In Broadcast - February 2013 - 50

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 16 - FEBRUARY 2013

N E W S

InFORM

Setting The Standard - High Deﬁnition
The number of facilities upgrading to cater for HD channels is rising as HD becomes the new standard…
By Tim Felstead
Head of Sales & Marketing,
ATG Broadcast

TG Broadcast pioneered the
transition from videotape to
the file-based media-management
technology now used throughout
the industry. It has also assisted
many clients in the construction of
new high-definition studios, master
control rooms and playout facilities
as well as the upgrade of existing
SD systems to HD.
Indeed, 2012 was the year when
1920x1080 really did become the
new ‘standard definition’. Looking
back over our most recent major
projects, all were designed either for
immediate operation in HD or, in one
case, allows fast and easy upgrade
to HD when required.

Icelandic Playout
50

In mid-summer we completed an
expanded playout system for the
Icelandic Broadcasting Service,
RUV. Originally owned by the
Icelandic state, the network today
operates as an independent
public service broadcaster funded
primarily by the licence fee and
revenues from advertisements.
Two new 1080i high-definition
channels, TX2 and TX3, have
been installed at the network’s
headquarters in Efstaleiti, Reykjavik.
RUV chose ATG Broadcast to
install its 625-line playout system
some years ago and was keen to
maintain continuity with the same
engineering team. Each of the two
new HD channels is equipped with
a Snell Integrated Content Engine
plus a Morpheus automated
routing control system. A new
monitor wall has been constructed
in the transmission suite. An Axon
multiviewer system together with
Genelec audio monitors have also
been installed to provide monitoring
for all three channels.

SABC Migration
ATG Broadcast has been working
on the completion of a large
project for the South African
Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
South Africa’s public service
broadcaster. The SABC provides
three television channels (SABC 1,
SABC 2 and SABC 3) and 18 radio
stations (AM/FM).
SABC has migrated its entire news
operation to the ENPS platform. The
project included the design and
installation of a networked ENPS

newsroom with 1,100 user licences,
the world’s fifth largest of its kind.
It is being used to prepare content
for all SABC television and radio
news operations, including regional
stations and international bureau.
The largest part of the installation
is located at SABC’s headquarters
in Johannesburg. In addition to
the massive ENPS system, the
newsroom includes a Quantel sQ
server and editing infrastructure
for ingest, post-production and
playout, plus Amberfin file-format
conversion. The ENPS replaces a
Dynatech Newstar system. Training
was an important aspect element
of the transition. ENPS super-user
instruction for about 1,500 operators
was arranged, centred on dedicated
demonstration terminals attached to
the main system.
The project was supervised by
ATG Broadcast’s Senior Project
Engineer, Dave Whitaker, in
conjunction with UK-based and SAbased colleagues. The system was
installed in co-operation with ATG
Broadcast’s Johannesburg-based
regional agent, Questek.

Monitoring RUV Transmission Suite

sports channel for TV4. The contract
provided playout facilities for the
SportXtra HD channel which gave
TV4 additional editorial capacity to
focus on major events. The new
channel was completed on schedule
and went on air in time to allow
expanded coverage of the European
Football Championship.
The SportXtra playout system is
fully equipped for 1080i operation
and cabled to allow future
expansion to 1080p. Newly installed
equipment included Miranda up/
down converters for incoming lines,
a Harmonic high-definition video
server, Miranda Imagestore master
control switching, Cavena subtitling,
Harris multi-rate routing, expanded
Snell transmission matrices, Evertz
multiviewer cards and Axon glue.
The entire project was completed
within a week of commencement.

Strong Swedish Links
ATG Broadcast has worked with
Swedish broadcaster TV4 and
its transmission partner Ericsson
Broadcasting Services over many
years during the network’s transition
to an IT-based production and
playout workflow. This is due in no
small measure to our engineering
team’s ability to design, install and
take to air efficient systems with
minimal disturbance to a station’s
ongoing activity.
Mid-July 2010 we commenced
work on a major expansion of the
playout infrastructure at Ericsson’s
Stockholm headquarters. This
provided the system required to
transmit 13 Canal Plus SD and HD
sports channels. All channels were
equipped to allow live recording
for instant rerun. The entire
project took just eight weeks from
order placement.
In March 2011 we completed
a playout management and
presentation facility for the TV4’s
Norway Gold channel plus a sports
events channel capable of operating
in 3D high-definition.
During the summer of 2012, we
installed a second high-definition

Associated Press
To meet the increasing demand for
HD content, AP has embarked on
a multi-million dollar upgrade of its
global newsgathering infrastructure.
A key element in the transition was
the construction of a new highdefinition master control room at
AP’s London premises. The MCR
is the international hub of AP’s
global video operation, serving
client broadcasters on a roundthe-clock basis every day of the
year. ATG Broadcast was chosen
as systems integrator on the basis
of its successful track record in
designing and installing comparable
systems for major broadcasters in
many countries. After appropriate
approvals had been obtained for
the Grade 2 listed building, work
commenced on the structural
conversion of a former floor studio
into the new MCR.
An important requirement was the
need to control existing SD services
alongside the new expanding HD
activity as well as dealing with any
necessary conversions between
the two. Four of the five operational
positions are located in a single

operational desk in front of a 10.5
metres wide by three metres high
panoramic ‘monitor-scape’ running
almost the entire width of the MCR. A
second desk occupying the centre of
the room forms the shift supervisor’s
position plus the fifth position which
is intended to accommodate an
extra operator when required.
A central element of the new
installation was a 3G-SDI routing
matrix which performs a wide
range of source and destination
assignment tasks. Multiviewers
were also installed and configured
to drive the monitor-scape, allowing
each of its 47-inch displays to be
operated as a multi-monitor grid with
independent channel selection for
each subsidiary display.
The system is closely linked
to AP’s automation and asset
management system for recording
incoming content to the video server.
It also links to AP’s news production
system which is used by editorial
staff in the second-floor newsroom.
All of the six MCR positions are
identically equipped to coordinate
and capture incoming content and
check signal quality prior to recording.
Control of AP’s satellite network
is available at these workstations.
Transmission is coordinated from
the rightmost of the four front desks
including direct output to live AP
Television News and ad hoc feeds.
A lot of design effort went into the
working environment especially the
‘monitor-scape’ which is arranged
so that the MCR team can view a
selection of continuous incoming
feeds for technical or content
reasons. To ensure efficient transition
to the new HD MCR from the existing
SD control room, all SD systems
as well as the new systems were
controllable from the new facility.
All that was then necessary was to
transfer the operating staff. The MCR
was completed on schedule and
forms a model for AP’s news hubs
in Washington and New York.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 51

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