Editor Javier de Martín editor@tmbroadcast.com Editor in chief Jesús Carrillo director@tmbroadcast.com Key account manager Cristina Feduchi international@tmbroadcast.com Creative Direction Mercedes González design@tmbroadcast.com Editorial staff press@tmbroadcast.com Administration Laura de Diego Marga Quevedo administration@tmbroadcast.com
Summary
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Editorial
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PAN SHOT
MAM&Archiving
Present and Future of Broadcast in Peru and Latin America Test: Norwia MiniHUB Frame, RCONmini, OC-4B-SDI, SFP
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TM Broadcast International #24 August 2015
TM Broadcast International is a magazine published by Daró Media Group SL Centro Empresarial Tartessos Calle Pollensa 2, oficina 1 28290 Las Rozas (Madrid), Spain Phone +34 91 640 46 43
Published in Spain
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The future of the living room: Redefining the remote control
Editorial
Low cost vs Premium. It seems that the midrange equipment and systems tends to disappear in our sector, everything tends to be low cost or premium. We are working also on pay-per-use models or upgrade per license. Years ago we were accustomed to expensive equipment which not always work well, a business bubble was created around and it explodes in the past crisis. What it led to all kinds of companies to rethink their equipment and systems to keep selling, and also IT companies began to enter in broadcast market, providing solutions that were not always so good, but they were cheaper. Now we are all in a situation where you can do great things with very cheap equipment that are quite reliable. Should premium equipment disappear? Absolutely not! Companies must provide equipment for both trends, if your company has only low cost or premium equipment, you are in seriously risk of lost the battle.
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Grass Valley Outfits Star India’s Sports Studio with Suite of Live Production Solutions Star India Ltd., one of the leading broadcasters in India and a wholly owned subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, Inc., has engaged Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, to equip its sports studio at Mumbai with a suite of live production solutions. The new equipment will provide the flexibility and productivity to deliver compelling content across multiple platforms, in less time. Equipment purchased includes the Densité modular platform, offering signal management solutions with unmatched simplicity for audio and video signal
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conversion to save time, money and space for single-function applications or processing thousands of signals. The Karrera K-Frame S-series combines the ultimate mid-range switcher performance, proven workflows, and simplified control of complex productions with multiformat support to deliver unmatched creative freedom for highly produced content. When paired with Grass Valley’s NVISION router, designed specifically for broadcast and packed with features to keep audio and video signals flowing smoothly, Star India will be “Future
Ready” to grow its network to better meet viewers’ needs. “Grass Valley is honored to partner with such a highly regarded network that is often seen as an industry leader for adopting the latest broadcast technologies and business models,” noted Andrew Thornton, vice president of sales, Asia Pacific, Grass Valley. “Our end-to-end product portfolio was developed to help organizations expand on their own terms, and we look forward to working alongside Star India to support the growth of Star Sports studios.”
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Avid completes acquisition of Orad Hi-Tec Systems Avid® announced it has achieved another significant advance in the company’s Avid Everywhere™ vision by completing its acquisition of Orad Hi-Tec Systems, a leading provider of state-of-the-art 3D realtime graphics, video servers, and related workflow management solutions. The Orad product lines are highly complementary to the Avid MediaCentral Platform, and allow Avid to further deliver on its commitment to give media organizations and creative professionals more comprehensive workflows with greater choice, flexibility, and operational efficiency. More than 600 customers worldwide currently rely on Orad’s cutting-edge technology to produce graphics, live events, and sports broadcasts. Avid plans to expand its portfolio and distribution network with Orad’s comprehensive line of
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news, channel branding, sports production and enhancement, elections and special events, virtual studios, video walls, and virtual advertisement products. With this expanded capability, media organizations on the Avid MediaCentral Platform should be able to reduce the burden of piecing together disparate fragmented workflows in their production environments, resulting in less complexity, fewer interoperability challenges, and greater efficiency and productivity.
and widely used together by the world’s top media organizations, and we are working aggressively to bring all of Orad’s product lines into the Avid MediaCentral platform quickly. We look forward to keeping the community updated on our progress in the coming weeks and months.”
“Orad has built an incredibly talented team of visionaries and product experts as well as a culture of customer success, and we are thrilled to have them as part of the Avid family,” said Louis Hernandez, Jr., Chairman, President, and CEO of Avid. “Many of Avid’s and Orad’s solutions are already well integrated
- Enhanced integration —Key Orad solutions are already integrated with products on the Avid MediaCentral Platform including graphics integrations with Avid iNEWS newsroom management and Media Composer, as well as video server support for ingest and playout with DNxHD. In the
The combination of Avid and Orad is expected to deliver a number of significant benefits for customers of both companies, including:
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near future, customers should experience enhanced integration between more Avid and Orad solutions. - More comprehensive workflows — Tightly integrating Orad’s products into the Avid MediaCentral Platform is intended to provide media organizations with a more comprehensive, efficient set of on-air graphics and live production capabilities. - Improved efficiency — With less complexity and fewer interoperability challenges, media organizations can be more productive and operate more efficiently when more of their critical workflow solutions are integrated onto a single platform. - Complete choice with an open ecosystem — While the MediaCentral Platform will now include its own line of on-air graphics and live production solutions via Orad, customers will continue to enjoy complete choice over which solutions they want to use in their environments.
2015
- More options for workflow management — Orad’s workflow management solutions are highly complementary to Avid’s asset and workflow management (MAM) solutions, and Avid is working to align the two product lines to provide a more comprehensive workflow management solution for customers of both product sets.
Transaction Overview Under the terms of the deal, Avid paid €5.67 in cash for each share of Orad common stock, which at today’s exchange rate equals approximately $65 million USD, net of estimated cash acquired. The company funded the transaction with the proceeds received from the recently announced sale of its convertible senior notes. Avid expects the transaction to be accretive on an adjusted EBITDA and cash flow basis. In addition, the company expects to provide updated annual guidance in connection with the second quarter business update call, which would include the impact of the transaction.
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Anton/Bauer announces new European Partnership with Holdan Anton/Bauer® has announced a new product distribution agreement with Holdan Limited that will cover the United Kingdom and several other European countries. The manufacturer's range of batteries, ballasts, brackets, mounts and chargers will be supplied by Holdan through its network of qualified dealers and value added resellers. Anton/Bauer joins Holdan's portfolio of high end broadcast equipment manufacturers that include Blackmagic Design, Panasonic, and Datavideo. "The Anton/Bauer product line is a perfect complement to the range of cameras and production accessories that are already available through Holdan," commented Allan Leonhardsen, Director of Holdan. "Anton/Bauer is a trusted brand with over 40 years' experience in battery technology. Their products deliver the lowest total cost of ownership so we are very excited by this opportunity." Welcoming the distribution partnership, Juergen Sommer, VP Channel & Field Sales Enablement for Vitec Videocom said: "Holdan has a proven track record in Europe. We are excited about their ability to develop new market opportunities for Anton/Bauer and enhancing the reach of our existing network. This relationship will help us deliver first class service to Holdan's resellers."
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CANAL+ Group chooses Thomson Video Networks ViBE EM4000 for migration of CANALSAT Offering to all-HD infrastructure
Thomson Video Networks announced that the CANAL+ Group has deployed the awardwinning ViBE® EM4000 HD/SD encoder to power the migration of its entire CANALSAT satellite offering to an all-HD delivery infrastructure based on the H.264 codec. Working in tandem with Thomson Video Networks' NetProcessor multiplexer/video processor, Amethyst III highdensity redundancy switch, and MediaFlexSUITE network management system, the ViBE EM4000 provides premium eightchannel compression density together with broadcast-quality upscaling for the new all-HD service. "The migration of CANALSAT to an all-HD offering is a significant milestone for our company. It was critical that we deploy encoding technology that could provide powerful upscaling capabilities, high density, and features for DVB subtitles and Dolby E transcoding. The ViBE EM4000 is the perfect fit for our requirements," said Frederic Vincent, EVP technology and information systems, CANAL+ Group. "And as a long-time Thomson Video Networks customer, we knew we could count on them to provide outstanding support and product development to meet our needs." The first premium encoder to offer a density of eight HD MPEG4 AVC channels in a 1-RU chassis, the ViBE EM4000 has recently been upgraded with an all-new, broadcast-grade SD-to-HD
conversion capability. By combining premium HD MPEG-4 compression with the ability to upscale an SD video source to HD in a single solution, the EM4000 has enabled CANAL+ to move CANALSAT quickly to an all-HD operation while, at the same time, reducing capital and operating expenses. For the migration project, known as "TOUT HD," CANAL+ has modified its entire head-end architecture to build an all-HD MPEG-4 satellite platform for CANALSAT. The new all-HD offering went live on July 1. "With its global footprint and industry leadership in premium content, themed networks and pay-TV offerings, CANAL+ Group is the perfect customer — and the CANALSAT migration is the perfect project — with which to demonstrate the efficiencies and cost savings of our ViBE EM4000's new upscaling function," said Eric Louvet, vice president, worldwide sales and field services, Thomson Video Networks. "Media enterprises like CANAL+ understand that the ability to broadcast in HD is not only a key differentiator, but it's critical to meeting viewer demand for premium picture quality. With its seamless ability to upscale SD sources and encode HD MPEG-4, in addition to its industry-leading channel density and streamlined management of DVB subtitles, the ViBE EM4000 is the ideal solution for these requirements."
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Vislink equipment selected by Broadcast RF for British Open Broadcast RF has designed a compact and lightweight one-man camera transmitter for use at the Open Championship, which includes Vislink’s L1700 wireless microwave transmitter and Omni antenna. Limited spectrum availability required Broadcast RF to devise a frequency plan that allows for maximum coverage, while retaining a portion of the available RF band to share with news broadcasters and commentators. Vislink’s technology was chosen for its video compression and efficiency benefits, making it possible to transmit seamless HD video from the field. “We’re excited to be back at the Open Championship for the second year. The course is a challenging one for both the players and our team, and we are fortunate to have the best equipment on hand to avoid any issues,” said Chris Brandrick, Sales Director at Broadcast RF. “With a worldwide audience, there really is no room for error. Our engineers and survey team do an unbelievable amount of prep ahead of the event to ensure there are no gaps in coverage, and we rely on Vislink equipment to deliver high-quality, live video of the event.” Using a combination of compact wireless camera back transmitters and a carefully planned receive antenna network connected by fibre optic cables, Broadcast RF will ensure uninterrupted and seamless wireless camera coverage of the event along all 6,721 yards of the course. The receive sites, which were chosen to ensure maximum signal integrity, will include Vislink’s L3025 Down Converter. These lightweight units will be used to feed the received signals back to the TV compound, using Broadcast RF’s bespoke RF-over-fibre extension systems. Careful planning has allowed Broadcast RF to minimise the number of fibre cores required, ensuring uninterrupted coverage. Engineers will map the GPS positions of cameras in real time, enabling them to switch the appropriate receive antennas into the receiver/decoder for each camera, based on which camera will provide the best coverage at any given time. Ali Zarkesh, Vislink’s VP of Product Management added: “Vislink’s complete end-to-end solution gives Broadcast RF a platform to deliver seamless video from the Open Championship. Our systems offer the flexibility to build a completely customised transmission and receive infrastructure to ensure uninterrupted coverage along the entire course, from opening drive to final putt.”
