Challenge
- Design a production environment allowing the broadcaster to increase its traditional audience and enhance its presence across all digital platforms
- Automate the manual tasks involved in producing news programming.
Solution
- KMH evaluated and streamlined the NJ PBS media workflow.
- KMH designed a control room workflow based on Ross OverDrive automation, with OverDrive and XPression integrated with Dalet’s Galaxy newsroom and media asset management systems to provide a more efficient day-to-day workflow for newsroom and production staff.
Results
KMH recommended an upgrade from LTO-6 to LTO-8, allowing NJPBS to minimize the number of steps involved to restore and to archive media, remove manual steps and reduce the number of people that were required to produce a show.
KMH developed a transitional plan that incorporates cloud services and expands NJ PBS’ overall solution to include a hybrid approach to media storage and management.
When NJ PBS wanted to increase its traditional broadcast audience, enhance their presence across all digital platforms and automate the many manual tasks involved in producing news programming – the broadcaster turned to KMH Integration.
The Brooklyn, NY-based system integrator has a successful track record of building and retrofitting broadcast operations to handle high-profile live events and news coverage.
NJ PBS, the state’s public television network, used its newly revamped broadcast and production workflow to handle live coverage of the 2021 New Jersey gubernatorial election, supporting continuous broadcast coverage, live updates, graphics, statistics and live remote footage.
“They hired us to evaluate and streamline their media workflow,” said Kevin Henneman, principal of KMH Integration. “That resulted in us designing, building and expanding their production capabilities to support news, entertainment and community-based programming.”
The majority of the KMH project work centered around Ross Video production solutions. A newly expanded graphics solution is based on the Ross XPression real-time motion graphics platform. Several Sony broadcast-style cameras are mounted on Ross CamBot robotic heads and Blackbird pedestals.
KMH also designed a control room workflow based on Ross OverDrive, the industry leading automated production control technology. OverDrive and XPression are integrated with Dalet’s Galaxy newsroom and media asset management systems to provide a more efficient day-to-day workflow for newsroom and production staff, enabling them to focus on enhancing the viewer experience and expanding their content offerings while keeping operational costs under control.
“Part of our streamlining their media workflow was a recommendation to upgrade from LTO-6 to LTO-8, which we accomplished through tighter integration between Dalet’s Galaxy and XenData’s LTO storage solution, to minimize the number of steps involved to restore and to archive media, remove manual steps and reduce the number of people that were required to produce a show. Now, through this combination of their more efficient workflow and Ross automation technologies, they don't need eight people to do news anymore. They can do it with two or three.”
KMH identified the need to upgrade and expand the existing LTO robotic library to provide a major growth in storage capacity. In turn, this increases the amount of historic content that is automatically available for reuse by a factor of 10. KMH also developed a transitional plan that incorporates cloud services and expands NJ PBS’ overall solution to include a hybrid approach to media storage and management.
Several of the design modifications completed by KMH allow NJ PBS to comply with COVID-related social distancing by creating new production positions in previously dedicated office locations.
Using OverDrive to centralize operational control during production, NJ PBS and KMH were able to design and plan safe and comfortable workspaces for the future. The MOS workflows and centralized control allow producers and production staff to collaborate remotely and execute their productions without the need for crowded control rooms.
Other KMH system enhancements for NJ PBS include a large TV studio, smaller multipurpose/multimedia studios, a podcast studio, a large open digital media newsroom for desktop editors and producers to view and create content, a redesigned production control room, increased production routing and multi-viewer capabilities, DANTE audio implementation for wireless mics, various AV monitoring locations for production feeds and an in-house TV system.
KMH’s collaboration with NJ PBS is the latest example of partnering with broadcast organizations. Recent KMH projects include leading the design and A/V system installation for Newsday’s new digital multimedia production facility, relocating and consolidating facilities for News 12 Networks and designing and building a new studio complex for Group Nine Media.
For more information or to schedule a demo, contact KMH Integration at
(929) 295-6347 or visit https://kmh-integration.com/.