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Advanced Broadcast Services was one of the first playout facilities to
operate fully server-based. After studying the available suppliers, we
opted for Pharos Playtime automation controlling Pinnacle MSS 1600
(main) plus MS 700 (backup) servers, each with about 300 hours of
MPEG2 8 megabit/s storage. Our Phase 1 server array consisted of 3 x
9 disc drives. In five years of practically continuous operation we have
experienced only four drive failures. As the drives are inRAID5 formation,
we were able to hot-swap replacements without any interruption.
The Pharos/Pinnacle combination enabled us to implement a much
lower cost structure based on two operators per channel. The
established playout companies in the late 1990s were using server/
tape hybrids and needed an average of 10 to 15 people per channel.
Pharos Playtime was far more versatile than competing systems, both
in what it could do and what it would drive. It enabled us to expand
gradually, interfacing to additional equipment as time progressed.
Pharos is far ahead of its
competitors in the way the
company has figured out the
automation concepts. When we buy
software today, we need to be sure
it will work within our system for at
least five years and maybe seven to
ten years. We must also be able to
respond to whatever our customers
demand of us as their own business
requirements grow and change.
Pharos software is inherently
flexible and open-ended, allowing
new features to be added as the playout market evolves and the
system itself to expand as we take on extra clients. On-screen
picture messaging, as distinct from text messaging, is an example
of a facility our clients are increasingly requesting. The system we
bought from Pharos five years ago is still in 24/7 use today.
London was rapidly becoming a worldwide hub for channel
management, mainly because telecommunications had been
deregulated. By 2003 we were playing out 15 channels to audiences
in Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America. Business
kept growing through our first 5-year phase.
By the start of our second phase, in 2004, playout prices had fallen
to a half or third of their former level. Our clients had become much
more mature in their own business requirements. The technology
had moved on and the competition had become extremely tough.
The phase 1 site includes a gallery adjacent to a studio. The gallery
has an Avid Media Composer which can be used for generating text
or 3D graphics. A second Avid Media Composer is assigned to the
editing suite with a Digi-Beta DVW-A500Pand a PVW-2800 Beta-SP
VT deck. Most of our clients do their own editing and create their
own interstitials prior to sending content to us. Vision mixing in on a
four- channel Snell & Wilcox MagicDave. Picture display is on a
Sony Grade 1 monitor plus two 14 inch and eight 9 inch monitors,
again Sony. Audio equipment in the gallery includes Sony radio
microphones, Sonifex telephone interface, a Mackie 1604-VLZaudio
mixer, VSC PPMs and Drawmer DL441 audio compressor. Sound
monitoring is on Genelec and HHB Circle 5 loudspeakers.
The studio is equipped with two Sony DSR-250Pcamcorders onVinten
tripods plus Photon flourescent lighting, a Sony CRT monitor and two
Mitubishi 17 inch CRT displays. Adjacent to the studio is our gallery
and edit suite. An entire show can be controlled by a single operator.
Phase 2 (2004-2009)
We broadcast six channels for Bollywood4U (B4U), a Hindu
operation with an asset of about 100 thousand tapes including 20
thousand movies. This makes it our biggest customer. B4U spent a
lot of time and effort shipping tapes between libraries in India
and Britain; to help reduce its costs, we started looking at archiving
and agreed to house 20 thousand tapes here.
Manpower is the biggest overhead for any playout facility. Until recently,
employing staff to ingest, playout and delete cost less than investing
half a million pounds or so in an archiving system. Staff costs have now
risen and equipment costs fallen to the point where the opposite is
now true. Disc-based and data-tape-based systems have been
competing closely, each overtaking the other in terms of cost-efficiency.
We chose Pharos Playtime automation controlling Pinnacle online
disc servers again for phase 2. The servers here are MSS 1600
(main) and MSS 8000 (backup). In total we have 500 plus 500
hours of peer-to- peer MPEG2 8 megabit/s online server storage.
The archiving system actually enabled us to work with less online
storage but server costs are less of an issue now. We needed enough
capacity for ingest, playout and a couple of days of online storage.
This is supported by a choice of disc or a Sony PetaSite data-tape
system for near-online. The PetaSite is more efficient than disc in
terms of the physical size and cost-of-ownership.
Ordered via Pharos, the PetaSite has two SAIT-1 data-tape drives,
an Ethernet hub, Fibrechannel connectivity and a terminal server.
Playing out
to the
world
ABS began life in 1992 as Advanced Satellite International, managing the installation
of studios, transmission stations, relay stations, microwave-based local television
networks, uplinks and downlinks. Sky Digital launched in 1998, creating a new market
for channel management facilities. The company rebranded as Advanced Broadcast
Services and soon had its first playout centre up and running from its West London
base. Managing Director
Sass Jahani
takes us inside ABS