Quantel sQ system is 'big news' for Norwegian state broadcaster

Norwegian state broadcaster NRK has recently installed a fully integrated sQ News/Sport production system from Quantel.
The system is based on four sQ servers, each with four video ports and with a total storage of 400 hours of IMX50. There are 124 sQCut editing packages on journalists’ desktops, eight sQEdit Plus systems for craft editing, and also a Paintbox, which is used for headline graphics.
NRK produces 18 television news broadcasts a day through its network of 12 regional offices in addition to its Oslo headquarters – a vast campus that is home to 2,400 staff, encompassing not only all its central news operations, but also all production and post production facilities for both NRK television and radio.
While NRK’s regional news operations have made use of standalone NLE systems, the Oslo centre has been for many years based around Digital Betacam technology and Head of News Technology and project manager for NRK’s entire digital news transition programme, Geir Børdalen said that the system was a leap forward that went "beyond just non-linear into a totally integrated production environment”.
At the outset Børdalen set up a project group to investigate all the available systems on the market. As well as engineering staff, the group also included a producer and journalist, which Børdalen saw as key to getting a system which would work at a creative as well as a technical level. The group looked at 14 systems integrators offering complete packages from 11 different manufacturers. In the end, only the Quantel sQ system, offered by system integrator 2MTV, was able to meet all the criteria.
System connectivity is via a dual fibre gigabit network, with a dual power supply to guard against power problems
The sQ system is integrated with NRK’s ENPS newsroom system (the second largest ENPS installation in the world with 1650 clients) via a dynamic MOS gateway, and the whole operation runs under Omnibus Columbus automation.
“The sQ makes it fast and easy to capture and package highlights such as goals, and our sports editors are really beginning to push the system. It’s a complex system, and now it’s really come together and we’re really pleased. Before we put the Quantel system in, we were struggling with ratings – now we are number one in news in Norway,” concluded Børdalen.
Quantel, www.quantel.com
(SP)