The EFE Agency launches an IP-based video contribution network

Sapec, a Spanish company specialized in solutions for the transmission of video and audio signals, has supplied the first video encoders and decoders that make up this MPLS network and that allows the contribution from fourteen territorial delegations to the center of Madrid with total, fast and very flexible connectivity.

In 2009, coinciding with the migration process that led to frequency changes in the high-quality radio link network managed by Abertis, the EFE Agency considered new alternatives for its contribution network. At that time they began a series of tests to study other possibilities to carry a signal from their delegations to the Agency's headquarters in Madrid.

José Luis del Rey, technology director of the EFE Agency, has commented to Panorama Audiovisual that “compared to traditional radio links, there is an alternative to establishing an IP-based contribution network (MPLS) implementing a new technology that provides the advantage of working with video and audio files whose contribution is fast, economical and very flexible.”
EFE offers a complete news service that instantly collects all aspects of current news. EFE's central editorial team selects daily, and according to the criteria of a TV news editorial team, the most relevant information of the day for its content and audiovisual impact and pays special attention to the latest news.

Each information is extensively documented and accompanied by the necessary texts for the different editions, as well as the previous and final submission schedules. In this way, customers know at all times what information content they will receive and in what time slots it will be available to them.

EFE's special characteristics in terms of editorial and production teams, technical means and various transmission systems make it possible for its daily offer to be completed with a wide range of specific products, of interest to the different sectors of the audiovisual market: televisions, Internet, mobile telephony, dynamic screens and other technological supports with satellite transmission (VSAT), fiber optics and broadband, with web and broadcast quality.

The new IP network (MPLS) makes it possible to link the EFE Agency's headquarters in Madrid with fourteen national headquarters in a constant, direct and totally transparent way for the user.
The agency has in each of these regional headquarters (Barcelona, ​​Bilbao, Seville, Valencia, Santiago de Compostela, among others) an encoder that is used to compress the audio and video contributions in real time and send them over the IP network to one of the four decoders at the headquarters in Madrid.

On the other hand, EFE journalists around the world report on the events that occur in their respective workplaces. All this production is fundamentally centralized in Madrid (Spain), Bogotá (Colombia) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), where the videos are selected, translated and edited according to the destination product. Distribution is carried out via satellite and Internet in raw mode, edited without voiceover and with voiceover to make the work easier for our clients.

The installation

Sapec, a Spanish company specialized in solutions for the transmission of video and audio signals, has supplied the first video encoders and decoders that make up this network. The equipment belongs to the popular SIVAC 1000 family of encoders and decoders, designed and manufactured by SAPEC. Specifically, the model supplied is the SIVAC 1210-I4A, MPEG 2 encoders/decoders with SDI input, four embedded or analog audio, 4:2:2 P@ML and MP@ML compression and IP output interface.

The equipment supplied includes the new IP interface that allows you to have error protection tools (FEC), transmit to two destinations (unicast or multicast) independently and with different FEC configuration, or transmit/receive a TS flow, being able to insert the FEC (loop mode).

Connectivity, management and control

Sapec systems also include the new FastIPsync technology, which eliminates transmission and reception jitter, thus drastically reducing the encoding and decoding delay; this being one of the lowest on the market (approx. 140ms). It also allows real-time measurement of network quality.

The EFE Agency carries out the control and configuration of all the equipment through the SIVAC NMS management software, which allows total control in real time of all the equipment on the network.
To configure IP video routing between encoders and decoders, EFE uses the system developed by Sapec, VideoIPXPoint, which allows a simple and graphic configuration of SIVAC encoders and decoders over IP networks.

Thanks to this system, the central control operator only has to link the sending contribution coder with the receiving decoder in the graphical interface so that they are immediately linked. José Luis Miguel, head of EFE's audiovisual technical service, has assured that "this system facilitates the configuration of IP parameters, providing great flexibility when managing a complex network like that of the agency."