In Broadcast June 2012 - 26

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 9 - JUNE 2012

InAUDIO
Developments In Comms Technology Systems
Television is about communicating. That means not just reaching the viewers and, with interactive technologies, them being able to react to what they are watching, but ensuring all the people involved in the making of a programme are able to talk to each other and know what is going on. Which is why the intercom system has always been a key part of any broadcast installation. From its humble, but still important, beginnings in the early days of TV as a relatively straightforward two or four-wire analogue device, the means of connecting the studio gallery, OB truck production area and master control room (MCR) with camera operators, sound suites and all the back-up and technical staff has become a sophisticated and specialised area of technology that is now more reliant on modern digital telecom and computer formats. Digital has been a major inﬂuence on the development and growth of intercom technology and how it is used. But, as Donald Dilocker, Founder of German company Delec Audio, observes, it has not yet forced analogue out of the picture entirely: “The intercom market is in a kind of intermediate state currently,” he says. “Digital technology is dominating, the systems are growing or, to be more precise, the many smaller islands are being integrated into larger installations. The trend towards purely networkdriven systems is no longer a brandnew vision but it is also not yet the standard.” Delec produces the oratis, a digital audio matrix intercom, a scalable system that can be built up from only a few matrix cards into a larger installation with a large number of control panels.
Kevin Hilton

Good communications are vital. Kevin Hilton explores the technology behind getting the message across

Reliable Networking
Nils Quak at fellow German manufacturer Riedel certainly sees the move towards more networking. “We are witnessing a shift in the broadcast market in regards to its demands,” he says. “While it was single purpose communications systems in the past, we now see a rising demand for integrated systems. The idea of utilising a single infrastructure for multiple applications is getting more and more prominent, for example transporting video over the same infrastructure as the communications making setups more ﬂexible and more cost effective.” Riedel’s main intercom offering is the Artist digital matrix, which is carried on the fibre-based MediorNet network platform for real-time signal transport for video, audio, communications and data. The basic requirements for intercoms and communications in TV have not changed that much over the years but what broadcasters want has. “A decade ago a 24 port system was enough for an OB truck,” comments Nico Lewis, Senior Sales Manager at RTS-Telex, part of Bosch Communications Systems. “Now we start with 64 up to 128 ports for OBs and ﬁbre ring infrastructure to studios and stadiums to many hundreds of port systems. Integration with studio management control systems like VSM is also a must. “RTS manufactures traditional party line equipment as well as digital matrixes and wireless systems, while Telex similarly has a broad offering of technologies old and new.” Clear-Com, the broadcast intercom arm of HME, also continues to produce a broad range of products and, like its competitors, has moved into IP (Internet Protocol)

Clear-Com Broadcast Networks Interior

technology. Director of Worldwide Product Management Simon Browne reports “a healthy level of new projects” internationally but especially in Europe, South America and the US. “Sport broadcasting is driving some of this as sports still shows good revenue potential by using multiple delivery platforms,” he observes. “The convergence of intercom and IP has had a slow start but it’s now ﬁnding place in MCRs and newsgathering.” Barry Spencer, General Manager of Broadcast at Trilogy Communications, feels the market has not changed immensely in recent years, although the global economic situation, and the Eurozone crisis in particular, has resulted in “several countries being quieter than they were” in terms of demand and projects. “That’s true in Europe,” he says, “although there is activity in the UK with the on-going installations at ITV. We’re

seeing good business in the Middle East and India, including TV Today, Times TV and Sahara.” Trilogy works in the military and government communications sector as well as broadcasting. For TV it produces a range of digital systems, including the Commander and Orator. At the beginning of the 2000s it was among the ﬁrst companies to move into intercom over IP with the Mercury system, which has now evolved into the Gemini distributed matrix product. When the technology ﬁrst went into use there were serious doubts about the reliability and stability of IP for intercom, just as there were over its use for broadcast contribution codecs. But as IP matured and became more widely used for contributions fears over its suitability receded, leading to its use for general distribution and transmission in radio. This gave intercom manufacturers
CONTINUED ON PAGE 27

Delec installation at Swiss broadcast facility TPC in Zuricha

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In Broadcast June 2012

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