IPE today announced that Muslim Television Ahmadiyya International (MTA) has purchased and deployed a comprehensive control, integration, intelligent display system (IDS) at its London-based studios.
MTA is the global satellite TV network consisting of four international channels run and funded by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and is the primary source of media for that community worldwide.
According to MTA International Production’s Jahangir Shah, “We needed a system that could simplify and automate our studio setup. The majority of our staff are volunteers from different backgrounds who may not have the precise skill sets needed for our technical setup.
“We therefore turned to IPE to provide a system that had a simple front-end interface that users, even inexperienced ones, could interact with to set up our studio for different programmes. For the back-end, we wanted a system that could, for example, communicate with the lighting desk to recall pre-sets; control the on-set TVs to select the correct inputs; trigger tally lights; run production timers; drive the video loops for the studio TVs and other items – all of which IPE delivered.”
Included in the sale were IPE’s IDS Remora R4, a powerful display processor capable of displaying a single HD 1080P video stream, IDS TS4 touchscreens for IDS network control, information, and alerts; IDS SQuid 3, a 1RU device that provides industry standard interfaces for I/O expansion; and a custom UDP driver to integrate with MTAs lighting desk.
With IDS, MTS can create pre-sets for all shows and trigger them from a simple IDS touchscreen, which enables any user to instantly set up the studio for the programme. That means that tedious tasks like switching on TVs, set lights, studio lights, and playing the correct graphics on the TVs can happen with a press of a button. This saves a lot of time, which the production team can use to plan and rehearse.
“The IDS signage system is also a sleek design, which we installed in our studios and offices to provide a clear visual for presenters and crew of clocks and tally, plus notices and schedules.”
IPE designed IDS to be a fully scalable and flexible signage solution and has the added benefit of providing clear and concise visualisation of processes and branding across a facility as well as camera and lighting control and many other functions. In short, it simplifies the complicated by eliminating many of the pinch points commonly associated with studio set-ups, information display, and control.
Head of IPE Sales and Support, Reuben Such, said, “MTA has a global remit to provide quality programming for its community and, having worked with them to define their requirements, we are delighted that they have found the IDS system to be so useful and productive.”
Shah concluded, “We’ve received great feedback since deploying IDS in our London studios. The multiple tasks of the studio manager have significantly decreased, which has enhanced efficiency and made certain tasks less prone to error. The entire production team is pleased and relieved at this upgrade and have welcomed the change.”
