NBC's GEnesis Broadcast Automation System: From Prototype to Production

GEnesis is a system in use at the NBC television network for automating the composition and distribution of video. It works in a mission critical environment; a system failure could potentially result in a substantial loss of revenue for the network. Tcl/Tk has been an integral part of the operator interface and data handling portions of the GEnesis system from the earliest stages of prototyping. We originally planned to replace the system prototype based on Tcl/Tk with a production system built in a compiled, object-oriented language and using commercial component software. After the prototype phase was completed, the developers and management together decided to keep numerous system components in Tcl, while migrating some complex and performance-critical functions from Tcl to a C++ message passing architecture. This paper discusses that decision and presents our experience with converting the prototype into a fully functional system.