7T1 MEDIA IMPLEMENTS A NEW WORKFLOW FOR STUDIO AND OUTSIDE BROADCASTS
The background
7T1 Media brings events to life, helping the audiences to experience all the emotions of sport, art and advertising. It uses technology in a creative way, resulting in innovative productions that present familiar subjects in a fresh light, with eye-catching special effects. The company produces TV show reports, entire programmes, and films for sport and business customers. It also serves private and semi-autonomous public TV broadcasters. The 7T1 Media team specialises in presentation and product films, advertising and branded content, and produces movies and documentaries for broadcast in cinemas and on television. It boasts expertise in all aspects of its industry, from the design and development of formats and films, to film production, high-quality post-production, and consultancy services for the establishment and operation of complex production environments. Its founders, Torsten Bender and Ansgar Pohle, boast over 15 years’ experience in directing, production and editing roles.
The challenge
7T1 Media produces high-quality content for both studio and outside broadcasts. Its team and technology need to be exceptionally agile and able to deliver content to extremely tight deadlines. This is particularly true for its outside broadcasts from across the globe, such as reports on Formula One races that air during a TV channel’s sports shows. Against this background, it is essential that the company’s processes – together with its recording, storage, editing and transmission technology – run seamlessly at all times.
Moreover, high-performance connections between clients and storage media are absolutely vital. Rapid data transfer doesn’t just save valuable time; it is also crucial for the business in terms of costs.
7T1 has undertaken increasingly ambitious projects in recent times. With this in mind, it has expanded and fine-tuned its technological infrastructure for both outside and studio broadcasts. To meet these evolving demands, 7T1 asked MoovIT to advise on, implement and support the expansion of its EditShare storage. It also tasked the company with planning and carrying out reliable backups, establishing fast and secure data connections, and migrating from Final Cut editing software to Adobe Premiere solutions.
The solution
7T1 Media plans its productions and use of equipment based on the format required (sports report, advertising trailer, film or documentary). As such, it deploys cameras ranging from GoPro and XDCAM models to F5, GH4 and FS7 products, depending on the task and conditions at hand.
For outside broadcasts, which typically require approximately two weeks on site, up to ten editing suites are connected to an EditShare environment. Content is imported and processed simultaneously. The video files are stored on EditShare servers, enabling users to rapidly access the material for real-time editing. LTO tapes are employed for long-term backup purposes.
The content is then played out using the customer’s preferred codec, or sent back to the studio for further processing.
7T1 Media’s stationary studio technology comprises 5 editing suites with 10-gigabit Ethernet connections, and 8 workstations with 1-gigabit connections. The company has tripled its EditShare storage capacity from 32 to 96 terabytes. This open, scalable system will make it easy to integrate additional high-performance clients in the future.
The production team primarily works using the Adobe Creative Cloud suite. Videos are typically edited using Premiere Pro and Visual FX with After Effects.
For projects with a tight deadline, content is copied onto the server and edited immediately without converting the diverse file formats in use.
For large-scale productions (with over 1 terabyte of raw content), all files are converted to the ProRes 422 codec. This step significantly streamlines the workflow while minimising the risk of errors. All users benefit from the same, clear overview of the project files, thanks to EditShare Media Spaces and 7T1 Media’s own, strictly defined folder structure.
A 65-terabyte Synology network-attached server (NAS) is connected to the system via 10-gigabit Ethernet. This ensures that large quantities of data can be backed up simultaneously. LTO 6 tapes are used for long-term backup purposes, e.g. after broadcast content has been edited.
7T1 Media edits, renders and processes native or converted content before delivering it to customers. Edited material is delivered with the customer’s preferred codecs for broadcast, the Internet, for mobile or other networks – with a level of quality and resolution to match the intended purpose.
The implementation
MoovIT was a partner for 7T1 Media throughout the project, providing planning, consultancy services and system development expertise. The two parties collaborated closely to develop the solution. MoovIT installed the necessary hardware and software. 7T1 Media professionals benefit from training and access to round-the-clock support, ensuring seamless production operations, both in the studio and out in the field.
The benefits
MoovIT was a proactive project partner at every stage – from initial concept planning to expansion and migration. Using the existing infrastructure, MoovIT has built strong foundations for further additions and expansions. Flexible, real-time processes ensure that all data can be stored quickly and reliably, for both studio-based and outside broadcasts. Individual users now enjoy direct access to the content they need. It was essential to ensure that 7T1 Media could migrate and securely transfer its data, taking diverse systems into account. To date, this process has occurred without any hitches.
However, new challenges and obstacles arise on a daily basis – and each of these needs to be addressed quickly and easily. MoovIT is the perfect partner for this ongoing task, thanks to its ability to rapidly develop solutions that work, both now and in the long term.
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