Imagine Communications Develops IP Core for Roman Catholic Network, Tv2000

Tv2000, the popular Italian television broadcaster that carries Roman Catholic themed programming, is building the foundations for an IP future with key infrastructure platforms from Imagine Communications. Located close to Vatican City in Rome, Tv2000’s studio and transmission center is migrating toward IP connectivity in a project led by Sony and systems integrator Allyn.

Moving to an IP platform will enable Tv2000 to improve operational flexibility, which is particularly important as remote production has become an increasingly critical consideration across the media industry. It also frees the broadcaster to make a future move to UHD and UHD HDR production.

As Tv2000 has a considerable investment in SDI equipment, including major components such as production equipment and cameras, the broadcaster sought a solution that would allow a comfortable, managed transition. While other vendors demanded a wholesale changeover to IP, Imagine Communications was able to propose an architecture that embraced both SDI and IP connectivity ― retaining the value in legacy equipment, while delivering the benefits of flexibility and agility from IP.

“Imagine Communications matched the requirements perfectly that the Tv2000 technical team were searching for,” said Fulvio Gallo, CTO of Tv2000. “Working together with Imagine and Allyn engineers, our team, which included IT Manager Romano Storelli and Technical Manager Vinko Vukoja, we delivered a seamless integration between the broadcast and IT worlds.”

Imagine supplied two critical components for Tv2000. First is the Selenio™ Network Processor (SNP), which provides the gateway between SDI and IP environments. Widely used in hybrid implementations due to its unique versatility, the SNP delivers four independent, highly powerful video processing engines paths in a compact 1RU form factor, supporting up to 32 1080P (or 8 UHD) signals concurrently.

The second critical component is the Magellan™ SDN Orchestrator (SDNO) software control solution, which provides orchestration of the complete system, whether the underlying hardware uses SDI or IP connectivity. It allows users to build workflows and operate rich hybrid systems without worrying about interconnectivity or technical limitations as the transition to IP continues.

“The Tv2000 installation is one of the most sophisticated and challenging applications of NMOS, providing remote, networked operation of major pieces of equipment like Sony production switchers,” said Maurizio Maroli, CEO of systems integrator Allyn. “Only Magellan SDNO could deliver the seamless level of control and orchestration required to manage this hybrid, multi-vendor workflow.”

For Imagine Communications, Mathias Eckert, SVP & GM EMEA/APAC, added, “Broadcasters have had to completely revamp their day-to-day operations to cope with the unprecedented challenges of the past year, which have brought into sharp focus the benefits of IP connectivity and software-defined systems, such as the inherent remote capabilities and flexibility to share assets between productions. But at the same time, they must plan phased investments that respect existing capital investment. With SNPs providing the gateways and Magellan SDNO providing top-level system orchestration, broadcasters have a field-proven way to move from legacy to hybrid to IP ― at their own pace, as their commercial and operational imperatives dictate.”

The new IP core at Tv2000, which was built and installed under carefully managed conditions during the COVID-19 restrictions, went on air at the end of October 2020. BCS Bureau