I posted a topic like this a while ago asking how the satellite local forecasts works but cannot find it. If you find it feel free to merge since this is the "official" answer
I did some "un-planned" digging and came across loads, and I mean
Loads of technical documentation freely available on the internet in sporadic places. It comes from wxsys.weather.com, however is only active sporadically. So I did some google caching and found tons of technical documentation in powerpoint and doc formats. I will upload more as I find them.
Here's how the SD dbs forecast worked in 2007, from Viz_WeatherLouthIntegrationRequirement_Ariela_edits.doc
dated 01/24/2007
TWC broadcasts to numerous ground based cable systems nationwide. In addition to these systems, TWC also has a DBS (direct broadcast satellite) feed which is carried by a number of satellite delivered programming services and cable-less viewers.
A significant portion of TWC's hourly program wheel is dedicated to local weather generated -- in the case of the ground based systems -- by “STAR” units of various vintages. To "cover" these gaps in the live video feed for DBS programs, TWC currently uses a WSI system playing pre-rendered graphics in the form of SGI movie files compiled into “shows”. This system is controlled by the Louth Broadcast Automation controller. The nature of this controller is to tell the system which of 10-12 "shows" to play, and to start and stop playback of these shows. This programming segment and functionality is often referred to as “DBS Locals”.
....
The Louth system supports a communications protocol called VDCP -- Video Disk Communications Protocol. The basic protocol calls for an RS-422 serial connection between the Louth and the controlled system.
The HD satellite forecasts works the same way.
The technical jumbo of it is described below.
In addition to the above requirements, the requirement to support the VDCP protocol brings with it a series of requirements. For details, see the VDCP Interface Specification section at the end of this document. In general, the following VDCP Commands will be supported in the DBS Interface:
Port Status: Return status message. Clear error bits if error status was requested.
System Status: Return status message.
ID List: Return 1st 10 IDs and the remaining number of IDs to be sent.
ID Next: Return next IDs, up to 10 more, and the remaining number of IDs to be sent.
ID Request: Check for ID in translation table. Return 1 for found and 0 for not found.
Stop: Acknowledge the command. Check the Play state bit. If not set, set Port Not Active error bit (set the Idle state bit?) and return to command processing loop. If set, send Stop command to show player and clear Play state bit and set the Idle state bit.
Stop also will need to clean the renderer.
Play: Acknowledge the command. Check the Cue/Init Done state bit. If not set, set Cue Not Done error status bit and return to command processing loop. If set, send Play command to show player. Set the Play status bit and clear the Cued/Init Done state bit.
Play Cue: Acknowledge the command. Check for the ID in the translation table (if using a 8-character ID to playlist name translation – see below). If not found, set the ID Not Found error bit and return to the command processing loop. If found, translate the ID into a playlist name. Clear the Cue/Init Done state bit and set the Cue/Init status bit. If cue/initialization (see below) successful, set the Cue/Init Done status bit and clear the Cue/Init status bit. If cue/initialization not successful, clear the Cue/Init status bit and set the Cue Failed error bit. Return to the main command processing loop.
I always knew it used some sort of automation controller whether WSI or a 3rd party. Just didn't know how.
Feel free to view yourselves.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ctgMTcDfTIoJ:wxsys.weather.com/intranet/vizRT/Viz_WeatherLouthIntegrationRequirement_Ariela_edits.doc+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=usEdit:
According to TWC_Viz_Weather_HDDBS_Ver1_2.pdf,
the HD satellite forecast utilized 4 computers to generate the HD local on the 8s. The computers used were named,
HDDBSE1 (HD Direct Broadcast Satellite Engine 1) and rendered the graphics.
HDDBSP1 (HD Direct Broadcast Satellite Playout 1) and organized graphical elements.
There is an auxiliary backup for each unit. Those have a 2 at the end.
The HD DBS Forecast units at the time (2007) were running,
Windows XP SP2, 4 GB RAM, Intel Xeon 3.0ghz processor with a Nvidia Quadro FX 4600 GPU with the 6.14.10.9778 driver update, housed in a HP xw4400 server rack. Video output used the HD 1080i SMPTE274
59.94Hz format with SDI output from a Matrox card slaved from the Quadro. The desktop output (VGA) was 1280x1024
They were ran into the Harris Automation control system which would control HDDBSP1 (HDDBSP2 in case of downtime of the main unit) in TWC Master Control then sent to the Main automation computer that controls Ads, Shows, Control room feeds .etc).
I bet all this is very confusing. Here is the document,
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kohUSveevBkJ:wxsys.weather.com/intranet/vizRT/TWC_Viz_Weather_HDDBS_Ver1_2.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
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