Morpheus V4.0 Playout Automation Introduction

Innovation in the Multi-Screen World

In today’s media and broadcast industry The company’s fl agship broadcast From its core database engine through one of the big challenges centers on automation solution, Morpheus, is a fi t to every device, Morpheus is designed for content delivery in a landscape where for purpose, scalable, multi-channel and resilience and, where required, redundancy, consumer behaviour and service demands multi-screen playout automation solution ensuring the right content and its metadata are changing rapidly. that is appropriate for the widest range of will be in the right place at the right time. applications including: With over four decades of leading edge Snell has the knowledge and experience development experience Snell delivers the National Broadcasters to develop an automation solution that is most fl exible and powerful broadcast Network Origination fi t for your purpose, irrespective of the size automation solutions on the market today. Centralcasting and scale of your enterprise, the range of From simple server playout to highly Business Continuity content distribution platforms integrated complex channels, the company’s key within your business model and your plans enabling technologies provide an extensive Based on format and device independent for future growth and expansion. suite of enterprise-wide media workfl ow platforms, Snell offers a range of robust and solutions for the effortless management resilient content distribution mechanisms, Taking an agnostic approach to formats of content. which keep pace with new devices as they and platforms means that Snell empowers evolve to meet the demands of future its customers to extract every drop of value The essence of Snell’s playout automation services, delivery platforms and consumer from their investments, while their builds on the principles of utmost appetite. customers consume content on their terms. versatility and fl exibility combined with the ability to support a myriad of different With Snell as your content distribution Utiizing Snell’s Momentum Media Asset workfl ows, production environments and partner you can rest assured that you will Management and Workfl ow Automation content distribution platforms. benefi t from fl exible device management, product, content is tracked, re-purposed and ensuring that resources can be dynamically distributed to both linear and non-liner deployed where and when most needed. platforms in a fully automated manner, freeing up time to concentrate on more pressing business imperatives.

What’s inside Morpheus Applications Centralcasting 01 Centralized Multi-Region Broadcasts 02 Business Continuity 03 Sports 04

Morpheus - The Intelligent 05 Distribution Solution

Content Management Made Easy 07

Partnering with Snell 09

Snell’s centralcasting technology is proven and on-air in major facilities around the world.

Morpheus Applications Centralcasting

In today’s cost conscious environment The example below illustrates the effi cient At the regional stations, Morpheus ICE centralcasting provides broadcast workfl ows capable between the Hub and (Integrated Content Engine) stores all stations with signifi cant operational multiple regional stations (Spokes). The received Hub content as well as providing all effi ciencies. It offers a solid basis for cost Hub provides the bulk of the ingest and live, branding and mixing requirements for reduction, increased system resilience storage for the sites as well as on-air playlist that market. The entire process at the (with fewer points for potential equipment management and remote monitoring of station level is fully-automated, alleviating failure) and a stable platform to launch the broadcasted signals. When new events the need for local level intervention by staff. new digital services. (or schedules) are added to the playlist, ingested content is transferred to the Morpheus easily accommodates for local Morpheus has the ability to support multiple regional stations. personnel intervention when required. Each centralcasting models, thereby decreasing region has the ability to “come alive” with operational costs and duplication of local ingest and on-air playlist management equipment. It offers a high degree of for news or other live events. Also for system- resilience and effi ciency for playout models wide resilience should communication with across multiple sites and geographical links with the Hub be compromised. Local playlist regions. control is available for specialized local programming events

Regional Station Regional Station

Local Local Morpheus Morpheus Full real-time Control Control control of the region is ICE ICE available centrally Local Live Local Live Mixer Mixer Central Control (Hub) Local Ingest Local Local Ingest Local Content Content Local Branding Local Branding Local

Central Morpheus Control WAN VPN WAN provides control and content connectivity. Content can be transferred Central to and from regions Ingest Central Regional Station Regional Station Storage Local Local Morpheus Morpheus Control Control

ICE ICE Local Live Local Live

Local Ingest Local Mixer Local Ingest Local Mixer Content Content Local Branding Local Branding Local

Local storage enables store and forward content model, ensuring regions are Centralcasting resilient to WAN interruptions/failures 01 Centralized multi-region broadcasting enables highly efﬁ cient production and distribution resource utilization.

