Omneon

 


Contact Site Map Search
Products
Solutions
Developers
Channel Partners
Omneon in Action
Resources
Service & Support
How to Buy
News
In the News
Press Releases
Awards
Press Kit
Company
International

Press Release

New Zealand’s TVNZ Selects Omneon’s MediaGrid™
and MediaDeck™ for Digital Transformation

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — April 14, 2007 TVNZ, New Zealand’s national television public broadcaster, has selected Omneon to provide the principle storage and playout devices for the television network’s transformation to a completely tapeless digital operation. TVNZ has been using an Omneon Spectrum™ server since early 2006 for production storage and playout, and is now adding a 34-TB, 1000-hour MediaGrid™ for central storage, collaborative production, and archiving. In addition, three MediaDecks™, Omneon’s new fully integrated compact video server, will attach to the MediaGrid to provide ingest and playout of both SD and HD content.

“This is the culmination of a vision I have had for the past five-to-six years — a completely tapeless environment handling all program content from ingest through to playout,” said TVNZ’s Head of Broadcast Engineering Khalid Naseem. “Before Omneon’s MediaGrid, nothing else available would allow us to accomplish this. The MediaGrid, combined with Omneon’s Spectrum and MediaDeck servers, delivers the complete package.”

TVNZ is the largest broadcaster in New Zealand and currently operates two free-to-air TV channels, TV ONE and TV2, that can be viewed throughout the North and South Islands. TVNZ recently announced ambitious plans for major expansion and divergence into alternative digital media platforms including the Internet and mobile phones. In addition, TVNZ will be launching two new digital channels in the next year, to be delivered via both a new satellite link and a terrestrial network.

The Omneon solution provides a file-based IP environment, allowing for content and proxies of any resolution to be distributed around the network at speeds faster than real time, providing a significant improvement over traditional videotape-based workflows and timelines.

The MediaGrid active storage system is designed to meet the large-capacity and high-bandwidth requirements of media production and broadcast applications. It will be the center point of all TVNZ’s collaborative production, editing, storage, archiving, and playout. A variety of applications (still under evaluation), including automation, editing, graphics, and backup, will utilize MediaGrid’s shared storage for improved efficiency in the multichannel workflow. In addition to the storage and server functions, Omneon will also deliver ProBrowse™, the company’s comprehensive media proxy system that automatically organizes clips within MediaGrid and the servers, and makes them available to networked workstations at all times.

The system sale was done through Gencom Technology, an Omneon distributor in New Zealand, who also provides local customer service and engineering support. The Omneon systems will be delivered in May 2007, and Naseem expects the fully integrated digital operation to be live by September 2007.

# # #

About Omneon
Omneon is a leading provider of flexible media server and active storage systems that optimize workflow productivity and on-air reliability for the production, distribution, and management of digital media. Omneon is a pioneer in the use of advanced IT technologies and open systems for broadcast applications, producing a modular and expandable video server architecture in the Omneon Spectrum. The company's MediaGrid active storage system delivers centralized content storage that is scalable in capacity, bandwidth, and media-processing power. The company has an extensive global presence with customers in 45 countries on six continents. Omneon is on the Web at www.Omneon.com.

About TVNZ
TVNZ is New Zealand's biggest free-to-air broadcaster and is also the nation's television public service broadcaster. Under the guidance of the TVNZ Charter, the broadcaster's public service broadcasting responsibilities require TVNZ to reflect New Zealand to New Zealanders. To New Zealanders this unique and special responsibility means quality television that educates, informs, and entertains through local “home-grown” programming and the best of international programming.

TVNZ has two unique but complementary brands. TV ONE is primarily targeted at a more mature audience, with a broad range of programming including documentaries, drama, comedy, and Qantas Media Award-winning ONE News & Current Affairs, as well as ONE Sport. TV2 caters to a primarily younger and family-orientated audience with an emphasis on providing entertainment and information to the young and young at heart. More information is available online at www.tvnz.co.nz.

Contact:

Omneon Sales
+1.408.585.5000
+1.866.861.5690 (toll free)
sales@omneon.com
 

 

 
 
© 2005-2006 Omneon Video Networks. All rights reserved.