Studio Hamburg Media Consult International (MCI) has modernised and expanded the playout operation at MCS GmbH Thüringen. ARD and ZDF’s Kinderkanal broadcasts its daily schedule from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. through this facility. The entire infrastructure and all installed equipment are already HD-capable or can be upgraded easily. Installation, commissioning and the switch to the new system had to take place without affecting the existing infrastructure or its operation.
An Aveco Astra automation system was integrated for ingest, quality control and playout, including control of K2 transmission servers. The existing Profile XP servers were networked with the new redundant K2 servers to provide reliable file transfer.
The existing monitor walls in the Kinderkanal playout area and the main control room of the Thüringen broadcasting centre were replaced by MVP multiviewers connected to six 47-inch MCI Focus displays.
The Maestro production switcher used for playout was scheduled to receive a two-channel DVE later in 2007, allowing trailers to be created without preproduction. Evertz and Albrecht components handle logo insertion and the integration of VPS data. Axon logging recorders capture the transmitted programme output.
