LEADING EUROPEAN BROADCASTER BFM TV EXPANDS LIVE NEWSGATHERING CAPABILITIES WITH AVIWEST
SAINT-GRÉGOIRE, France — March 3, 2015 — AVIWEST, a global provider of video contribution systems, today announced that BFM TV, a 24-hour news channel based in France, has selected AVIWEST’s DMNG RACK180 advanced hybrid contribution video encoder and QUAD wideband antennas to enhance its newsgathering capabilities. Utilizing AVIWEST’s DMNG RACK180 encoders in newsgathering vehicles, BFM TV can transmit live SD and HD video content via satellite and cellular bonded 3G/4G networks, while maintaining high signal quality. By enabling BFM TV to deliver content over the Ku- and Ka-band spectrums as well as cellular networks, the digital mobile newsgathering solutions from AVIWEST significantly reduce the news provider’s operating expenses while strengthening signal delivery.
“Prior to deploying AVIWEST’s DMNG RACK180 contribution encoders, our satellite vehicles were limited to only using the traditional Ku-band spectrum for breaking news and live event coverage, which is not a cost-effective method of video distribution,” said Quentin Guiné, engineering maintenance and operation manager, BFM TV. “The DMNG RACK180 guarantees superior performance in all environments, including crowded cities and bad weather conditions. It also increases our flexibility in the field by enabling us to utilize affordable Ka-band satellite spectrum and cellular networks. The end result is a better video-quality experience for our viewers and lower operating costs for our organization.”
BFM TV is using the DMNG RACK180 encoders alongside existing DMNG PRO180 portable encoders and DMNG Studio receivers from AVIWEST for increased efficiency. Housed in a compact 1U rackmount chassis, the DMNG RACK180 can easily be integrated into newsgathering vehicles. The advanced contribution video encoder features the same robust hardware and software core as the company’s industry-leading DMNG PRO180 encoder,including eight 3G/4G internal modems and two USB interfaces, plus a built-in Wi-Fi modem. In addition, the DMNG RACK180 includes eight MCX antenna connectors that are used with AVIWEST’s QUAD wideband external cellular antenna arrays to strengthen signal transmission in critical environments such as vehicles in motion.
Leveraging AVIWEST SafeStreams technology and an intelligent bonding stack, the DMNG RACK180 guarantees the delivery of BFM TV’s live transmissions for a wide range of newsgathering scenarios. For example, the DMNG RACK180 allows the broadcaster to transmit live video or recorded files seamlessly over bonded cellular networks while driving, ensure transmission resiliency by using bonded cellular connections as a seamless backup to satellite when weather or congested network conditions cause fluctuations in satellite bandwidth, and increase the overall transmission capacity by bonding together all satellite and cellular network connections.
“While in the field, it’s nearly impossible for broadcasters to predict the kind of environmental, climatic, and network conditions they will be up against. Given such challenges, broadcasters need robust newsgathering solutions that are cost-effective, reliable, and flexible no matter where they are in the world,” said Ronan Poullaouec, CTO, AVIWEST. “Our DMNG RACK180 provides BFM TV with a high-performance, rack-mount encoding device that supports satellite and cellular networks, ensuring they can deliver a high-quality video image to television viewers in real time, anywhere, despite varying conditions.”
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The above press release was provided to us by AVIWEST. We are AVIWEST’s distributor for the U.S. market.
