Food Networks HD and HGTV HD networks launch on Omneon Spectrum

Omneon Video Networks have announced that Scripps Networks has launched its Food Network HD and HGTV HD networks, as well as its Great American Country (GAC) SD network, on new Omneon Spectrum media server systems.
The Omneon systems, which support ingest and playout, allow Scripps to intermix SD and HD content and serve as a highly interoperable and scalable solution that will facilitate the network’s future growth.
Scripps Senior Vice President of Broadcast Operations and Maintenance Engineering John Ajamie commented: “Scripps has been a pioneer in implementing file servers in the broadcast environment, and we found integration of the Omneon server systems into our operations to be the most eloquent and simple server installation we’ve ever experienced.”
Ajamie added: “They are by far the leader within this industry, and we know absolutely that we made the best decision in going with Omneon equipment.”
Scripps is using one 24-TB Spectrum system to support ingest of HD content and two 12-TB Spectrum systems for redundant playout operations. The network shoots the Food Network HD and HGTV HD at a 16:9 aspect ratio. This video is ingested to the Spectrum server system and then archived via a Masstech Hierarchical Storage Management system to a StorageTek nearline archive. HD material is encoded through a Snell & Wilcox MEMPHIS HD MPEG-2 encoder, and interstitial content originated in SD is upconverted via a Teranex Volare.
When content is needed for air, the system restores it to both the main and backup Spectrum playout servers, which run under OmniBus automation.
The combination of the Omneon Spectrum server system with advanced conversion and encoding gear enables Scripps to provide programming with a consistent look and with the quality viewers expect of HD programming. As the network builds up its library of encoded content, it will continue to transition its networks onto the Omneon server platform.
When complete at the end of this year, Scripps’ Omneon-based transmission infrastructure will support playout operations for all of its networks, both SD and HD.
(DS/SP)