Foxtel

Broadcast graphics systems

The challenge

Foxtel’s graphics department handles almost all the on-screen graphics you see across the range of Foxtel channels. This might be an ad for an upcoming show, title graphics or special effects for one of the shows produced by Foxtel.

As technology changes, moving from analog to digital and then to high definition, so do the requirements for network speed, while hardware and software must be up to the job. Uncompressed 16bit 4:2:2 YCrCb PAL video requires 20Mb/s of bandwidth. Uncompressed high-definition video amounts to almost 1.2Gb/s of data. Clearly, novel solutions are required to keep the technology budget constrained.

The solution

Much of the work which used to be performed by high-end graphics workstations is now being handled by top of the range Apple Mac G5 and Mac Pro (quad Intel Xeon) desktop computers. The high speed memory bus on dual CPU G5 systems delivers systems work well with After Effects, Combustion and a range of other tools.

We created Australia’s first Apple xsan network, using fibre channel between a cluster of workstations to share disk arrays at blistering speeds. Apple and ish worked together to ensure the maximum performance can be delivered from this system, at a fraction of the cost of similar systems.

ish sponsored Foxtel onto the Apple key customer programme, delivering lower prices and extended warranties for all Apple equipment. We also advise and supply a range of non-Apple systems, and more generally on Unix issues.

“ish has helped us choose the right equipment to get our work done – their advice and expertise have proved very useful. ”

Terry Hind, Foxtel