In Broadcast - February 2015 - 22

22

www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 5 - Issue 2 | February 2015

InReply

ATG Danmon Reports
A Steady Year
ATG Danmon Managing Director Christoffer Kay discusses business
and technology...
InBroadcast: How would you
assess business during the course of
2014?
Christoffer Kay: 2014 was a busy
year for us, working both on projects in
the UK as well as abroad.
InB: Where is current demand
strongest: both in geographic and
industry area terms?
CK: Demand is strong here in the
UK where we have been active on a
range of projects for ABS Broadcast,
Arqiva, the BBC, Intervideo, Trinity
Broadcast Networks and a very high
profile central London system which
we are not at liberty to talk about yet.
We have also seen a high activity level
in the Middle East with strong demand
from customers around the region.
InB: What, in particular, is the
state of the OTT market?
CK: OTT at present is primarily
a delivery technology, a third way
alongside terrestrial and satellite
broadcasting. It has the technical

potential to replace terrestrial and
satellite but lacks the inherent security
which major broadcasters rightly
expect.
InB: How much interest is there in
moving to Opex models?
CK: Service outsourcing has been an
integral part of the broadcast business
for years and looks likely to remain so.
InB: How would you say that the
role of the Systems Integrator has
changed over the past decade?
CK: The swing towards IT-based
systems has made software skills
increasingly important. Success now
demands a strong understanding of
the whole technical spectrum from
baseband video and audio right
through to media file processing and
IP bridging. There is also a recognition
right across the industry that the
broadcast business is in a constant
state of advancement.
We also find ourselves asked to
advise customers during much earlier

technology planning phases than
before, both as an independent advisor
and to some extent a sparring partner
for hammering out contentious
workflow issues. This is a very
healthy development as it ensures
that the resultant system meets the
requirements of each organisation as
a whole rather than being influenced
by financial or technical factors in
isolation from realities of running an
efficient media operation.
Creative people in the television
business want systems that are easy to
use, particularly when working on live
programmes. That means providing
user interfaces which deliver the
information relevant to the task in
hand so that creative decisions can be
made quickly and precisely. This is the
benchmark we work to.
InB: Which of a plethora of
forthcoming new technologies and
formats do you think will really
shake up the industry?
CK: The knee-jerk response to that

question has to be 4K UHD. But even
that will be an interim standard as
manufacturers continue to expand the
boundaries. 5K monitors are already
on the market and NHK will soon be
transmitting in 8K Super Hi-Vision.
Whether broadcasters will want
to continue climbing the resolution
ladder is yet to be proved. 4K cameras
and displays are meanwhile becoming
very affordable. In terms of system
infrastructure, IP technology is likely
to have a profound impact on the
industry as it offers many advantages
over traditional SDI.
InB: There are mixed messages
coming from various surveys - it is
difficult to assess how the industry
will progress in 2015. What is your
opinion on how the year will pan
out?
CK: We have every confidence that
2015 will be at least as healthy as 2014,
powered by continuing convergence
between the broadcast, multimedia
and telco markets.

Trinity Broadcast
Network Expansion
O

ne high-profile project that
ATG Danmon has been involved
with is the recently completed new
playout system for the London studios
of worldwide broadcaster Trinity
Broadcast Network.
"This project forms part of a major
expansion at our London facility
which includes two new state-ofthe-art high-definition production
studios," comments Richard Fleming,
Managing Director of TBN Europe.
"ATG Danmon is integrating an
ingest and playout system which
will provide us with the technical
resources to transmit to the UK
digital terrestrial television network.
Content will come both from our

US production facilities and from
programmes produced here in
Europe. ATG Danmon worked with
us very successfully on a recent
major project at our broadcast hub in
Madrid so was the logical choice for
this new system."
"The
ingest
and
playout
infrastructure we have integrated
into TBN's London Studios includes
an Avid Media Composer edit station,
EditShare content network and
Provys scheduler feeding Pebble
Beach Marina automation and
Dolphin playout equipment," adds
Jonathan Hughes, ATG Danmon's
Head of Systems Integration.
"Incoming video and audio arrive in

Trinity Broadcast Networks playout centre

Sony XDCAM HD 50, Sony IMX 30/50
or Avid DNxHD source format.
"Content is selected using an
Imagine router and then ingested
to near-line shared storage by the
Editshare system. Up to two sources
can be simultaneously ingested to
shared storage using an EditShare
Geevs server controlled by a single
ingest client. This is connected via IP
both to an editor and the transmission
system. Accessible storage capacity is

27 terabytes which can accommodate
up to 1,100 hours of high-definition
content.
"Playout
from
the
Marina/
Dolphin system is supported by 1+1
redundancy, ensuring continuity
of service in the event of hardware
failure. Transmission can be in MPEG
AVI, MXF/IMX or MXF/DV format. An
Axon Tracs compliance recorder with
30-day capacity stores MPEG 4 video
plus discrete audio."
http://www.inbroadcast.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXb6Oit_U3Q&feature=player_detailpage&x-yt-cl=85114404&x-yt-ts=1422579428 http://www.atgdanmon.co.uk/News.1566/New-Playout-System-for-TBN-Europe.123.aspx
In Broadcast - February 2015

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