The PetaSite being installed at Advanced Broadcast Services includes two SAIT-1 data-tape drives, an Ethernet hub, Fibre Channel connectivity and a terminal server. It occupies a standard 19in rack console and can accommodate 12 drives and 216 cartridges for up to 108TB of native capacity.
Advanced Broadcast Services, a British provider of playout, transmission and broadcast resources, has chosen a Sony PetaSite data library as the basis of an expanded play-to-air facility.
Located in West London, the company supports more than 20 television channels uplinking to the Sky Digital satellite platform.
The PetaSite being installed at Advanced Broadcast Services includes two SAIT-1 data-tape drives, an Ethernet hub, Fibrechannel connectivity and a terminal server. It occupies a standard 19in rack console and can accommodate 12 drives and 216 cartridges for up to 108TB of native capacity.
Seven cartridge and/or drive consoles can be added to the base system. The cartridge consoles allow users to add up to 330 cartridges for 165TB of extra native capacity. Sustained native data transfer rates for the SAIT PetaSite library will reach up to 2.88GB/s and a standard file can be restored in just over one minute.
Advanced Broadcast Services’ existing Pharos Playtime media management system is being expanded from six channels to 12. Playtime will control ingest from a Sony Flexicart to a Pinnacle video server, play-to-air from the server and delivery of programs and interstitials to and from the PetaSite archive.
The SAIT technology used in Sony’s PetaSite employs a 1/2in, single-reel cartridge providing more than double the uncompressed capacity of the nearest linear 1/2in tape drive. SAIT-1 drives provide up to 1.3TB of compressed capacity (500GB uncompressed) and a transfer rate of up to 78MB/s compressed (30MB/s uncompressed). SAIT-4 technology is expected to feature up to 4TB of native capacity in a single cartridge (10.4TB compressed).
Traditional broadcast control systems rely on a playlist of video events as their main timing reference. Pharos Playtime uses a package with independent tracks for each event sequence. Each track is displayed on the Playtime control screen as a separate timeline, typically representing main video, backup video, discrete voice-over languages, GPIs, mix/effects, logo and subtitles. Playtime enables individual schedulers to create dynamic and exciting presentation effects that could otherwise only be achieved using extensive post-production facilities.
The new system is scheduled to go on-air June 1.
For more information, visit http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusiness and www.pharos-comms.com/.
