In Broadcast - July 2013 - 58

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

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 21 - JULY 2013

N E W S

InMEDIA

IT Workflow In Broadcast
Broadcast workﬂow covers a multitude of topics and technology, but most are agreed that what it all
comes down to is keeping the show running smoothly and without interruption…

By Jim Evans
Contributing Editor

T

58

he prospectus for the BBC
Academy seminar ‘Broadcast
Workflow’ suggests “For some,
a workﬂow will always be about
the latest technology and the
theoretical beneﬁts on offer, for
others it will be about how we
“did it last time”. But if you take a
step back, you can see a complex
interaction between a number of
separate factors that all combine (or
not on some occasions) to naturally
form a ‘workﬂow’.
“People with knowledge will
create a process, but is that the
best process? The individual needs
of the production, technology
and craft areas often mean that
a common process that suits
all parties is difficult (but not
impossible) to design, and once
created is best left alone. The ﬁnely
balanced collaboration of people,
departments and technology is the
global ‘workﬂow’ that we all strive
to achieve – a moment in time when
“it all just works” and we can get
on with our core business of telling
great stories for our audiences.
We’ve all experienced it and know
what it feels like, but usually only
appreciate it when it’s gone.
At NAB earlier this year, Snell
demonstrated end-to-end
broadcast workﬂow from tablet to
transmission. The demo integrated
Snell’s Momentum media workﬂow
automation system, Morpheus
playout automation system, and
ICE channel-in-a-box solution.
Working together, the Snell
products showcase a live end-toend broadcast workﬂow that ingests
recorded content from a tablet
device and sends it to the cloud,
where it can be easily accessed for
transcoding and playout.
“This presentation is a powerful
demonstration of the media factory
at work, ingesting, processing,
and delivering content through a
seamless and automated process.
The integration of Momentum
and Morpheus ensures that every
step of the workﬂow is automated,
eliminating costly manual processes
while still enabling user intervention
when required,” said Neil Maycock,
Chief Architect at Snell. “Furthermore,
with so many broadcast and media
companies struggling to deal with

the economics of the TV Everywhere
paradigm, Snell systems embrace
the utilisation of cloud-based
technologies to allow customers
to realign their expenditure with
their business models. And by
demonstrating the capture of
content using a consumer device,
we’re offering even broader ﬂexibility
for electronic newsgathering or any
other use that requires personnel to
capture and deliver a high volume
of content from the field.”
Although the NAB demo was
modelled on a broadcasting
workflow, Momentum can be
easily conﬁgured to push content
in the correct format to any delivery
platform including the Web and
mobile devices, creating powerful
new efﬁciencies and reducing the
cost of multi-screen delivery. The
Momentum-Morpheus integration
is highly scalable, automating the
ingest of content from hundreds
or even thousands of sources for
delivery to many different devices.
Via the Momentum-Morpheus
integration, the playout operator
can request the material using
the familiar Morpheus interface,
whereby a transfer workflow is
instigated to restore the content
from the archive, transcode and
QC it, and then copy it to ICE for
playout. The operator can then do
a ﬁnal transmission review or play
out the content straight to air with
full branding via ICE’s advanced
graphics capabilities.
Pebble Beach Systems, a
leading developer and supplier of
automation, channel in a box and
content management solutions for
TV broadcasters, cable and satellite
operators, has been awarded the
contract to deliver a 48 channel
Marina automation system to
Viasat in the UK.
The Marina automation system
is to be supplied via Luxembourg
integrator BCE, and will be installed
at Viasat’s new play-out facility
in Chiswick, London over the
coming months.
Magnus Lindholm is CEO at MTG
Broadcast CentreAB, in Stockholm,
Sweden, and oversaw the selection
process. “We are excited to be
implementing this next generation
automation platform,” he states.

Snell’s Morpheus playout automation system

Adding: “It was important for us to
select a solution which can evolve
and develop as our business
needs change over the coming
years. In addition to providing
expert assistance to us during the
design phase of this project, Pebble
Beach Systems continues to deliver
excellent support on an ongoing
basis for the systems we already
have in operation.”
Pebble Beach Systems Sales
Director Tom Gittins comments:
“Having delivered a multichannel
playout system to Modern Times
Group (MTG) in Sweden soon
after Pebble Beach Systems was
founded, we have been working
closely with the group for many
years. The subsequent supply of
a playout system to Viasat Ghana
was followed with a major project
at Viasat Riga, where we provide
an end-to-end workﬂow solution,
including media management. The
signiﬁcant new contract which we
have now been awarded builds
on that relationship, and we look
forward to working with the Viasat
on this exciting new greenfield
installation.”
As media leaders accelerate
the launch of their digital multidistribution strategies, Thomson
recently outlined a new initiative to
support the new digital workﬂow
requirements of its customers.
At a pre-NAB press event,
Thomson detailed its Grass
Valley dMAX initiative (digital
Media Asset Maximisation). The
company also announced a series
of new Grass Valley brand digital
media products as well as systems
integration services.
“Digital workflows are a huge
opportunity for Thomson and
we have aligned our resources
accordingly,” said Marc Valentin,
Executive VP of Thomson
Broadcast & Media Solutions. “We
understand that the coming decade

will be deﬁned by media leaders
maximising the return on their digital
investment: getting the most out of
the resources at hand while broadly
repurposing their digital assets.”
The Thomson announcements
illustrate its ability to capitalise on
two key trends in the media and
entertainment industries: the move
toward multi-distribution workﬂows
to drive new revenue-generation
opportunities, and the increase in
the standardisation on multi-format
and HD workflows.
Under one umbrella, the dMAX
initiative will deliver to media leaders
worldwide a combination of software
and middleware frameworks,
critical applications - such as asset
management, facility management,
and monitoring - expert system
integration, and support services
to create complete, optimised, endto-end workflows.
Meanwhile, Thai TV Global
Network (TGN), Thailand’s ﬁrst and
only satellite TV broadcasting centre,
has chosen Harmonic production
and playout solutions.
TGN has built a seamless
workflow, from acquisition to
transmission, on a Harmonic
media storage, asset management,
and playout server platform.
Installed along with an MXFserver
production management system
from FilmPartners, the solution
has enabled TGN to optimise and
streamline its broadcast operations
from end to end.
“By implementing tightly integrated
solutions from Harmonic and
FilmPartners, we have created a
highly efﬁcient collaborative editing
environment with content stored at
the centre of the workﬂow,” said
Col. Sarawut Karbdecho, Director at
Thai TV Global Network. “In day-today operations, this powerful pairing
enables us to produce and deliver
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