StarTimes Delivers Six Fully Redundant Channels in Nigeria

StarTimes, based in Beijing, China, has installed 12 PlayBox Technology servers at NTA, the Nigerian Television Authority in Lagos. These are used to broadcast six Chinese channels into Nigeria via a DTH platform.
 

StarTimes describes itself as “the strongest and largest DTV system integrator, technology provider and network operator in China that will carry Chinese TV channels globally”.

In order to meet its customers’ expectations, StarTimes needed a reliable partner for its Lagos project. Working with PlayBox Technology, six SD channels with 1+1 redundancy have been delivered. These include CaptureBox for content ingest, TitleBox for channel branding, graphics and CG, and AirBox for playout and automation.

The workflow starts with the content for the six channels being delivered from several sources including providers in Nigeria, other countries and Chinese TV stations. It is then ingested via CaptureBox and passed through QCBox for quality checks, after which it is transferred to the central video storage.

ListBox and DataBox are used to create playlists and to insert metadata. The playlist is then transferred to the appropriate AirBox server, which then loads the required footage from the central store which it then plays according to the playlist.

All AirBox servers are monitored via MPM (Multi Playout Manager). MPM is an assignable monitoring and control system for multiple AirBox channels. It can run on one or more PCs connected locally or from anywhere via the Internet. This enables remote control of the playout channels as well as allowing any last minute changes, if required.