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

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

Scheduling Options

VLM, broadcast automation software, provides multple ways to create and update the broadcast schedule. Event scheduling options include:

Step-by-step Wizard for single event scheduling
Mass Scheduling using our Drag ‘n Drop Wizard
Block Scheduling to schedule our a single program for specific time slots over a date range
Copy and Paste Scheduling to move blocks of events to different times or days
Bump Scheduling which allows you to move single or multipe events to different days
Web Scheduling using our WebCom interface
TrafficManager, a network connected traffic interface for program directors
Third Party Traffic Interfaces such as Protrack, Broadview and Facil to take event imports from commercial or “in-house” programs
DataSwapper, our automated import/export utility

Ask for an on-line demonstration by calling 800-601-6991.

Recording and Encoding

Encoders are available in a variety of configurations and provide closed caption support. Transcoding solutions for workflow improvement are also available. Manual encoding can be done directly from any Synergy Broadcast Encoder but you also have the option of Automated Encoding. Synergy Broadcast Systems pioneered automated encoding using our tape automation robots and VLM automation software. Analog videotape can be encoded automatically as part of a broadcast operation or configured entirely for a production application. Other configurations can be accomplished without the use of robots as we have developed an extensive list of third party devices we can control for automation purposes. Satellite recording can also be controlled and automated for time shifting and other requirements using our Satellite Control module.

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