Volicon Observer® Enables Greece’s Skai TV to Find the Humor in PoliticsState-of-the-Art Video Monitoring and Recording System Enables Quick, Easy Re-purposing of Aired Video for Multiple Programs, Including “Bloopers” Show
BURLINGTON, Mass. — May 12, 2009 — Volicon today announced that Greek television network Skai TV has deployed the Volicon Observer® video recording and monitoring system for round-the-clock capture and repurposing of video content airing over all six Skai channels. In one example, Skai TV producers are relying on the Observer to capture newsmakers’ “bloopers” quickly and easily for repackaging into a popular satirical show, “Ellinofrenia.”
ARISTON Broadcast & Telecom Solutions SA provided system integration and support for Skai TV’s new solution, consisting of a four-channel Observer with 60-day storage; a two-channel Observer with 30-day storage; and the Observer Web/central monitoring server at the Athens, Greece, operations center. The Observer systems continuously record Skai TV channels for 16 hours a day, seven days a week, archiving the video to the Observer database. From any desktop computer on the Skai network, operators can search and retrieve specific video clips and download them to the network’s non-linear editing system for compilation into news, sports, and talk shows as well as “Ellinofrenia.”
Prior to the Observer, Skai TV producers captured clips using DVD recorders and then saved the content to hard drives, which was an inefficient and time-intensive process. With the Observer, producers can rapidly access the clips they need and then drag and drop them into a hot folder, where they are converted to QuickTime® for editing. The process is made even more efficient because the Observer enables editing to take place simultaneous with recording.
“The Observer enables us to work much faster than we could with DVD recorders,” said Nick Millas, technical director of Skai TV. “In fact, at our station, the Observer has become an essential tool that is always in demand because it enables such quick turnaround of footage from any of our stations for repurposing into other programs.”
The award-winning Volicon Observer sets the industry standard for video monitoring and logging. By capturing, storing, and indexing broadcast content from multiple channels, it offers users simultaneous, 24/7 access to video from their desktop computers. “The Observer is a powerful solution that brings new levels of efficiency to a wide range of broadcasting tasks,” said Christos Doulis, managing director and project manager for ARISTON Broadcast & Telecom Solutions SA. “These include not only repackaging content but monitoring and troubleshooting transmissions, ensuring compliance, verifying advertising broadcasts, and tracking and analyzing viewer ratings and public relations information.”
“Skai TV’s innovative use of the Observer demonstrates its remarkable flexibility and far-reaching functionality,” said Julius Perl, vice president of marketing at Volicon. “As Skai TV has shown, the Observer can enable a team to add value to media in creative and unexpected ways.”
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About Skai TV
Skai TV is a Greek television station based in Athens. It was relaunched in its present form on April 1, 2006, and has gradually spread its coverage nationwide. Besides analog over-the-air transmission, it is also available FTA all over Europe via Hellas-Sat-2 satellite. It’s also transmitted encrypted through Nova bouquet via Hotbird satellite. For more information, visit http://www.skai.gr.
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