MediaShop broadcasts to twelve European countries with ToolsOnAir live:cut production

ToolsOnAir has adopted Sonnet’s xMac Pro Server, a Thunderbolt 2-to-PCI Express (PCIe) expansion system and 4U rackmount enclosure for a Mac Pro computer, as a key component in its ToolsOnAir live:cut solution for multicamera production. MediaShop, a major Austrian teleshopping broadcaster, has deployed live:cut equipped with an xMac Pro Server to streamline its broadcast operations in 12 European countries, reaching 100 million potential customers daily.

“MediaShop is one of the most successful direct-response TV operators in the German-speaking world, and its selection of ToolsOnAir live:cut with the xMac Pro Server is yet another strong validation point for our technology,” said Greg LaPorte, vice president of sales and marketing, Sonnet Technologies. “By providing users the ability to securely rackmount a Mac Pro and then give it PCIe expansion and even storage expandability, our xMac Pro Server is a powerful addition to any broadcast production workflow and an ideal complement to ToolsOnAir live:cut.”

In a multicamera broadcast operation, the ToolsOnAir live: cut software centralises ingest, metadata, live logging, media management, and workflow automation within a single, intuitive interface that can accommodate 16 channels of multicamera ingest. At the heart of MediaShop’s turnkey live:cut solution is an xMac Pro Server, which securely mounts a 12-core Mac Pro computer horizontally inside a specially designed modular enclosure.

Through its built-in PCIe 2.0 slots, the xMac Pro Server connects the computer to two Blackmagic Design DeckLink Quad cards via Thunderbolt 2. The overall live:cut solution provides MediaShop with the ability to ingest feeds from five cameras, controlling a Blackmagic Design ATEM 2 M/E Production Studio 4K card that serves as the main switcher. live:cut creates a real-time vision mixer’s edit decision list, which is instantly processed into a multicamera timeline in the customer’s NLE of choice. At MediaShop, final editing is done with Adobe Premiere CC.

“By leveraging the Sonnet xMac Pro Server, ToolsOnAir live:cut has given us a stable turnkey solution for centralised production of our teleshopping videos — with everything from ingest to the final product happening on a single Mac Pro,” said Richard Barnhouse, production manager, MediaShop. “The ability to predefine a whole production and then automate track-laying of the audio and video signals makes live:cut a tremendous time-saver. In fact, by eliminating many time-consuming processes, live:cut has enabled us to save about three days on every video we produce.”