On-the-Fly Management for Live Playout of HD Sports Content
On-the-Fly Management for Live Playout of HD Sports Content RRsat Global Communications Network uses AVCOM’s advanced Media Asset Management (MAM) system to convert, archive, edit, and meta-tag HD sports content, including live downlinks, on-the-fly, as it is captured.
AVCOM’s MAM technology, DIVA, delivers significant value to channels by automating video asset management and enabling real-time playout and editing – which is especially useful for sports content.
The technology reduces costs; ensures that content is accurately and consistently archived and meta-tagged; and facilitates insertion of graphics, audio commentary, tables, logos and other regional content during real-time transmission to cable operators, OTT applications, mobile phone providers and DBS subscribers.
RRsat is using this technology to enable Charlton, one of Israel’s leading sports broadcasters, to route its content through two playout centers over 60 kilometers apart where SD and HD playout services are edited before the content is distributed in real time via fiber network and satellite. Streams are simultaneously recorded and archived in real time using cross-platform formats. Editing is performed at both the local and remote playout centers, and edited content is transmitted seconds after downlink via satellite or fiber to satellite, cable, cellular operators and OTT applications. Using this technology enhances the value of RRsat’s service offerings for sports, news and other channels that require editing yet real-time transmission and high quality performance.
Specifically, the live sports event coverage for Charlton is downlinked from Europe at RRsat’s Re’em teleport, location at which over 550TV and radio channels are distributed and 130 channels are being played out. This content is archived, reformatted to IP and sent over a fiber network to a second playout center at United Studios in Herzliya. There, graphics, audio commentary and tables are inserted in the video before the content is transmitted back to RRsat’s Re’em playout center. Final playout services performed at the Re’em center include insertion of logos and other content localization for HOT and Yes. Charlton’s channels are modulated and transmitted via fiber one last time, to HOT and Yes, for distribution to subscribers in what is apparently realtime.
RRsat is using Cisco’s DCM Series D9901 as the digital content manager for this activity and BlueBird TV was responsible for the system integration activities. The D9901 allows RRsat to perform content recompression to lower bit rates, support open loop statistical multiplexing, digital program insertion, and scrambling dynamically and is connected to the ROSA® Network Management and Control (NMC) system. The D9901 was chosen to ensure MPEG processing power for today’s needs as well as anticipated future requirements and was integrated easily with the AVCOM system.