Broadcast Automation Trends
By Douglas I. Sheer

Harris’ H-class Plays Well With Others

A virtual plethora of solutions and vendors awaits the typical broadcast facility bent on installing an automation system. This is particularly true in regards to software offerings. Nonetheless, the ‘thousand-pound gorilla’ of the segment is Harris Corporation whose H-class systems have become nearly ubiquitous in the genre. They are dominant in that ever increasingly important function of controlling content delivery. If anything has changed significantly in the segment it is the trend towards rampant trans-coding, automation-driven transfers and support of multiple simultaneous distribution streams thus making the automation system more useful than ever. And, as more and more channels get added, the amortization of the costs of the basic system investment begins to make more sense too.

But, that said, there are so many flavours of automation, even within play-out control, that it is not simple to establish who really rules the roost. H-class has for a long time been the core solution for many broadcasters, globally, especially where play-out automation, the single most common application is concerned. Harris offers a wide menu of drivers and functionality. And, this looks even truer when you compare them to the rest of the breed. To compete, most other firms try to link their core offerings to interoperability – with other devices – but it is in that regard that H-class really excels. It can run on Windows XP or Linux (at least their D-series does) and that is provided with full TCP/IP support in place. So, along with great links with so many ancillary devices, H-class offers specific applications for traffic, database management, Mux control, EPG, CA and media movement options, using the Intelligent Media Mover application.

The Digital Asset Management suite within H-class allows for customers to take advantage of the DAM digital workflow facilities. Schedule and content metadata are thereby accessible and may be operated individually or in combination. Likewise security can be validated or logging handled as well. Best of all, by using a common design framework, the H-class allows for ‘talking’ across all of its software products smoothly. Harris further, and cleverly, sets the workflow up so that it is easy to have the automation control or interact with servers, editing, IT workstations, traffic controllers and with even the most current state-of-the-art architectures.

To assure that this all remains maximally scaleable, even as the operations grow, Harris, they specifically allow for the application to run in its own separate platform. Thereby, allowing also for the newest features or functionality to be tethered without overbearingly interfering with the smooth operation of the core device. The user is freed to pick and match the best of breed applications from other suppliers with the core of the H-class system. An API is provided so to make simple the task of integration of third-party devices or software programs and permits ample messaging too. All of this is good news for existing base of Harris customers, many of whom are busy building out more capacity, especially for multi-casting purposes. This seems to be just as true in HD-adopting facilities as in the SD ones. So both Hi-Res and Proxy copies can be accommodated. And, this is also attracting more new customers in Harris’ fold, despite the fact that this product was first sold over a decade ago, it still manages to remain relevant and attractive and segment leading.

Douglas I. Sheer is CEO of DIS Consulting Corporation, in New York, publishers of the Broadcast Automation World tm 2007 report and can be reached at dougsheer@aol.com.