PlayBox Neo, a global leader in media management and playout solutions, announces the completion of a newsroom production and news playout system for TV5HD Thailand. This new venture, at the broadcaster’s studio headquarters in Bangkok, follows on from PlayBox Neo’s June 2022 completion of TV5HD’s core playout and media asset management facility in partnership with US-based EMAM, Inc. Both projects have been coordinated by media systems integrator PS & Sons (Thailand) Co Ltd.

“Providing fast and reliable news for Thai viewers is one of TV5HD’s most important roles,” says David Srikalra, Managing Director of PS & Sons (Thailand) Co Ltd. “This project was motivated by the channel’s desire to replace legacy third-party equipment with a solution offering greater reliability, creative flexibility and operational efficiency. The system we proposed and have installed delivers on all three counts as well as being more affordable in terms of initial investment and after-sale support.

“Ingest occupies the front of the news workflow. Capture Suite is used to capture incoming baseband streams and convert these to media files. This process is highly efficient as Capture Suite is compatible with a large number of source formats without requiring external transcoding. Another advantage is that it operates via a web interface so is easily accessible from TV5HD’s variously located departments.

“News story authoring and editing are performed within TH5HD’s third-party NRCS software. Newsroom staff are able to select media files and interstitials, then integrate these on a schedule for automated playout. Once the news schedule is approved by the senior producer, the playlist is loaded on ProductionAirBox Neo-20 via MOS gateway ready for transmission.”

“The MOS bridge between the PlayBox Neo playout system and the TV5HD’s newsroom gives the network’s journalists seamless access to all the features they need,” adds Nut Deesamer, Director of PlayBox Neo’s Thailand branch. “This new phase comprises three ProductionAirBox Neo-20 servers and two Capture Suites, coupled to the newsroom system via the MOS interface. These augment the three Channel-In-a-Box systems which we supplied as TV5HD’s core playout system in 2022.”

Capture Suite gives ingest staff the resources they need to handle multiple incoming content feeds. Tasks such as input selection, ingest presets, file-naming rules, assignments and auto-transfer can also be performed quickly and easily from a single graphic interface. The integral multiviewer includes automated black-frame and frozen-frame alarms. Capture Suite also provides audio loudness monitoring as well as manual, scheduled and compliance ingest modes with automated input switching. Content can be edited before the ingest process completes, with obvious advantages for time-critical news channels. MXF and TS files are available for immediate playout via AirBox Neo-20 automation, again without having to wait for the ingest process to complete.

Designed specifically for live production, ProductionAirBox Neo-20 incorporates a wide range of resources including the ability to trim or reposition every clip in a playout while the scheduled session is on-air. Commands such as next, jump or shuttle allow playout order to be modified seamlessly without interrupting the current playout session. Up to four independent players can be configured on a single ProductionAirBox Neo-20 server. Each player is independently controllable via its own playlist. Each of the four SDI/NDI interfaces can be assigned as a program or preview output. Single-channel or multi-channel user interfaces are available to streamline the operation. Content manipulation and delivery can be performed with the near-zero latency demanded for broadcast news, sports and live production.