Discovery Communications recently upgraded its Front Porch Digital DIVArchive content storage management (CSM) system, one of the largest in the world, with the addition of a DIVAdirector.
Installed at Discovery’s Television and Technology Center in Sterling, VA, which performs playout for all 13 Discovery networks in the United States, DIVArchive serves content for 24 program feeds in both SD and HD. Discovery's networks archive 80 to 100 hours of programming each day, maintaining between 15,000 and 20,000 hours in storage.
DIVAdirector is a browser-based, distributed application that enables users at desktops to browse and retrieve digitized video content according to ID numbers or customized metadata fields, and to view content frame by frame with a built-in Windows Media Player. Discovery uses DIVAdirector primarily for double-checking commercials and promos, saving hands-on staff time, and supporting broadcast reliability. DIVAdirector can be added to any DIVArchive or DIVAworks system.
At Discovery, OmniBus Systems' automation directs ingest of content from videotape into Omneon video servers. DIVArchive then manages the transfer of content bound for long-term storage to a Sun StorageTek SL8500 LTO library. Content required for play-to-air is restored to the playout servers by DIVArchive, also under the direction of OmniBus Systems.
Discovery Communications also relies on DIVArchive at its playout centers in London and Singapore. Discovery Latin America has recently purchased a DIVArchive system for its Miami playout facility.
For more information, visit www.fpdigital.com.
