Imagine Communications implements a playout over IP in the Russian CTC Media

CTC Media's new playout center is entirely software-based, runs on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware, and transports media as uncompressed video signals using the SMPTE ST 2022-6 standard.

Imagine Communications has implemented a new center playout sobre IP in CTC Media, one of Russia's leading independent broadcasters. The new platform is entirely software-based, runs on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware, and transports media such as uncompressed video signals. using the SMPTE ST 2022-6 standard.

CTC Media operates a number of channels in Russia, as well as international versions that are popular in surrounding regions and as far away as North America and Australia.

The new broadcast center has been designed and implemented by the Russian systems integrator DNK in cooperation with engineers from CTC Media and Imagine Communications. Use software such as the ADC automation, he Versio virtualized playout, he Versio IOX storage, the Nexio IP ingestion and the Nexio Motion Asset Management.

The system is completed with the MCP Selenium encoding and the hybrid IP multiscreen MV EPIC for system monitoring, with control and data networks and SDI/IP conversion under the control de Magellan SDN Orchestrator, which allows CTC to design its own workflows. Both EPIC MV and Versio are powered by Zenium, the microservices-based software architecture de Imagine Communications.

In the first phase, which is already on air, CTC is using the new broadcast platform to offer seven SD and two HD channels. The second phase will add 26 channels, including eight SD/HD simulcast services. The entire platform is fully redundant to ensure a high level of issuance security. Being software-based ensures a much higher channel density than a traditional installation, and future expansion can be carried out easily and quickly.

Alexei Frolov, technical director at CTC Media, comments: "We needed to expand our facilities and wanted to be as efficient as possible in our operations. DNK and Imagine showed us that, using a software approach and the industry standard SMPTE ST 2022-6, we can achieve a flexible and highly productive solution that is compact and low power consumption. We are proud to be one of the first in the world to implement uncompressed IP broadcast at this scale, and we appreciate the work of our partners at DNK and Imagine for their efforts in creating this innovative solution.”

Maxim Krivtsov, IT Director at DNK Corporation, adds that "implementing an uncompressed IP multichannel broadcast system was a key project for all participants. We won this project because, together with Imagine Communications, we demonstrated that the flexibility and security of Zenium-based software could provide broadcast-quality broadcast performance from uncompressed HD over IP, using industry standards. This installation is a showcase for the world."

Mathias Eckert, SVP y GM EMEA y APAC, Playout & Networking, de Imagine Communications, afirma que “esta solución innovadora y altamente productiva sólo se puede conseguir utilizando nuestro enfoque de software virtualizado. CTC Media ha sido un valioso cliente nuestro durante mucho tiempo, y realmente apreciamos la oportunidad de trabajar con ellos, junto con nuestro socio en la región, Corporation DNK, para desarrollar algo notable. Este proyecto ya está produciendo importantes ahorros operativos y de capital para CTC, y les da el trampolín para el crecimiento futuro. Estamos orgullosos de ser parte del viaje continuo de CTC”.