Harris Facilitates New Channel Launches for Adventist Media Productions

Adventist Media Productions, the electronic media production unit of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, has installed an integrated digital infrastructure and workflow solution from Harris Broadcast Communications.

The Harris solution enabled the broadcaster to add two new TV channels to its production and playout operation.  Adventist Media Productions now broadcasts six full-time channels over cable, satellite, and low-power television systems, reaching audiences on six continents.

“It was fairly costly to add channels to our previous system because we had to buy all the associated hardware and software for each new channel,” said Randy Schornstein, director of postproduction, Adventist Media Productions.  “The Harris solution made a lot of sense because it’s far more affordable to add channels once the equipment is in place.  It’s basically a matter of adding a playlist and a graphics feed.”

The infrastructure solution includes a central Harris Platinum routing system with integrated audio processing, and two built-in Harris HView multiviewers for master control.  The multiviewers replace a bank of discrete LCD monitors, reducing power consumption and space requirements.  Both are set up to display 16 feeds:  one for on-air and the second for production signals.  Four Harris X50 frame synchronizers/converters provide HD-to-SD signal downconversions prior to server ingest.

Schornstein is especially pleased with the Harris workflow solution, comprising three Harris NEXIO AMP servers, ADC playout automation, and Invenio Motion digital asset management software for intelligent media movement.  Each server is configured to handle four playout and two ingest channels.  ADC automation triggers Harris Inscriber TitleOne XT on-air graphics — mostly station ID bugs — and server playlists, feeding data to the facility’s traffic software.

“Invenio Motion is very slick and ties everything together,” said Schornstein.  “It allows us to seamlessly move content between near-line storage and the servers, instead of putting that content on tape to re-ingest.  Invenio can also search for content on our long-term archive system, and handle all necessary format conversions.  It resembles a programming environment, and I’m amazed by what we can do with it.”