Engineering Excellence Awards
Mar 1, 2008 12:00 PM
WINNER:
AARP
Category
New studio or RF technology — station
Submitted by
Lawson & Associates Architects
AARP
Winner of new studio or RF technology — station
In the AARP 12,000sq-ft facility, the group wanted the equipment to represent forward thinking, and with the exception of two studios, the entire plant was rebuilt.
The association wanted upbeat colors, special wall materials, special light fixtures, and for everyone to be able to see what was being done in all the control rooms, and yet when necessary, have privacy. The answer: glass with a light switch! An added benefit is that smart glass saves costs for heating and cooling and lighting, as well as avoids the cost of installing and maintaining motorized light screens or blinds.
AARP selected equipment with long-term growth and interoperability in mind. The NVISION routing system, the core of the technical operations center, consists of an NV8256-Plus digital video router, NV7256-Plus synchronous AES router and NV5128 analog video router, as well as RS-422 data and time-code routing. The NV8256-Plus router along with all plant wiring is fully capable with 3Gb/s SMPTE 324 1080P video. Euphonix Max Air audio platforms, Sony MVS8000 switcher systems and Barco video walls driven by Evertz MVP processors are used in the production control rooms.
The electronics were designed by the AARP engineering department in VidCad for ease of change and documentation capability. No raised floors were used. All cable distribution is on overhead cable trays fitted with accessible hinged custom covers that have magnetic catches for easy access. With AARP's renovated facility, everything is possible.
RUNNER-UP:
Category
New studio or RF technology — station
Submitted by
Brightline
WCCO-TV
By 1956, seven years after its on-air debut, Minneapolis' WCCO-TV was drawing lunch-time crowds outside its studio windows, on which the weatherman would write the day's forecast while those gathered watched themselves on the monitors. This inventive take on technology and a desire to connect with its public have survived to the present day. In the last 18 months, the CBS-owned-and-operated station has inaugurated a reconfigured newsroom and two redesigned broadcast studios.
RUNNER-UP:
Category
New studio or RF technology — station
Submitted by
The Systems Group
WGBH-TV
In May 2005, WGBH-TV broke ground on its new facility in Brighton, MA, the first step in the station's attempt for a smooth transition from its vintage analog A/V plant in Allston, MA, to a new serial digital facility. Located outside of Boston, WGBH produces about one-third of PBS' prime-time programs and serves the New England area with seven local and one national channel.
The workhorse of its new master control room is the Thomson Grass Valley Maestro, because the project called for a switcher with internal branding, audio store and CG.
WINNER:
Televisa
Category
New studio technology — network
Submitted by
Omneon
Televisa
Winner of new studio technology — network
This year, Grupo Televisa, one of the world's largest Spanish-language media corporations, streamlined its broadcast operation. The organization dramatically improved efficiency by implementing an automated, fully tapeless workflow system across its two facilities, Chapultepec and Santa Fe, both located in Mexico City. In collaboration with systems integrator AM Tecnología (AMTEC), Televisa spent many months in planning, design and installation before the new state-of-the-art operation went on the air in fall 2007.
At its Chapultepec broadcast technology center, Televisa produces news and other programming and broadcasts three national channels and one local channel. The facility has a streamlined, futuristic look that reflects its high-tech efficiency. The Santa Fe facility produces reality shows and other programming and ingests commercials for playout.
At the core of Televisa's new infrastructure are an Omneon MediaGrid active storage system and five Omneon Spectrum media servers. The 24TB MediaGrid system at the Chapultepec facility acts as a central nearline repository for content, storing finished material that is subsequently moved to Spectrum servers for playout and to a Tedial media asset management system for archive. The MediaGrid system also provides edit-in-place storage for multiple Apple Final Cut Pro editors.
Four of the Spectrum server systems are located in the Chapultepec facility, with two designated for main and mirrored playout, a third for archiving and a fourth for ingest, primarily of long-form content. Each of these servers includes 16 SD channels and one HD channel, configured for a variety of functions including preview, high-res quality control, ingest and playout. The fifth server was installed at the Santa Fe facility for ingest of commercials that are then transferred under the control of Aveco Astra automation over a private fiber-optic network to the main mirrored playout servers at Chapultepec.
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