PlayBox Neo Powers Soul & Pepper TV Channel

PlayBox Neo forms the broadcast playout core of the newly launched Soul & Pepper television channel now available to A1 Bulgaria TV subscribers.

Produced and transmitted in 1080i high definition, the channel is designed to encourage viewers to make the cooking process more enjoyable, enhance their culinary knowledge and foster healthier diets.

A1 TV subscribers can enjoy a variety of shows dedicated to balanced eating, barbecue, vegan dishes and exotic recipes. Presenters include experienced chefs such as Elena Jo Duggan (winner of the 2016 MasterChef Australia series) and gourmet restaurant chef Nikolai Krasimirov.

Lyubomir Levchev, Senior Manager, Strategic ICT Projects, Innovations and Wholesale, at A1 Bulgaria, said: "Matching the most suitable technological solutions to the needs of our business customers is one of our top priorities. We are glad that we identified AirBox Neo-20 as offering our playout staff an efficient and reliable combination of creative resources, stress-free control and proven reliability, to provide our partners from Soul & Pepper TV channel as a tool helping them meet and exceed A1 TV subscribers' expectations for a nice TV experience. The solution is very space efficient with the main and backup playout servers each occupying just 2U, which helps our business customers.

"Incoming content is ingested using PlayBox Neo's Capture Suite module which allows authorized staff to perform all the tasks needed for this process, locally or remotely, via a single graphic interface. Capture Suite integrates closely with the primary AirBox Neo-20 server which is used to coordinate playout scheduling in advance of actual transmission. All additions and any later changes are automatically mirrored onto the backup server as a normal professional precaution against the unlikely event of the main system failing on-air. 

"Channel branding is handled using the TitleBox Neo-20 module. This allows titles, subtitles, stills, animated gifs, movie clips, rolling text, news flashes, coming-up-next promos, info-banners and so on, to be created and finessed within a logical framework. It is a creative artist's dream provided it is managed within a predefined style; the module's template structure makes that uniformity easy to administer."

PlayBox Neo Area Sales Manager Detelin Georgiev, added: "AirBox Neo-20 continues to be the number one television playout choice both for broadcasters and telecommunication service providers. PlayBox Neo's Channel-in-a-Box approach offers many advantages including straightforward integration with third-party equipment such as routers and network-attached archive servers and easy expansion if or when required to accommodate additional program channels. It also makes automation a breeze, allowing secure round-the-clock operation while retaining the freedom to add live content whenever required."