Advanced Television

Outdoor Channel chooses Telestream Systems for digital workflow

December 1, 2010

Telestream, a provider of digital media tools and workflow solutions, has announced that Outdoor Channel, America’s leader in outdoor television, has implemented Telestream Vantage digital workflow automation and Pipeline HD Dual digital video capture products to improve operational efficiency. Vantage was selected to automate critical, high-volume video transcoding and digital workflows across all departments. Pipeline removes the need to move tape by capturing and encoding programming for cable VOD delivery, as well as archiving and dubbing content to Blu-ray media. In the first week of Q4 2010, Outdoor Channel saved 20 hours alone and eliminated manual processing when 48 shows were automatically processed using Telestream systems.

“Vantage, with its easy-to-use workflow graphical user interface and ability to process multiple transcodes at a much faster rate, provided the processing capabilities we needed to support digital workflows across all of our departments,” said Paul Weaver, vice president of operations at Outdoor Channel. “The redundant, dual-server configuration gives us the peace of mind of knowing that we have a failsafe solution that will not suffer any delays in our various workflows.”

Working with solutions partner, IEEI, Outdoor Channel recently upgraded from Telestream’s FlipFactory to a pair of Vantage enterprise-class server software systems. Vantage transcodes files from the facility’s Harris digital archive system to enable editing prior to re-airing. Vantage also transcodes files into web/broadband formats for the website, and into formats required by the production department for international content delivery. Further, Vantage and Pipeline integrate with Outdoor Channel’s master control system to enable real-time encoding and delivery of Cablelabs VOD format.

“Bringing the encoding process in-house saves us thousands of dollars each month and allows us to offer a greater number and variety of shows to our viewers,” said Weaver. “I know of no other all-in-one solution that could give us the ability to simultaneously capture and encode HD and SD video, as the Pipeline HD Dual system does for us every day.”

Pipeline provides faster video capture for programming that still arrives on tape and creates a digital file for quality control and closed captioning purposes. For master control, Pipeline combines with Telestream Episode Pro software running on Apple hardware to create dubs, log show information, and record HD content to Blu-ray discs for playback by ad sales and marketing.

“With the addition of Pipeline and Vantage, we now have a much more efficient, automated digital workflow that allows us to deliver any file type to any destination, supporting both domestic and international demands,” adds Weaver. “We are saving time and money as a result of replacing old workflows involving tape delivery. Immediate savings on equipment maintenance, tape stock, man-hours and encode fees have contributed to a speedy ROI.”

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