Integrating New Technology and Conventional Playout Systems
The availability of IT/software-based playout systems can dramatically lower the cost and complexity of deploying and operating broadcast channels. However, few broadcasters can deploy this new technology in a “greenfield” site, even if adding new channels. Rather, these new systems must be integrated into an existing operation and interoperate with conventional broadcast hardware supporting existing channels — hardware that will be retained through some or all of its remaining useful life. Doing this efficiently means planning integrated workflows that utilize both conventional and new solution components, as well as the critical ability to share content libraries - and the storage that hosts them - between existing and new channels — These objectives can be met, but require flexibility within the new technology solution to accommodate existing ingest methods and content file formats. In addition, the communication of scheduling and program management systems with both conventional and IT/software-based systems for ingest and playout requires the selective application of the new IT methods such as web services and data exchange standards like BXF, along with the retention of legacy communication methods where necessary. — This objectives of this paper are to explore several approaches to the efficient integration of IT/software-based and conventional playout systems, and the ingest and content preparation processes that support them. To do this, we will identify the required and potential touch points of these systems to each other, to shared resources such as content storage, and to adjacent planning systems such as traffic and program management. At each such touch point, we can examine available solutions and identify the benefits of each approach.
- Published
- 2010-10
- Content type
- Original Research
- Keywords
- automation, IT, file-based, workflow, playout, transmission, software, OmniBus, iTX, Wadle, Miranda
- DOI
- 10.5594/M001393
- ISBN
- 978-1-61482-944-7