Centralized Multi-Region Broadcasts

Centralized multi-region broadcasting is Additionally, related regional channels need another solution that enables effi cient not be restricted to commercial and utilization of a facility’s transmission graphical insertion – they can be used to resources for regional distribution, playout alternate programming on different enabling the playout of common broadcast platforms where rights issues programming with variations in prevent transmission of certain material commercial, promotional, and graphical (such as sporting events “black-outs”). insertions from one main location. The preservation of the regional character The example below illustrates a primary not only appeals to the viewers, but also channel originating for four regions. Each increases advertising revenues with region has local branding available for its specifi c regional commercial programming output. During the commercial breaks, there for a market. is region by region fl exibility to insert local advertising or remain on the primary signal.

Primary content across all regions

Regional variations

ICE

Regional Mixer Content Regional Branding

ICE

Playlist combining ICE Mixer common primary Regional Live Content

programming and Regional Branding individual regional programming Primary Mixer ICE Content

Central ingest Cantral Storage Regional Mixer SAN Content Regional Branding

ICE

Regional Mixer Content

Centralized Multi-Region Broadcasting Regional Branding

02 Business Continuity

The biggest commercial risks facing Morpheus provides full functionality The illustrated example reﬂ ects a business broadcasters are any operational, between both the primary and the remote continuity architecture where the primary technical or environmental issues site. Content is not “ever-green” material site is managing multiple channels with affecting on-air operations. A mission but instead a mirrored output of the main direct control available for the disaster critical requirement for any media broadcast signal. If a system failure occurs, recovery (DR) site. If a system failure occurs enterprise is that of cost-effective back-up a seamless transition can be made to ensure at the primary site, the DR site takes over operations to ensure business continuity continued operation and complete the primary role providing local storage in the event of a major disaster. transparency to the home viewer. and playout using Morpheus ICE (Integrated Content Engine). Content can continue to be ingested, branded and transmitted until the main site status is restored.

Full real-time control of the DR site is available from Local ingest Primary Site primary site provides long-term Disaster Recovery Site operation beyond replicated content Local Morpheus Control

ICE Multi-Channel Morpheus Direct Control of DR Site Local Ingest

WAN VPN Mixer

Duplicated Branding

Content Data Insertion

Third WAN provides ICE

Party Mixer control and content Server Branding connectivity. Content Data Insertion is automatically replicated to DR site Mixer Duplicated Branding

Content Data Insertion

Multi-Channel Transmission Infrastructure

High Channel ICE’s multi-format Primary functionality Density support eliminates of original transmission need for transcoding chain replicated in integrated playout platform Business Continuity

03 Join-in-Progress

When live sporting events run late, Morpheus provides the tools to join a schedule in progress. This system can dynamically cue any event to any new in-point based on the event’s original airtime. To make this normally complicated workﬂ ow easy, Morpheus can automatically air a JIP clip (or “bumper”) prior to taking the program to air.

Sports

Change individual commercials or entire breaks across multiple regions

Track number of times a commercial has aired against slots sold in original schedule

Rapid editing with hot keys and drag/drop functionality

Sports Television is an area where the Closed loop Commercial ‘Hot Lists’ best broadcasters can differentiate their Morpheus reacts to operator intervention, Once again, with one button press a channels and the station’s brand value. updating the on-air playlist “on the fl y.” Commercial Hot-List enables operators to It is a highly reactive production Most importantly, all manual changes are manipulate commercial inventory at a environment where events are often captured in as-run logs for reconciliation and moment’s notice. Its multi-faceted design unpredictable. billing services. provides ultimate fl exibility for accurate playlist editing, as well as enabling In this environment, Snell employs the latest Macro Scripts broadcast sales’ groups to maximize on-air Morpheus multi-channel automation When you integrate Morpheus, complex avails right down to the last minute. technology to create a master control procedures can be stored and accessed by environment that reduces pressure on staff pressing a single button. This ability saves This approach enables rapid changes to and enables them to focus on the most time, reduces operator errors and removes commercials or an entire ad break on a important creative issues in program requirements for custom code generation. single- or multi-region basis. When ICE is production. integrated into this solution, customers Crucially, Morpheus signifi cantly reduces the benefi t from extremely fast cue times to possibility for on-air errors when operating accommodate these last second changes. within a high-pressure live environment. Snell’s approach facilitates the tracking of commercial inventory against what has been aired: this removes the guess work and potential confl icts relating to unwanted ‘make-goods.’

