luglio 2012
Italian Regional broadcaster, Super TV, has been on the air for more than two decades delivering a range of regional programming to the residents of Brescia. As in many countries, a switchover from analog to digital television broadcasting mandated by EU legislation was being implemented and the technical team at the station wanted to be at the forefront of this transformation.
The Brescian broadcaster had in 2006 already transitioned to an entirely file based architecture. Working closely with Axel Technology, managing technical director Ilario Crotti from Super TV implemented a Windows based solution, based on Blackmagic DeckLink cards, that was capable of reading any file format.
With this in place, Crotti consulted with Axel Technology to determine how to approach the station shift to digital broadcasting. Knowing first hand the quality and reliability of Blackmagic’s capture and playback solutions, Super TV settled on a solution built around the Blackmagic Design Micro Videohub, ATEM 2M/E Production Switcher and ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panel.
The digital switch over
The recent passage from analogue to digital broadcasting is just the latest in a long series of implementations that have involved Blackmagic Design products at the television station. In fact, over time, the existing Super TV NLE workstations were transformed and others added, relying on more contemporary products, even if not entirely uniform.
To best adapt to the quality of the new digital (DVB-T) transmissions and the increasing number of channels on air, the Brescian station added XTV machines to take care of playout for the stations three – Super TV, Video Brescia and Brescia Info – new channels, all equipped with DeckLink capture and playback cards providing analogue outputs as well as SD SDI.
“And it was at this point we consulted with Axel Technology about identifying a larger video routing matrix, able to cope with the additional demands of broadcasting in digital, to connect the stations control rooms, master control and the DVB-T encoders,“ said Ilario Crotti, managing technical director of Super TV.
A leap in quality
“Wanting to improve the quality of our broadcast, our vision was to move to an SD SDI and embedded audio architecture. Thus, following much consultation, the video router we opted to install was a Blackmagic 16x16 Micro Videohub, while the Blackmagic Mini Converter series was chosen to convert all of the analogue signals coming from the master control and the various devices yet to be replaced with other more modern ones,” said Crotti.
He continues: “The Mini Converters have proved themselves invaluable, with a number of sources, such as the control room and OB van were more than 50 meters away from the master control room.
The distance previously covered by the analogue signal made it necessary for us to use distributors and video equalizers; whereas implementing the Mini Converters near the source made it possible for us to cover the long cable tracts in SDI with embedded audio, allowing us to maintain a maximum level of quality and additionally save money on audio cabling.”
Quality that can be seen
The workflow based on files and distribution in SDI have improved the signal/noise ratio, so much that SuperTV decided to invest in a new DVB-T Harmonic encoding system. The result is a signal received by televisions at home that audiences consider comparable to, if not better than, that of the large national television broadcasters.
According to Crotti: “This investment, quite notable for us, was only permitted due to the savings we achieved on our budget which we would have otherwise had to invest in low frequency equipment.”
Furthermore, Axel Technology also supplied Super TV with a solution, built on the Blackmagic DeckLink Quad card, to allow the broadcaster to brand four channels simultaneously, using one machine. Also at the heart of their online programming is a device that encodes audio and video streaming through the use of an SDI Blackmagic DeckLink Quad card.
Direction
“Now, in terms of transforming our production gallery from analogue to digital we called upon Axel Technology again to implement Blackmagic Design’s ATEM 2 M/E Production Switcher alongside an ATEM 1 M/E Broadcast Panel,” said Crotti.
The ATEM 2 M/E Production Switcher features 16 simultaneous inputs, SuperSource multi layering compositing engine, two multi view outputs, second M/E row, and a total of six aux outputs while the dedicated broadcast panel providers Super TV with full control of its production switcher including cameras, transitions, keyers, fader and DVE control.
“Used to edit all of our programming live, whether being transmitted or recorded, we particularly liked the fact that the ATEM 2 M/E featured dual output multi viewer and a USB 3 port for Blackmagic’s UltraScope providing wave form monitoring.”
“In our production studio we operate four cameras connected via SDI to the ATEM 2 M/E Production Switcher. Among the live shows produced and aired at our studio is the prime time talk show Serata Italiana.”
Achieving more with less
“The workflow of our television broadcasting station was already tapeless before the switch over. The most evident benefit of the new digital architecture based on Blackmagic Design products is the quality of our files that reach televisions at home," said Crotti.
He adds: “The attractive price of Blackmagic’s products coupled with their quality pushed us to start the process and the knowledge of technicians at Axel Technology helped us complete the transition successfully.”
“Our biggest challenge during the transition wasn’t the technical transformation but keeping our costs down. That said, it was a pretty big job having to remove all of the audio cables that we no longer needed.”
“The quality of our broadcast is now comparable, if not superior, to that of the national broadcasters, who have invested far more to achieve a very similar result,” Crotti concludes.
