SeaChange Play-to-Air System Heads Down Under

Macquarie Southern Cross Media (MCSM) in Australia has deployed a 140 HD-channel SeaChange play-to-air platform – one of the largest HD platforms in Australia. Based in Canberra, MCSM delivers a wide range of programming to audiences in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory.

MCSM is using SeaChange’s Broadcast MediaLibrary/ MediaClient play-to-air platform, consisting of BML transmission storage severs and MCL software codecs, which combined are providing the broadcaster with 60 ingest and playout channels for programming and 80 ingest and playout channels for commercials. The system is also supporting turnaround delay at MCSM.

The BML/MCL’s ability to play back MCSM’s legacy SD Pinnacle Mediastream files was a critical factor in the broadcaster’s decision to choose the SeaChange platform. According to Craig Armsworth, group manager for systems & digital media at Magna Systems, which is serving as integrator on the project, “The SeaChange servers are the only ones on the market that can take an SD Pinnacle file directly and replay it back out as HD, thereby upconverting it. This was a particular advantage when we took part in the server ‘shoot out.’”

Just as important in MCSM’s decision was the reliability afforded by the BML servers. “The servers had to be fault resilient,” said Raoul Prideaux, director of engineering & technology, MCSM. “We are very happy that this requirement is well-covered SeaChange’s RAID Squared architecture.”

“MCSM’s selection of the SeaChange play-to-air platform for such a massive HD project is a true testament to the inherent flexibility that SeaChange engineers into our digital video systems,” said Chris West, vice president of worldwide broadcast sales, SeaChange. “Our software-based codecs provide unmatched levels of versatility, allowing us to offer MCSM key features such as native Mediastream file support without the need for a third-party interface, Teletext caption data integrity in SD and HD, and real-time adjustment of time delay.”