READING, ENGLAND—Portuguese broadcaster TVI has deployed the Snell ICE channel-in-a-box solution to support two new channels: TVI Fiction and +TVI.
The ICE systems enable fast expansion without significant changes to existing infrastructure and also integrate seamlessly with TVI’s installed Snell Morpheus automation system enabling it to scale from a single channel to many, controlled from one user interface.
“While our investment in ICE systems alone enables us to reduce the time and cost of our channel launches, we will realize a further benefit in the added power and flexibility that our Morpheus automation system brings to these channel-playout boxes,” said Carlos Gomes, head of technical department at TVI.
ICE is an IT-based playout system that combines multiple racks of hardware into a single system. Each ICE has multiple inputs and outputs and includes two DVEs and eight keyers per channel mixer, routing and mixing functions, SD and HD format conversion, audio processing capabilities and closed-caption/subtitle support.
TVI relies on Morpheus to drive playout for its main TVI channel, its 24-hour news channel (TVI24) and TVI International. The installation of the ICE units provides the functionality TVI needs to expand. Snell’s FlexiCore architecture allows ICE to emulate the master control environment by facilitating reconfiguration of internal routing and supporting dynamic allocation of resources across all channels to meet operational requirements.
TVI launched TVI Fiction in October 2012 and +TVI in February 2013.
