Pebble Beach Systems will demonstrate how Marina, the company’s centralised ingest, content management and multi-channel automation solution is optimised to help broadcasters manage their multi-lingual playout operations, whether for SDI, IP or virtualised infrastructures. Playing out channels across regions where content is delivered in multiple languages brings a specific set of challenges for the broadcaster […]
Pebble Beach Systems will demonstrate how Marina, the company’s centralised ingest, content management and multi-channel automation solution is optimised to help broadcasters manage their multi-lingual playout operations, whether for SDI, IP or virtualised infrastructures.
Playing out channels across regions where content is delivered in multiple languages brings a specific set of challenges for the broadcaster or service provider. Managing all of the audio, voiceover and subtitling requirements is complex in itself, and when files are missing, fail to play, or require substitution the situation can rapidly become unmanageable, particularly when Dolby surround sound needs to be considered.
“As content providers acquire rights to distribute media worldwide, the demand to produce and play out content in multiple languages is increasing. This typically involves the acquisition, management and control of multiple-language versions of each piece of core content. However, efficiently managing this media while keeping international playout centers cost-effective, can be a truly daunting task,” explains Ian Cockett, CTO at Pebble Beach Systems.
For service providers who are bound by multiple diverse SLA requirements for their different clients, accuracy and reliability are key. Pebble Beach Systems has developed a series of tools for its flagship Marina automation system which simplify the management of complex multi-lingual workflows and help to ensure that the language playout conditions will be met, whether the services are being delivered via SDI or IP.
When a broadcaster wants to use a single playlist to originate several channels with multiple IP outputs for different language requirements, its vital that all of the audio tracks, voiceovers and subtitle files that need to be played out are associated with the correct channel. Pebbles Marina has the ability to handle multiple output audio configurations from a single SDI or IP player. Its configuration tools enable the creation of bespoke language sets, so that audio and subtitle sets can be grouped for different territories or regions.
Marina also detects the language within the MXF file when the content is received, and if a file should fail to play, or the preferred language file is not available when the content is delivered, its configuration rules enable the dynamic substitution of the next preferred language file. Unlike some systems that implement a static set of audio shuffling rules, Marina is able to dynamically determine the correct audio channel mapping on an event-by-event basis.
