Satellite TV provider STN, covering central and eastern Europe, is installing an IT-based playout system based on Miranda Technologies’ Xchannel playout server
The new Satellite Telecommunications Network (STN) system will comprise four Xchannel playout servers with advanced graphics capabilities, and eight Xingest stations for HD/SD ingest. The system is scheduled to go live in Q1 2010, with ingest and playout both controlled by Pebble Beach automation.
“With Xchannel, we’ll be able to build a low cost and highly-scalable playout architecture,” said Tomaz Lovsin, managing director at STN. “The system will also incorporate advanced graphics capabilities, which will enable us to deliver rich and exciting graphics, using highly efficient workflows.”
Branding graphics for the new live sports and entertainment channels will be created using Miranda’s Vertigo graphics automation. The integration between the Xchannel and the Pebble Beach playout automation will allow the graphics templates to be controlled and populated directly from the playout automation. The system will also incorporate Miranda’s monitoring and interfacing equipment. Two Kaleido-X multi-viewers will be used for monitoring, and 13 Densite frames will house more than 100 interfacing modules, including up/down/cross conversion, and Dolby E/AC-3 encoding/decoding cards.
The new Xingest solution allows ingest of HD/SD from live feeds, or VTRs, to low-cost generic storage, prior to playout by Xchannel. It provides effective capture of time code, VBI and VANC data.
