Case study

Southern Cross makes the mostof access to all the content,all of the time

Studio ProductionEnvironment :

Southern CrossSouthern Cross

"Now that we’ve implemented the

EVS AirBox system, program turnaround

and delay can be done in an accurate

and dynamic way. Our operators

enjoy the user friendly interface and find

adjustment of delays very quick

to implement."

John Griffiths

Southern Cross Broadcasting reaches more than 400,000 people throughout the Northern Territory, rural Queensland and parts of NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

This tv station has affiliations with Seven and Ten Network to deliver successful programmes including 'Blue Heelers', 'Home and Away', 'All Saints', 'Harry's Practice', 'Ground Force' and 'Better Homes and Gardens', plus exclusive coverage of important events such as the Olympic Games through to 2008 and the Australian Open Tennis.

This leading Australian broadcaster has made a major investment in EVS technology to upgrade its live and delayed content delivery systems for its Southern Cross Central satellite service.

The operational demands for the transition to a fully tapeless broadcast environment, with total control over both the ingest and playout of all content for each channel, were as follows :

• Each output channel may be assigned to any of the input feeds with various amount of delay.

• Ingest and playout may be remotely controlled either by built-in software or VDCP automation whilst on-air. System restart is not allowed.

• The operator is able to preview the server content at any time and create program segments accordingly.

• The playlist may be prepared by dragging clips from the database, or by inserting a live event and deleting old events.

• Clip sharing is to be possible between all servers and any external storage.

• The rundown of a playlist should be stepped manually, or accurately and consistently by GPI commands.

• Turnaround systems will operate as a backup for one another and for the delay systems. There will be full redundancy, so that in the event of a catastrophic failure in one machine, the output of the other could be instantly switched to air.

www.evs.tv

April 2006

John Griffiths

Engineering ManagerSouthern Cross

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Case Study

The Solution

Comprising an Xfile server, XHub and XNet[2] plus five XT servers and five AirBox,

the system offers unconstrained control from ingest to playout, with the EVS AirBox

and Harris Encoda automation system co-sited for mission-critical playout. Operators

can either schedule the ingestion and playback automatically, or instantly by manual

AirBox operation.

Thanks to the open hardware platform policy of EVS, most of the industry standard

RS-422 protocols are being implemented, and different channels can be flexibly

configured for different protocols at the same time.

As the servers are networked, content can be shared instantaneously - all material on

remote XT servers are immediately accessible via the EVS dedicated SDTI network at

up to 540MB/sec., so no time is lost on copying.

Operators can also prepare all the clips for each event with maximum efficiency.

During ingest, they simply browse through the server content and create clips locally,

or archive automatically to XFile. Similarly any clip on XFile or from external storage

can be restored onto any XT server within the system, with native quality preserved

throughout. Playout systems are mirrored, so that in the event of a catastrophic failure

in one server, the output of the other can be instantly switched to air.

Complex hierarchical menus have been eliminated on the AirBox, which features a

user-friendly interface with recording and playout channels, available playlists and

databases all displayed on the same monitor. Operators simply 'drag and drop' items

to cut, duplicate, paste and delete clips in the playlist without going offline. Clips can

also be added, removed or trimmed while they are playing, just before they are due

on air.

"To archive in a tapeless broadcast environment, seamless integration between

servers is critical," says John Griffiths, Engineering Manager. "With XFile installed on

the SDTI network along with the playout server, it's much more convenient to manage

all the content for each channel."

“To archive in a tapeless broadcast

environment, seamless integration between

servers is critical”.

“With XFile installed on the SDTI network

along with the playout server, it's much

more convenient to manage all the content

for each channel”.

John Griffiths www.southerncrossbroadcasting.com.au

Southern CrossSouthern Cross

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Benefits

• All material is instantly available

• Highly flexible system for ingest and playout

• Option for fully automatic operation including archiving

• Very easy to use, no time wasted in retraining

• Fast, intuitive editing of the playlist even while online

• No time is lost on copying

Southern Cross production workflow :

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Case Study

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EVS Broadcast Equipment / Sales & MarketingPhone : +32 4 361 7000 - E-mail : sales@evs.tv www.evs.tv

Southern CrossSouthern Cross

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