In Broadcast September 2012 - 44

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 12 - SEPTEMBER 2012

InSTUDIO

The Shift To HD In A File-Based Environment
The implementation of Arte’s new facilities has taken place in unique conditions in which BCE had to play the card of ﬂexibility by ensuring the evolution of the channel without jeopardising the smooth process of daily operations. The project was thus achieved in two years with, ﬁrst, the upgrading of the so-called “production” facilities and second, that of the “broadcasting” facilities.

In HD Mode
The first step of the project consisted in the implementation of centralised management system of the production’s content (PAM): as the true core of the production’s workﬂow, it carries data towards each station. This PAM deals with material management and ﬁling including a thesaurus function (generation and interconnection of keywords.) The consultation of the content and the task management are carried out through a Web Client and, therefore, are available from anywhere. One of the first steps in the implementation of such a facility is the centralised ingest platform. Working with many countries and thus juggling with countless formats and content sources, this platform can digitise almost anything and convert videos into Arte’s working format (AVC-i@100Mbps). The platform’s automation ensures the running of the VTR and over-the-air signals but also allows the opposite process, i.e. the recording of ﬁle content on a tape. All computer equipment from the editing room and control room has been transferred to the mechanical

Control Room Gallery

room in order to shorten noise nuisance in those rooms. Equipped with a KVM system, the rooms are connected with the client through IP. BCE has set up four types of editing rooms: news, broadcast, audio; and effects. The audio editing rooms are equipped with the Satellite Video System which facilitates operation by separating audio and video during the exchanges and by gathering them automatically for the final version. The editors can also work with “nonﬂat” sessions in order to allow an easy integration of additional audio tracks. Both control rooms, built as before as a resiliency solution, are perfectly adapted to high-precision work. The studio manager has direct access to 22 video channels in order to produce television broadcasts and news. This plurality of the sources is also reinforced from the point of view of the audio engineer who has got access to the main audio router and therefore to all the sources. The redundancy of the rooms is perfect and the passage from o n e ro o m t o another can be done immediately thanks to the KVM system.

Tapeless Workﬂow
The installation of the broadcasting facilities has been carried out while the site was in full operation. Arte having developed its own MAM for the broadcasting, BCE had to integrate the new installations within the existing technology and ensure its symbiosis with third applications. Therefore, the new platform incorporates quality control in terms of audio (guarantees conformity with the Loudness R128 standard) and video. The “workﬂow engine” enables ﬁle transfer from a storage location to another. “Our teams had to show signiﬁcant accuracy and a narrow collaboration with Arte’s teams in the context of the broadcasting department migration. Indeed, the works were carried out while the site was in full operation and our team had to ensure the running of the new systems without disturbing the broadcasting,” said Frederic Fievez, Manager Special Projects, BCE. With Arte broadcasting its programmes in two languages, subtitling had to allow multilingual management for the German and French channels, which do not share the same schedules. For instance, during a live event, the subtitling system allows the handling of the subtitles produced by the teams and makes it possible to move them according to the other channel’s broadcast time. In accordance with the new technology, BCE has equipped Arte’s broadcasting platform with

various systems that are necessary to ensure the management of the new standards of Dolby E, Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 and Dolby Digital Plus as well as the compliance with the Loudness R128 standards. In order to acquire rapidity, Arte now works with content whose audio and video tracks are distinct. Therefore, when a modiﬁcation is made on the audio, all that has to be done is change the related track without having to recalculate the global file. Alain Schank, Responsable Service TV-Systèmes, ARTE-GEIE, concluded : “The channel is now equipped with a platform that has two major assets. On the one hand, the technological breakthrough of high-deﬁnition using ﬁles as a working base and, on the other hand, the unique aspect of our workﬂow with the work on the shared servers and the use of a non-ﬂat ﬁle format for an easier work with the audio.” ■

Editing Room

Control Room

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In Broadcast September 2012

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