Eliminating Tape: WTOG-TV and SKY Italia
Whether logging for regulatory compliance, internal governance, or other applications, Observer reliably stores content and makes it available to any authorized user on the network or via the Internet. Broadcasters can reclaim space consumed by tape archives and access captured content quickly without lengthy searches, and they can respond quickly to proof of performance requests from both internal and external clients.
WTOG-TV in Tampa, Fla. uses Observer to simplify its archiving. “Use of the Volicon Observer has allowed our station to automate our on-air logging operation,” says Bob Sink, assistant chief engineer at WTOG TV. “An entire wall of recorded tape logs has been replaced by a user-friendly tool that is immediately available to all station departments. The system has been online for almost a year without any downtime or maintenance issues. I had been looking for a server-based system that would free my master control operators from the daily chore of changing three eight-hour logger tapes for both our NTSC and digital stations. The Observer made it all possible.”
At SKY Italia, the Observer archives instantly accessible content from 52 channels for up to 90 days via RAID-5 storage hardware, with four spare recording channels at the ready. The move to server-based monitoring eliminates the need to change out videotapes manually and saves space, occupying a smaller footprint than the facility’s old VCR systems and requiring no external storage area, as the broadcaster’s tape archives once required. The system can easily be scaled to accommodate additional channels, and SKY Italia’s plans include future expansion to monitor as many as 120 channels. “We put the Observer system through a rigorous evaluation process, and it was the only solution that stood up to the test and met all of our requirements,” said Ben Leenders, engineering manager at Sky Italia. “With the Observer installed in our Milan broadcast facility, we streamlined our monitoring processes and are experiencing much greater flexibility in identifying and accessing recorded clips.”
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