In Broadcast - July 2012 - 62

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 10 - JULY 2012

InTECH
Satellite Uplinks: Far From Static Cont.
one bag systems which can transmit high bandwidths rather than a compromised and blocky feed like BGAN pictures.” Several ManPaks have been sold to the military and SIS Live is now targeting them at the broadcast market. “We believe that this is a compelling offer compared to the issues of latency and availability over mobile. Journalists can put them in their car for daily domestic reporting. We are conﬁdent they will soon be ‘ten a penny.’” SIS Live provides 70-80% of all UK news contribution feeds for all broadcasters and is conﬁdent that there is clear demand from clients to maximise their ﬂeet size but at no increase to cost. “One solution we have for that is to equip vehicles with uPods as a permanent feature,” says Meynall. “Since the news agenda is weighted toward major disasters when a story breaks a newscaster can afford to decommission a portion of their ﬂeet of ten trucks by swapping out the ﬂyaway uPods off to the territory. The same equipment can still be used during times of less breaking news but it means the investment in kit is not duplicated.” One of the primary arguments used to promote cellular newsgathering is the greater ability to circumnavigate blackspots, caused by skyscrapers or tree cover for example. mobile solutions where that implies “Having encountered a blackspot, a mix of ﬂexible small vehicle or the time it takes to pack up, portable comms over IP, cellular move the team and equipment networks, ﬁbre and satellite. ■ to another location and setup again can cost valuable time,” observes Martin Coleman of monitoring and control specialist, Colem which has developed an alert which can warn SNG crews when they are in, or near, a blackspot area before setting up. Far from static, the uplink sector has shifted to suites of TerreStar Terrestrial Mobile

Eurovision Success For Riedel MediorNet
By Nils Quak, Riedel To broadcast the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, Azerbaijan the German Broadcast production company Brainpool TV, on behalf of Ictimai TV, used an extensive installation from Riedel Communications
62 Riedel, a manufacturer and provider of real-time networks for video, audio, communications and data, installed a comprehensive network infrastructure consisting of MediorNet, Artist, RockNet, professional radios and wireless video links. The Eurovision Song Contest is a world class event. Broadcasting to more than 100 million viewers worldwide, it has set new standards for live television. A major challenge this year was the erection of the Baku Crystal Hall Arena, which hosted the event. It was built in seven months with construction only starting in September 2011. This meant that the technological infrastructure for the ESC was set up alongside the construction work. Just as in previous years, the organisers used a media network infrastructure from Riedel Communications to distribute the event's video, audio and communications signals. At the heart of the installation important because of the tight deadline of building the arena itself. Riedel was responsible for ﬁve wireless video camera systems consisting of Grass Valley LDK 8000 equipment including wireless transceivers. As in previous years, Riedel provided the communications infrastructure for the ESC. Riedel furnished a system combining Artist Digital Matrix Intercom with digital trunked radios (TETRA) and professional analogue radios. A total of 13 Artist 128 and Artist 64 mainframes were used as well as 82 Artist control panels including panels from the Artist 1100, 1000 and 2000 series. Nearly 900 Artist ports were available via the intercom matrix. Artist's free scalability allows systems to be built with up to 1,024 x 1,024 ports. Furthermore, Riedel equipped 25 commentator booths at the Eurovision Song Contest. The Artist CCP-1116 Commentary Control Panels allow for two commentators to independently use the same commentator unit. An additional freely assignable intercom control panel expands the ﬂexibility even further. The connection to the matrix and the transport of the audio signals is taken care of by a simple AES3/EBU link over CAT5 cable. The connection between the commentators and their respective broadcast studios is accomplished with Riedel Connect Trio interfaces

Nils Quak, Riedel

Eurovision 2012 underway

was Riedel MediorNet. The ﬁbre based real-time network transported the majority of the event's signals. 40 HD and SD video signals were distributed within the arena – amongst them the broadcast feed and the signals for the on-site video walls and monitors. Since MediorNet allows the transport of different signal types over a single infrastructure, it signiﬁcantly reduced the amount of effort required to prepare for the event. This approach offered the great advantage of extreme ﬂexibility in terms of enabling routing changes or changes to the setup itself on short notice. This was especially

Control room in Baku

which provide the needed regional ISDN codecs for individual countries. More than 600 analogue and digital trunked (TETRA) professional mobile radios completed the communications infrastructure. The 350 TETRA radios and the ten analogue professional radio groups were integrated into the Artist system using Riedel RiFace interfaces, which enable direct communication between Artist control panels, dedicated groups and individual digital radios. To distribute the live audio signals at the event the rental provider Cape Cross used a comprehensive Riedel RockNet digital audio network installation. A total of four interface cards for digital Yamaha mixing consoles, 12 analogue input and 17 analogue output modules, as well as RockNet ﬁbre converters distributed the audio signals between the splitterworld, FOH and the PA. For the ﬁrst time Riedel was also responsible for the accreditation and access control services of the ESC. DECA Card Engineering, a Riedel subsidiary, provided the turnstiles, scanners and RFID reader systems used in Baku as well as practical know-how on site. Riedel also handled ticketing for the Eurovision Song Contest. ■

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In Broadcast - July 2012

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