For its new sports production base in Salford, the BBC has chosen a server and asset management network from EVS, designed primarily for fast turnaround work. The system adds the IPDirector software suite to manage media, medatada and playout scheduling on top of the network of EVS servers.
There is a total of 44 channels, with the capability of 36 simultaneous ingests and 1500 hours of HD storage. It can be readily expanded when necessary, for example for next year’s Olympics.
Incoming material recorded on the EVS servers can be edited instantly using the EVS Multicam LSM or IPDirector controllers. Content is streamed to an Omneon MediaGrid, which also generates the proxy version for desktop editing and viewing by 400 journalists and producers. IPDirector provides the common point of access to content, whether it is on EVS or Omneon.
A work in progress area is equipped with Final Cut Pro editors, linked direct to the Omneon MediaGrid. Once an edit is complete, the EVS Final Cut Pro export plug-in sends the package to the correct playout server, and initiates the creation of browse copies for review. Playout is handled manually by EVS LSM controllers, or by IPDirector for playlist management and automated schedules from ENPS.
In other sport news, EVS is celebrating its contribution to the 2011 Fifa Women’s World Cup. As well as servers in all the OB units covering the nine stadiums, EVS also provided the Epsio live graphic analysis system. First introduced at the World Cup in 2010, this creates a dynamic graphic of the pitch and all the players, allowing offside decisions to be checked within five seconds.
