Encompass Digital Media,
a leader in digital media
services, owns and operates
state-of-the-art, broadcast
facilities throughout the U.K.,
U.S., and Asia. Our mission-critical,
media services provide
broadcasters, cable
networks, corporations,
and government
entities with
customized solutions
for the management
and distribution of
content.
Our playout facilities
are responsible for
originating over 20,000 hours
of television every day. As part
of this service, we monitor and
record transmission and off-air
return signals not only to
ensure our clients’ regulatory
compliance, but also to facilitate
fast validation of service quality
or content.
Encompass’ Central London
facility in the UK is currently
undergoing major development
and investment as a result in the
growth of our client base and
the services that we offer. The
Volicon Observer digital video
monitoring and logging system
has featured heavily in our
developments, building
on our experience with the
product over the past two
years.
The Observer system
is a compact and highly
reliable system that
deploys easily, but usability
is its most valuable feature.
We maintain 90 days of
recording both for outgoing
transmissions and our off-air
return, and where necessary for
compliance, we also maintain
surround sound and stereo.
The system provides clear
high-resolution pictures and
the very low latency makes
it very responsive as users
select the channel they wish to
view. Recorded content loads
instantly, and commands such as
“play” and “stop” are immediate,
without a pause.
Internally, we use content
recorded by the Volicon system
to check aired video and audio
if any questions are raised about
content or the signal itself.
With remote desktop access
to recorded content, we can
quickly check our services and
determine that signals are valid,
thus protecting the integrity of
our services and demonstrating
that we performed our role as
required. If the need should arise,
we also can use the Observer
interface to extract a clip for
delivery to Ofcom for review.
Our clients depend on the
Observer system to improve the
look and feel of content such as
promos. Also accessing recorded
content through a simple
browser-based interface, these
clients can step through video –recorded at half of full resolution
– and examine it frame by frame.
The speed with which we
can export clips from recorded
content is possibly the greatest
advantage we’ve gained with the
Observer system. When clients
come to us with an inquiry, we
need to extract the appropriate
recording as quickly as possible.
Using the Volicon system,
we’ve been able to cut work
that once took days down
to just minutes. This change
in workflow improves our
responsiveness to our clients and
our overall service quality. With
fast access to recorded material,
our engineering staff can tackle
any issues immediately – helped
by our monitoring and logging
technology.
Gary Finnerty is Senior
Solutions Manager at
Encompass Digital Media.
Contacts:
volicon.com