KVIE recently updated its NVerzion automation system.
SACRAMENTO, CALIF.—KVIE has been on the air for more than 50 years and is one of the country's premier public television stations. As a PBS member station, we operate three channels in the Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto market—the 20th largest television market in the country.
TIME FOR A NEW MASTER CONTROL
As our master control operation was more than eight years old, we recently made the decision to do a complete rebuild of the facility in order to maximize our workflow efficiency and take full advantages of some of the newer technologies available today.
In order to address workflow efficiencies, we wished to implement the latest Broadcast eXchange Format (BXF) protocol and Myers' Live Log, which would allow our program operations/traffic personnel to quickly edit ProTrack traffic and scheduling system logs and to deliver them to our automation system in real time right from their desks.
When it came to hardware for the rebuild, our equipment needs were dictated in large part by the fact that we run cut-ins over fund-raising programming from our master control room. Initially, we looked at channel-in-a-box systems, but couldn't find any that offered the sort of functionality, workflow and inherent redundancy that were required.
In our quest, we sought assistance from integrator Heartland Video Systems. They steered us toward Utah Scientific's MC-4000 digital master control processor and GS-4000 master control branding system to form the core of the new master control.
With these hardware choices made, the process of selecting an automation solution became easy. KVIE has been using NVerzion automation since the 1990s and again turned to the company to provide an end-to-end system to drive our new Utah Scientific gear. In addition to the efficiency and reliability we've enjoyed with NVerzion systems in the past, we realized that there were other advantages to relying on that company's products into the future.
KEEPING COST AND OPERATOR TRAINING REQUIREMENTS LOW
As a non-profit, community-owned station, cost containment is always an extremely important consideration, and the cost of ongoing support with NVerzion is substantially lower than other automation system providers. Another advantage is operator training. Our master control operators are already very familiar with NVerzion, so training was mainly focused on new capabilities and took very little time.
NVerzion provided us with a completely new automation system, including a redundant NBase SQL media database management configuration, NView database viewer, four NControl master control transmission playlists, NConvert manual and automated traffic interface, three NGest professional dubbing and recording software applications, NTime event scheduling application, two NPoint video preparation licenses for segmenting and trimming, NCommand machine status and control, dual EMC-NT Ethernet machine controllers for a reliable and fault tolerant configuration, and CPIM creative protocol interface module for the BXF traffic communications.
This CPIM module supports the BXF protocol and enabled us to integrate the new standard into our workflow. The module communicates seamlessly with our ProTrack system and future Live Log, via a file-based communication method, allowing it to instantly execute log change commands from the third-party system.
Our new master control went live this past June and has provided us with the boost in efficiency we were seeking.
Greg Johnson is the director of engineering at KVIE public television in Sacramento, Calif. He may be contacted at gjohnson@kvie.org. For additional information, contact NVerzion at 801-293-8420 or visit www.nverzion.com.
