Lime Pictures - which is based in Liverpool and produces UK soap Hollyoaks for C4, plus a number of other programmes- has been working on totally new HD production facilities to handle its increasing HD output.

Graham Deaves, former Technical Director and now consultant to Lime Pictures who worked extensively on the project, says, “We have used Pro-Bel routers for years for our SD productions. Approximately a year ago we introduced a small Sirius router from the company for HD work but when we started to move the whole operation over to HD we built a brand new CAR and completely new infrastructure so that was the time to put in a new, large-scale HD router.”

The 576 x 576 Cygnus Frame is equipped 132 x 144 leaving capacity for future expansion and is being used with the already-installed Aurora control system and associated panels from Pro-Bel.

“The router is installed and working and we are now commissioning the tapeless production system that we have deployed. We have always found Pro-Bel’s technology to be very reliable and that is a key reason that we have continued the relationship,” adds Deaves.

Cygnus combines a compact form factor with the latest routing technology in a cost-effective package. Cygnus is 1080p 3Gbit/s native and offers up to 576 x 576 routing in a single 26U housing, including PSUs. There is also a 288 x 576 version in a 21U housing.

“We have always led the way when it comes to HD technologies and we are also pleased that our reliability has been recognised. That cannot be underestimated in the world of routing and control,” says Adrian Scott, Chief Marketing Officer, Pro-Bel.

“This contract centres on the installation of a 3 gigabit/s-native 576 x 576 Pro-Bel Cygnus HD routing frame equipped as a 324 x 312 matrix with dual redundant power supplies, dual redundant controllers and four monitoring outputs,” explains TV4’s Chief Technical Officer, Jonas Collsioo. “It follows on from the addition of Harris NEO HD-SDI/SD-SDI video routing switchers which ATG Broadcast installed in March. One of the first applications of the Cygnus is to process HD feeds from the 2008 UEFA European Football Championship currently being hosted by Austria and Switzerland. ATG has worked closely with us over several years as we develop our Stockholm studios in a strategically-planned engineering programme to matching our progressively expanding business.”

“Pro-Bel’s Cygnus router was chosen for its excellent combination of configurability, compactness and energy-efficiency,” adds ATG Broadcast’s Sales Director, Alan Pimm. “The new installation is located in TV4’s central apparatus room and operated from the master control suite. TV4’s transmission centre is a showpiece of Scandinavian efficiency which clearly demonstrates the benefits in terms of efficiency to be gained from fully file-based archiving and playout.”

Sweden’s leading commercial television broadcaster, TV4 commenced transmissions via satellite on September 15 1990. Terrestrial broadcasts began on March 2 1992. All ten TV4 channels are transmitted from the network’s Stockholm headquarters: TV4, TV4 HD, TV4 Plus, TV400, TV4 Film, TV4 Guld, TV4 Komedi, TV4 Sport, TV4 Fakta, TV4 Science Fiction. TV4 also produces a news channel for 3G mobile and operates Sweden’s largest network of local television stations.

Altrock will work closely with Roger Sewell, Pro-Bel’s Business Development Manager for North EMEA, and with the company’s German business partner, Netorium, in order to continue the growth in Pro-Bel’s business in Germany and other German-speaking areas.

Altrock has many years’ experience in the broadcast sector and is well known across the European industry. He joins from Dimetis, an independent IT/broadcast manufacturer and reseller based in Germany, where he was most recently VP of Business Development. Central to his role was establishing partnerships with key suppliers. Prior to that he worked as Sales Director with Inphase and as Product/Sales Manager for Delta System, who previously represented Pro-Bel in Germany.

“We have known Eckhard for many years and are very excited to have him join us,” says Roger Sewell. “He brings a wealth of experience in the broadcast industry and in particular the German market.  As we continue to expand across this region it is vital that we are able to offer the support that new and existing customers demand.”

Altrock will work across the entire Pro-Bel range, from the Vistek signal processing product line; to routers such as Sirius, Cygnus and Pyxis; to the new Masterpiece Master Control range; and to Automation including the brand new Morpheus ICE (Integrated Content Engine) playout solution which won a Broadcast Engineering Pick Hit award at NAB 2008.

“This is an exciting time for Pro-Bel,” concludes Sales Director Patrick Morel. “Our technology roadmap is paying real dividends and we have major developments in the pipeline. With people of Eckhard’s calibre joining us, we will continue to enhance the level of service that we provide.”

