Rita Ora Switches On Christmas Lights at Westfield London, Shepherdís Bush
Westfield London has become not only the largest shopping mall in Europe, following its new £600m extension this Spring, but it also hosts more than 300 events a year. In addition to its vigorous retail activity, this includes concerts for as many as 4,000 people, with relays to their giant retail screens and multiplex cinema.
Building a network infrastructure to carry the myriad of communication signals and IP addresses over fibre across the 2.6 million feet of real estate (or 1km end-to-end) has been an organic process, which has been made easier since owners,
Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), in conjunction with audio consultants HD Pro Audio, employed Optocore’s BroaMan routing matrix system.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Simultaneous transport of data and control signals
Gbit Ethernet Transport
Flexible easy to setup system with short configuration time
Comprehensive single-channel status monitoring
“BroaMan system is now central to the behind-the-scenes technical delivery of the Westfield events. With so many SDI signals, audio signals and IP streams I don’t think we realised just how great the benefits of BroaMan would be. The way the BroaMan team has worked with us on these systems makes us feel more like a member of an extended family, than customers.”
Ben Davis, Senior Technical Manager
SOLUTION
The Westfield Events team became aware of Optocore products in 2011, during the planning of sister operation Westfield Stratford City, but it was not until 2015 that it was decided the BroaMan system would be an ideal solution for video/ audio distribution.
Both the Shepherds Bush and London Stratford systems are identically configured, with a Route66 Optocore AutoRouter, Route66 40×40 Video Router and WDM Frame; 3 x Mux22-IVT/ IVT 8 SDI-In/8 SDI Out and 3 x X6R-TP 8MI/8LO. Each system has the Route66 central matrix with a single Mux22 and X6R in the control room, with the remaining Mux22 and X6R combinations in remote racks.
As for the second phase at Westfield London, which increases the indoor space by a third and adds the outdoor pedestrianised Westfield Square, HD Pro Audio have provided a further Route66 Optocore AutoRouter and Route66 40×40 Video Router with WDM Frame, as well as 5 x MUX22 8 SDI-In/8 SDI-Out, and 5 x X6R-TP 8MI/8LO.
The BroaMan system offers the ability to tunnel through two additional IP streams by fibre. These connections are used for Gigabit connections from a network of Luminex Gigacore switches to stations within each mobile rack. Port aggregation on the Luminex switches allows a maximum 2 Gb bandwidth to each remote switch.
This addition to the BroaMan racks takes care of all IP traffic – including MA lighting systems, ClearCom communications, internet connections, and various device management connections.
KEY ADVANTAGES
1. Transport of multiple 3G/HD/SD SDI video between control room and mobile stageboxes – each Stagebox with 8IN/8OUT.
2. Flexibility of using Stageboxes for two different systems depending on current needs.
3. Auxiliary fibre optic ports for Gbit Ethernet transport transport: for All intercom, and data transport.
4. Optocore Control software which monitors each video and audio signal.
5. Autorouting to avoid any manual fiber patching within the system.
TVP is the largest national broadcaster in Poland. It owns a large fleet of OB trucks as well as a number of DSNG vans. All TVP’s vehicles are distributed around Poland stationing in Warsaw headquarters and regional branches in multiple cities around the country.
The DSNG satellite OB van, stationed in Wroclaw, is used by TVP throughout Poland and other parts of Europe (Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary). It serves sporting events (football, volleyball, basketball, horse racing, handball, hockey, archery, judo, boxing), as well as concerts, conferences and more.
The van was first modernised in 2015 and now functions as an 8-camera production truck and at the same time a satellite uplink. In 2019 it was upgraded with BroaMan Mux22 point-to-point fiber transport solution. The main goal of the upgrade was to increase the range of devices such as monitors, controllers, intercom and large outdoor screens.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
All signals transported on single redundant fiber
HD-SDI, audio, RTS Intercom and Gbit Ethernet transport
Auxiliary fiber tunelling
Comprehensive single-channel status monitoring
“I had been looking for an economical and reliable solution for a fiber optic platform for television devices for a long time. With many solutions available on the market BroaMAN Mux22 proved to be the best choice for my current needs. Thanks to these devices I am relaxed about all my signals transmitted over long distances.”
Andrzej Wiszniewski, DSNG Manager
SOLUTION
The first task when the fiber solution was required was to send intercom communication to the RTS desktops during the Four Hills [ski jumping] tournament. An engineer from BroaMan partner — RTS Intercom Systems proposed the possibility of a Mux22 solution to TVP engineers.
The capacity the Mux22 solution offers had become immediately apparent. From the moment TVP bought the device, they could: send intercom signals to four external RTS desks located away from the vehicle — from over 100m to 10km; send eight HD video signals to and from the OB van to the transmission site (eg stadium, Skybox, commentator positions over distances from 100m -10km); send control signals, I/O synchronization, and transmission of LAN network signals.
Mux22 devices create two fully redundant point-to-point optical links, with switching between links taking place automatically without interruption to the signal.
KEY ADVANTAGES
Full redundancy for 3G-SDI Video, Audio, RTS Intercom and Data transport.
Auxiliary fibre optic ports for Gbit Ethernet transport.
Optocore Control software, which monitors each fiber, video and audio signal.
