STN Boosts Xchannel IT-Based Servers

A leading innovator in high-performance hardware and software markets for the television broadcast industry has announced that Satellite Telecommunications Network (STN), satellite television providers in Central and Eastern Europe, will be installing an advanced IT-based playout system, based on Miranda’s Xchannel playout server.
The system will comprise four Xchannel playout servers with advanced graphics capabilities and eight Xingest stations for HD/SD ingest. The system is scheduled to go live in Q1 2010, with the ingest and the playout both controlled by Pebble Beach automation.
Tomaz Lovsin, Managing Director at STN commented: “With Xchannel, we’ll be able to build a low cost and highly scalable playout architecture. The system will also incorporate advanced graphics capabilities, which will enable us to deliver rich and exciting graphics, using highly efficient workflows.”
The branding graphics for the new live sports and entertainment channels will be created using Miranda’s Vertigo graphics automation. The rich integration between the Xchannel and the Pebble Beach playout automation will allow the graphics templates to be controlled and populated directly from the playout automation.
This new system will also incorporate Miranda’s monitoring and interfacing equipment. Two Kaleido-X multi-viewers will be used for high quality monitoring, and 13 Densite frames will house more than 100 interfacing modules, including up/down/cross conversion and Dolby E/AC-3 encoding/decoding cards.
Miranda’s Xchannel IT-based playout server is ideal for highly automated, multi-channel environments. It simplifies the transition to IT-based playout by offering full control under existing third party automation also working alongside traditional channel playout chains.
The new Xingest solution allows ingest of HD/SD from live feeds, or VTRs, to low cost generic storage, prior to playout by Xchannel. It provides effective capture of time code, VBI and VANC data.
For more information visit:www.miranda.com
(BMcN/BMcC)