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Bexel e xpands services for Broadcast , Sports and Entertainment in EMEA Market Bexel has continued its international expansion of services in the EMEA market, including the supply of affordable, customised Flypacks. Based in London UK, Bexel have also announced a team of new staff to lead and grow the newly formed EMEA division. Richard Satchell has been appointed managing director of the division. Having served as CEO of Autocue, Satchell will develop and grow the company's business in the EMEA region. Bexel has appointed Neil Coles, formerly of Pinewood Studios, as head of business development for EMEA and Jonathan Endley, previously with SIS LIVE, as business development manager for EMEA. Satchell commented on the expansion of the offerings, "With Bexel flypack solutions and TV production support now available in the UK, we are expertly delivering world-class production solutions and unparalleled engineering support for around the camera, in the studio, and outside broadcast to the EMEA region. In conjunction with our other Production Services brands in EMEA, we can now provide our customers with an unrivalled choice of equipment and services." Bexel is a part of Bexel Global Broadcast Solutions (Bexel Global), the Vitec Group's Production Services business unit and a leading worldwide provider of broadcast services and solutions. Bexel Global incorporates a prestigious group of companies, including Autocue and Autoscript Hire, Bexel, Camera Corps, and The Camera Store (TCS). Collectively, Bexel Global provides a wide range of the latest broadcast equipment and expert-led solutions to the live sports, reality and entertainment markets.
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AFP invests for the future with Quantel’s brand new sQ servers making a total output at least 1,200 media assets every day. In addition to daily news ingest, all system users will have access to the online archive, expected to accumulate up to 3,000 hours of media every year.
International news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has invested in Quantel’s new sQ 1800 servers for its brand new global news production solution. AFP’s Enterprise sQ system supports more than 50 simultaneous users at the Paris headquarters, a large operation in London, 10 further international bureaux and 100+ roving journalists. The sQ 1800 servers are 100%
compatible with AFP’s existing Enterprise sQ system, providing a zero-risk system upgrade with more disk space for original footage and support for more editing workstations. When the new system goes live, scheduled for late 2015, AFP expect to produce more than 100 unique video stories a day, with localized versions for six different markets, all in TV and web formats,
Philippe SENSI, deputy CIO at AFP, said, “The new servers are an investment for the future, allowing us to take maximum advantage of the latest generation of disk and processing technologies. We have developed a close relationship with Quantel and Snell over the past year, with our support team travelling to Quantel and Snell’s Newbury, UK headquarters every two months to work with the development team to debrief and get an update on the project plan.” Tim Thorsteinson, CEO at Quantel and Snell, said, “We’re working very closely with the AFP team to ensure their workflow has the ability to adapt and grow as future requirements in the industry change. The new servers give AFP unbeatable speed from ingest to editing to playout, maintaining its position as one of Europe’s leading fast-turnaround news production facilities.”
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Blackmagic Design products used to complete some of the summer’s biggest films Blackmagic Design announced that a variety of its products were used on some of the summer season’s biggest blockbusters and most anticipated films. DPs, VFX artists and colorists around the world continue to rely on Blackmagic Design to help deliver professional results. Blackmagic digital film cameras were used to shoot scenes and stunt work in blockbusters such as Mad Max: Fury Road and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Fusion Studio was used for compositing and to help create action sequences for Spy and Barely Lethal. And DaVinci Resolve was used to grade highly anticipated films such as Tomorrowland and Magic Mike XXL. - 5 Flights Up, Magic Mike XXL and Ricki and the Flash were graded by Joe Gawler of Harbor Picture Company with DaVinci
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Resolve; - Avengers: Age of Ultron DP Ben Davis used multiple Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Cameras to film stunt scenes; - Barely Lethal and Spy were composited by Jeremy Nelson of Flash Film Works with Fusion Studio; - Best of Enemies was graded by Andrew Balis for Different by Design with DaVinci Resolve; - Diary of a Teenage Girl and Love & Mercy were graded by Tom Poole of Company 3 with DaVinci Resolve; - Lego Brickumentary was graded by Chad Herschberger with DaVinci Resolve; - Mad Max: Fury Road DP John Seale used Blackmagic Cinema Cameras for select scenes; - Manglehorn was graded by Alex
Bickel of Color Collective with DaVinci Resolve; - Results was graded by Brandon Thomas of TBD Post with DaVinci Resolve; - Slow West DP Robbie Ryan used Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera for additional shooting, with color grading done by Rob Pizzey of Goldcrest Post using DaVinci Resolve; - Tangerine was graded by Luke Cahill of Different by Design with DaVinci Resolve; - The Nightmare was graded by Andrew Balis of Wildfire Finishing with DaVinci Resolve; - The Overnight was graded by Aaron Peak of Wildfire Finishing with DaVinci Resolve; - Tomorrowland was graded by Stephen Nakamura of Company 3 with DaVinci Resolve.
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Eunetworks appoints Bubble & Squeak as PR Agency Bubble & Squeak announces that it has won the contract to provide media segment PR, event and marketing services for euNetworks, effective immediately. euNetworks is an established provider of high capacity bandwidth infrastructure in Europe, providing essential, secure networks to enable companies to deliver and move big data. Bubble & Squeak will provide marketing and communications advice and support as euNetworks delivers more bandwidth services to the media community. Kevin Dean, Chief Marketing Officer, euNetworks, said, “We are excited to be working with Bubble & Squeak as our PR agency for the media segment. We are delivering some innovative connectivity solutions in this space and look forward to sharing these by using Bubble & Squeak’s extensive knowledge and experience in the media industry.” Sadie Groom, Managing Director, Bubble & Squeak, comments, “This is an exciting time for euNetworks, as more companies look at their data centre and cloud connectivity options to deliver their content and production workflow. I am delighted the team are working alongside them. Using our collective years of experience and our inside knowledge, we can help develop further opportunities within the UK and Europe.”
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AVIWEST — Exhibiting With Inala Broadcast at Stand C21 At Mediatech Africa 2015, AVIWEST, will demonstrate new enhancements to its Digital Mobile News Gathering (DMNG) system, which has been widely deployed by tier-1 broadcasters in Africa.
Key Product Introductions and Demos DMNG Studio AVIWEST will showcase a new version of its DMNG Studio server at Mediatech Africa 2015 that is capable of receiving incoming streams from DMNG video uplink systems as well as third-party products, such as IP cameras, through a variety of protocols such as RTP, RTSP, TS over UDP, HLS, and RTMP. The new Linux®-based DMNG Studio supports multiple output formats and allows for pointto-point and point-to-multipoint video distribution. Leveraging the DMNG Studio system, broadcasters can input video signals from the studio mixer and stream to the cloud, making the solution a central video hub and interface rather than just a receiver. The DMNG Studio is compatible with all AVIWEST live video transmission solutions, including the DMNG PRO series, DMNG RACK180, and the DMNG APP. Through the application's intuitive user interface, users can easily manage a fleet of remote transmitters and dynamically create live broadcast shows by interacting with remote journalists and selecting the stream to publish on air. The application is available in a variety of configurations to fit unique needs and headend constraints. DMNG APP — Now Available for Android™ and iOS-Based Smartphones At Mediatech Africa 2015, AVIWEST will demonstrate the
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DMNG APP, which turns any smartphone into a live broadcast video camera. Designed with ease of use in mind, the DMNG APP allows any Android™ or iOS-based smartphone user to transmit video content in just seconds. Using the DMNG APP, video professionals can stream high-quality, live video content via Wi-Fi and 3G/4G-LTE networks (even bonding both together for higher bandwidth, coverage, and reliability) or transmit prerecorded video files from anywhere in the world to the DMNG Studio receiver. Fully integrated into the DMNG ecosystem, the application can be remotely controlled through AVIWEST's DMNG Manager, enabling organizations to effectively manage a large fleet of smartphones.
Enhanced Capabilities for DMNG PRO Specially Designed Backpack AVIWEST recently launched a specially designed backpack for the DMNG PRO video uplink system, which will be on display at Mediatech Africa 2015. The backpack is ideal for broadcasters utilizing the DMNG PRO with a handheld camera. The DMNG PRO system can also be mounted on the camera. Using the versatile backpack solution, which can be worn on the back or front, in-thefield news crews are able to carry all of their gear with ease. Integration With Cobham's EXPLORER 710 BGAN Terminal The latest DMNG PRO now comes standard with an exciting new integration with Cobham's EXPLORER 710 BGAN terminal, an ultra-portable satellite antenna. When used during satellite transmission, the Cobham antenna provides real-time information about
the satellite's available bit rate, enabling the DMNG PRO to compress video content accordingly to ensure superior video quality. Enhanced Performance and New Functions In addition to general enhancement of system performance, several new functions have been added to the DMNG PRO system. A new roaming function supporting international SIM cards has been added, allowing the user to select the operator that the SIM will be connected to, gaining increased flexibility. A new, low-frame-rate feature has also been added to the DMNG PRO, which is especially beneficial for low-bit-rate streaming. DMNG Manager AVIWEST will demonstrate new cloud-based capabilities for the DMNG Manager at Mediatech Africa 2015. The DMNG Manager is an innovative server application that enables broadcasters and video professionals to monitor and manage an entire fleet of DMNG equipment including DMNG transmitters, smartphones using the DMNG APP, and DMNG Studio receivers. Through a unified, Web-based user interface, which can be installed through either a cloudbased application or a headend solution, operators can easily allocate resources and route live video content for transmission over 3G/4G cellular wireless, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and satellite networks. The DMNG Manager also includes geolocation capabilities for easy identification of the exact location of each transmission.
