ATG Danmon completes QC for major European PSB

ATG Danmon has announced the successful completion of a quality-control system for one of Europe’s largest state broadcasters. The new installation is fully operational and being used at a secure site for checking the network’s archived film, video and audio content during the process of ingest for long-term digital storage.

“The tender went out to all companies qualified in a service-supply framework, of whom we are one,” says Jonathan Hughes, Head of Systems Integration at ATG Danmon. “Six systems integration companies bid and we came out on top on the basis of the network’s tender scoring system.

“The project centred on designing and integrating eight quality-control stations including one equipped for 5.1-channel surround sound monitoring, three enclosed booths and four headphone-equipped monitoring areas. Product choice was a combination of client specification and our own recommendation. Equipment supplied and integrated included a four-channel ingest and playout server with a large amount of storage, router control, video waveform rasteriser, picture monitors plus audio equipment.

“The server allows operators to review ingested files quickly and easily and compare the original video tape content alongside newly created media in order to assess the quality. This is achieved using a split screen display so they can see the VTR and server outputs as a single view. A VTR controller enables the server and VTR to be operated in parallel.

“We were asked to work within a specific one-month time window. All the equipment was gathered at our UK headquarters and then integrated at the client’s site. Everything went fully to plan, with the complete system fully tested and commissioned on schedule.”