Nova builds high-volume HD channel playout on Harmonic video delivery infrastructure
September 6, 2013
Harmonic, a player in video delivery infrastructure, has announced that Nova, the largest 3play provider and pay-tv operator in Greece, has selected Harmonic storage and playout server systems to enable its transition to reliable, streamlined HD ingest and playout. Installed at Nova premises in Athens, the Harmonic equipment forms the heart of playout operations and supports 36 HD playout channels, the largest number of channels originated from any broadcast or media facility in Greece.
“The integrated playout server and storage solution provided by Harmonic provides the robust performance and easy expandability required for reliable origination of dozens of TV channels, so it is an ideal fit for our upgrade to HD playout,” said Costas Moraitis, technical director at Nova. “Seamless integration of the Harmonic MediaGrid and Spectrum MediaCenter systems with one another and with key third-party devices allows us to leverage their high media availability and throughput. As we extend our HD offering, this video delivery infrastructure will enable fast, low-cost expansion of our channel count without any impact on existing playout operations.”
The installation of Harmonic equipment includes four MediaGrid shared storage systems and nine Spectrum™ MediaCenter™ playout servers with integrated storage supporting the end-to-end broadcast workflow Nova desired. At the front of the workflow, MediaCenter systems receive incoming content via video ingest, as well as by file transfer. The automation system transfers clips between MediaCenter servers and MediaGrid storage systems as needed. The MediaGrid systems provide the scalable storage capacity required to manage the high volume of content originated from the Nova facility.
Athens-based Pierides TechnoSystems (PTS), Harmonic’s channel partner and a leading broadcast industry systems integrator in the region, provided delivery, installation, and support.
“Nova is known for embracing state-of-the-art technologies to provide entertainment services to its viewership across Greece,” said Liron Nitzan, regional sales manager for Greece at Harmonic. “With the MediaCenter playout server, Nova can scale channels, storage, bandwidth, and redundancy independently in smart, cost-effective increments. At the same time, the scale-out storage provided by MediaGrid facilitates the company’s capacity and throughput as operations demand.”