Oromia Radio & Television Organization, Tapeless Production and Archive
Who is Oromia Radio and Television Organization?
Oromia Radio and Television Organization (ORTO) is the Mass Media Organization of the Oromia Regional State Government in Ethiopia. It operates one free-to-air Television Station and one free-to-air Radio Station. Oromia TV started broadcasting to air in 2006. Its broadcasting operation is based in Adama.
In 2012, ORTO held an International Tender to purchase equipment and services for them to move to a Tapeless Production and Archive operation.
Project Description 2013
In 2012, Telmaco was awarded the project to design, install, and put into operation a complete tapeless production, playout and archive system based on technology of our key partner Avid Technology. The system had to allow a mixed SD and HD operation from the beginning. ORTO is also using new file-based Panasonic P2 camcorders.
The system includes:-
- Editing Suites and Journalist Clients
- Shared Storage with Media Management
- 8-channel Ingest with Scheduling
- News Studio Control and Playout
- Digital Disk-based Archive
SharedStorage with Media Management
The core of the system is the Avid ISIS5000 central shared storage with 2 x 32ΤΒ chassis. The networking of the system is based on Cisco 4950 Ethernet switches with copper and optical connectivity. Material is managed by the Avid Interplay Production Asset Management System in clustered architecture.
Ingest Automation
The ingest of all materials is managed centrally from the Avid Interplay Capture system.
It controls 8 x Avid Airspeed Multistream SD/HD channels. The Interplay Capture operators can schedule all recordings either from Live Satellite and MW Links, or from VTR’s using RS-422 control. Materials are automatically transferred to ISIS and update the Interplay PAM database. While ingesting, the Interplay PAM allows the journalists and the editors to have access on the literally a few seconds after the recording has started and without needing it to be completed.
Newsroom and Journalist Browsing
The Newsroom was designed using Avid iNews newsroom automation. iNews manages the planning of the News Production of the complete day and can communicate the rundown to the rest of the system. Journalists use the Avid Interplay Assist software to view, log and edit all of the materials prior to editing. Journalist can start viewing or editing their stories only a few seconds after the start of the ingest.
The Oromia Radio and TV Organization building
Editing
The finishing of all items is carried out by Avid NewsCutter Nitris DX editing systems. The editor can open the iNews NRCS tool and link the video story to be created with the news rundown. He can also view the material prepared by the journalist in Interplay Assist which is instantly available. When finished, the editor can use the “Send to Playout” menu command to send it to the news studio for playout.
Studio Playout
ORTO has 2 Studios in their building and 8 channels of twin Airspeed Multistream servers are available for playout in both studios and the continuity. The editors can specify to send their finished stories each time to the appropriate Airspeed/Studio and avoid the use of tape.
The playout servers are controlled by iNews Command playout automation system. It is fully integrated with the iNews NRCS system and can automatically read the rundown created in iNews. Using Avid’s integrated solution it can automatically detect the story from the Video ID and can color-indicate the user when a story is ready for playout.
DigitalArchive
The archiving of all news material is accomplished by a digital disk-based archive system. The storage is based on 450TB of Disk Archive based on Disk Archive Corporation ALTO storage systems. Their key advantage is their capability to switch off the drives when not in use, minimizing the high cost of power required to spin-up equivalent RAID systems. The archive is managed by SGL’s FlashNET software with Avid Interplay PAM Archive servers and it is fully integrated with the Production System. All material is sent to the archive from the Interplay window of the editor or journalist. Similarly the user can use the same tool to restore a clip from the archive for quick use in their production.
Workflow design and training
Telmaco designed not only the system connectivity but also the basic workflow operation of the system. The training was completed on-site following commissioning and covered both technical and operational aspects of the overall system.
