09.25.2005 08:00 AM
Free Speech TV gets automated with Crispin
The system installed at Free Speech Television uses Crispin’s RapidPlayX application to monitor and control its on-air playback.
Crispin has installed a full-featured automation system at Free Speech Television, a publicly-supported, independent, non-profit TV channel located in Boulder, CO. The system was implemented at two separate broadcast operations centers in Colorado (Boulder and Castle Rock) and supports media ingest, traffic translation, device control and on-air playback via Echostar’s Dish satellite network
The system includes monitoring and control of the on-air playback channel, using Crispin’s RapidPlayX application. It allows operators to create and load playlists, edit events, issue playlist commands and monitor event status. The Free Speech Television solution includes three Crispin-supplied workstations, each focused on specific workflow tasks. Crispin’s eight-port DeviceServer controls two Omneon Video Networks servers, a switcher and multiple VTRs.
TurboBrowser, a companion Crispin application to RapidPlayX, allows Free Speech TV operators to quickly search and find any video clip in their system. With approximately 100 file cabinet entries per channel, Free Speech operators have can insert alternate events (interstitials, commercials, evergreen material) or entire blocks of material to accommodate last-minute changes to the schedule.
The channel is also using Crispin’s Dubber application to control multiple source devices. Dubber provides all of the tools needed to speed and simplify the acquisition and preparation of material for fully automated on-air playback.
Free Speech Television operators move program material (encoded at 8Mb/s) across a Boulder LAN to portable FireWire hard drives. All material (approximately 50GB) is then physically transported to the Castle Rock transmission facility, where it is transferred to the Omneon RAID storage array. In addition to the Boulder material, Free Speech encodes live, satellite-transmitted programming at the Castle Rock facility.
For more information, visit www.crispincorp.com.
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