Building media-centric video facilities
Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By David Watson
Channel Five implements a file-based workflow.
Post production
For the installation at Five, system integrator root6 chose Isilon clustered storage arrays.
On post production specifically, Five already had increased requirements for the creation of promotional products for the two new channels. The broadcast technology manager, Stuart Hay, defined user profiles and permissions for the integrator, a planning effort that paid off later and outshone the value of the core rebuild and system integration work Five asked it to do.
To that end, Five has worked with the system integrator to create a new digital file island for post. The facility is located in Stephen Street where Five has installed its own equipment. The eight edit suites rely on an Apple Xsan storage area network and Final Cut Studio. A five-seat graphics area is based on After Effects. The edit suites, graphics area and the finishing room together provide a collaborative working environment for interstitials production. There's no VT area, but the machines are housed in attractive wooden carts with umbilical connections so they can easily be swapped from suite to suite.
Workflow analysis
The initial process for the integrator was a discovery phase. All the parties involved detailed their daily work processes in minute detail, which was then documented in the form of step diagrams. Those involved were fortunate to be able to engage in some fairly lively meetings and examine each individual's workflow requirements in isolation. This was then consolidated into a global workflow diagram, so they could look holistically at the entire process. Next, they applied the needs of the users to the collaborative shared storage and editing environment. This allowed them to effectively match the requirements of the users in the creative and approval process to resources on the shared storage network. There were dedicated people in each department as key resources, allowing the integrator to determine and hone the requirements. This work enabled Five to kick into production at full pace from day one.
Building the system
The build was predicated on the customer's existing Xsan/Final Cut Pro installation on the ninth floor, which was installed two years previously to coincide with the launch of Five Life/FIVER and Five US. Once the broadcaster had embraced this data-centric workflow, the design of the second floor facility became obvious with fiber and gigabit Ethernet being as important as the Pro-Bel HD router and traditional A/V infrastructure.
In collaboration with Hay, the integration team designed a standard suite configuration that would cover all variants of craft editing, graphics and finishing with local monitoring facilities defining the room's function. Bespoke fiber is an area in which the integrator specializes, and the post facility is flooded with multimode fiber for all SAN eventualities in much the same way that you might flood a building for structured cabling.
Interior design
Great attention has been devoted to the physical design of the suites, which could equally be at home in a trendy Soho boutique. Lighting is infinitely variable, and the AKA motorized desks slink up and down to order. A bespoke package from Digital Heaven for Final Cut enables text to be converted to house style, format and colors with warnings if text strays beyond safe areas.
Broadband delivery
Rather than housing VTRs in racks, the machines were mounted in portable carts.
Five's broadcast output is complemented by a nonlinear service, Five Download. This provides access to an increasing number of popular programs, including “CSI” and “Grey's Anatomy.” The on-demand portal is managed by BT, and Five uses the ContentAgent transcoding platform to supply the MPEG-2 versions to the service provider.
Located in the ingest room, ContentAgent is also used for transcoding to multiple formats for review and approval and for DVD creation.
It will be many years before the longer established and larger broadcasters inhabit a completely tapeless environment, if indeed that day ever comes. But the die is cast and sensible reductions in tape use with associated savings in transportation, coupled with a more efficient production workflow, present a compelling argument. The trick is to implement the change without disruption, make the benefits obvious to all and change the culture by popular consent.
David Watson runs a design and PR consultancy specializing in the broadcast and post market.
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