LNN choose Quartz for centralised ITV regions playout project

Quartz have announced that London News Network has completed a large project centralising ITV playout at its facility in central London.
The new installation, built around a twelve Channel QMC master control system from Quartz, supports twelve ITV regional channels, including London (Carlton London and LWT), Westcountry, HTV Wales/West, five Meridian sub-regions and three Anglia sub-regions. The centralisation project is one of the largest and most ambitious undertaken so far in Europe.
The twelve independent channels all have access to a large pool of sources through the core routing infrastructure, which was also supplied by Quartz. Two large Q256 SDI video routers are at the heart of the new playout facility. One is configured 512x256 and the other 384x256. The Q256 solution provides all crosspoint switching for the QMCs as well as supporting the rest of the facility. Quartz's SC-1000 redundant system controllers and a wide range of Quartz panels provide manual control over the whole system. Many of the panels use LCD button technology, pioneered by Quartz for router systems, which allows intelligent menus in panels and automatic re-legending of buttons. These panels match the QMC manual panels, which use the same button technology. Automated playout is driven by Encoda Automation, which is interfaced to the router control and all 12 channels of master control.
Geoff Love, Controller of Technology at LNN, said: "When we set out the design criteria for this project it was decided that the regional presentation switchers should use up-stream routing and that if possible we would purchase the switches and routers from the same manufacturer."
(GB)