Quantel Zoning brings distant news centers closer together for TV 2
Oct 26, 2007 1:38 PM
TV 2’s facilities in Oslo (shown) and Bergen share and view data on each other’s Quantel sQ servers.
Journalists working at the major production sites of Norway TV 2 in Oslo and Bergen are viewing and sharing access to each other’s media to maintain the workflow efficiencies the organization has realized since adopting a file-based workflow in 2004.
Although separated by 327mi (by train), journalists in Bergen can view media captured in servers located at the Oslo site, and vice versa, and incorporate it into their edit sequences. At the heart of the system providing remote access to media is Quantel’s Zoning technology.
Every clip recorded into a Quantel server can be accessed as a low bit rate (LBR) proxy file or as the original high bit rate (HBR) media. Because of practical bandwidth limitations, it is not realistic for multiple operators to access and edit HBR media over long links; however, Quantel editors can view media and build edit sequences using the proxy media.
Quantel’s FrameMagic technology then assures that only the video frames required in an edit sequence are transferred from the Oslo server to the Bergen server to create a finished edit ready for playout in Bergen.
This approach has given TV 2 the speed and access to data it needs to maintain an efficient workflow regardless of the distance separating the two main production centers.
The Quantel production systems in both Bergen and Oslo are composed of a large array of Quantel sQ video servers that capture media for post production and playout.
TV 2 Bergen currently has 800 hours (IMX 50Mb/s) of storage, while TV 2 Oslo has 500 hours of storage. Each system supports a large number of Quantel sQ Cut journalist editing stations and sQ Edit Plus craft editing stations.
Typically, a journalist will use sQ Cut to preview and make basic shot selections for a story. The selection can be taken direct to air or selected by the craft editing stations for further post production.
The system also relies on a media asset management (MAM) system from Vizrt’s Ardendo. The MAM is responsible for controlling ingest into the Quantel servers, moving media between the servers and management of a large IBM data archive.
For more information, visit www.quantel.com.
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