hi steve,

i'm not sure, it's a bit of an esoteric area in terms of post, more broadcast really, and i'm not sure there's anyone interested in that aspect here - i certainly wasn't till this project turned up....

it's not that i mind displaying my ignorance, just that it might get long-winded, and i'd also like to keep it on topic as much as possible since i have so much on at present.

No problem, but since some of my work is for a local TV station, I want to be able to sound like I might understand some of the Satellite details if the subject ever comes up.

Are you supposed to come up with a satellite uplink solution for a client, or does the client already have the hardware?

partly the latter....

i've just finished putting a 3 camera presentation studio together for them only to be asked NOW to help get them on air!!! (NOT live thank goodness)

we're in aus and they have access to a 24/7 feed from the us in which they want to insert about an hour a day of local content (to start with anyway).

and that my friend is as much as i know!!!!

should add they've been told they'll need a playbox, but i can't see why they can't piggy-back on some local broadcasters spare channel (and apparently there are some spare channels around) by simply uploading their content to their (channel host) server with timings for insertion, etc.,

then again, maybe i'm looking at this much too simply?

therein lies my problem - i know nothing ;-(

"should add they've been told they'll need a playbox, but i can't see why they can't piggy-back on some local broadcasters spare channel (and apparently there are some spare channels around) by simply uploading their content to their (channel host) server with timings for insertion, etc.,"

Have they spoken to Mediahub as yet?

As I pointed out to them setting up their own Playbox is going to be expensive both in setup costs and ongoing bandwidth as they'll need to stream the output from the Playbox in realtime to the satelite link provider.

It seems to me it would make way more sense for them to use either an existing service provider who I would have thought would already have the dedicated bandwidth to burn or else locate the Playbox at the link provider's earthstation and remotely operate it.

I guess their other option is to lease a channel on a bird and install their own uplink. I suspect this will not be cheap and they have to have all the facilites to manage everything. From the little I know most local broadcasters are going away from this.

Bob.

bob, as you've gathered, it's almost impossible to get any idea of where / how they want to go. i've even asked if they have a coherent business plan, to which i got blank looks....

i haven't chased them up re mediahub, or ubi, or other options i raised at our last meeting. the thing is they have money and backers, and a great desire to start broadcasting (yes, i know, HOW!?)

my reason for asking here is, as you're well aware, is i know sweet fa about that side of the business, and i'm just trying to get a handle on it myself out of interest.

my thought would be to get up and running with a net channel of some description (as i think you suggested in an email), at least that way the studio would be used, and maybe they could forgo the 24/7 idea (and the high cost of the US channel) and simply create content that would be really relevant locally - i'm sure their audience would be more interested in what's happening this week in town than watching some 30 year old badly dubbed chinese movie, or cooking programs where measurements have no meaning here (eg take 2oz of butter!?)

i looked into playbox a bit, but after being frightened off by the price $30+k, and the $6k training package there's no way i want to get involved with it....

i'm supposed to see them towards the end of this month to train some of their people, though my schedule at the moment is pretty flat out with the horses so i don't have time till then to broach any outstanding questions / thoughts. but when i do see them i'd like to be armed with more knowledge than i have now, which is next to nothing ;-(

The process itself is pretty self evident.

Produce content encoded to whatever is required.
Load content onto server.
Scheduling software plays out content according to schedule.

Beyond that it's just a matter of the nuts and bolts and links.
If you want to switch to live then you need a mechanism to handle that. If not then irrelevant extra cost.
Perhaps they need to overlay local bugs etc. Again plenty of ways this gets done.

One thing. They say they will buy content from elsewhere. I assume it will be time shifted or stored and rescheduled not just relayedt.

In my conversation with them not only did they seem to lack a business plan they seemed uncertain of what exactly they wanted to do beyond some lofty whim. It reminds me of the people who come into our shop and say "I want to rent the stuff to make a movie" and I ask "Do you have a screenplay?" and I get a blank look.

My best advice would be get them to draw up a document that defines exactly what they want to do and how it will flow. They can draw magic black boxes to denote the stuff they don't understand. You just need to get them to nail down what exactly they want to achieve otherwise chaos sets in and they'll jump all over the place wasting your time and their own.

Bob.