Fourth Annual Excellence Awards
New studio technology - Non-broadcast nominee

Systems integrator TV Magic guided the project. KLCS required a reliable and flexible combination of equipment that would allow large volumes of material in various file formats to flow seamlessly between various stages.

The upgrade included integration of a 28-channel Omneon Spectrum media server system controlled by Sundance Digital’s Titan automation software. The server allows engineers to separate studio and edit content, play-to-air material, streaming channels, and other assets into different volumes on the same server so that the facility’s automation system sees only the material relevant to it.

The server is also integrated with Pinnacle Liquid series production applications mounted on a GVS SAN/NAS for shared storage and near-line archiving. Together, these systems allow operators to mix compression formats on a single timeline, offer compatibility with the firewire drives deployed in Ikegami field cameras outfitted with nNovia hard-disk recorders, and provide an easy to use solution with enough horsepower to accomplish higher-end effects in real time. Triveni Digital’s Skyscaper system, coupled with Sundance Digital’s Seeker asset manager, provide the interface teachers use to request delivery of content to individual school campuses. Sundance’s Titan automation enables GUI-based, dynamic reassignment of playlist control. Sundance Archive Manager, in combination with Avalon, oversees near-line storage and retrieval of media for play to air, while the Sundance Intelli-Sat application schedules and records KLCS’ incoming satellite content.

Teachers can now browse or search the entire contents of the KLCS media library, which include not only video and audio, but also PowerPoint presentations, lesson plans and other resources. Once a teacher requests digital content, the high-res version is datacast to the school’s edge server for playout. The system allows teachers to search and browse for material without leaving their desktop.