InBroadcast - InShow Guide 2017 - 89

89

www.inbroadcast.com | IBC2017 InShow Guide | 15-19 September

Expanding Audio Options
for Fibre Transport
Point-to-point dark fibre transport remains the standard for
live transmission, writes, Frank Jachetta, President...

C

onsider how innovations in
cameraback and portable fibre
transport units have greatly simplified
sports production; or how a mobile
broadcaster can efficiently transport
video simply with a high-density
throwdown unit.
Fibre was the breakthrough that
made life much easier, and for the
time being there seems to be a greater
benefit in evaluating and updating
existing fibre infrastructure. This
remains true not only on the video
side when it comes to supporting
emerging needs like 4K and
12Gb/s, but also when it comes to
multichannel digital audio.
Digital audio networking - or Audio
over IP - has seen tremendous growth
in recent years. In broadcast, two
of the major players to date have
been Dante and Ravenna. And while
Ravenna is a strong networking
technology that has its fair share of

vendor,
integrator
and end user support,
it's increasingly clear
that
Audinate's
Dante
technology has the industry's
widest acceptance.
To date there has been
fairly limited adoption of
Dante and other digital
audio networking technologies
within fibre transport products,
but as fibre transport inches
closer to convergence with IP
networks it make great sense to
leverage the multipoint, multichannel
and highly scalable architecture of
Dante.
At IBC, MultiDyne will marry the
modular flexibility of our openGear
solutions with the flexible audio
applications that the Dante brings
to the table. The interoperability
between Dante networking software
and MultiDyne hardware is in part

Bulldog field fibre transport system

made possible through a special new
openGear 8x8 module from our OG
Series.
While the new openGear module
integrates
a
standard
Dante
"gateway" to move Dante audio in
and out of MultiDyne hardware, what
happens once inside that hardware
is what sets MultiDyne's innovation
apart. The result elevates its stature

beyond a simple "line-in, line-out"
product to a true long-distance
transport platform for broadcast and
live events.
MultiDyne's innovation gives users
a broader palette to leverage Dante
across fibre networks, allowing users
to convert XLR audio, line-level audio,
phantom power, two-wire intercom
and more to Dante - and vice versa -
at the inputs and outputs of MultiDyne
hardware. This includes
the Bulldog field fibre
transport system, and
the FiberNet optical network
control system among other
platforms.
Though the initial release
will support an 8x8
architecture,
the
scalability
and
high
density associated with
Dante and MultiDyne products
will allow users to create a "matrix"
within MultiDyne hardware to support
multichannel capacities up to 64x64.
Bringing Dante into the fibre universe
for users working with an everincreasing number of audio channels
ensures that additional capacity along
with that industry-standard, Ethernetbased Dante audio transport that
broadcasters and content producers
crave.
www.multidyne.com

Canford Boosts MDU Range
Canford has announced a new Mains
Distribution Unit (MDU) for Outside
Broadcast, touring and flyaway kits...

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anford design and manufacture a
wide range of over 240, 1U, rack
mounting Mains Distribution Unit's
(MDU) from their headquarters in
Washington, Tyne and Wear.
Canford MDU's are intended for
professional use in the broadcast,
AV and theatre industries. They are
typically entrusted in mission critical
applications where their high-quality
components and unquestionable
reliability is relied upon.
The extensive collection of MDU's
has been developed over many years,

and like most of Canford's product
range, has evolved as a direct result of
customer feedback.
Canford's latest MDU offers locking
IEC outlets for protection from
unintentional power disconnection.
As such, the MDU 15 is intended for
applications prone to vibration or
where equipment is regularly repositioned, such as Outside Broadcast,
Touring, Hire and Fly-away systems.
The MDU15 features 12x universal
locking IEC outlets which mate with
any standard IEC connector. There's
no requirement to buy special
Canford
MDU15 mating leads. The lock is
achieved via an angled friction
plate, which effectively grabs
the earth pin of a connected
IEC. A simple push button
provides the release.
Outlets are individually
fused to prevent a single point
of failure, and coloured LED's
indicate the output and fuse

Canford MDU15

failure status of each channel.
Canford
Marketing
Manager,
Stephen Gallagher comments: "The
new MDU15 is in production and we're
already keeping stock, ready for next
day shipping. The new unit features
an innovative locking IEC outlet, that
mates with standard IEC connectors.
We've
produced
a
short
90-second video introduction,
and I'd ask customers to take
a look at it on our website or
search YouTube for "Canford
MDU".

With so many MDU's to choose from,
Canford have developed a Mains
Distribution Unit Selection Tool to
help customers.
Simply select your preference from
a series of drop down menus and the
website will guide you to your choice
of filtered or unfiltered, IEC or
Powercon, grey with green
LEDs, sequential power or not,
and with or without a current
meter.
www.canford.co.uk/
technical/article/mduselector
http://www.inbroadcast.com http://www.multidyne.com http://www.multidyne.com http://www.canford.co.uk http://www.canford.co.uk/
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