ABS-CBN invests P165-M on new gear

ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. has invested about P165 million ($3 million) for the acquisition of new broadcast equipment, in a bid to seal its dominance of the local industry in terms of technology.

The state-of-the art equipment is now being used for its remote coverage, pre-production and post-production work for news, current affairs and entertainment.

"It has been our dream for years to use this kind of equipment here since it was introduced in other countries three or four years ago. We are the first network in the country to own this technology," said Ruben R. Jimenez, ABS-CBN senior vice-president for integrated engineering group.

He added that behind the news and entertainment coverage viewers see on their television sets are technological innovations initiated by the group. ABS-CBN now relies on digital editing by means of centralized video servers, which store all video materials. The servers for news alone are capable of storing 140 hours of recorded video footage that can be used simultaneously. The server is connected to 12 editing workstations, which give access to executive producers, directors, video editors, reporters and writers.

According to Jimenez, the network’s technological capacity is comparable to other international networks. He added that the investment will enable ABS-CBN to produce more technologically advanced programs with the advantage of digital production and special effects.

"We have two servers, one is for the news while the other is shared by entertainment and current affairs," Jimenez said. "But the server is not an archiving system. It’s just for day-to-day operations. After we’ve come out with the program, some videos are removed from the server and archived."

The benefit of the digital server is the workflow, ABS-CBN assistant vice-president for post-production department Raul Bulaong explained.

"Basically, it makes the workflow non-linear in nature, which makes it easier and faster," Bulaong said. "After the material is ingested into the server, the workstations can share the footage and do simultaneous editing. While video editing is being done, the audio people can clean up the dialog or put sound effects, the scorer can do the musical score and even promo people can start working on their plugs. They all have simultaneous access so the turn-around time is shorter."

The first transmitter used by ABS-CBN 50 years ago when it pioneered the historic TV broadcast in the country proved its remarkable performance, which was instrumental in the success of the network.

Since then the network continued to invest in technology and modern broadcast equipment used to deliver the latest news reports, as well as quality entertainment and current affairs programs for the Filipinos here and around the world.