Software:

– do you need to go for the ADVANCED product line, or the NAKED will be sufficient for your purposes;

– what functionality would you like to use on a separate computer, different from the main on-air server – typically preparation licenses, such as ListBox and GRAPHICS Preparation, plus eventually CATALOG (DataBox);

– what level of playout redundancy are you planning for – the simple 1+1 or the more budget-efficient N+M asymmetrical backup via the Multi Backup Manager Option;

– do you plan to move content manually around, or you would like to automate this process via Athensa TRANSFER (SafeBox);

– what quality control procedures do you plan to implement and do you want to consider using the dedicated tool Athensa QC Box – Quality Control Box;

– do you need to ensure consistent audio loudness of your output, if yes – Athensa Automatic Loudness Control is the tool for you;

– will you prepare playlists manually, or you are planning to use a dedicated third-party traffic system? If a traffic system, then does it export natively the Athensa .PLY or .XML playlist formats, or you need to put in place a traffic playlist format converter;

Hardware issues to be clarified, when planning the details of your workflow:

– will you need a physical hardware server, or a Virtual Machine;

– will you use SDI, IP or NDI to transfer signals within your studio;

– do you need a Dual Xeon server or a single Core i7 CPU will be sufficient for your purposes, this depends on your channel density, streaming requirements and graphics intensity planned;

– how protected do you need your on-air server to be, in terms of Dual PSUs, RAID 5/6 on the data, etc.

– what level of playout redundancy are you planning for – the simple 1+1 or the more budget-efficient N+M asymmetrical backup model;

– will you need Dolby audio in your SDI output, as this will dictate using DeltaCast cards instead of the typical BlackMagicDesign Decklink;