broadcast technology trends and insights 2015
Metro TV puts Axon Cerebrum control at heart of its 24-hour news operation
Earlier this year , as part of the 24-hour news channel ’ s News HD Studio upgrade , Indonesia ’ s Metro TV installed Axon ’ s Cerebrum , which is fast becoming the control and monitoring solution of choice for mobile production , news and studio live production , as well as master control and remote productions , declared Jan Eveleens , CEO of Axon .
Cerebrum has also been recently deployed by News UK in its state-of-the-art broadcast facilities in London , as well as by South Africa ’ s eTV .
APB sits down with Jaja Karjaya , engineering manager at Metro TV , to find out how Cerebrum has been able to meet the station ’ s production requirements .
What were the initial requirements that Metro TV was looking for , and how effective has Cerebrum been in terms of cost-savings and improving workflow efficiencies ? JAJA KARJAYA : Prior to installing Axon ’ s Cerebrum , we evaluated several network monitoring system ( NMS ) solutions from different vendors .
The criteria of utmost importance to us were stability , instantaneous response , ease-ofuse and flexibility . Last but not least , the solution we ultimately choose has to be capable of monitoring and controlling the existing equipment that we already had in our facilities .
We found that Cerebrum perfectly fitted our requirements , plus it gave us the flexibility to increase the amount of thirdparty equipment that we might want to monitor over time . Installing Cerebrum has helped our engineering teams to narrow down any issue within our workflow .
This significantly cuts down the amount of time it takes to find faults and this , in turn , saves cost by reducing downtime . As you know , time is money . Our facilities run 24 / 7 and we cannot afford to have any disruption to our on-air programmes . Our engineers can also remotely access the system to determine which piece of equipment is causing problems within the workflow . I think implementing an NMS is a must for every TV station , especially when you consider how much of today ’ s broadcast equipment is IT-based .
Can you elaborate how Cerebrum interlinks equipment within the studio to support various elements in the production workflow , such as automation and playout ? KARJAYA : The Cerebrum server is connected to the station ’ s network on the same subnet as the rest of the equipment that is being monitored — for example , the playout server , master control , router , frame synchronisers , and so on .
Cerebrum monitors systems via SNMP ( Simple Network Management Protocol ) and also uses software control to oversee some equipment such as master control and routers . This ensures ease-of-use and also provides redundancy in the event of a problem . The great thing about Cerebrum is that it allows remote and easy configuration of complex workflows and allows users to control devices via an intuitive , user-friendly graphical interface .
With Cerebrum , we were able to design a workflow that suited
“ We have faith in Axon products and we are confident that when the time comes our Axon equipment will be able to cope with any change we decide to make . Apart from reliability , most
Axon cards are designed to be future-proof .”
Cerebrum monitors systems via SNMP and also uses software control to oversee some equipment such as master control and routers . It also allows remote and easy configuration of complex workflows and allows users to control devices via an intuitive , user-friendly graphical interface .
our needs — we didn ’ t have to fit our workflows into an off-theshelf solution .
Multi-stream needs will also become a growing priority as Metro TV looks to increase its channels in the future . How then can Cerebrum provide a future-proof solution for Metro TV ? KARJAYA : Technically , it is not Cerebrum that would be providing additional channels — that would be down to our Axon SynMC master control system , which is capable of handling 16 channels but currently is only handling one at Metro TV .
However , since this backbone is in place , all we would need to do to increase our channel count is add a few more cards to our existing system . As far as Cerebrum is concerned , its capacity to offer a futureproof solution lies in its ability to cope with any equipment enhancements or improvements we might make . We are free to introduce new pieces of equipment or undertake software upgrades because Cerebrum can easily cope with these types of changes .
The future of broadcasting can also conceivably include 4K / Ultra HD ( UHD ) and IP workflows . How do you see these trends developing within South-east Asia , and how can working with key technology partners like Axon help Metro TV prepare for the changes ahead ? KARJAYA : 4K / UHD requires a huge amount of investment and there must be a strong business case in order for any broadcaster to move in this direction .
At Metro TV , news is our primary business . What is most important is content , which is why we think HD is perfectly adequate for us , for the time being . This would be different if we were broadcasting sport or movies where having 4K / UHD would improve the viewing experience by offering better detail and resolution .
As for IP , I think this will reach our shores soon , but not yet . Right now , there are still many formats that have not been standardised and this really needs to happen before IP products from different manufacturers can be integrated .
We have faith in Axon products and we are confident that when the time comes , our Axon equipment will be able to cope with any change we decide to make . Apart from reliability , most Axon cards are designed to be future-proof . Should we decide to go for IP in the near future , our Axon cards can be upgraded via a firmware upgrade so that they are still perfectly useable .
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