Modern News Production System

Nelonen News moved from Tehtaankatu to Sanomatalo at the end of 2012. FilmWorks took over the responsibility for supplying production technology to Sanoma News. The technology was upgraded to HD and the workflow was optimized when Nelonen newsroom moved to the same premises with Helsingin Sanomat.

Sanomatalo did not have ready studio facilities, so they were built on the 7th floor. The modern technical centre was made on the same floor. We can assume that the space has the best tech centre views in Finland as they open directly to Elielinaukio.

The core of the production is EVS’s news production system. It provides tools for media ingestion, management, editing, playout, and distribution. The production system is integrated into the iNEWS newsroom system using the MOS protocol. Playlists are designed in iNEWS, and story-related media can be linked directly in EVS Xedio Cutter ActiveX, which runs in the same interface. In this way, editors, anchors, and news producers have the tools to design and compile stories in the same interface.

Once the materials have been selected for the story and possibly a preliminary cutting version has been made, the so-called “Rough cut” can be continued with either EVS Xedio CleanEdit or Apple Final Cut Pro. CleanEdit is an easy-to-use and fast tool for cutting news stories. It has all the basic tools for cutting, subtitling, adding graphics, effects, and speaks. CleanEdit also has a Viz plugin that allows you to use graphics from the Vizrt graphics system. If the thing requires more versatile machining, it will be done with Final Cut Pro. There is also a Viz plugin for graphics in FCP.

The customer wanted several different access points to the news production system. Some of the access points were implemented by installing the necessary EVS and Vizrt software on news editorial workstations, while some of the access points were implemented with Guntermann & Drunck’s KVM system. G&D’s system is backupped and has a total of 16 access points around Sanomatalo. KVM also has remote access for maintenance needs.

The video matrixing of the production system, multi-image splitters, and other signal processing are from Evertz. Synchronization is a videoscope from Tektronix, as well as an image monitor. Riedel’s intercom covers the studio, the observatory, the editors, the technical center, and the newsroom located on the other side of Sanomatalo.

Video, audio, and intercom signals are delivered from the studio side using the Riedel MediorNet system. Thus, only a few fiber optic cables are needed between different production points, where all the necessary signals can be transferred with the same cables.

The studio’s camera robotics is by Telemetrics. The “weather camera” on the roof of Sanomatalo is also controlled by it. ENG cameras are from Sony and the format used is from Sony XDCAM HD422.

The monitoring room’s audio monitoring is implemented with Genelec’s digital DSP speakers and Lawo’s audio mixer. Lawo also handles the audio mixing of the broadcast. The wireless microphones are from Wisycom.

The Mosart news automation system handles the broadcast automation. It controls the Evertz video matrix, Sony image mixer, Lawo audio mixer, EVS video servers, Vizrt graphics system, Telemetrics camera robotics, and a light table. Playlists come directly from iNEWS and their changes are updated in real-time in Mosart. The observatory now requires 3-4 employees at time, instead of the previous seven. Mosart’s production-specific bases, “templates”, allow the system to be used flexibly in non-news productions as well. Thanks to Mosart, live to tape productions can be done by 1-2 employees. The production system currently serves the Sanoma Group’s other production needs as well. Content is made for the HS.fi website on a daily basis and 10-20 hours of material is produced for ISTV every week.

The system was brought to use on December 3, 2012, when Nelonen’s news started to operate in Sanomatalo. At the same time, the produced news was also shown live online. The streaming is implemented with ViewCast’s streaming system.

TV Tools and FilmWorks collaborated to design and implement a modern news production system in record time in less than four months. At the same time, Nelonen’s existing equipment was installed in the new premises and integrated into the new system. These included the iNEWS newsroom system, the Metra Weather system, Reuters receivers, and teleprompters. The entire system is monitored with TV Tools’ own Mon Tool monitoring system.