CJ PowerCast Korea migrates channels from traditional playout to Grass Valley’s iTX Playout Platform
CJ PowerCast (CJP) provides digital broadcasting services, including digital content management, broadcasting and audio playout and digital content creation in South Korea. Customers and viewers rely on CJP for smooth content playout across all channels, so CJP turned to Grass Valley, a Belden Brand, for a proven integrated playout solution that it could rely on. Having worked with Grass Valley in the past, selecting the iTX integrated playout platform as its next generation playout system was a natural choice for CJP. iTX allows for a simplified workflow which integrates ingest, quality control, content management, archiving, traffic interface, audio/video processing, graphics/subtitling, transmission control, transcoding and monitoring in one easy-to-operate system.
“Grass Valley truly understands CJP’s requirements and can meet those requirements with its strong team in the APAC region and reliable channel partner in XEIN M&C,” said Mr. Jeongyeol JANG, head of the CJP playout center. “We knew that Grass Valley was the right partner and through product demonstration, proof of concept, and many references, we immediately saw that iTX was the best solution for us, offering format flexibility and scalability while still being stable and easy to operate.”
Grass Valley’s newest addition to the iTX playout hardware range, iTX Appliance 2+, meets the increasing demand for UHD playout. As part of the latest iTX 2.12 software version, the powerful Vertigo graphics option is now available in UHD, and the popular secondary record option (which allows live events to be captured without the need for a separate record port) has been upgraded to capture UHD in a single file. With iTX, broadcasters also have the flexibility to launch new services just by adding a software license, which, when combined with the platform’s ability to play more than 25 file formats natively on the same playlist (including the recently certified Apple ProRes), means that no additional media processing workflows are required.
“CJP’s clients trust them with the distribution of valuable content and they needed a solution they could depend on to help them successfully complete that task,” said Somu Patil, vice president of sales, Grass Valley Asia. “The iTX system will evolve and grow efficiently with CJP as they add new clients and new channels and as new formats arise.”
For further integration and workflow efficiency, CJP also elected to add Densité HCO-3901-4K, KMX-4911 Kaleido multiviewer and the NVISION 8144 router to its facility. Densité HCO-3901-4K is designed to manage four 3G SDI streams (quad-link) at once to distribute a 4K UHD signal with a single point of control; the KMX-4911 multiviewer, which is fully integrated within GV Node, eliminates cables between the multiviewer and the router, translating into cost and weight savings; and the NVISION 8144 144 x 144 8RU router offers the convenience of integrated audio processing and simplified cable management in a space-saving single frame router with no compromises on reliability.
In addition to space savings, the new system will also help CJP save on operating expenses and capital expenditure. And with plans to move to a new facility in the next couple of years, the company is thinking ahead in purchasing integrated solutions that will fit any space. Presently, CJP plans to launch 15 channels with iTX initially and expand the migration in the coming year.