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TF1
Windows Media 9 Series drives news gathering at TF1
TF1 sent back over 50 stories from Iraq encoded in Windows Media 9 Series, part of a groundbreaking news gathering system devised by the French state owned broadcaster with help from Microsoft
French state broadcaster TF1  is using a satellite news gathering system based on Windows Media 9 Series to transmit news stories from the field to the studio. The system, which feeds all TF1's news bulletins plus its sister LCI news channel, has been developed by the broadcaster working in close collaboration with the French office of Microsoft.
 "We've worked closely with Microsoft on tools to help journalists in the field to transmit material back to the studio," says Olivier Abecassis, technical investments and engineering manager at TF1.
"For example, whenever there is an event like a war, we have to transmit content very quickly. In Iraq, for example, we needed to have very light tools. The journalists were not able to have satellite dishes. That's where this system was used successfully and we sent back over 50 stories." The system is also used regularly by TF1's Corsican office to submit stories to Paris.
Abecassis says there are four main reasons for choosing Windows Media 9 Series as a solution. "The main benefit is that Windows Media 9 Series reduces the bit rate and so reduces the time of transmission," he says.
"Our journalists have to film their stories, edit them and be ready for the 1pm news, so there is only a short time available. So if they can send their stories quickly it is very important. Also, because the system we have is based on Inmarsat capacity and many journalists want to share the capacity on an event like Iraq, bit rate is difficult to get hold of. So if we can transmit fast, we're less likely to be interrupted and will not waste time.
"Even though cost is not the main issue, Windows Media 9 Series is also free to licence, so the solution is very cost effective," he adds.
"The third issue is that it costs US$ 10 for one minute to transmit and when you have ten teams in the field, each sending a story or more a day, this adds up. So Windows Media 9 Series reduces the transmission bill. The last issue for us is to be able to improve quality and be great for broadcast."
Abecassis says the incorporation of Windows Media 9 Series into the news gathering path forms part of a coherent strategy by the broadcaster.
"We decided two years ago to give our field teams a laptop PC," he says. "The first idea was to ask them to edit on the laptop—working with a Pinnacle solution. Then we thought about transmitting the story to TF1.
"We acquire mainly on Betacam SX and digitise the material we want into the laptop for editing. Then we need to transmit. When possible, we use an SNG truck or flyaway unit, though sometimes this is not possible. So we decided to create a very basic system, using the Inmarsat system sending data at a bit rate of 128 Kbps.
It is possible to send a video file at a bit rate of 2Mbps, so we decided to look for compression solutions at 2Mbps. When we were starting this, we used MPEG4 at a bit rate of 3Mbps, but the quality was not that good. Then a year ago the French team of Microsoft told us about Windows Media 9 Series and we decided to trial this solution." TF1 spent the lead up to the Iraqi war honing the system with Microsoft until they were happy with the finished result.
Olivier Dusautoir, project manager in the technical department of TF1, says the PC-based system they have developed has a simple graphical user interface (GUI) that allows journalists to compile and send stories without getting deeply involved in the technical parameters of Windows Media 9 Series.
"There are a lot of parameters you can implement," Dusautoir says. "We really focused on the quality to find the best compromise. We developed our own GUI. The GUI is really simple so that the technical people in the field don't have to go into the parameters—which could be a disaster if they change the wrong ones."
"Now we can consider the quality we can achieve with Windows Media 9 Series is great for broadcast and at a much lower data rate than MPEG2," Abecassis adds.
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