Pebble Beach Systems at IBC - 8.B50

July 29, 2009

Source: Pebble Beach Systems

At IBC 2009, Pebble Beach Systems will be exhibiting the latest developments to Neptune, Pebble Beach Systems’ proven multichannel automation system and Anchor, its integrated Media Manager. Visitors will be able to see advanced new features that enhance the flexibility of automated workflows as well as significant improvements to multichannel playout and system resilience.

Anchor enhances automated workflows

Recent developments in Anchor Media Manager provide customers with the ability to set up workflow processes that can be driven by the system wide database. Users can track the process of jobs, from ingest, quality control, archiving, through to media delivery and playout. It is also possible to establish automatic actions that are triggered by certain states or rules, which can encompass multiple storage systems, transcoding and file re-wrapping engines. Content can be moved or copied automatically according to rules, media status and/or classification. Complex serial or parallel dependencies and actions are also possible.

Anchor Media Management can now be configured to automatically perform complex searches via multiple archives and storage systems to locate content for playout. To reduce archive and data tape wear as well as overall tape loading times, the system now manages all jobs on a particular tape to be restored in a single tape load, thereby improving data tape library efficiency. The job status is reported via the automation UIs, email alerts and/or XML based messages using Neptune’s powerful API.

New features for flexible multichannel playout

Multichannel Audio Support

Users can now view and set the multichannel audio properties of a clip within the Neptune UI. For example, with Omneon systems the files within the server can also be tagged with audio language codes to enable Omneon’s multichannel audio shuffling features to be utilized. This enables different combinations of audio tracks to be played out for different channels using dedicated video server ports. Multichannel audio management is also supported in browse workflows using Razorfish, Pebble Beach Systems’ cuts only editor, where operators can now review up to 11 stereo audio tracks and switch between them on the fly.

Multichannel playout Support

The recently introduced ‘Floating Lists’ allows any channel to be played from any physical playlist, which is then automatically routed to the right output. The system is aware of the available hardware and is smart enough to determine whether the broadcast equipment can support SD, HD or both. By enabling the sharing of playlists between channels, broadcasters can more easily manage priorities in the event of failures and make best use of the available resources. The management of multichannel playout is further simplified by the addition of Global Timers which provide valuable timing information across all channels and the recently added multi time-zone support allows users to work with either local or remote time zones.

Several new ways of linking playlists are now provided. In addition to the user-configurable gang roll for playlists, controlled via the UI or hardware control panel, it is now possible to schedule triggers within playlists that will cause a set of ganged lists to roll automatically, which is ideal for channels with multiple complex break-away scenarios.

Enhanced Browse Workflows with Razorfish

Razorfish now has full database access, enabling operators to , search, view and update system wide metadata. EDLs created with Razorfish can trigger multiple partial file restores in high resolution in one action when working with Front Porch DIVA to provide fast and efficient workflows for such requirements as promo or sports highlights production.

Expanded 3rd party integration

Pebble Beach has developed a range of new device drivers using device specific APIs to provide control of encoding and decoding platforms as well as complex graphics and on- air presentation packages. Customers may choose any mix of hardware from a range of suppliers but still make use of the same multichannel, user friendly Neptune GUIs and feature-rich application software.

Recent driver additions include control of Quantel SQ Video Servers codec and integration to the Quantel ISA database. The system also interfaces with Harris’s Nexio Instant On Line to allow Razorfish EDLs to be automatically conformed into a single file. Spectra Logic data libraries are now supported by Anchor, offering customers even greater choice in Archive libraries.

Improved System Resilience

Building on a wide range of redundancy options Neptune now offers automatic device controller changeover and failure detection. The changeover manages serial, GPI and network controlled devices. Also, the status of main and protect sources are now viewable in the improved Neptune UI.

Pebble Beach will be exhibiting on booth number 8.B50.

Submit a Company

Submit News

Submit a Job

Submit an Event