LOS ANGELES—KWHY-TV, a MundoMax affiliated TV station in Los Angeles, has been using Bitcentral products since 2010. When we needed a new master control playback and automation system for the station, Bitcentral’s Central Control system was a natural solution. Everyone at the station couldn’t be more thrilled with Central Control’s ability to do everything on our wish list.
Bitcentral’s Central Control Playout’s graphical user interface
EASE OF OPERATION
One thing I appreciate about Central Control is that “you can have it your way,” something that separates this system from others on the market. At KWHY, we currently use Central Control to air three live channels with redundant mirrored playback. In addition to being configured for 1:1 playback, our setup uses 24TB of Isilon Central Storage in a four-node solution. For ingest, we record and store four channels of incoming programming simultaneously.
It pretty much does everything that we need and everything we have asked for has been provided. Bitcentral has worked extensively with us to develop a system that meets KWHY’s exact wants and needs. The more capability you employ in Central Control, the simpler your overall operation gets. This product is second to none in terms of capability.
With Central Control, Bitcentral has designed a simple interface for displaying a complex operation. With other systems, a degree in computer science is needed just to operate the equipment required to do half of what Central Control does; a single interface does everything. Central Control’s simple and intuitive interface lets us bring in content and play it out to anywhere, and Central Control does it all internally.
The system eliminates the need for external third-party devices because it can automatically run secondary events such as animated lower thirds, station announcements, IDs, bugs, and snipes without the need for manual operator intervention. It’s just magic.
FIVE 9s
Although we encountered a couple of hiccups along the way, everything was backed up, so it wasn’t an issue. All in all, Central Control has been very reliable. Over the last two years, I would say we are pretty close to “five 9s,” which is pretty amazing for a spinning disk system.
When we have questions, Bitcentral always responds quickly; other master control automation and playback companies have not been as helpful. KWHY wanted a team member, and Bitcentral has proven to be a dedicated part of our station.
With Bitcentral’s 24/7 maintenance and technical support, we have live communication anytime we need it. Other companies might take your call, but then simply create a service ticket and say, “we’ll get back to you.” Bitcentral works with us through a live video remote that is second to none. It is absolutely live, real-time service that is much faster than a phone-based support system.
In light of its range of customized functions and near flawless operation, Bitcentral’s Central Control system was certainly the right choice for us.
David Gray is vice president of engineering, IT and operations for KWHY-TV in Los Angeles. He can be contacted atdgray@grayscomm.com.
For more information, visitwww.bitcentral.comor call 949-253-9000.
