Broadcast Automation Software

Synergy Broadcast’s Video Automation Software, known as VLM, is specifically designed for the needs of today’s fast-paced broadcast TV station whether it be cable, off-air, satellite, corporate, closed circuit or IP Network driven. This video broadcast automation software has evolved over the last 20 years with the input and feedback from station operators and users across the country. VLM provides TV station automation is a feature-rich application that manages Traffic; Playback; Recording and Encoding; Satellite Management; Commercial Insertion; Web Streaming; Video On Demand; Archiving and Multi-site distribution.

VLM is used by both single channel, small cable stations as well as multi-channel, multi-site broadcast facilities proving it is a software platform that is both flexible and scalable to meet these varying needs. VLM is the perfect "first" TV scheduling or cable broadcast automation software package for college TV stations, K-12 cable TV and city or county government TV stations because of it's low cost of entry and expansion capabilities.

VLM is easy to learn and use and provides an all-in-one broadcast automation solution for stations who need to operate with a lean staff or are faced with staff reductions.

Standard features include:

Video Asset Database
Copyright tracking
Event Scheduling
Automated Playback
Automated Schedule Back-Up for 7 days
Manual and Automated Encoding
Control of Multiple Routers with Point & Click Routing
Multi-Channel Capable
Cut and Paste Schedule Building
Drag and Drop Schedule Building
Block Scheduling for regular program slots
Time Gap Correction
Missing Media Reports
Easy Remote Access
Full Reporting Capability
Automatic "fail-over" to default channel
Remote Error Notification to pagers, cell phones, smart phones and email
Log Analyzer

Options include:

Traffic Manager and Third Party Interfaces.
Facil Interface for PEG Channels
Prep Station Manager for Encoding.
DataSwapper for automatic import and export of lists or “as-run”.
Breaks module for commercials and commercial insertion.
Serial Control of Satellite tuners and Dish controllers.
IR Control of IR Satellite tuner/controllers.
Master Clock
Bug Generator Control.
“V” Chip Control.
Automated Archiving to more or more locations.
Video On-Demand via the SBS WebCom Browser Interface.
Automatic schedule updates to web page
WatchDog Software to monitor systems and software applications.
VideoCourier (multi-site) Media and Schedule Distribution

Cable and Broadcast Automation

Broadcasters at all levels use Synergy Broadcast’s "Total System Approach" to meet their unique requirements for broadcast automation. Call letter, Public, Education, Government, Cable, Independent, Religious and Corporate broadcasters enjoy the advantages of our video broadcast automation software and turnkey approach.

Our automated broadcast systems are fully scalable from a single channel “station in a box” to a multi-channel installation. For organizations with multiple locations our networked, multi-location application provides control and file upload capability to manage multiple locations from a central facility.

We provide a personalized approach and migration path for future expansion to maximize your investment for present and future needs. This means you can start small and expand over time to reach your long-term goals for playback, streaming and even video on demand options.

Use the menu on the right to view the various elements of our Turnkey Approach that includes encoding, graphics, archiving, streaming and more. The infographic below provides a high-level overview of the 10 key areas available. You can also download our Total System Approach White Paper.

SBS_Automation_Infographic

You can read more about our solutions from our Blog, Video Applications.

What is Broadcast Automation Software?

The original purpose of Broadcast Automation Software was to automate tasks that were previously done by operators to save time and money by improving and streamlining workflow. In the early days of television and cable everything was done by hand and operators were on staff 24/7 making sure that tape decks were queued up for each program and triggering switchers and other devices to provide TV programming to viewers.

Today, virtually every cable and television station has made the transition to digital content, playback servers and digital transmisstion as videotape has faded away into tech history. As a result, Broadcast Automation software is almost viewed as a commodity. The reality is not all Broadcast Automation is created equal. The demands of today's cable television station go far beyond triggering a program to play and include content acquisition, transcoding, streaming, automated archiving, special reporting, complex graphics, redundancy and fail-over systems. Another reality in today's broadcast world is control of multiple stations with unique content and "lights out" operations.

If you are interested in learning how video automation software can help your facility improve operations or save money it's appropriate to discover what broadcast automation software can and should do.

Broadcast Automation Software

Video Catalog

The Video Catalog is the system’s title database.

This database serves as the core for VLM for scheduling and video on demand and provides fields for a variety of data such as:

Primary and Secondary Title Name
Title Description
House Number
Categories and Subcategories
Program Notes
Copyright Tracking
Producer, Source and Distributor Fields
TV Ratings
Series Information and more.

The system is designed so you can create titles with just minimal information i.e. title name, run time and title number or you can complete all of the fields for maximum documentation.

The Notes field provides space for up to 10,000 characters, all keyword searchable from the web interface or within the Video Catalog.

Create Custom Categories

VLM provides a fully customizable category and subcategory solution to organize and cross-reference titles. Organizing your programming provides additional reporting measures that can be used to track category and title usage. For Video on Demand users this feature is especially helpful as cross-referencing provides multiple access points for titles and encourages additional viewing.

Up to 99 categories and subcategories can be created to organize content from full, finished programs to clips, packages, PSA’s, commercials, locally produced programs and more. You design the structure that makes sense for your operation.

category-report

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