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Major Spanish Broadcasters Turn to Live Audiovisual and LiveU Technology for Regional and Local Election Coverage LiveU announced that Live Audiovisual (LIVE!) has provided unprecedented coverage of the recent local and regional elections in Spain with a largescale deployment of LiveU technology across the country. The deal has been overseen by regional LiveU partner Park 7. Major national and regional media turned to Live Audiovisual and LiveU, including: Mediaset; Atresmedia; Forta; Xarxa; 13 TV; RTVCyLeon; TV Extremadura; and El País. Live Audiovisual facilitated the coverage of both last-minute campaigning as well as the evolving overall picture on election day and night with tens of LiveU units working simultaneously as the day progressed. Units from across
with Sky News for the recent UK general elections as well as for elections in India, Greece, and Sri Lanka. Following on from its recent success, and in order to provide enhanced service, Live Audiovisual is now rolling out its network of offices at over 10 locations in Spain, all with IPDSNG flyaway Kaband equipment integrated with LiveU units. the company’s range were deployed, including the small but powerful LU200. They were used both independently as well integrated with Ka-band flyaway technology. LiveU’s technology has been widely deployed globally for election coverage as media outlets recognise its power and flexibility. This includes a major partnership
Zion Eilam, Head of Business Operations Europe, LiveU, said, “It’s very gratifying to see deployments on this scale as our technology continues to grow in popularity. It’s now a question of how the technology can be used, not whether it should be used, and nowhere is this clearer than in the case of election coverage, where it’s simply ideal.”
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TVU Networks expands team to meet growing international client demand for IP Video Solutions
DiGiCo Is Portugal’s Gold Standard Working with television channel SIC, Sintra-based Auditiv Audiovisuais Lda has been the event’s audio contractor throughout its two decades and this year used DiGiCo SD series consoles for the first time. “In previous years we have used our DiGiCo D-series consoles, but this year we upgraded our stock to SD consoles,” says Auditiv’s João Escada. “We purchased two SD10s, two SD5s and an SD9, plus two SD-Racks. All except the SD9 were used for Globos de Ouro.” The ceremony features live music, with an orchestra and contemporary bands playing together. The front of house mix was taken care of by the two SD10s, one for the orchestra and the other for the other bands, musical stings and presenter/guest microphones.
TVU Networks announced the appointment and addition of Kris Hill as Sales Director, Europe. Hill comes to TVU Networks with a wealth of broadcast experience and is an instrumental addition to further develop TVU Networks’ growing channel partners and portfolio of international accounts. Hill brings several years of industry knowledge and experience as a high-level broadcast sales professional. During his five years at JVC Professional Europe Ltd, Hill served as UK & Ireland Sales Manager and was regarded as a key industry figure with a vast knowledge of products focused in acquisition, monitoring and production. Hill, who previously held sales roles at Vitec Videocom and Fineline Media Finance, is now responsible for managing all key Western European strategic customer accounts and TVU channel partners. Throughout his career, Hill has been instrumental in acquiring numerous large client accounts, spearheading various projects and engagements leading to recognized successes. Hill’s experience encompasses an extensive background in the industry with technical hands-on experience and commercial attributes.
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“We were handling over 100 channels, plus 20 channels of ambient microphones just for the broadcast production. In all we had about 14 stereo auxes and 20 mono auxes,” says João. “We used one of the SD5s for monitors, while the master console was an SD5B, located in our mobile studio for the broadcast feed. The broadcast software and extra screens of the SD5B made it an excellent choice.” He continues, “Everything was on an optical loop, with all the consoles sharing the two SD-Racks. One of the big advantages of the system was that analogue splitter noise is a now thing of the past. In addition, we could still use all the outputs for the monitor console, even with the broadcast SD5 as master. “It was very easy to put the SD-Racks exactly where we needed them, the snapshots all worked perfectly and the send/receive tie lines was a very useful feature. It was a very successful show and we are already looking forward to next year.”
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ISB and EPC race ahead with Quantel at the Baku 2015 First European Games International Sports Broadcasting (ISB), host broadcaster at the Baku 2015 First European Games, selected Eurovision Production Coordination (EPC), as a technical partner for the inaugural multi-sport event. Together with Quantel, EPC decided to upgrade its Enterprise sQ fast-turnaround production system for the event to record, log and edit content for highlights packages at the competition. While recording and playing out the event as part of ISB’s international delivery to 52 rights-holding organizations, the Enterprise sQ system was also integrated with MBT’s (Media & Broadcast Technologies) templated logging software and workflow engine to provide a fast and efficient end-toend sports highlights production solution. Quantel workstations provided desktop viewers and eight craft editing stations, with no-copy, instant access to all content, enhanced by enriched metadata from the MBT loggers. Throughout the entire process, high resolution media never needed to be moved or copied from the Enterprise sQ
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system. This saved ISB valuable time in a very fast paced environment, and reduced storage costs. By avoiding islands of storage such as ingest pools, edit pools and playout pools, the sQ servers provided all operators with immediate working access to all media. Also enabled by the sQ servers, remote logging and editing capabilities enabled client access from anywhere with an internet connection. MBT’s Workflow Manager handled the exchange of MXF rich essence files with detachable storage for delivery to the master archive and for supply to client broadcasters. Playout was provided by Quantel’s sQ Play application. The Quantel sQ servers provided on-line storage for more than 1,200 hours of content, supporting a total of 18 simultaneous record feeds, controlled by the MBT software for record. Additional workstations were provided for ingest of P2 and XDCAM ENG files. Logging was via 15 stations with a templated logging tool, with dedicated graphical
interfaces configured for each of the events. he First European Games is an international multi-sport event for athletes representing the National Olympic Committees of Europe. Baku 2015 is the inaugural competition featuring more than 6,000 athletes from 50 countries. Javier Polo, Engineering & Technical Operations Senior Manager at EPC, said, “We chose Enterprise sQ because of our previous experience using the system at the World Rally Championships and the IAAF Athletics World Championships Moscow 2013. The Quantel system is one we can rely on 24/7. It has a very simple and straightforward workflow, and together with MBT’s powerful and intuitive logging interface, provides us with the fastest content production solution in the industry.” Quantel and Snell CEO, Tim Thorsteinson, said, “Quantel is the perfect choice for EPC - delivering a highly productive and innovative broadcast workflow.”
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2015
JVC unveils six new PROHD LCD monitors for studio, field use JVC Professional Video announced six new ProHD LCD monitors for field and studio use, including a dual nine-inch rack display. Integrated with a wide range of professional functions, the new DT-X92 monitors will replace corresponding DT-X91 models in the JVC ProHD monitor lineup. The DT-X92HX2 features two nine-inch IPS LCD panels with embedded audio meter, scale markers, SDI time code, and customer editable video title display. Both monitors deliver 1920x1200 resolution, 800:1 contrast, and 170-degree viewing angle. Ideal for studio or field pack use, it offers 3G/HD/SD-SDI, HDMI, and CVBS inputs, plus user defined function keys and GPI control. Other features include zebra
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stripes, freeze frame, and red/green/blue only display. A single nine-inch monitor with similar features, the DT-X92H, is also available, while another new nine-inch monitor, the DT-X92F, adds on-screen waveform, vector scope, RGB histogram. Both nineinch monitors can be powered by DC or battery. Three new larger monitors include the DT-X16H (15.6-inch), DT-X21H (21.5-inch), and DT-X24H (23.8-inch) models, each with a full HD resolution 1920x1080 LCD panel. Powered by DC or battery, the monitors feature HDMI, composite, and two 3G/HD/SD-SDI inputs, plus 3.5mm audio out and 3G/HD/SD-SDI and HDMI loop outputs.
All DT-X92 models will be available in July with the following MSRPs: DT-X16H
$1,850
DT-X21H
$1,950
DT-X24H
$2,450
DT-X92F
$1,950
DT-X92H
$1,650
DT-X92HX2 $2,950 “This is a major upgrade to our most popular line of LCD monitors,” said Lon Mass, vice president of sales and marketing. “Our affordable ProHD monitors offer incredible picture quality as well as extensive features and connectivity options for professional monitoring on location or in the studio.”
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2015
Telestream Wirecast Streaming brings the Extreme Sailing Series to any screen near you Telestream® announced that its Wirecast live video streaming software is being used to connect sailing fans worldwide with the global sporting phenomenon known as the Extreme Sailing Series™. Now in its ninth season in 2015, the award-winning and adrenalinefueled global Series has given the sport of sailing a healthy dustingoff. Bringing the action to the public with Stadium Sailing, putting guests at the heart of the battle and dramatically increasing the pace on the water, the creators of the Extreme Sailing Series have set new standards, both in terms of high level competition and sporting entertainment. Whether you’re a hard-core sailing fan or a wide-eyed newbie, the Extreme Sailing Series has something for everyone as the world's top teams including Olympic heroes, World Champions and record breakers will go head to head on 40 foot, high performance catamarans, racing just meters from the spectators on shore.The free-to-enter public Race Village puts fans right at the heart of the action - racing their catamarans at full throttle just off the waterfront, the sailors can hear the roar of the fans and fans around the world can follow online through live high definition (HD) video streaming and dynamic SAP sailing analytics.
content, 3D sailing analytics provided by SAP are embedded within the live stream. At each event, the production team has a multi-camera setup on shore and on the water with cameras capturing every moment of the racing. These feed into a central control room where the TV production takes place. A dedicated streaming operator receives two feeds from the video production crew: one of SAP 3D Graphics and another of the live TV production of the race. They use capture cards to bring the feeds into a computer running Wirecast and then stream the event with the graphics to a Wowza cloud server and YouTube. “When we evaluated the various video streaming platforms Wirecast was the stand-out choice for us,” explained Liam Lavers, IT Support
Specialist at OC Sport. “The key for us is the ability to stream more than one HD channel to more than one location. In some of the countries that we visit, securing sufficient bandwidth is difficult and in this situation Wirecast actively monitors the output. It continually shows us our bandwidth usage and flags when we need to lower the bit-rate to improve the performance of our streams and prevent them from dropping out. Overall this leads to a much better viewer experience.” “Wirecast live streaming helps us massively since it allows us to showcase our event to a global audience using stunning quality live HD pictures, which can be accessed anywhere via the internet.” Lavers continued.
