WIN TV’s Chief Digital & Information Officer, Simon Scott, elaborated on the company’s requirements, stating, “WIN was seeking a full outsource of their headend and looking for a ‘headend-as-a-service’ offering. Their requirements were substantial, including 158 channels of compression encoding, Statmux, and Muxing from SMPTE 2022-6 IP source playout streams. They also wanted a fully redundant system with the backup hosted in another datacenter.”
In response to these demands, MediaHub Australia joined forces with Ateme to provide a comprehensive solution that met WIN’s specifications. This solution hinged on utilizing Ateme Titan Live and Ateme Titan Mux software running on Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) compute servers.
Alan Sweeney, CEO of MediaHub, explained the synergy between the two organizations, saying, “We have been using Ateme’s technology for a number of years, as the foundation for the Imparja channel and SCA VAST News systems and have seen them come on leaps and bounds to meet the needs of the largest broadcasters in Australia. Ateme and MediaHub work extremely well together as both organizations continue to push the latest technologies to allow our clients to meet changing consumer demands.”
In addition to the Ateme software and COTS equipment, MediaHub’s solution included the utilization of MediaHub’s FibreHub services for inter-datacenter connectivity, reaching over 200Gbps to link the main and backup systems across two datacenters. The project also incorporated products from Nvidia, Dell, EVS Nureon’s, Worldcast Kybio, Packetlight, Meinberg, Birddog, Barrowa, AppearTV, Actus, and TAGVS, with Ateme’s local team playing a pivotal role in the custom design and implementation of the solution.
The physical deployment across the two sites was expertly handled by Magna Systems, providing comprehensive system integration services.
Stevan Djokic, GM Television Operations at WIN TV, expressed satisfaction with the transition to the new Ateme headend, stating, “The WIN network transitioned onto its new Ateme headend, and we have been very impressed with the ease with which we have been able to change transmission formats. The industry is pushing hard to move to full MPEG4 with a mix of HD and SD and more focus on having as many channels as possible in HD. So far, we are very happy with the picture output and look forward to pushing boundaries further in order to give regional Australia even higher quality pictures by using our new MediaHub Ateme headend to its full capabilities.”
Ateme’s software underpins the entire headend solution, delivering exceptional compression quality with a focus on picture quality, ensuring a superior viewing experience for WIN’s audience.
Cutting-edge technologies such as AI-assisted encoding and Statmux contribute to achieving the highest quality in the final encode. Ateme’s flexible licensing model empowers WIN to select the codecs and formats that meet their specific needs, further facilitating the migration of SD services to HD.
Simon Scott emphasized, “MediaHub and WIN had a number of key performance requirements for the new headend system, including low power usage and reduced equipment footprint, both of which Ateme’s solution met and exceeded.”
The Ateme compression system has been operational for several months, running 24/7 across all of the markets that WIN TV broadcasts into without any issues. Djokic added, “We are able to switch seamlessly between main and backup compression systems across data centers at multiple levels with no impact on air, which has drastically simplified testing and maintenance.”
WIN’s 158 channels are ingested as SMPTE 2022-6 IP streams by Ateme Titan Live and compressed into various renditions, using the latest Dell/AMD server technology. Ateme Titan Mux servers create MPTS streams for each market, subsequently delivered via the distribution network to transmitters around Australia.
Since the system went live, WIN has seamlessly migrated WIN GEM from SD to HD with quick and simple software configuration changes performed by MediaHub’s Digital Services Team.
Alan Sweeney concluded, “Ateme’s system provided the opportunity to leap WIN to the next generation of technology powered by AMD servers and Ateme’s unique software product line. MediaHub ran the project and delivered the solution within a tight budget, despite the problematic IT supply chain issues of recent years. Critically, MediaHub also leveraged our close relationships with vendors such as Magna Systems, Dell, Nvidia, and Ateme to deliver the system before the required deadline. As a result, the new system is housed in just one single IT rack, which provides not only a footprint reduction but also savings and efficiencies in power and cooling. While improving the quality and flexibility we can offer WIN going forward. Ateme’s advanced technology and unparalleled solution also helps exceed MediaHub Australia’s internal sustainability targets and this, in turn, ultimately leads to lower costs for WIN TV.”
