OmniBus automates new digital plant

OmniBus Systems, the award-winning provider of comprehensive automation and video content management solutions to the global broadcast industry, has announced that Connecticut Public Broadcasting’s new digital plant in Hartford (for its public television affiliate Connecticut Public Television) has gone on the air with an OmniBus Colossus playout automation system.
As part of a new state-of-the-art digital installation at the PBS member station, the Colossus automation system will control five channels of playout, including one primary HD channel, CPTV2, CPTV Kids, a backup channel, and a preview channel.
In addition to automating playout to air from an Omneon Spectrum media server, the OmniBus system will manage the process of ingesting material from tape to the servers, and it will eventually interface to PBS' NGIS (Next Generation Interconnect System) for program delivery. Interfaces are also being provided for the Protrack traffic system to load schedule data, and for Miranda's Presmaster and Imagestore to manage automation of secondary events, such as logo and DVE insertion.
"We've assembled the best-of-breed equipment providers to build a digital facility that will take us into the HD and digital realm now, while staying consistent with and being ready for the future directions of PBS," said Jerry Franklin, president and chief executive officer of Connecticut Public Broadcasting. "The OmniBus automation system gives us the control we need for our current CPTV channel lineup with the flexibility to modify and expand as necessary."
Colossus uses the backbone of proven OmniBus device drivers to control traditional equipment while incorporating innovations such as data-streaming technology. This offers a radical approach to the design of highly efficient automation and content- delivery systems. Colossus is a unique multichannel automation and control system designed to bridge the gap between video, audio, Internet, and data-streaming applications. It provides a quick and affordable means by which broadcasters can multiply their channel output. The system's timeline-based display allows a single operator to monitor the status of all channels instantaneously. It also enables an operator to focus in on any single stream, confirm its data, and drive it in the traditional manner should the schedule require it.
In September 2004, Connecticut Public Broadcasting Inc. launched its state-of-the-art facility which houses two studios with HD cameras, an HD edit suite, three online Avid rooms, a three-tiered control room, and a sophisticated HD/SD Network Operations Center with automation, server, and archive technology. The facility also boasts four HD tape machines with multiple-format playback capabilities, fibre connectivity, and an uplink and downlink earth station.
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