality issues, or what Munro described as “checking the checker”. Only at that point is the content transcoded into the target delivery formats, using the Telestream Vantage platform, which also manages the workflows through the system. While the decision was taken to mimic existing workflows in the Vantage system, there remained a challenge for operational staff to conceptualise what they actually do, and a very graphical interface was required to define what the workflows are and how new workflows should complete tasks. Once the workflows are


agreed in graphical form they are encoded into Vantage. As part of a long-term


Darren Munro from Supersport described a project to set up a structure to accept content delivery as files


have to accept that they are notified by email rather than by a colleague talking to them about a problem.


right support is there when you need it. However well designed you think your system is, it will never be fit and forget. You will


Looking at the challenges, Darren Munro came up with a perfect encapsulation of the biggest psychological barrier to new IT-empowered workflows: the conceptual difference between “my tape” and “our files”


this point, where there is a need for further audio processing or for compliance editing. Finally, Wohler quality control tools are attached,


partnership with Telestream new workflows are built, checked and implemented by them, but Supersport engineers are developing the skills in-house to do this in future. Looking at the challenges of


the project, Darren Munro came up with a perfect encapsulation of the biggest psychological barrier to new IT-empowered workflows: the conceptual difference between “my tape” and “our files”. He also said that, while the


Delegates pause for a coffee break and to network with colleagues


Vantage system automatically quarantines and returns files which have failed some process for whatever reason, users now


Discussing the incoming file


formats, Munro had found problems, particularly with MXF files, to the extent that they are questioning whether they need a wrapper. The problems show up at transcoding as well as ingest. The policy is to transcode only when required, and to move a file only when required. That typically means transcode when all the checks and corrections have been completed. Picking up on the continuing partnership with Telestream, he also recommended fostering good working relationships with vendors to ensure the


have iterations, so be prepared for it.


The big benefit the ability to


acquire content as files brings to Supersport is speed, which means it can offer its subscribers day and date screenings of popular content, reducing the temptation for piracy. As an example, one channel showed the latest series of Game of Thrones in the same timeframe as broadcasters in the rest of the world: each episode was downloaded on a Monday morning from the producer and was ready for transmission by Friday. — Dick Hobbs


Continued on page 22


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52