03 Jan 2008
ISRAELI SATELLITE OPERATOR SAYS YES TO PEBBLE BEACH SYSTEMS' NEPTUNE AUTOMATION
Pebble Beach Systems is pleased to announce that yes, one of the largest Israeli satellite TV broadcasters, has chosen its flagship Neptune automation system as part of a move to a state-of-the-art tapeless workflow. The systems integrator on the project is AVCOM the leading video system integrator in Israel.
yes transmits 160 video channels, of which 50 originate from the broadcaster's headquarters and the remainder operate on a pass-through basis. A large percentage of its subscribers are Russian, so all movies are dubbed into Russian and are subtitled.
yes is currently replacing its existing Sony BZA tape-based automation system and the deployment of Neptune represents the first phase of a wider plan to migrate to an end-to-end tapeless workflow. This part of the project will deliver 12 SD channels plus four HD channels divided across two separate Neptune systems, each located at different sites. The main facility will support ten channels, with a further six channels operated from a secondary, remote, site. Both systems will pull content from a Front Porch Diva system, which in effect will act as a single archive system with instances mirrored across both sites.
A major part of the project being carried out on behalf of yes is the development of an enhanced interface to its Pilat IBMS traffic system, which provides synchronisation between the data held in the automation database and the data held in the Pilat traffic database. Instead of pushing dub-list files to the automation system, the traffic controller will present a view of all media that is to be ingested. This data can then be queried by Neptune and subsequently dragged directly into a cache list or ingest panel. The metadata entered during the ingest process will be automatically updated in the Pilat system.
The primary automation system has a main and backup device controller with manual changeover switches and the remote site has a single standalone device controller. There are a total of four clients on the main site and one on the remote site, which will use Neptune's Periscope timeline viewer to monitor all channels from a single screen.
Neptune will control ViZrt graphics devices, Omneon video servers and Cavena subtitlers. Neptune also had to meet a number of requirements concerning support for multiple languages -- in particular yes' special Russian language requirements, which will involve processing files at the ingest stage so that all files are suitable for transmission irrespective of the Russian dubbing state.
"We selected Pebble Beach Systems for its open, modern architecture that allows integration with the Traffic system. Pebble Beach Systems was able to offer a comprehensive metadata interchange, which goes far beyond the typical automation traffic interface" said Danny Sharon, AVCOM Director of business development
Neptune's high degree of scalability will allow yes to easily expand the set-up as and when the remaining channels are migrated from the Sony automation system during the second phase of the project. The first 4 HD channels went on air in November 2007.
"This project with yes shows that Neptune continues to develop in line with the needs of customers with large multi-channel operations. As broadcasters look to serve an ever wider audience, multiple language support and the ability to grow their operations in an organic fashion become key factors," said Rafael Dubois, Pebble Beach Systems sales manager for the region. "We're delighted that yes has chosen Neptune and look forward to a long and happy relationship with them."
