SALT LAKE CITY —KGTF, Guam's PBS station, has selected NControl Lite from NVerzion, a provider of TV station automation tools, to create a streamlined, file-based operation and redundancy of its file-based assets.
PBS Guam operates two broadcast channels, and NControl Lite enables the station to control the channels independently as well as provides engineers with real-time access to file-based video assets. Leveraging NVerzion's XPANSION asset management software and an 8TB TeraStore nearline/archive storage system, the station is able to create file-based asset redundancy as well as preserve and manage the on-air video server storage.
“Prior to deploying NControl Lite, we were using DVDs to broadcast programs. This workflow was extremely cost-prohibitive and time-consuming,” said Jason J. Fernandez, the station’s technical resource support, operations department. “NVerzion file-based automation dramatically reduces the amount of personnel and equipment required to maintain both of our broadcast channels, increasing the efficiency of our workflow by an estimated 80 to 90 percent. The cost and workflow savings afforded by NControl Lite allow us to deliver additional content, leading to a greater viewer satisfaction.”
The hardware package features an industrial rackmount PC with eight serial device control connections to NVerzion's Ethernet Machine Control, which is \ used to control two VTRs, five video server ports, and the main house video/audio router. Also included in the package are the NGest dubbing and recording application, NPoint video preparation software for segmenting and trimming, NControl transmission playlists, NBase SQL media database manager and NView media database viewer.
PBS Guam’s scheduling logs are transferred from a Myers Traffic system using NControl's scheduling software. If the schedule changes, the on-air playlist helps streamline alterations, including deletions and additions to the original schedule. The time calculation function recalculates the time of day that each event is expected to start, and the engineer can also adjust the schedule through a customizable user interface.
“PBS Guam's previous manual workflow was archaic and expensive to maintain,” said Reed Haslam, director of sales and marketing, NVerzion. “NControl Lite maximizes efficiencies for both of PBS Guam's broadcast channels so that the station can more quickly get content on-air.”
