Pixel Power (A Rohde & Schwarz Company) has recently been working with France Televisions, the French national public TV broadcaster, on a number of projects focused on operational efficiencies.
   

The latest stage of this ongoing relationship has seen the adoption of Pixel Power’s PRISMON multiviewer and media monitoring platform. This has helped France-tv to migrate the playout of five premium channels from the same number of dedicated control rooms to a single master suite, while still providing the control and quality monitoring demanded by a major broadcaster.

France-tv was looking for a cost-effective way of streamlining playout of its five national networks and 22 unique output streams comprising a full range of news, arts, culture, documentary, entertainment and children’s content. A key desired outcome of the project was the consolidation of all five channels into a single master control suite, using the latest technology to help ensure a timely response, comprehensive control and monitoring without compromising the integrity of the output. After discussing these requirements, and the additional wish to adopt TSoIP and ST 2110 while maintaining SDI workflows, management decided to rely on Pixel Power’s PRISMON.

PRISMON's powerful configuration tools have been central to the success of the deployment, enabling multiple mosaics to be created and re-configured instantly. PRISMON also supports audio and ancillary data, allowing the operator to select channels to hear, as well as carry out test and measurement on all channels. These tools have enabled France-tv to develop the concept of the 'penalty screen'. While displays and metering of all outputs can be arranged to suit the operator, the central display becomes the penalty screen that highlights any issues requiring immediate attention. Relevant test displays also appear on this central screen, and an audio alert sounds to warn the operator that intervention is required.

"The PRISMON platform has made a significant difference to our operational efficiency," comments Lou Agache, a Project Manager for 'Final Production' at France Televisions. "We've been able to consolidate and simplify our monitoring, and the responsive error detection and intuitive displays help our operators supervise all of our outputs confidently."

The PRISMON quality tests and alerts are fed into France-tv’s EVS Cerebrum broadcast management system for subsequent audit tracking. PRISMON can be easily integrated with third-party systems via a RESTful API, or through a standard SNMP connection.