South African broadcaster e.tv has moved to a new purpose-built facility in Cape Town, and to an all-HD operation, with systems integrator Megahertz in charge of the move.
The project involved the installation of a substantial amount of infrastructure, including two Grass Valley Miranda 8000 routers: one for lines traffic and a larger router for all the transmission traffic. Axon provided much of the modular infrastructure, including synchronisers, converters, multi-viewers and transmission switchers, plus a central control and monitoring system. Pebble Beach provided e.tv’s playout automation, and the project involved updated Marina, Neptune and Anchor systems.
Megahertz advised on civil engineering issues, like studio floor construction and soundproofing, and liaised with e.tv’s transmission partners: Platco, Globecast and Sentech, to achieve a seamless transition.
Don Wilson, project manager, Megahertz, said, “We have also catalogued all the existing equipment, advising what could be upgraded to HD and moved, and where we need to plan for new hardware. Its core facilities include programme ingest, editing and graphics, a newsroom and three production studios.
“Any project which involves picking up eight busy channels and moving them across town is always going to be a challenge on a knife-edge,” added Dave Stewart, group head of technology for e.tv. “We still have a station to run and channels to put out. So we needed a partner we could trust to come in and take responsibility for the move.”
