DITG expands with Pharos Playtime

The Digital Interactive TV Group (DITG) has ordered its second Pharos Playtime presentation playout system.
Based at Wapping in London's Docklands, DITG produces its own programme content and provides technical resources plus a wide range of transmission services for third-party broadcasters.
DITG acquired its first Pharos Playtime plus a Pharos Mediator media library management system when it took over The Money Channel's premises and facilities in 2001. DITG soon ordered expansions to the Playtime installation, taking it from a dual-channel to a four-channel system.
The new investment expands DITG's transmission playout capacity to six channels of Playtime, all accessing the original Mediator archive database. Four Pharos workstations have been installed, with playlists, off-line scheduling, databases, hardware panels and Pharos Control Platform (PCP) interfaces.
Traditional broadcast control systems rely on a playlist of video events as their main timing reference. Pharos Playtime uses a package with independent tracks for each event sequence. Each track is displayed on the Playtime control screen as a separate timeline, typically representing main video, backup video, discrete voice-over languages, GPIs, mix/effects, logo and subtitles.
Playtime enables individual schedulers to create dynamic and exciting presentation effects that could otherwise only be achieved using extensive postproduction facilities.
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