Once experienced, the events hook viewers and demands their attention. This year, with events being staged in Singapore, Muscat, Qingdao, Cardiff, Hamburg, St Petersburg, Istanbul and Sydney, the live video streaming is an essential requirement for fans that want to keep up with all of the action on the water. Using Telestream Wirecast, the event’s organizers stream live HD content from each race over their dedicated YouTube channel. To further enhance the stunning visual
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2015
Skyline Communications endorses the “Better Satellite World” campaign of the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI) Skyline Communications announces its endorsement of the Better Satellite World initiative. This campaign is uniting the satellite industry and its users in spreading the word that the modern world is unthinkable without satellite communication. Satellite communication is vital to governments, economies and people. It allows governments to organize rescue efforts in case of disasters and to protect their people and borders, it can provide internet access on ships, on airplanes and in remote areas, and it helps to connect people by closing the digital divide. In other words, satellite is a key medium where other connectivity is not at hand or not economically feasible. But even for applications less obvious to the consumer, satellite plays a key role: video fragments watched on TV, PC, tablet or smartphone, through a cable, Wi-Fi, cellular, telco or terrestrial connection, have often been retransmitted multiple times over satellite. This means that even though satellite is constantly used in our day-to-day activities, many
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people are not aware of this. “Our satellite communication networks are in danger,” says Robert Bell, Executive Director, Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI), “other industries are lobbying to get parts of our valuable C-Band spectrum, a frequency band critical to highquality and high-volume service delivery. Our Better Satellite World initiative is meant to create more awareness of the relevance of satellite to us all. Increased awareness will help the satellite community to keep the valuable satellite services on air.” DataMiner, the globally leading end-to-end multivendor NMS/OSS system deployed by more than 500 customers around the world, is used to manage satellite networks spread across all continents more efficiently than ever before. DataMiner manages data and video traffic across hybrid networks, balancing between fiber and satellite utilization. In addition, DataMiner facilitates highly efficient booking and reservation of satellite bandwidth, scheduling over time,
across frequency bands, across beams (roaming), and across different applications. Whether it is for news gathering, sports contribution, news exchange, primary distribution to cable and telco head ends, distribution to towers or Direct-to-Home distribution, DataMiner manages the end-to-end connectivity including the satellite space segment bandwidth, as well as the fiber optic links. DataMiner also manages VSAT networks from multiple vendors, facilitating data connectivity to rural and mobility markets, amongst others. “We firmly believe in the importance of satellites in creating a better future,” explains Steven Soenens, Product Marketing Director. “Though DataMiner allows the satellite spectrum to be managed more effectively than ever before, it is still very important to preserve the spectrum allocated to satellite communication. That’s why we’re proud to endorse the Better Satellite World Campaign, and we’ll demonstrate this by displaying the campaign button on our website and in our official communications.”
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2015
RadiOhio Virtualizes Automation Core with ENCO Radio automation and TV audio playout leader ENCO has virtualized the automation core for RadiOhio’s radio network, deploying an ENCO1 server to reduce footprint, costs and complexity for the Columbus, Ohio broadcaster’s two radio stations (WBNS-AM-FM). ENCO1 is a fault-tolerant virtualized system with a unique specification for radio automation environments. Its highly reliable and scalable design replaces many disparate workstations and servers across a facility, leveraging IP audio technologies to operate virtualized ENCO DAD automation systems. For RadiOhio, the long-time ENCO DAD customer had been seeking a way to streamline costs and operations across its six studios and four edit suites. The broadcaster centralized its DAD workstations in master control a few years back and ran KVM extensions into each studio, however the architecture proved less reliable and efficient than expected. Since transitioning to
ENCO1, the network has enjoyed a true simplification of infrastructure and operations, eliminating bulky studio hardware, redundant power supplies, and reducing 25RU of rack space to 4RU in the technical core. “On a purely operational level, ENCO1 eliminated the performance issues we were having with keyboard, mouse and touchscreen responsiveness across the KVM architecture,” said Greg Armstrong, Director of Engineering for WBNSAM-FM, RadiOhio. “But the beauty of what ENCO1 offers is complete duplication of our automation operation across the entire facility, due to a fully redundant, faulttolerant server. And we envision a considerable long-term cost savings given the longer life span and lower replacement costs of a thin client versus hardware-based workstations. ENCO appears to be well ahead of the curve in terms of virtualizing radio automation.” Armstrong estimates saving up to thousands of dollars with each upgrade, noting an approximate $300 per thin client upgrade versus
over $1000 per workstation across 10 locations. The ENCO1 thin client operates as a static remote desktop application, enabling a longer lifecycle and centralizing RAM and processing power increases to the ENCO1 server core. From a feature standpoint, Armstrong cites the command structure as particularly useful to his operation. “The command cuts on the back end of ENCO1, and its logical features, are extremely robust,” said Armstrong. “Its ability to communicate in various forms and send GPIO, serial, UDP and other commands between all machines over the same networked architecture brings outstanding flexibility, along with its ability to allow us to seamlessly transition between various satellite networks. We can set up the playlists and the commands under a time structure, and ENCO1 automatically loads the content and routes switching and logic commands into the IP audio network. By and large it’s engineered to run flawlessly to the point where we can straight up leave the building.”
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2015
KSMQ-TV improves On-Air Quality, speeds up file-based workflow with NVerzion Automation
NVerzion® announced that KSMQ-TV, the PBS station in Austin, Minnesota, has deployed a new automation system from NVerzion during the transition from SD to HD. KSMQ chose NVerzion's Component Level Automation System Solutions (CLASS™) based on its ease of use, seamless integration with third-party equipment, affordability, and unparalleled reliability. By overseeing all master control and playout operations, CLASS speeds up KSMQ's operations while enabling the station to provide superior quality on-air presentation to viewers. "Our station has limited resources. So, while addressing the growing viewer demand for HD programming, we knew we needed an automation system that is flexible and cost-effective, while guaranteeing reliability," said Tim Gassmann, operations manager at KSMQ. "NVerzion CLASS is based on a modular architecture, allowing us to choose software and hardware components that fit our specific needs and budget while keeping us on air 24/7. Thanks to NVerzion, we now have the ability to respond to the needs of our community with greater speed and to provide our viewers with a crystal-clear HD signal." KSMQ purchased NVerzion CLASS as part of a comprehensive
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infrastructure package from Heartland Video Systems. The new automation solution from NVerzion includes a variety of hardware and software components, including: NControl™ on-air playlists, NGest™ professional dubbing and recording software, NPoint™ video preparation software for segmenting and trimming, NBase™ SQL media database manager, NView™ database viewer, NCommand™ machine status and control, NTime™ time-driven event scheduling, NConvert™ manual and automated traffic interface, NGenius™ intelligent storage management browser, XPansion™ storage management software, EMC-NT Ethernet machine control, EMC-Router Ethernet machine control, and CPIM BXF dynamic traffic interface. NGenius, NVerzion's new storage solution, has proven to be especially useful to the broadcaster. Using the automation and storage solution, KSMQ can protect and manage data via an onsite 40TB Microsoft® Windows NAS system. NGenius dramatically reduces the broadcaster's capital equipment expenses. CLASS enables KSMQ to control a variety of third-party equipment, including a Harmonic Spectrum™ ChannelPort™ branded channel playout module, Harmonic Spectrum™ MediaCenter™ server,
Utah Scientific UTAH-100/UDS universal distribution system, Sony UVW-1700G VTR, Panasonic AJSD755 and AJ-D450 VTRs, and Myers ProTrack traffic system. CLASS also interfaces with KSMQ's existing nearline storage system as a Windows shared environment. CLASS guarantees the integrity of KSMQ's on-air presentation by eliminating any single point of failure within the station's file-based workflow. The station now has the flexibility to add more features and perform future upgrades as needs evolve. The scalable platform can also easily support additional channels and subchannels in the future. "Migrating from SD to HD is a massive infrastructure upgrade, making it critical that stations such as KSMQ find equipment that is designed around simplicity, flexibility, and reliability," said Reed Haslam, director of sales and marketing at NVerzion. "Unlike other vendors, NVerzion can tailor a station's workflow user interface so that it mirrors the old automation system, lessening the learning curve for engineering staff. Through our partnerships with other worldclass vendors, we provide broadcasters with an efficient, interoperable, end-to-end solution that streamlines operations while providing substantial cost savings."
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2015
TV and Radio Company “Start” purchases Eight LDX Flex Cameras for its new OB Van in Russia TV and Radio Company “Start” is a broadcaster of major sporting events in Russia, including football, volleyball, handball, basketball and many others. In order to improve the quality of sports production, TRC “Start” has upgraded its new ОB van with eight Grass Valley LDX Flex cameras and XCU base stations. Cameras were purchased through the local integrator OKNOTV, which helped TRC “Start” with all the steps of OB van building, including the design, preparation of the technical and project documents, supply of the equipment, installation, commissioning and coordination of the work process. The complete solution is designed to best meet audience needs, while providing good flexibility. The company found that Grass Valley cameras showed the best HD quality and offered unique user functions, and as a result determined they were the best fit for a sports workflow in accordance with the latest international standards and requirements. In addition, TRC “Start” uses the K2 Dyno S replay system and LDX XtremeSpeed 6X camera system when needed in projects.
match of the European Championship in handball between Russia and Hungary, and Galamatch of Night Hockey League with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In the near future, the OB van will be used for the broadcasting of the following sporting events: Moscow Grand Slam beach volleyball, handball matches of the qualifying stage for the World and European Handball Championships, World Volleyball League Grand Prix, Handball World Championship U21, and other Russian and international tournaments. “Sports production is so demanding and a very complicated technical process—getting the right equipment and the best quality are absolutely critical,” said Vladimir Shirokov, general producer of TRC “Start.” “We looked carefully at all the camera options on the market and felt that the LDX Flex cameras were the best choice. What really made the difference for us was the GV-eLicense model, which means
we can easily upgrade the cameras if we need additional functionality.” The LDX Flex is Grass Valley’s advanced imaging, single-format 1080i or 720p camera. The LDX Series is built for business flexibility and operational excellence, with superior imaging, processing and performance. With the GV-eLicense program, users have the ability to upgrade the LDX 80 Flex to any other camera in the LDX 80 Series based on business and production needs. “By offering such a wide variety of camera models and capabilities, we give users the choice in how they outfit their business,” noted Said Bacho, senior vice president, EMEA, Grass Valley. “TRC ‘Start’ is a real leader in mobile sports production and has been a loyal Grass Valley customer for years. And these new LDX Flex cameras are a perfect next step for them.”
