RBC TV is the first Russian 24/7 business news channel, and the premier information source for the business and political elite in Russia. We broadcast programming to more than 53 million viewers located in over 600 cities across Russia, the CIS, and the Baltic States using the HOT BIRD 6 satellite.
During a recent major infrastructure upgrade, RBC TV deployed a wide range of technology developed by Harris Broadcast Communications to form a bespoke news production and playout system at our headquarters in Moscow. We worked with a local specialist broadcast systems integrator called Studio Service.
They built our new studios and relocated the facility, including performing much of the systems engineering.
Today, the new Harr is infrastructure brings greater operational efficiency by facilitating tapeless workflow throughout the facility. The upgraded system drives our news, production, and master control areas. It includes a mix of Harris NEXIO AMP servers, Platinum routing, HView CP Predator II-GX multiviewers, Invenio digital asset management, and ADC automation software.
In the news and production area, a large NEXIO FARAD SAN provides over 1,500 hours of RAID601 protected production storage. The SAN is dynamically connected to the OCTOPUS6 newsroom computer system and provides real-time access to content. This combination enables our journalists to rapidly create and edit content at the point of ingest with Velocity PRX browse editors speeding up the news production workflow.
The system also includes 10 Final Cut Pro workstations, which are directly connected to the NEXIO SAN. This allows fast edit turnaround times for local on-SAN rendering via Final Cut Pro or on-SAN EDL conforming through NEXIO Instant Online.
Additionally, Harris routers and multi-viewers provide high density and robust signal distribution and monitoring across the news facility. The production infrastructure is supplemented with a 65TB Harris NXIQ NL-Series near-line storage cluster and Invenio digital asset management system. This allows journalists to perform low resolution viewing, editing, and logging of content as well as automatically storing and restoring media on demand between the production SAN and near-line storage.
As part of the solution, Invenio asset management enables the import of legacy data from our existing tape library. Invenio is also used to catalogue our ever-expanding digital tape library. Automatic workflows now enable the transfer of files and the management of content across all storage areas, based on intelligent interfacing to the scheduling and automation systems.
In a new master control room, we have upgraded the existing Harris ADC automation system to provide tighter integration with both the scheduling system and the new Invenio digital asset management tool.
Sof tware-based media generation allows our team to review content, log it and edit it quickly. Material that has been ingested for the schedule or restored from the tape archive can be segmented for transmission. The ADC playout automation and Invenio DAM systems also integrate with our existing WinTV in-house traffic system.
In addition, a second NEXIO AMP SAN is deployed in this area, providing over 400 hours of RAID-protected on-air storage. Finally, separate Harris Panacea routing and QVM6800 multi-viewers support signal distribution and monitoring throughout our production and broadcast facility.
The project has just been completed. We are already seeing a dramatic increase in operational workflow and operator efficiency as a result of the upgrade.
Most importantly, we have been able to maximise the value of our existing media, making content easily accessible and modifiable.
Mikhail Tereschenko is Director of Technology at RBC TV.
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