The Brazilian Globosat bets on Harmonic for its multichannel broadcast

Brazilian pay-TV provider Canais Globosat Network has installed a media processing and storage platform from Omneon (MediaGrid, Spectrum and MediaDeck) to support the tapeless workflow it is developing in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro.

Brazilian pay-TV provider Canais Globosat Network has installed an Omneon media storage and processing platform to support the tapeless workflow it is developing in Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro.

The new infrastructure is based on the Omneon MediaGrid active storage system, and Spectrum and MediaDeck servers. With it, Globosat will carry out the ingestion, editing and playout of its channels.

Lourenço Carvano, technology manager at Globosat, highlighted that "Omneon MediaGrid and Spectrum systems offer us not only the high reliability necessary to maintain the quality and continuity of our services, but also maximum interoperability to support integration with other systems in an intelligent and rational workflow. We are impressed with the efficiency of Omneon media storage throughout the large-scale process in terms of ingestion, editing, and broadcast operations."

Globosat reaches 6.1 million people every day, broadcasting most of the most popular pay-TV programs in Brazil. To support these emissions, the company has developed an important technical deployment in Barra da Tijuca. At the heart of this installation, we find a Spectrum media server that provides eight SD and HD ingest channels, as well as playout of 30 SD and HD channels with completely redundant broadcast. Globosat also uses the MediaGrid system which consists of 26 2RU media servers with a total storage capacity of 152 TB. Other Spectrum and MediaDeck systems will be used to support the launch of new channels according to Globosat's needs.

Brassvideo, Harmonic's distributor in Brazil, has been in charge of developing this project in close collaboration with Globosat.
The resulting tapeless workflow allows direct ingestion and storage to the Omneon MediaGrid system. A total of nine Apple Final Cut Pros connected to the MediaGrid allow Globosat staff to edit on site and then move the content to the main and standby Spectrum servers for broadcast, while the files remain on the MediaGrid. The unique bandwidth capacity of the MediaGrid systems will be able to scale as Globosat's needs increase.

Richard Phelps, vice president of sales for Latin America and the Caribbean at Haromic, noted that "the Globosat installation reflects the growing number of Latin American broadcasters taking advantage of Harmonic's powerful solutions to achieve greater flexibility and reliability of their operations. This Globosat installation reflects the continued momentum in the adoption of Harmonic technology in emerging markets, as well as the continued application of our solutions at the heart of the most advanced broadcast facilities."