Grass Valley solutions were used for the broadcasting of the World Taekwondo Championship in Chelyabinsk (May 12–18, 2015), where TRC “Start” was a hostbroadcaster. The new OB van’s first broadcast was in April 2015 at the Kremlin Palace, where the European Championship Professional Latin-American Dance was held. Over the course of less than a month the company was involved in the broadcast of many major events such as European League basketball, semifinal matches of Russian Cup football, qualifying
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2015
Japanese Broadcaster YTV upgrades technical infrastructure with Lawo Based in Osaka, the Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation (YTV) serves the Kansai region of Japan with news, sports and drama programming, as well as producing its own television programs and movies – presently translated into over 20 languages for distribution outside of Japan. YTV is also recognized for its anime productions, which are among the highest-rated, both domestically and internationally. The technical infrastructure supporting all of its broadcast production work is constantly being updated – with Lawo technology playing a major role. YTV has a close relationship directly with Lawo in Germany as well as with its local partner OTARITEC, built on the performance and reliability of Lawo’s equipment and the longstanding service records of both companies. Recently, the ongoing development of YTV’s facilities have included a studio renewal and the commissioning of a new OB
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unit, which will be based around the first Lawo mc²36 mixing console to be sold in Japan. The mc²36 is the result of Lawo’s development of an ‘all-in-one’ mixing console, designed for flexibility, ease-of-use and valuefor-money. Its compact size, in-built DSP and I/O make the console equally suited to OB and permanent installations with limited space, and rental companies’ transportation considerations. The new 16-fader mc²36 installed for mobile use reflects Lawo’s reputation for reliability and its forward-focused design philosophy. “We like its stability, operability and its sound quality,” confirms a representative from YTV. Now completed and being used for sports and events coverage, the project got underway in autumn 2014. The renewal of a Studio Sub Room at YTV’s Osaka headquarters began further back, in February 2014 under the guidance
of main contractor, Crescent Co. Central to the upgrade are a pair of 16-fader mc²56 MkII and 48-fader mc²66 MkII consoles. Each console is fitted with four DSP processors, and uses Netlink integration with a new Lawo Nova-73 Compact router to manage I/O and assignments. The studio is used for television program production, and operates 24 hours a day, 365 days year, making reliability and Lawo’s design policy critical considerations. “We like its stability, operability and its sound quality,” the YTV representative explains. “On my visit to the Osaka facilities, I was impressed by how well the mc²56 and mc²36 are integrated in YTVs broadcast infrastructure and workflows,’ says Gregor Erlitz, Lawo´s Director of Sales for Northeast Asia. “We are glad that YTV staff have chosen to work with our products, and I believe this project is an important step in establishing the new mc²36 with our Japanese broadcast customers.”
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2015
UK Post House StormHD Steps Up to Forscene UK full-service post house StormHD has incorporated, Forscene, into its broadcast postproduction workflow after a number of clients requested the professional video editing software be made available on their projects. StormHD has worked with several major productions, including David Attenborough's Big Birds and Terra Mater Factual Studio's international UHD release of Namibia Sand Rivers, produced by Mike Birkhead Associates. The facility is currently using Forscene on "When Do You Get Off?" The dating-format series is commissioned by ITV and produced by Keshet International, with several other projects in the funnel. "We have looked at cloud-based solutions before, but they have been notoriously expensive and complicated to integrate into our infrastructure. Forscene has been smoother than I could ever imagine to slot into our existing workflows," said Paul Ingvarsson, co-founder of StormHD. "Increasingly we're being asked to quote on projects that
require us to have Forscene in order to be considered. Clients like using Forscene. It's a name they trust, and it's becoming synonymous with cloud-based editing and logging within the UK post industry — and probably worldwide. Personally I've gone from sceptic to admirer of the technology in the time since we began using it. It's a great service to add to our facility for our clients." Forbidden installed a Forscene server at the StormHD facility to manage ingest, uploading, proxy creation, file transfer, and more. Forscene's ingest is based on watch folders for an entirely automated process – as soon as media is ingested into targeted folders on the facilities' shared storage, the server is triggered to create proxy versions which are then uploaded to the Forscene cloud. The media is immediately available for postproduction in Forscene on any device, over a standard Internet connection. StormHD's team members can also communicate
directly with one another and with clients using the chat window built into the interface. "The interface is intuitive, and the client-side caching of proxy media makes it very snappy to use. I don't even realise that the media is in the cloud — even when I'm using it at home," Ingvarsson said. "Also, once the watch folders are created on the server, transcoding and uploading is as lightning-quick as consolidating our rushes to the ISIS. So once we have all the media on our shared storage, it is also all in the Forscene cloud, too." "The fact that post houses are getting requests for Forscene is an indication of the platform's value and effectiveness and its evergrowing popularity," said Jason Cowan, business development director at Forbidden. "We've designed Forscene to integrate into even the most complex workflows quickly and easily, with minimal training required, so that post houses like StormHD can start realizing value right away."
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MAM & Archiving
In an increasingly IP audiovisual market, and more digital, good media workflows are a must. MAM and archive solutions are a crucial part of any business in any kind of broadcast company, whether large broadcasters or even small producers. In this issue we have prepared a selection of companies that are offering interesting products and solutions.
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MAM & Archiving
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MAM & Archiving
Elements IS
THERE A
COMPREHENSIVE , YET SIMPLE
THERE ?
MAM
EFFICIENT
OUT
MEDIA ASSET
MANAGEMENT THAT IS EASY TO MANAGE
-
THE
NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK While one would think Media Asset Management (MAM) would be a rather simple task these days, some of the MAM solutions in the market make one feel as if it would be necessary to obtain a master’s degree in computer science before even thinking of using it efficiently. But complicated set-up requirements and almost ridiculously puzzling client configuration procedures are just the barriers to entry. Once the setup has been accomplished, the real challenge is revealed: managing the system meaningfully, especially when numerous users are involved. Fancy, yet interlaced interfaces make it mandatory to actually provide a technical training for the users before they can be unleashed to roam the MAM without giving the IT administrator sleepless nights. A lot of expensive MAM solutions provide a multitude of features, gimmicks and gadgets, so overwhelmingly sophisticated that nobody ever dares utilizing them. More cost-effective solutions, however, oftentimes lack useful and practical features so that the socalled MAM system is actually nothing more than an archiving system. Many manufacturers don’t seem to consider the intricate and
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stressful workflow processes broadcast and post production facilities have to cope with every day. In fact, due to tight deadlines and a considerable amount of stress on a daily basis, video professionals simply don't have the time to deal with “complicated”; instead simplicity and speed are crucial and desirable. Plus, sharing media files and even entire projects fast and easily would be helpful as well. Finally, some software developers in the media and entertainment field appear to have understood that a simple, yet efficient MAM solution is what video professionals want and need. One of these companies is ELEMENTS in Duesseldorf (Germany) who came up with a solution they call Media Library, specifically designed to fulfill the needs of the sometimes complex workflows in the media and broadcast industry. While requiring hardly any IT skills for the set-up,
the potent solution with an embedded file manager is not only a web-based portal for managing and organizing media files across all platforms. The also embedded powerful search engine simplifies the production cycle and prevents the project data from turning into a black hole, while an intelligent task management tool provides the option to customize and easily automate a multitude of tasks, for example transcoding of all media file formats. The well-designed editing tool that is also part of the Media Library package is truly intuitive and easily managed, as a multitude of editing functions work identical to Avid's Media Composer or Final Cut Pro and the like. “Being veterans in the postproduction and broadcast field ourselves, we know that facilities have to handle rather complex and intricate projects,” says Kamps. “For some projects tremendous amounts of data have to be
MAM & Archiving
the Media Library can easily be transferred to any Avid Media Composer, including the EDL, exported by the Media Library as an OP-Atom/MXF file. Comments and remarks added in the Media Library to certain clips or even a single frame are visible and accessible, simplifying the final edit.
reviewed and pre-selected, while not all people involved in the process can be in the same spot at the same time. We wanted to create an advanced but simple solution that would make the lives of editors, directors and clients easier and quicker, while enhancing collaboration and workflow efficiency within the facility�, he adds. Kamps explains further that rather small features, like tailored email notifications to dedicated users that are sent automatically as soon as
certain changes have been accomplished for the project, or the option for approvals, will streamline the workflow significantly. Probably the most interesting feature about ELEMENTS' Media Library though is the compatibility and transparency for virtually all non-linear editing applications, like Adobe Premiere, Apple Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer and the like. For the latter, the Media Library even supports Avid binlocking and project sharing, so rough cuts produced in the editor of
Also the issue about data security and protection is well thought-out at ELEMENTS' solution: only accredited users, authorized through the embedded user and rights management tool, can access the project data. For those who want an extra layer of security, the system provides the option to create unique token-based access keys that only the dedicated team member can utilize. The comprehensive system provides a mature MAM with a multitude of features, while rendering rather unsafe public cloud-based solutions or tedious transfers via FTP obsolete.
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MAM & Archiving
Imagine Products ARCHIVING ISN’T SEXY, PREROLL POST MAKES IT EASY
hours getting the perfect shot. But what happens once you get that perfect shot, stick it on a hard drive
and then try to access it a few years later? You might get lucky and the hard drive spins right up
MICHELLE MADDOX, MARKETING COORDINATOR, IMAGINE PRODUCTS, INC. Archiving. It’s a word that can cause many emotions in filmmakers and DITs, most of them negative. Archiving is like eating your vegetables. We know we should do it but we’d rather eat pizza and cookies all day while we spend
Scheduling Backups
PRP Windows Main Screen
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MAM & Archiving
Discovery Mode - Footage Master
and you can access your media. Or, and this scenario is much more likely, you find out that the hard drive no longer spins and therefore your media is held hostage. Then what? Then you’ll be wishing you had eaten your carrots while you backed up your assets securely.
be accessed anytime in the future with any LTFS compliant software. Just drag and drop your files into PreRoll Post, select your backup location, name the files according to your preferences and away you go! PreRoll Post also uses checksum (MD5, XXHash, SHA’s 512 and 256) technology to ensure that all your copies are the exact same.
But archiving is too hard, right? And too expensive, right? WRONG! What if I told you there was a software application for both Mac and (soon to be) Windows that made archiving simple AND it was affordable. You’d be running to the store to get some carrots wouldn’t you? Well get your shoes on because PreRoll Post is here to save the day!
great thing about PreRoll Post is that it’s super simple to use, has a ton of available settings so you can archive your assets how you want them archived and is reasonably priced.
