Kuwait TV installs GV Stratus

State broadcaster Kuwait TV (KTV) has installed Grass Valley’s Stratus at its facility to streamline its news operations. This is the first Stratus installation in the Middle East. The installation is part of KTV’s efforts to migrate from its old analogue system to an online, file-based solution that will make its operations more efficient.

Stratus has been integrated with KTV’s existing ENPS newsroom system to simplify and streamline its workflow. It is designed to be integrated with many third-party systems and devices through its support of the MOS and CII protocols that allow working with a wide range of systems, resulting in a seamless integration into the NRCS.The news in the integrated system is, therefore merged with the video and directly sent to the editors for the final edit.

“Prior to this, we were ingesting content onto DVCAM tapes, undertaking linear machine-to-machine editing and playing material using VTRs in the news studio,” stated Khaled Alsayegh, Project Manager at KTV.

“This new file-based news production system will replace the existing workflow. Ingest will be through Aurora. Content is stored in the HD-ready SAN-mirrored storage, and the material for editing goes through the network and is played out directly from the server. The idea of the Stratus is to build the basic system which will contain file-based Ingest, production server, editing and playout.”

Hassan Ghoul, Managing Director, Grass Valley, Middle East added: “As content is no longer made for just one screen — operators now face a number of challenges in order to meet the demands of a more dispersed, multi-screen, multi-platform audience, GV Stratus offers support for every part of the content creation and distribution lifecycle, enabling more efficient workflows and allowing resources to focus on creativity. It’s really great to be bringing such an exciting product to the region and to be showcasing it with KTV.

This is a really important win for Grass Valley in the market.”

The second phase of this project will see a more large scale adoption of High Definition infrastructure within KTV, thereby providing greater storage capacity for more editing clients and journalists at the network.

Adeeb Abed, General Manager at INC System Integrations, which was responsible for the project at KTV added: “The biggest challenge we faced was to make the operators familiar with the file-based system and enabling them to understand advantage of having such systems. As they were working on tapes and papers earlier, it involved extensive training for them to adopt the new online system. However, the operators were ready to adapt to the changes. With the help of our engineers, we worked closely with them on the system. As the Stratus is a user-friendly solution, the operators have not had any issues.”