As part of the Football TV channel expansion project, the integrator was tasked with preparing a project for broadcasting football matches in HD. The solution had to be flexible, reliable, and scalable, and the development and implementation of the project had to be completed within a very tight deadline.
In preparation for the broadcast of the European Football Championship EURO 2012 in 2011, as part of the Football TV channel expansion project, the integrator was tasked with preparing a project for broadcasting football matches in HD. The solution had to be flexible, reliable and scalable, and the development and implementation of the project had to be completed within a very tight timeframe. In addition, the new solution had to integrate into the existing environment (TRK Ukraine broadcasting complex in Kyiv) and provide redundancy of content playback, graphics and channel branding.
“We are satisfied with the solution because we have retained the existing technology, we have not created third-party solutions, and all components are identical and interchangeable.”
А. Khlaponin, technical director of Ukraina shopping mall
In the course of the new project, the Football TV channel’s capacities were expanded: two new Nexio AMP 3801 servers, an additional SBOD disk array, Inscriber G7 on-air graphics systems, and Icon Master on-air switcher were added. Pebble Beach automation was modernized to provide redundant titling and channel branding, as well as to create more licenses.
“The key feature of this project is the fact that we did not build a new technology, did not add components from other manufacturers, but expanded the existing one, inserted internal components, such as matrix I/O boards, multiviewers, etc. This kind of work would not have been possible if the future development of the entire technological complex had not been properly planned from the very beginning,” comments Andrey Khlaponin, CTO of TRK Ukraine. “Since server space is limited, TRK Ukraine engineers, together with the integrator’s engineers, had to replace all the outdated workstations that took up four times more space than the new ones. Another challenge that had to be solved was to upgrade the automation system. At the moment, Ukraine Media Group broadcasts four TV channels, and it was important to modernize without stopping broadcasting, which our specialists successfully managed. We are satisfied with the solution because the existing technology remained, we did not use third-party solutions, and all components are identical and interchangeable. The staff has experience working with such equipment. “
The integrator was tasked with modernizing TRK Ukraine’s broadcasting complex in a short time:
- broadcasting of an additional channel in HD format (with mirror redundancy of all elements of the path);
- broadcasting of two additional channels in SD format (with redundancy of key elements of the path).
To solve these problems, it was necessary to modernize the terrestrial router by adding additional inputs/outputs, multiviewers, and crossover cards. It was also necessary to increase the amount of disk space of the broadcast system, add the required number of playback ports, additional broadcast consoles, frame format converters, etc.
All manipulations were carried out on a working system (four TV channels were on the air, and it was impossible to stop their work). Despite the complexity of the project, the tasks were completed ahead of schedule.
2011