PreRoll Post is an archiving application by Imagine Products, the same guys that made offloading your assets easy and secure with the ubiquitous ShotPut Pro. The
PreRoll Post is an archiving application that uses the open source LTFS or Linear Tape File System. This means that any LTO tape made with PreRoll Post can
Notifications
You might be asking yourself: why is tape better to archive to than a hard drive? The best explanation I can give you is the one that was given to me when I asked that question. Hard drives have moving parts similar to a car. Like a car when those parts sit still for quite a while they stop working. LTO tapes do not have any moving parts. They can sit on a shelf for 30-50 years and then be placed into a tape deck and accessed just like on day 1.
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MAM & Archiving
Provys WHERE MAM MEANS MORE In the last few years we have witnessed a wide popularity of Media Asset Management systems. Functionality of these systems varies from vendor to vendor. Often, there are even completely different opinions of what MAM really is. Is it an archive or a production tool? Is it an IT system or a studio engineering device? The answer is not easy because different MAM suppliers define various key MAM functions, and influence the industry’s MAM understanding. Usually, IT departments are asked to assist the broadcast operations in their business processes. Depending on the organisation structures, the broadcast workflows are then managed by programming, production and sometimes by financial or technical experts. If the processes are well assembled and oiled, the organisation runs smoothly and the top managers do not need to adopt a hands-on
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approach to their MAM. At the beginning of this millennium, many vendors scented an opportunity in the broadcast market which spontaneously started to transform into a file based environment. The first MAM vendor pioneers recruited from the essence-processing companies and hardware manufacturers. These innovators designed different kinds of post-production MAMs and quickly initiated discussion and development of MAM automation. But what would MAM be, I hear you ask, without a workflow control and a comprehensive metadata description of the content? And asking even much deeper: what are the media assets? Oh yes, there is a definition! As shown in the picture, media assets have two components: content and rights to use such content. And who manages those rights? Well, a proper MAM system such as Provys. And what is content? Well, content consists of essence and metadata. And who manages metadata? Again, Provys is the
frontrunner and is able to effectively search through databases and reliably find the content you need. The ultimate goal for any broadcaster to achieve is to have clear and orderly information concerning thousands of media assets stored on their servers, and their readiness for playout. In particular, a simple visual traffic light control system displaying the real-time status of every single media asset is usually required. The red, amber and green icons indicate “missing”, “available” and “TX-ready” respectively. This concept is even more detailed as each media asset contains within it a subset of essences (video, various audio tracks, various subtitles, etc.) and each of these essences must also be monitored using the traffic light system. There is usually a huge volume of new material transmitted every day and broadcasters need to be able to forecast the volume of media processing required for each day in order to manage capacity effectively. A good MAM must
MAM & Archiving
satisfy this requirement. It also has to allow full display of the current status enabling timely follow-up of missing assets to ensure no last minute issues and regular reporting back to programming departments regarding all stages of the planning and playout of the respective media. Those MAM systems which have not been originally developed as post-production or content processing tools have to smoothly facilitate all these production activities including transcoding and quality control, together with all associated workflows.
In a superior way to other systems, Provys MAM practises non-stop automatic proactive scanning of in-house servers, including ingest, archive and playout servers, in order to gather real time data on the status of all media for use by the operations teams. In addition, it is able to scan all related remote ftp servers, belonging to advertising agencies or other content providers. Another often required functionality is Volumetrics through which analysis of different storage devices is achieved. Provys MAM monitors media volumes on servers
protecting them from over-capacity and potential loss of data. It also provides statistics on volumes by client, by channel or by asset category. And finally, who do you think is in the best position to make a good MAM? No, not GrandMAM, but the best broadcast management software developer and supplier on the market today: Provys. Add some great workflow management features to secure greater efficiency and higher productivity, and you are home and dry.
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MAM & Archiving
SGL FLASHNET SGL’s FlashNet content storage management system delivers unrivalled levels of resilience, flexibility and adaptability. Regardless of the size or environment, its clustered architecture and open approach provide secure, future-proof business solutions that grow with the customer. FlashNet can control and manage all aspects of attached storage systems, whether to near-line, disk, tape, optical disk or the cloud. The software presents the broadcast archive as a single storage repository, ensuring a seamless integration into all types of workflows. SGL has developed an unrivalled integration programme providing broadcasters and content owners with a truly adaptable and flexible video archiving solution.
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SGL’s archive technology appeals to broadcasters large and small. The company’s new, entry-level FlashPack system provides the most effective content storage management system 'in a box' delivering all elements of an integrated Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) archive. There is no requirement to purchase any additional hardware or software and the new entry-level version enables smaller broadcasters and content owners to have a fully expandable archive. SGL ensures that all of its customers’ assets are fully protected, with many archive systems used as part of Disaster Recovery workflows or ready to be made DR-capable quickly and easily. Its scalable FlashNet architecture provides a clustered system of multiple servers, or nodes, each in constant communication. Each cluster node has identical software installed, and
each is connected via a fibre channel into the archive devices generally disk storage and one or more tape libraries. At the heart of the cluster is a Microsoft SQL database, which is usually installed across two servers running a Microsoft cluster for automatic failover. The past few years have seen a sea change in the industry’s approach to archiving, with the archive moving much further forward in the production process where it is now alongside ingest. SGL has been at the forefront of this change. With the successful take-up of LTFS, fully supported by SGL, broadcasters and content owners can benefit from true interoperability between what were once disparate systems. Now material can be acquired directly to disk and dragged-and-dropped to data tape and transported back to a facility.
MAM & Archiving
Material can be moved directly into the LTFS archive, which removes the need to re-ingest content to the archive and also enables large amounts of data to be transported and archived on a single LTO tape. To banish the ‘end of the line’ archive message, once the tape has been loaded into the archive, duplicate copies can be made automatically to back-up the valuable material. The archive system can also automatically copy the content to a disk portion of the archive so that craft editors can start working with the material as swiftly as possible.
to leading European broadcasters including: RTVE, Galicia; RTVE, Tenerife; Video Mercury, Spain; Telson, Spain; BBC Wales, UK; CBS News, London; RTE Ireland; ITV, London; RTL Netherlands; Endemol, Netherlands; MTV3, Finland; Sky Italia, Italy; Nova TV, Athens; and SVT, Sweden. SGL is exhibiting at IBC 2015 on booth 7.J15a.
Cloud storage is playing an increasing role within archiving workflows. SGL, working closely with both Aspera and Data Expedition, enables broadcasters and content owners to transfer media to AWS and Sony cloud services at a guaranteed speed, providing an additional means of storage and disaster recovery workflows. SGL FlashNet is installed and is delivering efficient broadcast archives
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MAM & Archiving
GB Labs
MANAGING MEDIA STORAGE A single SD card can hold twice as much as a 124-minute Digibeta tape. The SD format is a fraction of the size and, as it can be used tens of thousands of times and requires no mechanical recorder with moving parts, is vastly more costeffective. It’s just one of the reasons for the massive increase in media production in recent years. And it’s why storage capacities have to be expanded every year. However, the sheer quantity of data is only a part of the story. Filebased technologies with faster than real-time ingest and tape-free media transfers have fundamentally revolutionized post production workflows. Air-conditioned rooms dedicated to VTRs and Digi Beta tape libraries are being replaced by a machine room with low profile racks of RAID storage and multidrive LTO tape units. Multiple editors are able to work collaboratively on ever larger projects and effortlessly re-purpose content multiple times for different
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audiences. The cost, efficiency and practicality of non linear workflows means that there is no going back. So now is the time to re-learn how to manage the vast archives of media. One of the biggest projects GB Labs has been involved in is with BBC Archives. The BBC’s chief technologist wryly pointed out that the move to file-based storage robs the archivist of the most simple yet intuitive asset management tool – the ability to read a label stuck on the side of the tape.
ToolsOnAir, Focal Point Server and Marquis Project Parking installed on client networks, ready to manage and intelligently secure the massive numbers of video clips and projects now stored on servers. Getting these tools to work in partnership with the storage arrays is vital.
While the BBC addressed the issue with a proprietary media management solution, for most broadcasters and post facilities, off the shelf asset management software is the preferred approach. Standardising around a few wellestablished products makes life considerably easier for technicians, users and integration partners, including storage manufacturers.
Today, with huge pressure on broadcasters’ budgets, there is an expectation that new systems will be designed, configured and installed quickly and with minimal downtime. To accelerate the partnership programme and deliver deeper integration with third party apps, GB Labs has a public API. This gives third party vendors the ability to integrate swiftly and comprehensively with our multi-tier storage range. It allows new partnerships to mature quickly and to deliver very sophisticated features such as hierarchical storage management (HSM) and multi-tier, multi-tape media tracking.
Increasingly GB Labs as a leading storage developer, regularly sees applications such as CatDV, Metus MAM, Cantemo Portal,
GB Labs’ development team has worked hand in hand with technicians from third party suppliers to deliver such deep
MAM & Archiving
integration between leading MAM applications and our Space tier 1, tier 2 and offline tape storage. The result is that we can now offer our customers very sophisticated storage, paired with a wide choice of industry-leading media asset management solutions. Many broadcasters still tie themselves to a single vendor that offers combined storage and management tools. We think that this is potentially limiting: what the customer gains in terms of convenience, often it loses in
flexibility, functionality and speed of development. With GB Labs’ partnership model, broadcasters can select the best of breed asset management software that meets their specific needs. As a case in point, the GB Labs team recently worked with the Formula E team on its inaugural global race season. The ability to integrate Space storage with the ToolsOnAir broadcast suite meant that the organizer’s portable production unit could ingest, store, edit and playout full quality
television content from any location. Similarly, for a recently completed nearline project with ABS-CBN, Malaysia’s biggest broadcaster, the preferred third party tool was Marquis Project Parking, another solution that is field tested to play with Space. For each of these projects, the integration was tight, robust and fast, with the software able to control the storage hardware and manage media projects for optimal results.
