Telefónica renews the digitalization system of IB3 Televisió and IB3 Ràdio
The Public Radio and Television Entity of the Balearic Islands, again entrusts Telefónica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA) with the renewal of its digitization system by awarding 2 publicly tendered Lots, which include the supply, installation and integration, under contract modality “Turnkey”, of a new integral digitization system for Television and radio, IB3 Televisió and IB3 Radio, as well as the renewal of the continuity equipment of IB3 Televisió.
The solution provided by TSA covers all areas and workflows related to the digitization system, serving all of IB3’s current headquarters: CPP Calviá, radio and delegations. It covers all the stages of an audiovisual production workflow, from ingest to broadcast and subsequent archiving, and includes all the necessary hardware and software components, as well as network electronics to support its correct operation. The project guarantees integration with the audiovisual archive, of both IB3 Television and IB3 Radio, and with the rest of the components currently in production.
The first lot includes the supply, integration and installation of all the technical equipment (hardware and software) associated with the digitization system and all related components, as well as the remodeling of the technical room.
To implement the execution, TSA has selected Dalet as a technology partner, with whom it has already shared important experiences in archival projects and technologies for digital production. Dalet has tools that meet the objective of this project. It is the only manufacturer in the world that offers a convergent system, where Radio & TV and Multimedia systems in general, can work with the different intake, production, broadcasting and distribution tools for all their areas within the same system.
TSA focuses its bet in Dalet Galaxy solution, a single Windows-based and integrated application for news production/broadcasting, writing, management, documentation and media distribution, through which users can manage the entire production cycle of materials, from ingest to version control, metadata editing and tagging to broadcast, archive and distribution.
Dalet Galaxy integrates with third-party systems for advanced editing, storage, news feed, archiving, etc. and provides the necessary Workflow for the management of production material and program assets for PlayOut, automation, compliance, editing/logging, cataloging, etc., while facilitating scalability in the event of growth in workflows. Dalet Galaxy incorporates Radio and TV tools with Audio & Video capabilities, as well as integrations with new online digital systems such as Social Networks and the Web. Also, the flexibility of the platform allows us to adapt the flows according to the variations in the productions without having to change the production system. Combining all these functionalities in a single system and a single interface allows a unified real production, at the same time that it simplifies operations and allows greater adaptability to the demanding needs of today’s Broadcast market.
The IT infrastructure of the Dalet solution ensures high availability with a redundant global solution.
The Dalet Galaxy solution includes all the content management functionalities typical of Media Asset Management (MAM), production, textual system (NRCS) and studio broadcast. Also, it is the same MAM solution for production as for archiving, so there is no need for any kind of integration between several PAM or MAM systems (as it happens with other manufacturers), which greatly simplifies the implementation of the system and future evolutions of the platform that does not require a new integration.
The user can know at any time in a simple way where the referred media resides in the form of an asset or a record, since the Dalet solution allows the different storage areas of the platform to be managed from the same interface, be it production storage, file servers or video servers.
The IT infrastructure of the solution ensures high availability with a design that guarantees redundancy at all critical points, such as workstations, databases, BackOffice servers, video servers, transcoding servers, graphics channels, etc …
The TSA proposal includes 10 Dalet Brio video servers for studios, with a capacity of 19 ingest channels, with their associated monitoring channels, and 40 PlayOut channels, which include sending to studios and manual QC channels. For continuity, 2 Dalet Brio video servers are included, with 10 players and 5 ingests, including the legal copy of its 4 broadcasts and an additional video server such as Disaster Recovery.
Each video server Dalet Brio for Studies has a local storage of 3.2TBytes, while the video servers associated with continuity double this space. Integration is native with Dalet Galaxy. They support SD / HD / 3G-SDI and are prepared to work in UHD format on Quad SDI interfaces.
From the Dalet Galaxy client, you can perform manual or scheduled recording of baseband video by controlling the input ports of the Dalet Brio Video Servers.
The Dalet system supports proxy in multiple bitrates and audio channels and has the ability to simultaneously generate proxies for all new intakes, be it baseband, file, ENGs, etc. Dalet Conversion application servers are in charge of generating these proxies defined for low resolution, in order to they can also be available to other users even during the ingest process.
For editing jobs, Dalet Galaxy has Dalet OneCut, a simple, efficient and easy-to-use desktop tool that allows even people with no editing experience to start producing content very quickly, also allowing the edition in multiple resolution and formats in the same project, as well as the ability to work with different essences of audio and video without the need for transcoding. The Dalet OneCut editor is fully integrated into the system.
Besides, Dalet Galaxy integrates with third-party advanced non-linear editing tools (NLEs) to enable a streamlined workflow between different users. For this project, the system integrates with Apple FinalCut and Adobe Premiere Pro, as well as Avid Protools and Adobe Audition audio post-production systems.
