TV.Berlin und Hamburg 1

Studio Hamburg Media Consult International (MCI) GmbH was awarded the contract by Studio Berlin Adlershof (SBA) GmbH, the new technical operator of TV.Berlin and Hamburg 1, to renew the technical facilities of the two city broadcasting companies.

While the new technology for TV.Berlin was installed in new premises, at Hamburg 1 the process had to be completed during on-going operations. The TV.Berlin editorial team and operational staff moved into the new building in “Axel Springer Passage” (Berlin) in May 2009. TV.Berlin started broadcasting from the new premises on May 18th 2009. Hamburg 1 commenced transmissions on July 31st 2009. The equipment was geared to tapeless, IT based workflows with a high degree of automation. The technical concept of both TV stations is virtually identical, incorporating an XSAN production environment (Apple), a Step2e editing system, HMS automation and a playout system together with a “self-drive” video mixer (Broadcast Pix Slate 5000).

In addition to the production system being integrated, studio equipment, control room and broadcast control were renewed. The furniture in the control room and playout control was replaced at both locations, while the studio set at TV.Berlin was completely renewed.

At TV.Berlin, the degree of automation is still being increased with the help of HMS self-drive functionalities. The presenter of the breakfast programme “Frühcafé” coordinates studio operations alone. To make this possible, a rundown of the programme is pre-defined in the Step2e system and managed by HMS automation. The presenter controls the rundown of events with the help of the control panel in the presenter’s desk and in this way can change camera and reports.