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INTERVIEW WITH JACOBO PALAZĂ“N, CEO OF MEDIA DINER What is Media Diner? Media Diner Inc. is an audiovisual company located in Maryland, engaged mainly in the provision of consultancy and TV production services. Thanks to the growth and technological changes of the Latin American market, we have been able to develop a great part of our activity as consultants in that continent, trying to give a response to the technological, operational, organizational or training issues raised by our clients. The main operators are participating in a technological change that has represented an interesting business opportunity for us. We have strengthened a position that is
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based on the experience acquired in Spain over 15 years, through different renewal and technological innovation projects, and audiovisual productions of all kinds. In order to provide our different services, we need to have a network of collaborators and providers that allow a response to be given to any demand, on both the domestic market (USA), mainly along the East Coast, and international markets. Our main clients include TelefĂłnica Servicios Audiovisuales and Media Network, companies with which we have developed several consulting projects in Peru. The company's portfolio also includes informative coverage, content marketing, and technical production services within the USA. In the short and medium term, we hope to seal important cooperation agreements for different projects,
both for the start-up and consolidation of TV channels, and for production and television broadcasting. Where does Latin America stand in the audiovisual market? And Peru? The situation of the audiovisual market, in common with most industries, is linked to the economic growth of each country. For this reason, this key factor in its development benefits from a situation that has been particularly favorable in the last few years. At present, growth rate figures are not as impressive as the ones registered in the past decade, especially due to the stagnating of Brazil and Argentina. Despite that, growth will still be between 3% and 6% in Panama, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay.
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As I said before, the situation of an economy goes hand in hand with level of "happiness", and this is reflected in consumption and advertising investment, which is essential for the audiovisual sector. At the same time that happiness encourages operators to devote resources to artistic and technological improvements in their productions. This is achieved through the creation and acquisition of new attractive formats for the viewers, and the renewal of their facilities in order to enable higher quality productions. Other conditioning factors for the audiovisual sector in Latin America, linked to the changes in the past decade, can be classified as follows: - Technical: technological renovation and digitalization of broadcasting. New platforms and audience fragmentation. - Business: media concentration in the hands of big communication corporations and new questions arising on their business model. - Political: excessive intervention of some governments. In any case, TV penetration rates in Latin America, of 100% in Argentina, opens up the brightest growth prospects for the audiovisual sector, as long as ground rules are respected, democratization of the media and the market are guaranteed and, most especially, some of the questions on the business model are addressed. Peru's case is especially interesting for me, due to the strong professional ties that I have established in that country over the last few years. The television in Peru suffered from the consequences of the economic crisis and corruption in the end of the last century. This brought anguish to the sector, which has been able to recover itself in an
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outstanding way in the last few years. Growth, especially since 2009, has been spectacular and has enabled the recovery of the sector to unanticipated levels. Advertising investments have grown, and the profitability of the sector has now given way to an inflow of capital coming from other
industries, attracted by the business opportunities developed by the Peruvian television channels. One of the most striking and positive features of the Peruvian television channels is their support for in-house production. In some TV channels, such as Latina TV, local
programs make up over 80% of the programming schedules. The fact that they rely on local production is an engine for creativity, associated technological advances and job creation within the sector. What are the technological actions that are being currently carried out? And what will be the most relevant ones in the future? That is, state of the art in technology and that kind of stuff. The good times, currently being enjoyed by the television in Peru, call for a modernization in the infrastructures and work flows of content production. Some of the projects that are currently being carried out by the main television channels include: digitalization of news and programs, files, migration of existing facilities towards high
definition production, process automation, etc. One of the big challenges that I think Peru has still to engage with is the rationalization and optimization of broadcasting networks. At present, each channel has its own analogue and digital broadcasting network, and there are infrastructures, operational and support resources for each operator. I know that discussions are taking place among some channels to try and solve this situation, but I miss public and private initiative to enable resource optimization, cost reduction, and use of synergies; and to eliminate the environmental and visual impact caused by the sitting of so many facilities and systems in the same geographical spot.
What is the difference between this market and the US or European market? There are several factors which make the US television industry an exceptionally fascinating and complex case, if we compare it to other continents. In the first place, the evolution of consumption habits of viewers over the past decades has lead to a population that is used to paying to be able to watch television channels. As a result, subscriptions account for an important percentage of the revenue for the sector. The continued growth of the sector has been possible thanks to the economic recovery and to the consumer nature of its society; followed up by a penetration rate of over 99% (most of them with more than one television at home, plus
Morro Solar — Lima
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access to the Internet, intelligent devices, etc.). In recent years, the regulatory framework has also changed, which has, among other things, allowed main networks to produce their own contents, and external producers to create their own channels to broadcast their programs. This brings me to another characteristic of the US audiovisual sector: the keen competition in this market. The good news is that, with a population nearing 320 million inhabitants, the variety of contents and broadcasts that they demand, generates a significant volume of business for the audiovisual sector. For anyone coming from the European market, it is especially surprising to see the development and penetration of the radio and, particularly, the existence of a radio satellite platform (Sirius XM), with over 26 million subscribers and an ability to penetrate into the automotive and domestic market that is totally unimaginable in Europe. We have to take into account that radio broadcasting in the USA is mainly of a digital nature. Despite the strong competition, the prices within the American industry allow business sustainability. In other words, costs and margins are a part of the sales price, with no need for predatory pricing, as in the case of Spain. This protects the work of selfemployed professionals and guarantees the quality of the services. In terms of technology, the USA has the largest telecommunication network for TV distribution and the most syndicated one. This membership scheme is another difference with regard to the European channels. The public TV model is clearly different, in terms both of contents and financing; it is not politically influenced, just as the British BBC, in contrast to the
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practice in Spain, Italy or France. But coming back to the technical aspects, the television in the USA incorporates almost continuously the latest available technological advances in the market. In doing so, most dials have high definition, whether by cable or satellite, and even 4K broadcasting is today an incontestable fact. What do you think that a foreign company (manufacturers, producers, contents, services) needs to be able to work in Peru? Any company that wants to open a business related to the audiovisual industry in Peru, in addition to the traditional market studies, business plans and investments that it may perform, should certainly also pose the following question: what contribution can it make to the existing industry? To my understanding this means that the best way to settle down in Peru is through additive formulations, that is, by means of agreements with existing companies. This will allow us to understand the particularities of the market, and to make a successful strategic move that is respectful of the existing industry. The combination of experience and know-how can lead to really positive results, as has been demonstrated, for example, by the branch office of Grupo Secuoya in Peru. Besides from this, there are other niches, such as technical production services, which can be of great interest and success because the country's supply does not match up the current demand. Transmission and broadcasting services also offer business opportunities, though this is a more complicated option due to the existence of well placed telecoms. What are the particularities of the Peruvian market?
It is a growth market but with many years of experience. Due to this, it has a strong and unique personality. Contents, programming policies and work protocols (at operational, technical and artistic level) vary considerably from the ways of working in Europe and America, but their standards seem to work and they produce the same results. Due to this reason, I believe that any external contributions to the Peruvian audiovisual industry must try to improve the way television is being conducted, but never try to change it; and, at the same time, protect and respect its peculiarities. How will Latin America develop in the coming years? The years to come will be clearly conditioned by technological
innovations, especially by the analogue switch-off, which will be take place throughout the following years in the various countries of the region. Pay-TV will also be another factor to take into consideration, since the improved economic position of the population will tip the balance of consumption towards new options, to the detriment of general interest TV channels. I think that technological advances will result in a greater audience fragmentation and diversification. At the same time, new platforms will determine the technical and budget specifications of productions, which will be customized according to the specific characteristics of each media. Nowadays, the consumption of audiovisual contents has grown almost exponentially through new
devices, and this clearly modifies audience patterns with regard to traditional television. This will and should affect the technological progress of operators and content producers, as they will be required to offer their products in a multiplatform environment, and not limit themselves to traditional TV broadcasting. The world of advertising, which after all is the main source of income for the audiovisual industry, is well aware of this, and will increase its investments in new broadcasting platforms. This will even further increase the change of attitude within the audiovisual industry. Digitalization and modernization of the facilities, along with an adoption of new formats (HD) will be necessary. In order to carry this out, it is important to take into
account that lower investment costs in technical means, thanks to the appearance of new manufacturers offering quality products at competitive prices, will help to ensure the modernization of the production centers. The demand of contents for each target population, the appearance of new diffusion screens and the incredible quality development of consumer electronics (that are difficult to track by the industry; and the amortization plans of which are entirely at odds with the rate of innovation), along with the sustainability of the business model in the audiovisual industry, will all have a major impact on the technological progress of television operators.
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TEST AREA
NORWIA MINIHUB FRAME, RCONMINI, OC-4B-SDI, SFP TMBi - 49
TEST AREA
Test bench made by Pablo MartĂnez
In this month's edition of TM Broadcast we analyze one of the compact equipments with the greatest operating flexibility (within its sector) that I have analyzed so far. Doing a little background, for years now we have been working with optical fiber, and we have got to know about its virtues and drawbacks. Its use and benefits, specially standardized for voice/data systems, have been broadly discussed by our market, although this has not reflected effectively in our everyday work processes. Indeed, we have been dealing for years now with leading suppliers of collection video equipments, offering fiber systems with many advantages, but also significant disadvantages when having to repair cabling, especially on mobile unit systems. The market is increasingly implementing equipment with fiber connection, which is largely due to the miniaturization of the necessary components for its transmission/reception and to a substantial reduction in the prices of these components. Within most structures we find optical fiber trunk lines (point-topoint, ring, etc.), which can be used with devices such as the one that we are to analyze in this test bench, to transfer/receive video/audio signals at a very low cost and with tremendous flexibility. Although we may start from scratch in our structure, moving into wor-
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With short advance planning and few changes we can, for example, move from a one way distribution system with 16 video channels to two-way multiple video and Ethernet configuration systems king with optical fiber processes is currently more cost-effective than conventional systems, thanks to the flexibility offered by equipments such as this one.
LEARNING ABOUT THE SYSTEM In order to carry out this test bench, we have a Norwia's MiniHUB, where we can clearly see six different areas. The first of them corresponds to the power/management and the last one is where we find the cards for the passive optical fiber ports. We find the greatest innovation in the other areas, where we only need one type of card. This
means that, for each area, we will only need one card and one rear card (the same in both), with which we can get different combinations for each slot of the MiniHUB. This is great advance with regard to similar products, which leads to important cost savings. To avoid any doubt, below are the main characteristics of the system, and some graphic examples on the possible uses provided by NORWIA.
Description on the MiniHub I have carried out this test bench with a 1UR MiniHub, which includes, as I mentioned before, six different areas, with 4 slots to insert OC-4B-SDI cards. It has by default a main power supply, with a second
TEST AREA
optional redundant power supply, and a RCONmini controller card system. Integrated into the RCONmini card, we find the possibility of assigning an external reference to the system through a BNC connector, and to control the whole MiniHub system by web management via TCP/IP, and within it, the most relevant characteristics are the configuration management of each card, the alarm management, and the monitoring of the different video channels and optical ports.
