News

Quantel previews Dino (Distance Is No Object) inter-site workflow technology (25/4/2008)

Quantel previewed Dino at NAB 2008, ushering in a new era of collaborative workflow possibilities for broadcasters that can dramatically improve productivity and utilization of resources.

Dino allows users of Quantel Newsbox HD and Enterprise sQ systems to share media, resources and workflow between locations. That means that broadcasters with more than one site can maximise the use of media, systems and personnel. These sites could equally be in different buildings, cities, countries or continents - with Dino, distance is no object.

Dino doesn't just move content over the web; Dino joins workflows. Dino is an engineering solution that solves the problems of bandwidth, latency and availability that are inevitable over long distances. Dino achieves this using a combination of innovative transport protocols, bandwidth optimization and interruption-tolerant engineering techniques that enable a fully operative workflow between two or more sites. Dino is a business solution too. People can work effectively, wherever they are. Assets can be accessed, repurposed and re-published, wherever they are.

Dino is a natural extension of the Quantel desktop workflow, and is made possible by the unique technologies that underpin Quantel's production workflow. Together they get far more performance out of a WAN than would be possible with any other architecture available on the market. The key enabling technologies include:

* Locked broadcast and browse media - any edit is just a change of playout instruction so can be done purely with browse media and instantly reflected on remotely held broadcast media without the need to transfer even a single hi-rez frame across the WAN
* Delta editing - only new frames (ie frames that are actually altered - dissolves, titles etc) need to cross the WAN in hi-rez
* FrameMagic - keeping track of everything down to a frame level to ensure maximum efficiency and no bandwidth wasted

Dino opens up many possible new workflow possibilities for broadcasters:

* Sharing content between stations
* Sharing content between stations and a network hub
* Sharing between TV studios and temporary studios at major sports and other events
* Sharing studio content with home workers or travelling reporters.
* Disaster recovery/business continuity - guaranteeing continuance of service even if one location goes down

"Dino is like comparing an email with a fax," said Trevor Francis, Quantel Head of Broadcast. "With a fax I can read your words; with an email I work with them; adapt and personalise them. Sharing video over distances may be easy; sharing workflow is much harder. Media is most valuable when it's selected, formatted and presented according to the needs of the user. Dino is the email for TV production."

www.quantel.com  

[more NLE news]