Pro-Bel launch Morpheus automation system

Pro-Bel have announced the launch of Morpheus, their next generation automation system designed from the ground up to support today’s increasingly complex transmission environments.
Building on Pro-Bel’s years of experience in the automation market, Morpheus radically enhances the strengths of the successful Compass family using new technology and architecture to provide an even more flexible and powerful solution.
Morpheus is designed to handle simple server playout to complex channels where schedules are changing regularly and unpredictably. At the core of Morpheus is Pro-Bel’s Mediaball concept. This is a package of media and data elements that are brought together at transmission time, creating a virtual asset. Complex transmission events can be easily constructed and played out using Mediaball. This new event store – an object-oriented data model – allows unlimited levels of sub-events to support interactive content, multi-lingual broadcasts and dynamic on-air graphics, essential in today’s broadcasting world where channel-associated metadata is increasingly prevalent.
Morpheus brings new levels of intelligence to the sharing of playout devices and transmission resources between channels using sophisticated resource management software. Devices can be allocated to playout streams manually or automatically according to user-defined parameters. With device usage constantly monitored, scheduling conflicts are instantly reported and can be centrally managed across multiple channels.
With the ability to also dynamically allocate playout channels to different operator positions – including the automatic switching of video and audio monitoring as well as the control surfaces and PC screen – Morpheus brings new levels of flexibility to the transmission environment.
Morpheus is based on a Microsoft.Net backbone, which is used to provide network resilience and automatic failover in the event of hardware or network problems. Morpheus supports Pro-Bel’s powerful Master Control linkage system allowing manual intervention of a running schedule by operators directly manipulating the mixer desk and having their actions reflected in the automation schedule.
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