RTC – Rádio Televisão de Cabo Verde migrates to HD

Part 1: General Information

Project: For Cape Verdean national television, TCV, part of the Cabo Verdean Radio and Television group RTC, it was time to make the important transition from SD to HD broadcast quality.

Founded in 1997, RTC made the switch from analog to digital infrastructure over 11 years ago. The need was then felt to modernize its facilities, its contents, and its transmission. If, on the one hand, there was a need for local teams to renew and strengthen their equipment, on the other hand, the demand and pride of national and international viewers in their national television also increased the need for this renewal.

Part 2: The Challenge

There was a need to renew and improve the News Writing system, still based on the old VSN News, with the full integration of the new system into the most recent and current version of the VSN management and cataloging system. But in order to be able to exploit the contents already produced in HD, it would be necessary to renew all the current infrastructure, which restricted the work of the contents and their transmission in SD. However, the workflows would have to remain similar to the previous ones, so that the transition would be the least embarrassing for the daily operation of the television station.

With bi-daily productions of Jornals de Notícias and various other daily studio productions, it was absolutely crucial that the transition was done in a coherent way and that it affected the daily work of the various departments of the station as little as possible. And the integration with existing equipment would have to be ensured as an absolute must. 

When Pantalha was consulted for this challenge, it was identified as a project of enormous responsibility and challenges, but it was immediately accepted as a key project in the company's continuous development and growth. From the design of the solution to partnerships with suppliers and associates to tenders and negotiations, to supply and execution, this long-term project has now been successfully completed – and we now take the opportunity to thank and congratulate all those involved in it.

Part 3: The Solution

With a true multi-supplier experience, Pantalha focused on two of its main partners for what could be considered the "core", the center, of the system.

On the one hand, VSN provided most of the software workflow solutions that allow a television station to function properly – the content management system (MAM + PAM – VSN Explorer), the Video Server systems for both studios, and the Final Continuity Playout System (VSN ONETV), which also include CG graphics functionality. VSN also supplied storage and archiving equipment for short- and long-term cataloging, respectively. Additionally, a 6-channel server was provided for Ingest for internal recording of the system's various contents.

On the other hand, Ross provided most of the infrastructure equipment, which allowed the greatest flexibility and the latest features available for HD, leaving RTC already prepared for a possible future transition to 4K, without the need to replace this equipment. From the powerful Ultrix video matrix with integrated multiviewers to the flexible Carbonite video desks, to the Inception News Writing system, RTC now has a more robust, flexible, and simple-to-operate infrastructure. In addition to this equipment, Ross also supplied the Continuity Master Controller and the SRG-2200 Station Clocks.

With regard to networks, Pantalha relied on a local partner to provide a renewal of cabling, network points, and switches throughout the station, with configurations that allow local access to relevant systems, integration with existing corporate networks, and prepared for remote access by international RTC employees in the very near future.

To respond to other workflows, Pantalha also relied on Intinor's Direkt Router to receive all internal and external contributions via IP, eliminating the need to use the various previous equipment and thus centralizing all IP signals in a single piece of equipment.

For easy communication between the various points of the system, we rely on our longest-standing partner - RTS Intercoms - and its innovative ODIN digital matrix, which allows all intercommunication points to communicate with each other, and even integrate existing equipment. via 4-wire connections.

The telepoint systems were provided by our partners Portaprompt, with the excellent Quasar solution and the WinDigi software and the audio consoles are Midas M32 and we cannot fail to highlight the excellent work of Gift that took care of all the installation of racks and equipment, cabling and technical support on this project.

“I believe that despite all the challenges and constraints we had to overcome, the successful conclusion of the project is due to all the players, both from Pantalha and its partners and from the RTC side, which also made a lot of efforts during this project. But the truth is that the increase in quality in the final product that RTC delivers to its audience's home was worth everyone's hard work, and we are all very proud of this project. We continue to work to increase (even more!) the quality of Pantalha's work, and maintain the trust that our customers place in our work” – Pedro Jervis, Project Manager at Pantalha.

Watch the “Behind the Scenes” of this project:

July, 2023