Melville, NY, US – 14th May, 2008: Pro-Bel is pleased to announce that TBS – Turner Broadcasting System Inc.’s highly-rated US comedy channel – is now being played out using Pro-Bel’s Morpheus Automation System.

The April switchover added around 100 million US homes, subscribing to TBS East, TBS West and TBS in HD, to the number receiving their service via Morpheus. They join an already extensive list of Turner channels running on Morpheus including TNT East/West/HD, WPCH – Peachtree TV, TCM, TCM Canada and Boomerang.

One new benefit of which Turner is making extensive use is Morpheus’ ability to work seamlessly with Omneon’s audio track tagging functionality. This means assets can be archived with properly tagged audio tracks, and allows multiple audio streams (different languages, for example) to be associated with a single video asset. “Audio tagging allows us to eliminate downstream audio routing gear,” says Ron Tarasoff, Turner’s Vice President of Broadcast Technology and Engineering. “We can use the same asset for both our domestic and international networks and have Morpheus control the primary language being broadcast at the time of decode, based on the network.”

The broadcaster is also making extensive use of Media Ball™, the secondary events management technology that sits at the heart of Morpheus. This allows the creation of complicated and compounded secondary events for indefinite re-use. It is also allows events to be customised dynamically through scheduling.

Thirteen channels are now on the air with Morpheus in Atlanta. Meanwhile there are 26 Turner channels on the air with Morpheus in Buenos Aires, and in London, Turner is broadcasting some 24 channels.

“We have a strong relationship with Turner,” says Pro-Bel Group CEO Graham Pitman. “Moving these networks across to Morpheus is a great achievement for all involved and a vote of confidence for our technology strategy. We enormously value our association with Turner and look forward to continuing this work with them.”

The industry’s longest-running product technology award for broadcast, production and post, the Pick Hit awards are selected by an independent group of judges who tour the exhibition floor during the trade show. Judges, who work in a technical capacity at TV stations, production companies and post facilities, make their selections based on several criteria, including technical and financial improvements a product offers a facility’s operation.

Based on Pro-Bel’s globally successful Morpheus automation and playout technology, ICE is a standalone automation and master control system that delivers in a single 3U box what would otherwise take several separate products from several manufacturers to achieve, including automation, master control mixer, graphics engine and media storage.

ICE provides everything broadcasters need for single channel playout or, by linking ICE units together, a multichannel environment. ICE is also perfect for adding cost-effective channel backup, preview or regional opt-out management to existing systems. ICE supports a wide range of SD and HD video file formats, removing the transcode bottleneck.

“ICE is a logical progression for Pro-Bel,” says Pro-Bel CEO Graham Pitman. “It provides both an ideal channel playout solution or redundant backup, and an easy and affordable expansion route. We are delighted that ICE has achieved this early recognition from the Broadcast Engineering Pick Hit judges, and view it as a vote of confidence in our forward-looking product strategy.”

Globosat, a content provider from the same group as TV Globo, has bought two Cifers, with TV Globo itself hiring another fourteen. Two will be deployed in Beijing and 14 in Rio de Janeiro. They will be used to convert the 1080i/50 and 625-line signals in China to 1080i/59.94 and 525-line signals used in Brazil.

Cifer is designed to satisfy today’s multi-format, multi-resolution requirements and is based on Pro-Bel’s proprietary advanced algorithms for format conversion and Digital Vision’s patented motion estimation technology, facilitating pixel-accurate estimations and hence very high quality conversion. Cifer is truly universal as it can convert between any SD standard and between all primary HD standards. It can also convert from SD to HD and HD to SD with the resulting pictures being virtually indistinguishable from the original.

“TV Globo has been using Vistek equipment for many years and is therefore familiar with the quality that we bring,” says Victor Porter, Pro-Bel’s Regional Sales Manager for South America.

Brazil’s HD transmissions started in Sao Paulo in December 2007, using the ISDB-TB system and all major cities will be covered in 2009.

The TV Globo sale adds to a total of well over £4m in Vistek signal processing and test signal equipment that has been sold or rented by Pro-Bel to a variety of broadcasters for use in Beijing. 

Morpheus Control and Monitoring – MCM – is Pro-Bel’s overarching command and control system, designed to deliver the management capabilities that are necessary for today’s end-to-end integrated broadcast production and delivery networks.