The Dalet AmberFin advanced transcoding engine included in the solution is fully integrated with the Dalet Galaxy platform at the API level, allowing the tracking of a transcoding task on the AmberFin interface or a more complete flow through Galaxy.
As a flow orchestrating system, TSA includes the Dalet BPM, designed to orchestrate end-to-end workflows, both at the human user level and at the back office level. The Dalet workflow manager/engine is based on the latest Business Process Management (BPM) technology and is compliant with the BPMN 2.0 standard.
In addition to the Dalet solution, the best partners have been selected for this project to respond to the requirements set forth by IB3, including the Interra Systems Baton quality control tool, the Etiqmedia automatic cataloging system or the system EMC Isilon shared storage, betting on an architecture made up of third parties that have full integration with the Dalet scanning system.
As additional components that complete the solution, TSA includes a multi-screen system for the traffic room of the Grass Valley MV-Flex range, integrated with the current IB3 matrix and with a monitoring capacity of up to 24 signals; new TVPROMPT-PRO prompter systems for studios, integrated with Dalet’s NRCS; and a KVM Raritan management system for the total management of 80 servers installed in the CPD from different points in the facilities.
For the network infrastructure electronics, TSA has Cisco, a reference manufacturer in the sector and certified by Dalet as the best network electronics to support its services.
The project includes a modern artificial intelligence system for the assisted cataloging of contents. This automation software for indexing of the Etiqmedia brand, is based on AI with functions such as automatic speech recognition, speaker segmentation, voice detection, music and silence, transcription of the text present in the image, detection and recognition of faces present in the image, recognition of logos and objects. The technology is based on neural networks, automatic synchronization of subtitles and transcripts, segmentation of video into planes, semantic analysis of the planes present in each type of content, categorization of the segmented planes and extraction of semantic entities. To carry out these tasks, the solution automatically analyzes the video or audio proxy, and the associated texts, all of which generate a large amount of information that can be used directly or supervised by a documentary filmmaker or transcriptionist to achieve a perfect result.
Etiqmedia, a leading company in the development of artificial intelligence solutions, has 100% proprietary Spanish technology, its solutions have been implemented in numerous successful projects in the audiovisual world. Its applications and developments optimize the cataloging and transcription of audiovisual content, automating the basic tasks of the process, reducing the process time up to 4 times compared to the fully manual process.
Drawing on Etiqmedia‘s experience in developing similar services, TSA includes licensing for this project for up to 5 hours a day of audiovisual content and data processing.
To house all the equipment that is part of the solution, the project incorporates the installation of a new CPD. For this, TSA proposes the Rittal brand Cubo system, with air conditioning optimized for hot and cold aisles, capacity for 10 racks with lines of distribution lines of redundant powers and external condensation system with monitoring of environmental alarms.
In addition, the new CPD will be equipped with an IP video surveillance system, a PCI fire protection system and a biometric terminal with access control.
Likewise, the communications for the fiber optic and data cabling, distributed by all the utility ducts of the installations in star typology, will be centralized in an only rack of the new CPD.
The second lot awarded to TSA, comprises the supply, integration and installation of all the technical equipment necessary for the renewal of the continuity system and updating of the existing equipment, as well as the adaptation of spaces and wiring remediation.
Evertz has been the manufacturer chosen by TSA for the effect generators and continuity mixers and Omnitek for Broadcast HD rasterizers.
Thus, 5 Evertz effect generators master control 3G/HD/SD and 3025EMC-3G branding channel are included, one of them with the option that enables double-window DVE technology, 4 Evertz EMC-DCP continuity mixers, control surface All in one for the master control of the effect generators, and 7 Omnitek ULTRA TQ-M + rasterizers, latest-generation model for waveform analysis, quality control and monitoring of 3G / HD / SD signals.
In addition to the supply and integration of the referred systems, TSA will carry out the installation, support and training services for both lots. For this, TSA has the support of the main manufacturers involved with highly qualified and trained technical personnel, in addition to TSA’s own personnel who will lead the project, with great recognition in the sector and extensive experience in implantations like this one, where high degree of specialization and knowledge of the solutions is fundamental.
The first batch includes a 5-year support plan with 2 preventive annual visits, in which contingency plans and emergency procedures are established to ensure the critical path of the contents on their release to the air. For its part, 2 years are those contemplated for the support plan for the second batch, with an extension of the equipment warranty of up to 5 years.
Regarding the coaching and training service, considered critical and essential for the success of any project, TSA has designed a Training Plan aimed at covering all training needs in both lots. It is vitally important that users receive training according to the tasks they are going to carry out and taking into account the implementation of the new platform. That is why, throughout the project execution period, TSA offers a series of training actions aimed at the different user groups, depending on their role, who carry out their work at IB3, and which will guarantee success in the implementation of the new Balearic radio and television digitization system.