NewsFirst.TV is the first 24-hour online Hindi News Channel in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The channel aired continuous news footage with a mixture of edited and live footage available viewable on their website with all local breaking news stories covered as it happened.

NewsFirst.TV primary aim was to capture breaking news and current affairs from any location at a moment’s notice; they required a flexible and mobile system that consistently delivered high quality video footage even over low quality networks, whilst still delivering a low latency experience.

XM-Media, Quicklink’s partners in India introduced the Merlin Backpack to NewsFirst.TV. The Merlin Backpack is a high powered mobile encoding solution that allows the user to send live footage from any location. The Merlin has 6 internal modems to bond 3G/4G SIM cards and can simultaneous bond up to 13 connections utilising WiFi, Satellite, LAN etc. With the outstanding quality synonymous with the Quicklink name, the Merlin Backpack is designed to consistently send live footage with maximum quality and minimum delay even in the most congested of areas.

Peter Watling from Quicklink said, “The Quicklink Merlin Backpack is the perfect solution for capturing live breaking news. With unrivalled quality and stability broadcasters now realise the ever increasing potential to capture previously inaccessible footage. Even in poor network areas the Merlin will instantly adjust to the available bandwidth, giving optimal video quality.”

NewsFirst.TV used the Merlin Backpack for continuous live footage over a 4-hour period. With only 2 x 3G SIM cards available the Merlin produced consistent broadcast quality live video delivering in excess of 2Mbps. The footage was sent from a variety of locations and enabled NewsFirst.TV complete mobility and flexibility whilst having the assurance of high quality even with only 2 x 3G SIM cards available.

Susheel Koul from XM-Media said, “With a Sony SDI camera and only 2 SIM cards the Merlin Backpack delivered outstanding quality transmissions for our customer. They were very pleased with Quicklink’s performance.”