German national public television broadcaster ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) has transferred the playout of its main channel to Pebble Beach Systems Marina automation control. “This news represents the culmination of many months of close collaboration between Pebble Beach Systems and the team at ZDF,” said Ian Cockett, Pebble Beach Systems’ technical director. “The system makes full use of Marina’s advanced features, both in terms of providing new levels of automation for ZDF’s operators – such as Marina’s unique breaking news ability – but also in terms of the levels of redundancy available to cope with equipment failure” he confirmed. The Marina system will ultimately control a total of six high definition channels from ZDF’s playout centre in Mainz, with control of the 3Sat channel scheduled to be transferred to Marina control shortly. By early next year the ZDF Info, ZDF Neo and ZDF theatre channels will also be under the control of Marina automation. Marina controls Harris Nexio video servers, Evertz transmission mixers and routers, subtitlers, keyers, VPS, graphics and many other devices used by ZDF in their transmission chains. The system also integrates with Avid’s Interplay MAM Content Management System and ZDF’s own in-house traffic system to provide a workflow that minimises the need for operator intervention. ZDF’s requirements encompassed an exacting range of required features, including a guarantee of transition between the main and backup systems without visible interruption, and for non-specialist personnel to be capable of running the system. Pebble Beach Systems’ Managing Director Peter Hajittofi confirmed, “We’re proud to be associated with one of Europe’s largest broadcasters and delighted to celebrate this significant milestone. The scale of ZDF’s requirements, with a total of 45 operator positions that require controlled access across multiple systems, is an ideal fit for Marina’s distributed architecture. Marina provides a robust platform to support the most demanding operational requirements.” www.pebble.tv
