22 TVBEurope
www.tvbeurope.com January 2013
The finger and the moon ForumChannel in a Box
By Roman Ceano, general manager, Vector 3
A LOOP was closed in IBC2012 with the presentation of a ‘Channel in a Box solution’ from the world-leading supplier of broadcast equipment. This loop was opened, in all modesty, by Vector 3 on stand 220 (Hall 10) at IBC 1995 when we presented the first system in a class of playout servers that has become popular under that name. Now that this latest passenger is on board, it is time to clarify some historical context and highlight some of the potentially missed opportunities for broadcasters. For some years, the writers of RFIs and RFPs have increasingly included the ‘Channel in a Box’ epithet to mean ‘please do not charge me as if I wanted to buy a space station, I just want to play out TV channels’. On reflection we can say, rather indignantly, that major vendors have also adopted these code words and have stuffed everything together in one chassis to respect them. So
working to add more, going inside both the intricacies of what was later called ‘the wrapper’, and in the esoteric area of compression. At a time when quality was measured in ‘generations’ (ie. number of copies: master, copy, copy of the copy, etc..) to play out ‘masters’ was a very novel feature that amazed our customers.
Super server Subsequently we discovered that because the boards we were using to output video had frame buffers and DVEs, our video server could also display titles, do transitions and provide effects. We added these further features to our products and it was then that we saw that we were in the position of substituting the video server, the CG and the effects generator with a single piece of equipment. My background as an economist told me that with the number of channels growing exponentially, each one would want to have a recognisable brand when aired in satellite bouquets or cable packages and
Moreover, these leaders in automation were — and most of them still are — unable to control a server that includes titles and effects
now they point to their box to say ‘look at me, I am not as expensive as I used to be’. When we created VectorBox in
1994, we essentially started from a clean sheet of paper as far as the broadcast industry was concerned and not from a position of running hitherto separate products in a single chassis. The driving idea of our design was to build a video server based on standard computer technology that gave broadcasters the benefits of connectivity that Ethernet was giving to many other branches of industry. Since NLEs were using
microcomputers and LANs were starting to be used to move files from one to another, we looked at adapting these innovations into the playout space. Our servers accepted files coming over Ethernet and played them straight, with no need to pass them to a tape. In these early days only some formats were accepted. We started
the inclusion of graphics would be a singular benefits to these burgeoning channels. Initially our aim was to sell this ‘super server’ into the playout market by offering it to be controlled by any third-party automation, and of course we looked to the market leaders to develop this area. When we started looking in depth, however, we discovered that the ‘standard’ protocol used by the industry was more the sum of the protocols of all the video servers than a true ‘lingua franca’. Moreover, these leaders in automation were, and most of them still are, unable to control a server that includes titles and effects. With this avenue closed to us we started to implement the control of our ‘super server’ with our own automation system as well as marketing it to be controlled by third party automation. Since 1988 we have been selling a master control room automation that ran over a PC and have been quite
TV stations have installed Vector 3’s MCR software in the same chassis as its video server
Now that this latest passenger is on board, it is time to clarify some historical context
The idea behind VectorBox was to build a video server based on standard computer technology that gave broadcasters the benefits of connectivity
successful in our local markets and further afield. Breaking the acceptable
‘mould’ and using our own automation with VectorBox had some commercial challenges as it closed many doors guarded by the established automation providers. It, however, proved beneficial, technically, as we developed a greater understanding of the demands of the master control room environment and were able to develop increasingly sophisticated solutions on standard computer hardware in advance of anyone else. In retrospect, it was a good decision as we were able to accelerate the evolution of master control room automation, which had evolved very slowly compared with automation in other industry sectors. Some TV stations started installing our MCR software in the same chassis as our video server and this startled us in the beginning. Then, we thought that
if we were selling video servers that boasted Ethernet connectors and were able to title in an era when for big vendors just to play video from hard disk was a major achievement, why not be even more eccentric and put the whole thing in a single box? My most vivid remembrance
of this period is that of an old engineer from the BBC who visited our stand in the times we were in the back corner of Hall 8. He was close to retirement and wandering through the halls looking at what was on offer and was attracted by a poster on our wall announcing ‘TV in a box’. After sitting intently through our demonstration featuring graphics and effects coming from the VectorBox that was playing files from any NLE, he said “I feel really old now”. He thought that to have the MCR and the video server in the same machine was nonsense but was amazed by the rest of the things he saw.
Evolution So, stuffing things in boxes is amusing but is not the main point to be made here. The main point is that back then, as it is today, to use available computer technology and its ever increasing power, resources and diverse features to build facilities that can operate efficiently and economically, is a rational and forward-thinking thing to do. We have not arrived at a particular place in this evolution, merely passing a milestone on the continuing journey of seeking ever more power, sophistication and capabilities from solutions in this area due to the fact that they have been developed on IT-based platforms that continue to offer more and more possibilities. There have been recent
developments in the area of redundancy and how our MultiPlay is able to manage ever more complex workflows by taking advantage of new Gigabit LANs, and in the area of NAS/SAN and file-based cart machines, etc. Other exciting ways of setting up workflows have been available to our customers long before being available to the customers of traditional solutions providers. We have been developing our solutions for over two decades in the frontier between computer and broadcast technology. Using these technologies we have sometimes put everything in a box or developed distributed architectures depending on the needs of the project. But do not be misled, neither this nor the price is the key. The key is how amazing things can be done with today’s IT technology, no matter how many boxes you use to do them.
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