theibcdaily Saturday 14.09.13 31 Beaming live from Nollywood
PlayBox Technology By Michael Burns
EbonyLife TV has chosen a complete broadcast system from Hall 8 vendor PlayBox Technology, enabling a new HD channel transmitting by direct satellite to subscribers in sub-Saharan Africa. The installation includes ingest, storage, content management, channel branding and playout automation using PlayBox Technology’s flagship AirBox and TitleBox servers. EbonyLife TV is based at Studio Tinapa, Nigeria’s ultra- modern ‘Nollywood’ movie
in-house,” explained PlayBox Technology managing partner and director for sales, Don Ash. “For that reason, it needed a solution which could capture and pass live video and audio content as well as handle pre- prepared files. The system we have provided is capable of easy expansion if or when the station introduces additional channels.”
This is Calabar calling: PlayBox Technology system in operation at Nigerian broadcaster EbonyLife TV
production centre at Calabar in Cross River State.
“EbonyLife TV produces a large proportion of its content
Step into the IP future
IP infrastructures will become essential and can be implemented without a need to replace existing infrastructure contends Geir Bryn-Jensen, CEO, Nevion
Thanks to recent technology and tools advancements and the revenue potential of transporting video and other media content in realtime within the same network, the long held distrust of IP for contribution-level broadcasting is slowly but surely being overcome. The broadcast landscape is
increasingly defined by the changing needs of consumers of content rather than the content itself. As consumers demand anywhere, anytime content access – with the same quality regardless of whether it is viewed on a small or large screen – IP infrastructures will become essential. IP is ideally suited to transporting content in the contribution and primary distribution space. More to the point, IP can be implemented
without the need to replace existing infrastructure – critical in today’s challenging financial climate. While there’s no doubt the
technology is complex, it doesn’t have to be daunting. In very general terms, IP technology offers any-to-any connectivity; it securely transports video signals to one or more receivers in the network from a single interface without having to dig trenches, move cables or add encoders or decoders at the network edge. You can set up or add connections or take them down on demand, quickly and easily. This makes for a flexible and versatile network set-up. The easiest way to approach
IP is to view it as one big virtual video router that spans the globe – replacing traditional router equipment. Another
major advantage is its highly scalable nature: it’s equally well suited to large projects and simple studio-to-transmitter links. Video over IP offers the flexibility to scale bandwidth depending on the required quality of the delivered content. Bandwidth can also be shared among many different applications. While this is one of the biggest benefits of IP, it’s also one of its biggest drawbacks. To save bandwidth, IP
networks are typically overprovisioned which means that the same bandwidth is planned for use by different applications and excessive traffic is dropped on a random basis. For data applications like email and file transfer this isn’t a problem, as lost IP packets will simply be retransmitted without the end user noticing
“The system was assembled in our test centre and configured to suit the requirements of EbonyLife before being delivered,” added PlayBox Technology UK sales director, Ben Gunkel. “Dual high definition servers drive the channel output. The media
any delay or drop in file quality. For live video streams,
however, this kind of overprovisioning is completely unacceptable. To overcome this issue, IP networks maintain quality by differentiating between packet requirements. The goal is to be able to provide constant, guaranteed bandwidth to live services like video streams, while giving less priority to services that aren’t time critical (email, etc). This process is more
complex than it sounds, but nevertheless very possible with good administration and control capabilities – and with the right technology and tools. Service level agreements (SLAs) between broadcasters and network service providers are also enormously significant as customers rightly demand bullet-proof networks and guaranteed performance. Broadcasters need to
understand how their needs fit with established IP service parameters and translate those needs into concrete SLAs. This will allow them to ensure that file integrity and image quality
Geir Bryn- Jensen: ‘One big virtual
video router’
are maintained throughout the contribution video transport process. The inherent flexibility of IP
means broadcasters can take a step-by-step approach when transitioning from their legacy networks. A hybrid legacy-IP network will still deliver many benefits as they look to address the rapidly shifting content delivery landscape. 1.B71
asset management and traffic system power the operation before going to air. A PlayBox Technology MAM server allows operators to access their growing content library. The traffic system provides advanced scheduling with forward planning and reporting for the advertising sales team.” “We wanted a no-hassle complete automation workflow from one vendor,” commented Mo Abudu, EbonyLife TV founder and seasoned broadcaster. “PlayBox Technology has an excellent reputation in Africa and worldwide both for the robustness of its control and playout systems and for the efficient support it provides during initial planning, installation, training and onsite testing.” 8.C30
Opinion
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