Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI) has chosen new Spectrum media servers from Harmonic for an upgrade of the company’s main broadcast facility in Dubai. Already a long-time Harmonic client, DMI purchased the server systems to support ingest and to provide flexible and reliable SD/HD playout for 14 on-air channels. “Through a virtually seamless upgrade of our […]
Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI) has chosen new Spectrum media servers from Harmonic for an upgrade of the company’s main broadcast facility in Dubai. Already a long-time Harmonic client, DMI purchased the server systems to support ingest and to provide flexible and reliable SD/HD playout for 14 on-air channels.
“Through a virtually seamless upgrade of our Spectrum systems, which interoperate well with our existing automation and video files, we have gained valuable capabilities including back-to-back playout of SD and HD files, as well as increased capacity and performance in a smaller footprint,” said Saleh Lootah, Head of TV and Radio Engineering at DMI.
“The new Harmonic systems not only facilitate our ongoing transition to HD but also provide a cost-effective foundation for the addition of future channels without disruption to existing playout operations.”
Replacing an existing Spectrum installation, the new Spectrum systems installed at DMI include Spectrum MediaDirector media server controllers, Spectrum MediaStore storage arrays, Spectrum MediaPort real-time video encoder/decoders and the Harmonic Media Application Server (MAS) media management platform. Configured for 1+1 redundancy, each of the server systems provides 14 channels of HD/SD MPEG-2 playout and another two channels of HD/SD MPEG-2 play and record, with up/down/cross conversion and simulcast on each port.
The Spectrum media servers support ingest and playout and are integrated with an existing Harmonic MediaGrid shared storage system that provides nearline and external storage at DMI. The new systems support a higher channel count, provide higher server storage capacity, and improve performance while reducing power and space requirements. DMI now enjoys the ability to play out SD and HD content on the same server port and to output an SD/HD simulcast for any given file as standard. While these capabilities help to ease DMI’s transition to HD, they also enable the broadcaster to provide its viewers with enhanced picture quality.
“Companies such as DMI continue to rely on Harmonic as a trusted partner because we combine market and technical expertise along with a passion and commitment for customer success,” said Ian Graham, Vice President of Sales, EMEA at Harmonic.
“Our innovative product portfolio enables them to reduce the cost and complexity of delivering broadcast services differentiated by superior video quality. In deploying Harmonic solutions and taking advantage of our acclaimed support, DMI and other forward-looking media companies worldwide are optimising their video infrastructure and, in turn, reducing their total cost of ownership.”
Harmonic is showcasing its solutions at IBC2015 stand 1.B20.