Description of the OC-4B-SDI card With this card we can have 4 BNC outputs and 4 configurable ones as input/output, along with two ports for SFP modules. Depending on our needs, we will configure (through web management) the system's behavior and its multiple configurations.
Description of the passive distribution optical module The MiniHub enables 2 additional passive modules, offering the possibility of adding 2 CWDM modules of 8 channels. Each CWDM filter has 10 ports, 8 of them work in CWDM wavelength multiplexing, and a common port that combines the 8 channels to give power supply to the optical network. These filters enable a connection in cascade, conforming up to 16 channels within a CWDM system.
The advantages offered by Norwia's MiniHub system in relation to the current proposals of different manufacturers are the following: - Versatility of inputs/outputs with “AutoSFP� configuration - All in 1 card with flexible configuration alternatives. - Fiber link (Rx/Tx) with the same card, with the possibility of hot swaps in the SFP, according to the user's needs. - Control software included in the MiniHub system - Lower maintenance cost and stock of spare parts, as the whole system is developed with a all-inone card solution. - Support of video signals SD-SDI, HD-SDI, 3G-SDI, DVB-ASI, 4K. - Through Norwia's SFP modules we can obtain composite video input and output, HDMI output, Gigabit Ethernet, always with AutoSFP patented technology in its modules, which enables autoconfiguration of the different SFP modules within the system. - Operating temperature range. It's a system that is easy to implement and use, where control is intuitive thanks to the management software platform for each MiniHub. This, and the versatility it offers on the whole, makes it one of the most effective ones in the market. With short advance planning and few changes we can, for example, move from a one way distribution
system with 16 video channels to two-way multiple video and Ethernet configuration systems among the different MiniHubs that have been implemented for CWDM solutions with multimode fibers.
TEST ON THE FIELD As always, I believe that, for every test that I do, it is important to carry out field-testing in real environments. In this case, we worked in two different working environments: a real one, at a building with a structured optical fiber system, an equipment room and controlled temperature; and a second one, that was a behavior simulation outdoors. As we only had one MiniHub system, we carried out the test on a closed loop with the same MiniHub, and the test was conducted on an installation that pretended to be the union of two points of video contribution.
First test The environment was radio-electrically and thermally controlled, with a trunk branch connection from a CWDM link, by configuring the MiniHub as a one-way signal distributor with HD-SDI format. The fiber link is done with the SFP of the different cards, by setting the four available cards: one of them as a sending card and the other three as receiving distributors for all BNC outputs, to verify the quality of the transmission with the different
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TEST AREA
peaks in fiber patch. The first card, set as receiver/distributor, had an intermediate connection point. The second one had two intermediate points and the third one had three intermediate points. We had to take into account that each intermediate point added a distance of 200 meters from the MiniHub. This achieved a configured system with equal signals (in this specific test, though with this configuration it would be possible to have 3 different input signals, distributed in each tested point, with up to 8 equal outputs per card). Taking into account that the balanced loss of the fiber circuits used (including the bridges in the different patches) is certified within the structured cabling that we used,
They provided me with two 16CH multimode fiber cables with a total distance of 1 km.
and offers a maximum level of 0.0027 dB in the third case, with two bridges, the compared video signal between origin and destination of the three of them was in no way reduced. The system worked for 48 hours without any problems, having installed an air-conditioned rack, with temperatures below 25 degrees during the whole operation and maintaining at all times the stability of the video signal. Because of these results and before dismoun-
ting the system, we changed the work sequence in such a way that the farthest point (the forth card) contributed with a video signal to the initial point. We provided it with two outputs but maintained the farthest point, with the possibility of still working as a distributor of the main signal over the rest of the card's free points. Such intervention was carried out in less than 5 minutes, taking into account that most of that time was used to physically interact with the BNC's of both cards. This process may seem easy, but in nor-
Configuration examples
Transmission through 1 fiber channel with distribution of 1 signal to 8 remote outputs 2 Rx channels + 2 Tx channels of fiber, transmission of 4 video signals with distribution
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TEST AREA
mal situations and depending on the redundancy of the system over the coax cable, it can be sometimes overwhelming for some, and even give rise to the need of adding new cabling to the existing system. In this case, and with a minimum intervention we achieve the same thing, which is one of the main advantages that I personally see in the integration of the MiniHub to our productive systems.
When making the controlled power cuts, the re-constitution and start up of the system was of around 40 seconds, which is an excellent result for these types of systems.
Second test It was an outdoor environment, simulating the need to connect two mobile units, with a separation of 1 km between them, and with HD-SDI bi-directional signal contributions. A local company gave me the chance to use its lab to carry out this test. Plus, they provided me with two 16CH multimode fiber cables with a total distance of 1 km. This all enabled me to carry out this test bench on-site. After placing the MiniHub in a control cabinet with no refrigeration, and with electrical adjacent elements of medium voltage, we started the test that took place over 24 hours. During that period, the work temperature of the equipments was 27-45 degrees. Configuration was done with the premise of sharing 4 different signals between the two "simulated" mobile units, and carrying out a programmed power cut of the equipment every 8 hours to evaluate its re-construction and any possible configuration errors. Once the test was finished, the
stability results of the HD-SDI signals, generated with charter standards and four movement image loops, were perfect, with no loss or noise in the signal. When making the controlled power cuts, the reconstitution and start up of the system was of around 40 seconds, which is an excellent result for these types of systems.
WHAT WE MISS Just to mention something, it does not have an on/off switch, and I have to admit that I put great emphasis on it when I analyze equipments. Though these systems are designed to run constantly, sometimes, during technical procedures where you need to stop the electrical system, we end struggling to try and find which one is the power cable, even to a greater extent when we take into account that this system has a main power supply and (as an option) a redundant one outside the case of the MiniHub.
CONCLUSIONS We are dealing with a system that combines flexibility, robustness and quality, three important factors that have to be beard in mind in our future investments. Likewise, it has a price that, compared with other solutions that are currently on the market and given its flexibility, is below any of them. The agility provided by this system is an important point when considering it, and it is important to know that it is a system with constant technological innovation, that will provide us with current technologies prepared for the future. I personally have enjoyed and am very pleased with the results obtained in this test bench. The equipment has an excellent finish, it's easy to handle and more importantly, it's effective and useful for this sector in which we work, where due to production reasons, within minutes, the technical disposal of signals can change from the one that had initially been agreed. I encourage you to take a look at NORWIA's website to get to know about the different possibilities that this system offers. You'll find a lot of useful information and detailed descriptions in it. I want to thank XELTEC and Santiago for lending me the equipment, and IB3TV and Joan from Marratxi Xarxa for lending me their facilities and equipments to carry out this test bench.
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TRENDS
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TRENDS
Txt: Menno Koopmans, senior VP subscription broadcasting, Universal Electronics
The consumer electronics industry is a great example of one that constantly changes and evolves. In a highly crowded market, gadgets compete for our attention with never-ending updates, new models and new ways of doing the things that we could easily do before. But in the face of a world of shrinking electronics, one thing has stayed constant; the TV remote control. It might have become more
ergonomic and streamlined over the years, but remote controls have become more dynamic with the additional functionality that our televisions and broadcasters can now provide, therefore making the actual physical remote control even bigger. Newer remote controls are building on the push-button options and controlling content using voice, motion and touch are, now, all options. Voice, for example, is playing a greater role in
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TRENDS
personalising the content delivery experience by enabling an entertainment system to identify the user and suggest appropriate content based on gender, viewing history, and age. The latter has excellent potential for enforcing parental controls for younger viewers. As well as having bigger TV remotes, we now have even more of them. The average Briton now owns 10 electronic devices, many of which are found in the living room and have a remote control. But despite remotes being bigger the old clichés of losing the remote behind the sofa is still true as research suggests that the average person will spend two weeks of their life looking for lost remote controls. All-in-one remotes and mobile apps Ensuring that the remote control is compatible and able to be used universally with as little effort as possible are fundamental aspects of new remote control designs. The remote control is often an extension of the manufacturer’s brand; devices are typically stored out of sight in cabinets leaving the remote as the sole, visible instance of the product. The conclusion here is that consumers want TV remotes that are modern, functional, easy to use and most importantly, easy to find. Instead of adding more and more buttons, or choices to the remote, a user interface optimised for individual use is what’s needed to meet the increased demand for user-friendliness and intuitive control. Manufacturers are producing TV remotes that meet this brief, and can control every device in the house. ‘All-in-one’ remotes are ideal for 21st Century consumers because each of these devices can be controlled from one point,
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The average Briton now owns 10 electronic devices, many of which are found in the living room and have a remote control.
without the user having to move or look for multiple other remotes. Consumers increasingly want to control as much of their lives as possible, from their phone including their work, finances and everything in between. Mobile apps can be used to control your heating, your car, your PC, turn the lights on and off, and of course, control your other electronic devices. TV remote manufacturers have responded to consumer demand, and developed a range of applications that allow users to control their televisions and other media, using their smartphones and tablets. This trend goes some way to alleviating past issues that consumers had with traditional TV remotes. They’re intuitive, customisable, and easy to use. They feature advanced functionality including macros to turn devices on, off, and switch inputs at the push of a single button.
THE
FUTURE OF
TV
REMOTE TECHNOLOGY ? More than sixty years ago, the first remote control device made content selection a simpler and more straightforward process. The difference then was that users switched between a few terrestrial channels. Fast forward to today’s living room, and there are multiple streams of content and many different devices on which to view it
on. With the introduction of smartwatches as companion devices for smartphones in recent times, modern television users can look forward to controlling
TRENDS
everything from a tiny device attached to their wrist, making the TV remote control even harder to lose. Voice-control technology is already available to consumers, but broadcasters are going one step further and even experimenting with mind control remote controls, whereby users can change programmes using nothing but the power of their brainwaves. Originally conceptualised as a solution for disabled users, this ground-breaking technology would represent the pinnacle of remote control devices.
For now though, despite the prolific growth of content options, the user experience is still the most important element. Ease of use and intuitive control will remain at the top of the agenda, and with the
right technological solutions, viewers can have straightforward access to, and control of, the growing number of devices in their living room.
Voice-control technology is already available to consumers, but broadcasters are going one step further and even experimenting with mind control remote controls.
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