04 Morpheus - The Intelligent Distribution Solution

Snell is a global leader in broadcast Snell’s entire approach to enterprise What Snell has succeeded in evolving is automation with an international customer content distribution is format and device exceptional – a suite of automation list that refl ects its ability to service mission independent. It provides a robust and solutions for today’s broadcasters: robust critical enterprise operations in any market. resilient content distribution mechanism in operation and yet highly fl exible in With over 40 year’s front line experience which can integrate new devices as they confi guration including the variety of to call on, the company has engaged in a evolve, and meet the demands of future content distribution platforms and the major development initiative that has seen services and delivery platforms. Flexible size and capacity of the system. Using this the essence of this activity distilled into device management ensures that resources operating concept, Snell reduces the cost of one highly fl exible technology solution – can be dynamically deployed to where and ownership and lessens the risk factor faced Morpheus. when most needed. by any size and scale of media enterprise compared with any other automation Morpheus is recognized as one of the From its core database engine through solution available today. broadcast industry’s most advanced to every automated device, Morpheus is multi-channel playout automation systems, designed for resilience and, where required capable of adapting its confi guration and redundancy. This ensures that the right operating characteristics to a broad range content and its metadata are in the right of applications and distribution platforms. place at the right time.

Edit Workstation

The Edit Workstation employed by Morpheus is a key operating tool where staff can quickly and easily interact with the system, modifying and appending schedules.

Recognizing that the workstation might be integrated within a broad range of enterprises, the Workstation is conﬁ gurable to view as many or as few channels in the system as dictated by a customer’s operational workﬂ ow.

05 Timeplane

The Timeplane is a powerful monitoring tool that enables operators to make accurate assessments fast. It’s intuitive graphical presentation provides a comprehensive view of all schedules across all channels simultaneously. With a scroll of the mouse, users can achieve the required amount of event detail to ensure complete on-air integrity.

Morpheus - The Intelligent Distribution Solution

Core Servers As a company Snell is synonymous with Such is Morpheus’ inherent intelligence that Morpheus’ core servers act as multi-vendor interoperability. It has the system is self-healing. In addition to multi-channel event stores within your developed an expansive library of supported supporting conventional playout resilience, media architecture. They offer real-time devices from a range of technology such as guard and air protect, the system replication with uninterrupted failover solution vendors and these are all available can automatically assign an available and the ability to achieve 99.999% in Morpheus. backup device if a primary component fails. performance rate. Virtualization Device Control Taking advantage of standard IT industry Elegant preview capabilities As you would expect from an industry technology and integrating it with our Morpheus provides the ability to preview leader, Morpheus is advanced in every broadcast know-how Snell provides and schedule sequences, which is increasingly aspect of device control. It utilizes solid state supports automation systems in a important with the trend of more complex technology and runs real-time operating virtualized environment. This technology is branding sequences being applied at air systems. The software has been architected essential for broadcasters who have growing time. Sequences can be previewed in full, to minimize the amount of unique code pressures of space, power, cooling and so on or in a more effi cient “top and tail” mode required to support a specifi c device, this but who also want to benefi t from the where only the fi rst and last few seconds reduces cost and risk when new devices are increased levels of resilience that a virtual- of an event are shown with the associated added to the system. ised environment can offer. transition sequence.

The system’s device controllers are based N+1 channels on a modular card form factor, therefore Resource Management Business continuity is critical in any multiple cards can be housed within the Most of all – and irrespective of the size and broadcast enterprise. Recognizing this, system’s 3RU enclosure presenting a scale of your content distribution challenge Morpheus can copy an entire playlist into minimal footprint within your operations – Morpheus provides sophisticated resource a spare channel in the event of a main center. If required, the controllers can be management throughout your enterprise. channel’s transmission failure. Playout run in a dual redundant mode for additional Within its intelligent device management resumes on the backup channel at the resilience. hierarchy, there are shared devices across precise timing of the original schedule. channels and services, helping to ensure The controller cards cache schedule events optimum resource utilization at all times. and will keep running even in the event of an entire network failure. Further protection is afforded when the system recovers with Morpheus always re-synchronizing with on-air devices.

