In Broadcast - March 2014 - 42

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

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 29 - MARCH 2014

N E W S

InSTUDIO
Systems Integrators Part II Cont.

C2S Systems

42

With ofﬁces in the UK, Africa and
Asia, C2S Systems, the broadcast
SI arm of WTS Group, has visibility
of the market trends and business
climate globally and reports that in
general the signs are positive.
"Most companies involved in
broadcast equipment supply and
systems integration would agree
that 2013 has been good for growth,"
says sales director Ben Murphy.
"We've seen a lot of conﬁdence back
in the market and the investment that
comes with that."
The UK outside broadcast sector in
particular was jolted with the arrival
of BT Sport and further shaken up by
the BBC's decision to drop SIS Live,
potentially allowing some room for
smaller companies to grow.
While major projects look thin
on the ground, Murphy says the
company is ﬁnding a lot of interest
in medium-sized builds. "Many of
these were sidelined due to ﬁnancial
reasons over the last four years and
are now reaching the point where
current installations are at the end
of their life so upgrades need to be
looked at," he says.

The control room for MNET and SuperSport in Kenya

Like many SI's, C2S is ﬁnding Over
the Top (OTT) factored into most new
ﬁxed installations at some level even
if it's simply a transcode environment
to supply packages to a third party
distributor or You Tube channel.
"Clients with larger systems are
looking at full workﬂow integration
with packages such as Avid Interplay
Pulse helping to streamline and
make the most of the assets they
create," notes Jonathan Lyth,
systems manager. "In addition, we're
seeing an increased emphasis on
stable broadcast quality interfaces

for consumer IP technology for
contribution. A request for a gallery
'Skype PC' is now as common as a
traditional TBU (Telephone Balance
Unit - the device used to allow phone
calls to be turned into a standard
audio signal so it can be inserted into
the programme). This, and the ability
to take mobile and user-generated
content from public channels in
the news environment, is critical to
staying ahead."
Indeed, the next major transition
for SI's is IP. "We've seen it growing
on the contribution and distribution
side rapidly over the past ﬁve years
but for many clients that's tended
to be dealt with through a managed
service from external providers," says
Lyth. "We're now looking at instances
where even small-to-medium-sized
installations will have ever-increasing
reliance on IP technologies inside
their own walls."
The appearance of partnerships to
develop standards such as AVB and
RAVENNA, and transmission systems
such as Cinegy, show that, even if
there is some way to go to make this
a mainstream technology, the industry
is at the point where understanding
video IP packets becomes as integral
to an engineer's skillset as interlacing.
Overall, says Lyth, "There is a
more budget-led mentality in the
industry than previously. Clients
are better educated in equipment
speciﬁcation and are open to using
multiple vendors for best-of-breed
systems, which in turn means SI's
can and need to offer more ﬂexibility
in terms of true integration capability
and access to supply channels to stay
competitive."

In Action
Last June, C2S Systems completed
installation of a studio complex with
post-production facilities for MNET
and SuperSport in Kenya. The fourstudio complex was designed for
flexibility to support production
both of MNET's new prime-time
drama-serial Kona, as well as
front-end presentation coverage
for SuperSport of east African

sports events.
Positioned over two buildings,
the four studios are supported by
two control rooms, nine post suites
- including FCP, Avid and Protools
- two QC suites, and ICR Central
Distribution. MCR and uplink facilities
were also designed.
With completely file-based

Jonathan Lyth,
C2S Systems

"...SI's ﬂneed to offer
more exibility
in terms of true
integration capability

"

production workﬂows, in two very
different and separate production
environments, there were some
considerable technical challenges
in the integration. EVS IP Director
was used to provide asset control,
and the C2S designed touchscreen router control helped simplify
routing operations for studio staff
whilst allowing instant status of all
paths. Twelve camera channels were
installed across the studios; eight for
the SuperSport studios and four for
Kona with provision for an additional
four in the future.
Lyth explains: "Designing studios
for two different types of production
made the system quite complex.
Three different post-production
platforms were needed, and the
tapeless production-to-TX workﬂow
meant that each production needed
its own asset control system to be
integrated under a single workﬂow.
We were able to pre-assemble parts
of the system in our Leeds workshop
prior to shipping to Kenya, which
meant we needed less time on-site
and could stay out of the way of
building works."
CONTINUED ON PAGE 44

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