TBN Zambia Progresses to Digital Playout
See PlayBox Technology on stand 8.B70 at IBC2015, Amsterdam
PlayBox Technology announces the completion of a new broadcast playout system for TBN Zambia. Owned by the world’s largest religious television broadcaster, Trinity Broadcasting Network, TBN Zambia produces and co-ordinates two programme channels at its studios in Lusaka.
“Having seen its successful operation at our sister network, Lighthouse Television, PlayBox Technology was the logical choice for this project,” comments Dr Dan Pule, CEO of TBN Zambia. “Combined with new production infrastructure, it is enabling us to move forward from our former tape-based analog environment into fully digital operation. PlayBox Technology have provided a complete solution in a single rack. Structurally compact and very easy to drive, this provides all the tools our staff need to handle the entire process of content ingest, graphics generation and manipulation, scheduling and playout. Installation was followed by on-site training and the system is now on-air.”
“We are very gratified that Trinity Broadcasting Network has the confidence to work with us across Africa,” adds PlayBox Technology (UK) Sales Director Ben Gunkel. “This project gives TBN Zambia the ability to deliver consistently high quality digital signal streams free from the inherent limitations of analog production and playout. It follows the recent completion of a similar installation for Lighthouse Television, a TBN affiliate based in Uganda. The key difference is that Lighthouse Television is currently equipped as a single channel.
“The solution we have provided for TBN Zambia supports both its channels. These feed direct from the PlayBox Technology system to the transmission network run by Zambia’s national public-service broadcaster, ZNBC.
“PlayBox Technology solutions continue to seen as aspirational products by many broadcasters, not least in Africa where our brand name is synonymous with affordability and efficiency. It is a reputation we have secured over many years and which has resulted in the delivery of over 15,000 successful playout and channel branding installations around the globe.”
The PlayBox Technology solution provided for TBN Zambia includes a CaptureBox server, a network-attached storage server, a preparation station comprising ListBox, DataBox and TitleBox, plus dual RAID-protected AirBox playout servers with integral TitleBox. Rack-mounted video monitors, an SDI router, a master sync generator, primary/secondary smart switch and KVMs have also been integrated.
TBN Zambia team with the newly installed dual broadcast ingest, graphics, scheduling and playout