06 Content Management Made Easy

Source Content Archive Central & Near Playout Transmission Acquisition Line Storage

Local Media Asset Management

Momentum Workﬂow Archive Store/Restore Storage Management Schedule Fulﬁlment Management for Media Prioritization and Server Clustering Deletion Management Processes Pre-staging Satellite

Management Third System Server Server Party Devices QC Transcode Morpheus Automation Momentum

File ICE Archive Server

Push or Pull Push or Pull IPTV Tape Transfers with Transfers with WAN Remote Sites & Regional Playout WAN & SAN Intelligence Intelligence Disaster Recovery Remote Media Asset File Management Hyperion QC Hyperion Morpheus Ingest Live Shedule, Metadata and Local and Remote Content Mirroring Content and Operation

Terrestial Third Third Party Party Devices Devices Morpheus Morpheus Automation Automation ICE ICE

Non Linear Content Delivery Mobile Media Asset Repurposing

Transform Media, Fulﬁl Request Lists

www Transform Third Party Momentum

Managing content ingest, storage, capabilities and utilizing Momentum, its When content is required, Morpheus archiving and local and remote delivery comprehensive media management system, determines its optimum source, and selects logistics is a challenge for any operation. Morpheus ensures that content accordingly from an existing on-line copy This is particularly true when content is delivered wherever it is demanded in any or a fi le in an archive. In practice if an arrives on tape, as fi les or as live feeds format, with next to no manual overhead on-line option is not available then a from a variety of different sources. providing the most effi cient, cost effective dedicated archive application will restore the operation. content to the required storage location in Snell’s solutions for TV Everywhere manage line with the delivery requirement. the acquisition, repurposing, movement and Snell uses a number of key technologies to distribution of content throughout the optimize the content workfl ows and Based on external requirements requests or enterprise, regardless of how that content maximize the effi ciency of the process by manual intervention material can be arrives and at the same time storing rich capturing more content with less effort and automatically transferred to any destination metadata and allowing detailed performance fewer errors. With all content acquisition device via various transformation analytics to be undertaken. being underpinned by a high performance processes to ensure that it is in the database engine the Morpheus solution can appropriate format for a multitude of With its sophisticated media logistics scale to meet any throughput requirement. delivery platforms be they linear or non- linear in nature. 07 MediaBall™ is a unique technology that reduces operational complexity.

Content Management Made Easy

Simplifying Complex Broadcast Unique and powerful, MediaBall allows Developed by Snell, MediaBall is a unique multiple hierarchically linked events to be technology that reduces operational grouped together and managed as a single complexity, enabling more channels to be entity. In this way, complex sequences of controlled by each operator. It reduces risk primary material and secondary events in an operating environment resulting in that need to be frequently re-used are fewer operational errors. easily supported.

Using MediaBall, broadcasters can more easily differentiate their channel brands, even when third party scheduling systems are unable to support a richer primary and secondary event relationship structure.

Primary Content

DVE

Character Generator

All secondary actions can be grouped into a MediaBall, allowing the entire sequence to be represented as a single event in the playlist.

Ancillary Data MediaBall Example 1: Secondary Content

Using MediaBall, all the secondary actions in the example are grouped together allowing the sequence to be represented on a single event line in the Logo Generator playlist. In any broadcast environment, this kind of intelligent playout automation will increase efﬁ ciency, productivity and ultimately proﬁ tability. 08 Partnering with Snell

In today’s competitive broadcast Snell is a company that has learned the From a provincial production facility to a environment enterprises need close value of quality, reliability, service and multi-national, multi-billion dollar broadcast support from organizations that have support. Year after year, the company has network, Snell solutions can support any size track records characterized by success invested strategically to develop these and scale of media distribution enterprise. and the ability to deliver technology qualities in its products, its staff and that is ﬁ t for purpose. ultimately in the Snell brand. As we progress further into the digital multi-screen world, these same broadcasters Over four decades in the international Snell offers these qualities to the global are relying on Snell to support their growing broadcast media industry Snell has proved broadcast market. Its support team works diversity of distribution channels for an this over and over. Snell solutions are with customers on every continent 24/7. increasingly media-hungry audience. relied on by the world’s broadcasters for Its support is available online, over the $ billions revenue each year. phone and face-to-face.

Full screen Outgoing Video animated background

Animated or still logo

DVE

Complex sequences that are regularly repeated can be created as a MediaBall, and only the parameters that change exposed to the operator. In this example the primary programme content and CG text.

MediaBall Example 2: End Credit Squeeze

Once MediaBall has created these related sequences and media bundles it is still Character Generator simple to adapt and modify them. Complex Graphic Element sequences, such as the end credit squeeze illustrated, that are regularly repeated can be created as a MediaBall, and only the parameters that change are exposed to the operator. 09 Innovation in the Multi-Screen World