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PINK MEDIA GROUP

Pink Media Group controls images on large videowalls using Draco tera compact KVM matrix switch

The Customer

The Pink Media Group (PMG) is the largest private broadcast media and entertainment group in Southeast Europe. Headquartered in Belgrade, PMG has operations in Serbia and in the neighboring countries Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Pink currently produces and broadcasts 30 channels of general entertainment programming created in the group’s state-of-the-art film studio complex, through three television stations to six territories with further distribution by satellite, cable and OTT platforms worldwide, reaching 20 million viewers daily.

The Challenge

When Pink decided to build a news production studio for its 24/7 news program, they envisaged an active studio set in which 20 journalists would carry out their work in front of a massive videowall displaying live incoming feeds and Pink’s own channels on set.

To achieve this, each of the 34 individual 46” monitors forming the wall would be connected to a multi-output multiviewer system, so that they would all be able to display multiple images. Depending upon the configuration of the multiviewer, a vast number (up to 192) of separate images could be shown on the videowall at once; enough to create a highly impressive and effective backdrop to the news presenters.

In addition, the multiviewer feeds were to be fed to the master control room to present operators there with a wide selection of channels.

The Solution

 

Broadcast system integrator, Kompani digiTV, was contracted by Pink to design and build the news production studio with the large videowall. Pink evaluated several different options for displaying the multitude of images on the vast videowall in full HD resolution befitting the state-of-the-art facilities and philosophy of the broadcaster. The use of a single multiviewer with a large number of outputs was ruled out on cost grounds. Instead, Kompani digiTV proposed a solution using a multiviewer with 16 separate outputs to create the multi-view screens connected via an IHSE Draco tera compact KVM switch to the 34 screens on the videowall, using DVI connections between the two main components.

There is no better source than an output from a multiviewer system. So we have deployed KVM extenders with the Draco tera KVM switch to achieve the perfect solution. The enormous flexibility of the Draco tera switch allows any input to be connected to any output. This means that each multiviewer screen can be connected to one or more of the monitors, even to every screen at once if so desired. 
– Miroslav Jamkovic, managing director of Kompani digiTV

Control of the multiviewer images on the individual monitors is very simply achieved by means of the switch’s internal GUI, allowing operators at Pink to instantly change the layout so that different feeds appear in-shot behind the newsreader. It is likely that a control application will be created at a later date to enable remote control from additional points. 
– Sladjan Pesic, Project manager at Pink

The Benefit

The solution at Pink achieves the best of both worlds: full flexibility to show multiviewer images wherever they are needed in full HD quality and an economic solution that can be further expanded.

The 80-port KVM switch still has sufficient spare capacity to transmit multiviewer images also to other locations in the building: offices, recreation and reception areas. These are likely to be integrated in the near future. – Sladjan Pesic

The videowall located in the news studio is highly effective, giving the channel an extremely professional and modern look and feel.

It is exactly the image we wanted to create. Showing that Pink is a serious player in the news production broadcast industry. The solution that has been created is highly flexible, cost-effective and of the highest image quality. It provides us with an extremely high level of control and display options that fit into the studio environment cohesively. – Pavle Raskovic, head of production at Pink

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