Italian Public broadcaser RAI has an important engineering project, T-Cube (or TTT, Transition To Tapeless), which basically involves the technological infrastructure on a large scale in order to let the different production structures of Rai communicate. All is being integrated within the production and management processes, in file format, with management systems programming (contents) from the moment the product is created, in a fully digital chain, until the airing and long term archiving.
The digitization of Tgs ("Telegiornale", all news and sports bullettins, is a piece of that reorganization.
After the digital transition of TG2, it was followed by that of the TG3 and TG1; The process continues, with the transition to digital TGR progressively in the various regional offices, upgrading the TG2, then that of Rai News.
All this happens while we talk about cost cuts, reform of the company, the prospect of bundling TG1, TG2 Rai and Parliament, then TG3, RAI News, TGR, weather and web, creating two Newsrooms, only two big newsrooms throughout the license plate information Rai, reducing costs and making the service more efficient.
Recent technological changes have taken place which can transform the Rai in a media company.
The new control rooms of Tg were made focusing all the functions, video, audio, lighting, control rooms, desk, on a single area.
In Tg1 control room the core are: video mixer Grass Valley Kayenne XL, 96 inputs-outputs 72, and full-featured matrix Snell & Wilcox, 128 x 96. The system is centered on the array that receives all signals from HD format and distributes them to various users. The Tg1 cameras are six Hitachi, all with ocamera perator, in the Tg3 there are seven, with remote operator, systems by Tecnopoint, but everything is controllable remotely.
Then the integrated playout of the three channels by Avid Interplay, handling also everything that comes from outside. You can simultaneously receive signals from up to 20 master general matrix of RAI.
The control room has a backup system, in case of crash of the mixer. Distributors, digital converters, cross converters are by Ross. With the transition to HD, all the connections between the various buildings of the production center Saxa Rubra are fiber optics and electro-optic; the entire section was provided by Evertz.
The IT part and the classic video broadcast systems are linked by many switch arrays, servers, and all machines are connected and integrated in a LAN.
The sound from analog is now fully digital. At the heart of the system is a Stagetec Aurus with 48 faders, 128 SP input, aux 24, 32 N-1, 8 groups and 2 adders, mixer. In studio are used Wisycom wireless microphones, Sennheiser lavalier MKE40 or DPA; as emergency microphones, there are come by Crown. In a rack on the side of Stagetec is an emergency, Lawo Crystal mixer.
The communication system is ClearCom, connected directly to the MADI audio matrix NEXUS STAR, with two NEXUS stageboxes, one in control room, one in the audience, to collect 24 microphone lines and provide outputs. Audio monitoring is by Genelec.
The technical team assisting the digitized Tg is made of a production manager, a secretary, a director and a director assistant .
In the past the scheduling playout was printed, now everything is computerized with Avid iNEWS; the scheduling follows the movements and changes made by the editor in chief, the editorial coordinator journalist.
Playout is on Avid Interplay; it contains all the materials acquired by Teleports, in the editing suites, or what comes from different external locations.
The control room is now an open space: on the back of the technical workstations, there is a desk with journalistic positions: two / four journalists, in the main editions.
Among the most important changes, the file ingestion: now is the possibility of ingesting XDCAM files, through a system by EVS OpenCubeHD / SD: there is a video signal that is effectively transcoded into an MXF file, but a signal of a native MXF XDCAM, which is ingested directly within the system.
