January 2014

44 TVBEurope The Workflow Streamlining a Dutch workflow

Philip Stevens discovers how an upgrade has helped delivery to multi-platforms for a regional broadcaster

OMROEP FLEVOLAND is a regional radio and television station for Flevoland, the smallest of 12 provinces in the Netherlands. With studios located in the province’s capital, Lelystad, the broadcaster’s primary focus is news and weather, but it also offers various programmes covering culture, human interest and sports closely linked to the province. Its 24/7 programmes are broadcast via digital terrestrial, cable and the web. Plans call for a switch to fully HD transmissions in April 2014. During 2013 Omroep Flevoland initiated a project to streamline its production workflows to meet its viewers’ growing demands for multiscreen, multiplatform viewing. More than that, because it delivers breaking news across many forms of media, it wanted a solution that would enable the publishing of

content across radio, TV and the Internet without creating and duplicating content.

“After some careful research, we decided to purchase GV STRATUS from Grass Valley,” explains Bram Liplijn, the broadcaster’s CTO. “We were already familiar with GV, using its cameras and vision mixer in the studio. But, just as important, GV STRATUS connected best to our existing workflow.”

on the internet by themselves,” states Liplijn.

Journalists ingest the raw camera material from the CF card into EDIUS and then cut the package for use on the internet. When this item is completed, it is sent to the ‘internet map’. The file is then automatically uploaded to the CarbonFarm which transfers it to the web server. Next, the audio edit is carried out for the broadcaster’s radio outlets. This

www.tvbeurope.com January 2014

Dutch regional broadcaster Omroep Flevoland wanted a solution that would enable easy publishing of content across radio, TV and the internet

The studio centre of Omroep Flevoland

“Nineteen video sizes are made out of the current SD/HD material in the CarbonFarm. We make the material applicable for different platforms, such as iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, Smart TV, web, Nerocasting and archive” Bram Liplijn, Omroep Flevoland

The package

comprised the latest version of the GV STRATUS nonlinear media production tools, a K2 Storage Area Network (SAN), K2 Summit and K2 Solo servers, EDIUS

multiformat nonlinear editing software, and GV Edge integrated playout system.

Stratus: GV STRATUS forms the core of the broadcaster’s multi-platform delivery

Lincolnshire and east Yorkshire. The station will use some students in production roles, but they are guided and mentored throughout by experienced staff. In the studio, Sony EX3

cameras are employed, while a mix of EX1s and Z1s/Z7s are used on location. For vision mixing, Estuary TV utilises a Newtek Tricaster XD850, while a Mackie 1604-VLZ3 is the choice for audio control. Editing is carried out using Final Cut Pro. Back in Birmingham, Sharp

multiviewers are in place in the Master Control Room (MCR), for checking input from licensees, output from the SIMS (located in

Nineteen video sizes “One big advantage of this update is that the journalists can edit from their own workplace. They can also put their edits

a nearby equipment room) and a return feed from the licensees. Evertz Mediator plus Overture playout servers — one for each local outlet — have been installed in the racks room. With future expansion in mind, space has been left to accommodate up to 40 local channels. Evertz has also provided a graphic system for inserting any content that is requested by the local operators. After extensive testing, several

Nevion products were selected for the operations centre. These include the TVG450 JPEG 2000 encoders/decoders for video contribution, the TVG425 IP-to-ASI converter for video

audio file is exported to the GML map. Lastly, the video edit is made for the television broadcast. After editing, this file is sent to the K2. And because the audio and video edit are put in the same system, it provides reliable control of all platforms.

“We use GV STRATUS to direct our CarbonFarm. This is an improvement over our previous situation. Nineteen video sizes are made out of the current SD/HD material in the CarbonFarm. We make the material applicable for different platforms, such as iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, Smart TV, web, Nerocasting and archive,” explains Liplijn.

One future development will see Omroep Flevoland place items on its website much faster. “We are going to work with proxyfiles, transmitted

distribution and the TNS544 for seamless Single Frequency Network (SFN) switching at the transmitter sites. The whole system is controlled and monitored by Nevion’s Connect Management System. “The Gateway allows each Local TV studio to cost effectively contribute video over IP, while ensuring the transmission remains of the highest quality,” states Hall. When it comes to compliance

recording, an Actus system has been installed. The transmission and

network access for Comux is provided by Arqiva.

from the camera on location. Later, when the crew is back in the studio, the HD material will be prepared for television.”

One stop shop

Ed Casaccia, senior director of news product line, Grass Valley, picks up the story. “GV STRATUS allows Omroep to produce a ‘create once, publish everywhere’ consolidated workflow. This means it can be the first broadcaster to cover breaking news from Flevoland on every screen. The objective behind the GV STRATUS approach is to offer a complete, versatile, and software-centric platform for nonlinear media production that adapts to rapidly changing business, operational, and technology needs.”

Now on air The service for London — London Live — will start in early March. Earlier, it was announced that Ericsson would provide key broadcasting services for the channel. These include media asset management, scheduling, graphics hosting, EPG delivery, playout and transcoding. London Live will be supported in its first step towards IP-based delivery with a dedicated ‘cloud’ hosted by Ericsson. Comux will take a realtime feed from Ericsson and deliver it over the network to the National Operations Centre where it is compressed ready for transmission.

GV Edge combines playout nodes, playlist management, media asset management, and graphics management in a single cohesive implementation. It integrates with GV STRATUS to extend the streamlined workflow with dedicated asset management capabilities across channels.

“The whole system at Omroep Flevoland allows for the creation of automated transcode and output workflows based on metadata rules,” reports Casaccia. “These rules run in the background at the system level at all times. This means that newsroom workers don’t have to concern themselves with the technical details of compression types, raster size, closed captioning presentation, and so on, when creating content for multiple distribution platforms. They simply check a pre-configured metadata field that launches the automated transcode workflow, including delivery of descriptive metadata and closed captioning information to the Content Management System and/or Content Delivery Network. It’s ideal for all multiplatform outlets – but especially for local broadcasters with limited budgets and manpower.” www.omroepflevoland.nl www.grassvalley.com

Ed Hall sums up the launch

of local TV: “As well as a commercially sustainable and robust solution, we have also now created the potential to provide an attractive return to the licence holders and to the local TV industry as a whole. www.apple.com www.comux.co.uk www.estuary.tv www.evertz.com www.mackie.com www.nevion.com www.newtek.com www.sharp.co.uk www.sony.co.uk www.standard.co.uk/londonlive

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