“We have been working closely with ITN over the past year to assist them in future-proofing their control operations,” says Kirsty Aldridge, Pro-Bel’s Product Manager for Control and Monitoring. “Given the sheer volume of national and international news feeds coming into ITN’s MCR, as well as audio feeds back out to reporters, users need a powerful yet intuitive tool-set to ensure operational integrity.”

“MCM provides access to multiple systems from one, user-definable interface and this provides a level of flexibility previously unseen in the industry,” adds Aldridge. “MCM can mimic an existing front end that operators are used to, while transforming the functionality available to them, particularly in such areas as the remote control of modular products like aspect ratio and signal conversion. MCM will also provide ITN with a far more intuitive router control set-up.”

“MCM will replace our in-house system for router and tie line control but we are also very excited by what MCM will offer for device management, thereby simplifying operations in our master control room,” explains Keith Cass, Director of Technology, ITN.

On show at Pro-Bel’s NAB stand (SU 12712) are the latest MCM developments, including a new, highly intuitive and fully customizable user interface providing control and monitoring of Pro-Bel’s routers, master control, automation and the Vistek modular infrastructure family. Support for a wide range of third-party products is in development.

Adrian Scott, Pro-Bel’s Chief Marketing Officer, says “We have worked hard to bring to market what is in reality a very complex technology. We are grateful for ITN’s commitment and look forward to working with them closely on the evolution of the product.”

###

About Pro-Bel:
Pro-Bel name is synonymous with innovative automation, media management and master control solutions as well as outstanding routing, control and signal distribution systems - all designed to be flexible and scalable, protecting the investment of the customer.  With three decades of service to the international broadcast, post-production, cable & satellite communities, Pro-Bel has a unique understanding of broadcast workflow, and is an established leader in the provision of cost-effective solutions that compromise neither performance nor quality.

About ITN
ITN is one of the world’s leading independent news and multimedia content companies creating, aggregating, packaging and distributing news and other multi-platform content to a wide range of customers around the globe.

In the UK ITN produces news programmes for ITV1, ITV London, Channel 4, and More 4 as well as supplying news to over 250 commercial radio stations (IRN). ITN also produces Setanta Sports News, the 24 hour sports news channel jointly owned by Virgin Media and Setanta. ITN’s multimedia division ITN On has led the way in producing news and entertainment content for mobile and online platforms including Vodafone, 3, T-Mobile, MSN and Yahoo.  ITN On’s content can also be viewed on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/itn) and Bebo.

ITN Source is one of the world’s leading providers of motion imagery, representing the largest collection of moving image libraries in the world, selling video clips from over 800,000 hours of footage captured over three centuries.  As well as ITN’s own news material, ITN Source represents the British Pathé, Reuters, Channel 4 (including E4, More 4 and Film 4), Granada, FOX News and FOX Movietone content libraries.

ITN’s headquarters are in London with international bureaux and offices in New York, Berlin, Beijing, Brussels, Paris, Sydney, Johannesburg, Bangkok and Tokyo.

For further information please visit http://www.itn.co.uk or http://www.itnsource.com.

Routers from across the Pro-Bel range – beginning with the globally renowned Sirius – and Miranda’s Kaleido-X multi-image display processor are now offered as an integrated solution. This provides simplified connectivity – using a single multicore cable – and significantly enhanced control.

“We have an extensive history of control integration with Miranda and we have worked jointly on this project to bring these products together. For example, tally information from our control system can now be used seamlessly within Kaleido-X. With Morpheus Control and Monitoring – our overarching control and command technology – now reaching maturity, the level of integration will continue to increase,” explains Alan Smith, Product Manager - Routing and Master Control, Pro-Bel.

Designed for multi-room environments, Kaleido-X offers unmatched multi-image display quality, while Pro-Bel’s routers are known the world over for their flexibility and robustness.

Pro-Bel has also announced that it is now providing external fiber connectivity for its Cygnus range of large-scale 3Gig-Native HD Routers. This negates the cable length limitations that surround HD, providing far greater flexibility for multi-site installations and also OB units where fiber is popular.

“We are using a newly developed external fiber module that attaches directly to a BNC on the back of the frame. This allows increased flexibility for installation by not tying the user to fixed multiples of fiber I/O, and allowing the fiber to be distributed as required across the router. A bulk dual redundant power supply frame for the fiber modules ensures reliable 24/7 operation”, explains Smith.

