60 TVBEurope Forum Channel in a Box
support its services in Germany, Asia and New Zealand. Each server is located at the local transmission platform’s network operations centre where it provides a complete channel as a high quality digital feed. The only connection between the EdgeBox and TCI’s headquarters in London is via the internet. This transports all video material, subtitles, captions and graphics as well as playlists and monitoring data between the remote site and TCI’s operations headquarters in London, making the whole system schedule-driven. Each EdgeBox is configured with full redundancy and includes AirBox playout servers, supplied complete with multi-channel audio and SafeBox content management. Each receives files, sent via the internet and based on FTP, that include media and playlists from TCI in London. It then checks it has the required media to fulfil the playlists, sending a list of any missing media items back to HQ. Errington: The Customer required a unique solution to a re-broadcast requirement, taking three live input feeds, opt-out ad insertion, and opt-out programming, all time delayed. Traditional solutions would have required several pieces of equipment to achieve this, but the Oasys solution was capable of using a standard server and, with software
signal routing, implement it in a single playout device. Two live input feeds are switched based on time of day, as well as a manual operator override. The live throughput of the inputs is passed through to a trigger de-embedder that provides GPI switching for advert opt-out. A copy of the live throughput is internally switched into the advertising insertion software (Local) where it can be reviewed in realtime. From there, it is internally switched to a further opt-out allowing for switching to a third input if the re-broadcast rights don’t exist for the main live inputs. The opt-out is controlled by a separate GPI signal de-embedded from the main feed. The final signal from the multi-combined pass-through and playlist is then internally
Jan Weigner, Cinegy
switched into a final process which delays the channel by 15 minutes for re-broadcast. Gilbert: The New Zealand Racing Board is the most recent company to move to ChannelMaster. Its channels have a mixture of live horseracing from home courses and around the world — which requires some manual intervention — and scheduled programmes, which might be a live discussion or a packaged content. They wanted to broadcast 24-hours-a-day, which they could not achieve without automation. However, they also wanted the operational flexibility for manual as well as fully automated control, and they required strong branding and lots of graphics. ChannelMaster was perfect for them. Mehring: A major US broadcaster had a hybrid automation system that included an end-of-life in-house system and Crispin for live events. They required a change to the in-house system, as it was no longer economical on a number of levels including system, component and personnel issues. The system had a number of bugs and wasn’t future-proof, and therefore was unable to grow with the pace of the business. The broadcaster moved to the Snell ICE system to build on a standard ‘IT’ platform and to ultimately reduce costs.
Rose: Located just outside Dallas, Westar Master Control Services currently provides video playback services to 15 commercial and public broadcasting customers and is a fully owned subsidiary of New York-based All Mobile Video (AMV), one of the USA’s premier providers of end-to- end video and audio solutions for entertainment, sports, news programming and events. When the company decided to launch an outsourced centralised master control service, they knew that a core component would have to be the most dependable playout solution they could find to streamline operations for all the stations served. iTX, the most widely deployed integrated playout solution in the industry, is the only playout system to have proven scalability, coupled with unprecedented speed of channel deployment and format flexibility. In Westar’s case, each iTX output server is also equipped with graphics capabilities that can be used to enhance channel branding and differentiate individual services. Shell: Africa 24 recently installed the Pebble Beach Systems Stingray Channel-in- a-box solution at its 24-hours- a-day, seven-days-a-week Paris transmission centre. It integrates into the broadcaster’s existing technical infrastructure, offering automatic media movement
from the current media SAN. Stingray’s native 2D Flash graphics playout capability is deployed to deliver graphics which are dynamically updated when breaking stories arrive, and Stingray’s audio and DVE functionalities are used to generate transitions between news segments. Smith: One such example is a European media enterprise that sought to launch multiple new channels on an aggressive schedule. Leveraging Imagine Communications’ Versio integrated playout system enabled the customer to successfully meet their short timelines while minimising space requirements, lowering operational costs and complexity versus discrete components, and allowing for easy future channel expansion. Straight: This year,
Copenhagen played host to the 59th Eurovision Song Contest. At the red carpet opening ceremony, broadcast live from the Copenhagen City Hall Square, ToolsOnAir played an integral part. Working from OB vans, Best Broadcast Hire used ToolsOnAir just:live production software to streamline the playout of artist interviews and video clips. In live interviews direct from the red carpet with each contestant, lower third graphics with artist information were integrated in realtime with the video feed, then simultaneously broadcast live and streamed over the web. just:live delivered the high quality video and audio playout, while the integrated playout engine provided back-to-back playout of mixed codecs, aspect ratios, pixel sizes and field orders. Interactive realtime graphics can be integrated to display live source-data, including news or stocks tickers and weather feeds. The tight integration with composition:builder, our graphics template creation tool, enables pre-produced templates to be layered on top of the video layer, which enables content changes to be made during playout and delivered in realtime. Warman: The CiaB deployment at Fox Sports 1 is a good example, as this application required technical sophistication, as well as media workflow and control. The broadcaster met these requirements by combining the Harmonic ChannelPort system with third-party automation; in this case, Snell Morpheus. Fox
www.tvbeurope.com August 2014
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