Selenio™ at the core of a successful bespoke broadcast production facility for the games’ host national broadcaster

UK-based systems integrator Dega Broadcast Systems reports a highly successful conclusion to the building of the BBC Production Centre for its coverage of the games in London this summer based on a Imagine integrated broadcast solution.

The BBC has won international praise for its coverage of the event, which topped UK viewing audience figures with 51.9 million people watching at least 15 minutes of the coverage; and 90 percent of the UK’s population tuning in to the BBC during the games. Throughout the games, the BBC and Dega Broadcast output content to three broadcast networks and maintained 24 interactive feeds, which provided continuous live coverage of every event on any given day. The majority of the broadcast output was live.

Imagine supplied a range of technology for the BBC Production Centre onsite at the games in London this summer, including the Selenio™ media convergence platform and the new Imagine® HView™ SX Pro multi-display management solution hosted in a Imagine® Platinum™ routing system, as well as a large array of Imagine HView QS QVM 6800+™ multiviewers.

The purpose of the Production Centre was to take the host broadcast feed from the venues and personalize it. The broadcaster added commentary and its own presentation feeds. All post-production, commentary and presentation was implemented through the facility within the international broadcast centre (IBC), which is situated on the site of the games.

Dega Broadcast’s project manager, John Cleaver, reports that the intensity created by this high profile live event created completely new system design and resilience requirements within the production workflow. “Although we are used to working with high-pressure live environments we had to take resilience issues to extreme levels due to the extra prestige of the home games,” said Cleaver. “Therefore, the workflow design became extremely complex but also needed to remain operationally very straightforward.”

Dega reports that the Selenio platform excelled in this environment — within the Production Centre, multiple Selenio units handled all video and audio processing requirements from a single, highly integrated platform that simplified deployment and maximized ease of use. “We implemented extensive pre-event testing of the Selenio system, which resulted in Imagine making some design updates to the operating system,” explained Cleaver. “The Selenio racks went in easily and they worked well. They were successful.”

Reflecting in the immediate aftermath of a highly successful production project, John Cleaver is content with a job well done.

“I think that we were helped by the positivity of the public’s reaction to the games and consequently, the coverage has been a great success,” he observed. “There has been a huge amount of hard work compressed into a very short period that has put a tremendous level of stress across the team, but I think the quality of the final output points towards a successful project. From a Imagine point of view, their support has been good and whenever issues arose — as invariably they do on a project of this scale — they have been given priority attention. As a result, the system has been easy to commission, solid and reliable.”

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About Imagine Communications
Imagine Communications offers products, systems and services that provide interoperable workflow solutions for broadcast, cable, satellite and out-of-home networks. The Imagine ONE™ solution brings together highly integrated and cost-effective products that enable advanced media workflows for emerging content delivery business models. Additional information about Imagine Communications is available at www.imaginecommunications.com.