M-Net is installing the latest Avid ISIS technology for its SuperSport production facilities, as it seeks to migrate its content to digital servers.
The R10 million deployment is expected to be completed by early December and then go on air after staff training is completed, Spescom announced this morning.
Its Media IT division is providing the equipment, installation and training for the project, which will initially handle the SuperSport channel's production and then be extended to cover storage and post-production for other M-Net and MultiChoice channels.
M-Net has a long-standing relationship with Spescom Media IT, a supplier of TV equipment and systems, which has previously deployed solutions for flagship programming, such as Big Brother and Survivor South Africa, the company says.
"To maintain the high quality of its productions, M-Net has chosen the Avid technology we supply as the best way forward," says Sean du Toit, GM of Spescom Media IT.
"Apart from the solution's vast capacity for handling live feeds and editing, it is also very cost-effective and locally supported. The new technology has exceptional scalability and it is ready for use with the high-definition TV transmissions which will be introduced to meet international standards for the 2010 World Cup soccer event in SA."
Du Toit adds that the Avid Unity ISIS system is an advanced media network and, when combined with Interplay, a non-linear workflow engine, "the result is a very efficient, easily managed workflow. This is the first deployment of this combination in the country."
Johan Chandler, M-Net's head of production services, says staff training for the new system had presented a challenge, "but Spescom Media IT provided excellent support for that critical part of the overall project".
Chandler adds that M-Net is migrating its "whole system to a tapeless environment, which will enable us to manage, edit and store all our content on digital servers and never have to resort to tape storage".
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