The London Studios – the prominent UK broadcast facility that provides studio and post facilities for owner ITV and other parties – has installed an Omneon MediaGrid storage system, allowing it to bring the entire production and editing workflow into the tapeless domain.
HD video clips recorded onto EVS systems in studio are now transferred to the Omneon MediaGrid, which provides 400 hours of HD storage and allows easy access for the post team. Editors working in an Avid environment can access the low-resolution version of media for offline editing and the high-resolution version for online editing. Once material has been edited, the finished project can be pushed back to the Omneon MediaGrid system for storage.
Having taken its Harmonic storage system online earlier this year, The London Studios is already expanding the system to accommodate another 300 hours of HD content following quick uptake by clients. The storage system is currently fed by two of the larger studios, and the company plans to continue expanding the Omneon MediaGrid system as it upgrades and connects additional studios.
“We have found that our clients are very keen to take advantage of the tapeless workflow supported by the Omneon MediaGrid,” said Chris Cook, director of engineering support at The London Studios. “In addition to being a faster and more elegant workflow, it’s also a cost- and time-saving model. We’ve cut out the expense of buying HD tape and running tape decks, replacing them with file-based storage that we can expand easily without disrupting ongoing operations. We’d been proposing this type of model for some time, and Harmonic provided the missing link.”
“The proven interoperability and stability of the Omneon MediaGrid system, as well as its scalability both in terms of capacity and bandwidth, are critical to a company such as The London Studios,” said Geoff Stedman, senior vice-president for corporate marketing at Harmonic. “The content stored on the Omneon MediaGrid system is extremely valuable, and continuous and fast access to this media ensures that the company and its clients can realise a streamlined, highly efficient end-to-end workflow.”