###

About Pro-Bel:

Pro-Bel name is synonymous with innovative automation, media management and master control solutions as well as outstanding routing, control and signal distribution systems - all designed to be flexible and scalable, protecting the investment of the customer.  With three decades of service to the international broadcast, post-production, cable & satellite communities, Pro-Bel has a unique understanding of broadcast workflow, and is an established leader in the provision of cost-effective solutions that compromise neither performance nor quality.

About Miranda:

Miranda Technologies Inc. (TSX: MT) develops, manufactures and markets high-performance hardware and software for the television broadcast industry. Its solutions are purchased by content creators, broadcasters, specialty channels and television service providers to enable and enhance the transition to a complex multi-channel digital and HDTV broadcast environment. This equipment allows customers to generate additional revenue while reducing costs through the more efficient distribution and management of content as well as the automation of previously manual processes. Miranda employs over 400 people at its Montral headquarters and in its offices located in Wallingford (UK), Paris (France), Tokyo (Japan), Hong Kong, Beijing (China) and Springfield (USA). Miranda became a public company on December 8, 2005 and is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit http://www.miranda.com.

Event Start Time Linking allows multiple channels to be triggered in time from a nominated event on a master channel. This is achieved by using a Declaration in the main channel and References in the regions. Broadcasters can guarantee that the regional channel differences will occur even when the event is moved, offering greater scheduling flexibility than ever before.

“For example, a broadcaster may have a sting that is its ad break intro and within that sting is a Declaration for triggering the regional channels. Wherever the user places that sting in the master schedule, all regions with related references will be played out at the same time when that sting appears. This unique approach provides a far more robust and flexible solution for managing regional programming,” explains Twine.

Panoplay provides broadcasters with truly reliable synchronization across multiple automation systems or remote sites. Software agents embedded in the very core of the system consistently monitor nominated channels for any changes. Using a Master/Slave configuration, changes made on one channel are reflected on the slave channel which can be located on a completely different site. “This offers customers the ability to set up disaster recovery sites and failover redundant systems that are constantly synchronized in real time to their main revenue-generating channels. Should the worst happen and failover to a back-up system be necessary the switch will be virtually seamless. No other system offers this level of flexibility or robustness across an entire system,” explains Howard Twine, Morpheus Product Manager.

“We are now coming across some very complex models in respect to regions and resilience and this has challenged us. Panoplay provides a previously unheard of level of flexibility in the way that geographically diverse automation systems can be linked,” adds Twine.

###

About Pro-Bel:

Pro-Bel name is synonymous with innovative automation, media management and master control solutions as well as outstanding routing, control and signal distribution systems - all designed to be flexible and scalable, protecting the investment of the customer.  With three decades of service to the international broadcast, post-production, cable & satellite communities, Pro-Bel has a unique understanding of broadcast workflow, and is an established leader in the provision of cost-effective solutions that compromise neither performance nor quality.

Based on the company’s globally successful Morpheus automation and playout technology – including its renowned Media Ball™ approach to secondary event management – Morpheus ICE provides everything broadcasters need for single channel playout and by linking ICE units together, a multichannel environment. As it’s fully compatible with existing file formats ICE is also perfect for adding cost-effective channel backup, preview or regional opt-out management to existing systems.

ICE supports a wide range of SD and HD video file formats removing the transcode bottleneck. It also features at least 1 Terabyte of internal RAID storage – plus, connection to external Network Attached Storage. This internal capacity equates to at least 100 hours of DV25, devoted to caching media for playout.

A fully featured mixer is included, using Pro-Bel’s years of master control expertise. This includes four external video inputs for live sources as well as allowing the system to perform fades, mixes and wipes from internal sources. In addition ICE can control an external Pro-Bel router for further source selection, and manages audio voiceovers using either embedded audio or the 16 discrete AES/EBU audio inputs. ICE can import and store graphical material (logos/bugs) and layer them onto the output stream, it can also integrate with external third-party graphics devices.

Benefitting from Pro-Bel’s full range of scheduling expertise, ICE has the technology to load, edit and append schedules, either on or offline with content availability checks performed automatically.

“ICE also has the ability to handle unpredictable events where the lengths of the breaks vary, which is of course a key requirement in the modern broadcast environment. Another advantage of being part of the Morpheus family is that additional Media Management facilities can be added as and when required,” explains Howard Twine, Morpheus Product Manager.

“ICE is a logical progression for Pro-Bel and provides the ideal channel playout solution or redundant backup while offering an easy and affordable expansion route. Because of the breadth and depth of expertise we are able to cover all the key bases without compromising the technology or the price,” adds Graham Pitman, CEO, Pro-Bel.