Leading South American internet subscription TV service provider Zapping Sports Ecuador has invested in a PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box HD server to power its subscription-based online streaming service over the internet. Serving as the central hub of the organisation, the PlayBox Neo turnkey solution will control the entire ingest and streaming process of all content related to the Zapping Sports Channel in Ecuador. The channel is dedicated to the Professional Football League transmission from Ecuador, which includes live matches, satellite programs and the re-transmission of games.
Established in 2018, Zapping is a pioneering virtual pay TV operator at the forefront of revolutionising television experiences in Latin America. As the region’s premier platform, Zapping stands out as the first of its kind, offering audiences an alternative from traditional pay TV operators with an impressive lineup of over 130 HD channels featuring content from industry giants like ESPN, FOX, Discovery, Disney, AMC, and Turner.
Operating seamlessly in Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, Zapping has quickly become synonymous with innovation, quality, and user satisfaction by delivering cutting-edge technology and a diverse range of live HD channels. The company has a strong commitment to technology and the user experience, ensuring subscribers enjoy the features, including the ability to rewind programming 24 hours and more.
The Zapping Sports Ecuador team was drawn to the CiaB playout solutions from PlayBox Neo as they sought a solution that would automate customised playout of content while streamlining its operations and optimising costs. Zapping Sports Ecuador was looking for a consistently stable solution that was easily manageable and could scale effortlessly. PlayBox Neo was adopted for its remarkable capabilities to enable the integration of content from any content creator worldwide, in any format and manage input and output for hundreds of live video streams effortlessly.
PlayBox Neo’s Channel-in-a-Box is a turnkey playout server solution for broadcasting single or multiple TV channels in HD or UHD. It provides a seamless workflow to keep a channel on-air by combining scheduling, ingest, playout, CG and interactive graphics within one box and remote tools to enhance QC checks, preparation and monitoring. The output can be SDI or IP streaming and suitable for a variety of applications including traditional broadcast TV, Pay-TV, playout centres, satellite operators, and so forth. By leveraging on the SaaS in the cloud or traditional platforms on-premises, PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box offers live ingest with Ingest, playout automation with AirBox Neo, interactive CG and graphics with TitleBox Neo and scheduling with ListBox Neo.
“The Ingest management system in PlayBox Neo’s Channel-in-a-Box allows incoming content to be edited or transmitted before download is complete. This is immensely timesaving and allows us to transmit live football games. In addition, TitleBox Neo provides the tools needed to perform high-profile visual branding, and AirBox Neo supports live production by the ability to insert or trigger various events or live streams into the schedule.” Martin Tupper, Country Manager at Zapping Sports Ecuador said, “Our team finds PlayBox Neo an absolute pleasure to work with, as it is so user-friendly and consistently stable, giving us quick and efficient access to all the control facilities we need.”A major component of the PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box solution, AirBox Neo is a fully scalable playout engine which allows media files of various types to be combined in one playlist, including live inputs. It provides multiple SDI/IP streaming outputs simultaneously in all commonly used video standards at UHD, HD or SD resolution. Content can be trimmed, edited or repositioned at any time before playout. Changes to the playlist can also be made while on-air. Playlist scheduling can be performed hours, days or weeks in advance. Gaps and overlaps are automatically resolved to ensure continuous operation even when conflicting timed events are present. Special facilities ensure uninterrupted operation if content files, or even entire schedules are missing or misplaced. AirBox Neo can be installed on-site under local control or accessed entirely via the cloud.
Ingest allows television station management staff to control, via a single graphic interface, multiple ingest channels spread across multiple servers. Functions such as input selection, ingest presets, file naming, file assignment and auto-transfer can be performed with a single click. It integrates closely with the PlayBox Neo Channel-in-a-Box or can be used standalone to support the production workflow at the playout service provider. External control can be performed directly from AirBox Neo automation including the ability to assign time zones to each ingest instance for scheduled playout across specific regions
TitleBox Neo is a fully interactive 4K UHD/HD/SD graphics, titling and text display engine for use in broadcasting and is designed to operate as a standalone hardware or software module, or as part of the PlayBox Neo system. Administrator-controlled templates can be deployed to maintain a consistent graphic theme. Creative features include unlimited layering of static and animated images, still or moving text, plus a wide range of digital video effects, under automated or live manual control. Dynamic data from external text feeds or an ODBC-compliant database can be linked to any text object and updated on-screen.
Matias Palau from PlayBox Neo’s reseller partner Duo Chile commented, “Reliability was a key deciding factor for Zapping, and we could clearly show that PlayBox Neo leads the industry in this area. Their Channel-in-a-Box turnkey technology is a sought-after product for most media companies as it offers versatility regarding onsite hardware, server-based software, network-connected hybrid or fully cloud-based expertise. We knew they had chosen robust technology with dedicated round the clock support teams they can fully rely on to give them peace of mind.”
“In partnership with our technology reseller Duo Chile overseeing installation and training in Ecuador and Chile, we are delighted to play a major role in bolstering Zapping’s first-rate user experience through our performance-leading Channel-in-a-Box technology,” added Pavlin Rahnev, Founder and CEO of PlayBox Neo, “We look forward to continuing to deliver advanced workflows for Zapping and maintaining our excellent partnership with the Zapping team across Latin America. We are honoured by Zapping’s commitment to our products and services. Our approach is customer-focused and continues to be the backbone of many highly successful broadcast media networks around the world.”