The relocation of the famous ITV Coronation Street lot, from Manchester’s Quay Street Studios to the 7.7 acre studio and production facility on the Trafford side of MediaCityUK, has brought with it a significant streamlining of signal flexibility, with BroaMan and Optocore fibre distribution devices playing a major role in the new automation system.
Set in a fictional town in the north of England, what has become the world’s longest-running television soap opera is a British ‘institution’, having first been broadcast back in December 1960.
A unique, fully integrated transport solution was conceived by the show’s Technical Manager, Stan Robinson, in conjunction with project engineers Phil Cooper and Nigel Fowler from system integrators TSL. The design was based on meeting all Coronation Street workflow and system requirements.
Earlier, AVC Electronics, who had worked on the previous Coronation Street HD upgrade at the old studios, had been appointed broadcast consultants for the project, and their lead consultant Raz Khan had carried out technical evaluation and system configuration of all equipment to meet these requirements. Installation, testing and commissioning was then undertaken by TSL, the successful bidders, after the BroaMan and Optocore solution had been adopted.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Simultaneous transport of video, audio, intercom and data over fiber
Full production flexibility
Connection of multiple studios and MCRs with one routing system
Compatibility with different audio consoles
Mobile stageboxes with automatic routing – video, audio, intercom and data follow stagebox automatically
Simplified control and maintenance
“The key benefit of this stagebox system is reduction of set-up times. With the exception of the cameras, all other crew equipment can be connected with local cables to a stagebox; so by plugging in one fibre cable they can start using it.”
Phil Cooper, Project Engineer, TSL
SOLUTION
BroaMan and Optocore architecture forms the beating heart of the new broadcast network which has been constructed around ten BroaMan Route66 interfaces and two WDM frames. These combine to create one centralised router, feeding the ForA 96 x 128 matrix distribution unit, and forming part of the identification, CWDM and control to the Optocore router.
In addition to video, ITV can also route data and audio automatically since the stageboxes are a multi-faculty resource, which make connectivity available on set, whether in the studios, out on the lot or on location. This includes: Audio sources (boom mics) and monitoring returns; SDI monitoring and sources (from portable cameras or recorder playback); 4wire talkback circuits for boom operators and assistant directors; Router control panels to control SDI monitoring.
There are five production control areas – comprising galleries and OB vans, each with a corresponding stagebox, incorporating Optocore DD2FR-FX and BroaMan Repeat48WDM rack devices. Having specified a Studer Vista 1 and D21m I/O interface in the two main galleries TSL deployed ten Optocore DD2FR-FX devices to transport native MADI over the fibre network.
Instead of having dedicated BroaMan sockets dotted around the site TSL also noted that by using hybrid camera fibre cables they could have every BroaMan point active through the site – simply by patching into the SMPTE 311M network. There are 100 camera points supplying two patch systems – one in the main building and one out on the lot, enabling patching to either Camera Base Stations or the BroaMan Router.
The path is configured from the 15 connection points available from the BroaMan system, with distribution to the portable stageboxes via the same SMPTE fibre infrastructure as the camera. Each gallery or van has a corresponding stagebox which can be connected to the core routing system (via a wallbox) or taken on location and connected (point to point) to a van – again, using standard camera floor cables.
Wherever the mobile stagebox is connected, the router will recognise the location and automatically patch the signal between stagebox and control room.
This elegant solution is a far cry from the traditional routine of connecting many long individual cables to the nearest studio wallbox and then patching every mic signal, audio return, talkback, video and control signal to the relevant gallery or van.
KEY ADVANTAGES
• Low latency fiber optic solution for all type of signals – video, audio and Ethernet
• Fully automatic routing solution with plug and play stageboxes – quick and simple setup
• 15 connection points for 5 mobile stageboxes
• Each stagebox equipped with 3 Video IN, 5 Video OUT, 2 fiber MADI ports, 4 LAN ports
• Each stagebox connected via single duplex SMPTE fiber – no extra studio cables needed
• Native protocol transport for Studer – gain and phantom control
• Easy to use Opocore Control Software for level monitoring
“We are delighted with BroaMan and Optocore solution, which has offered us an incredibly flexible solution.”
Stan Robinson, Technical Manager, ITV Coronation Street
Shine deploys its own studio hardware for smaller shows such as Masterchef, Biggest Loser, The Bachelor, The Face, Top Model etc while for the larger shows they will contract external outside broadcast or rental houses to supply gear. Those prime time light entertainment franchises attract major viewing audiences — and the production company needed to find a cost-effective solution that would meet all their many requirements in a single environment.
Nick Parker, Shine Technical Manager, became interested in BroaMan solutions mainly because of the fact that other network transmission systems Shine had reviewed had either been cost prohibitive or simply didn’t meet their requirements. For instance, one was video only rather than a true stage box, while another was messy, with lots of adapters and fibre cores all doing the same thing.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Transport of multiple professional video, audio, intercom and data over fiber
Routing of analog and digital audio
Simultaneous transport of data and control signals
Interfacing with multiple intercom brands
Flexible easy to setup system with short configuration time
Comprehensive single-channel status monitoring
SOLUTION
Mux22 was a stand-out product from the moment it was introduced. It had all of the required features and allowed for the ability to scale to future needs. Various configurations were available, and through CWDM a single fibre pair had the ability to carry a multitude of signals.
Shine Australia has the device configured to transport six HDSDI inputs and two HDSDI outputs. AES on one system allows for AES/EBU audio — along with four communications panels for the studio floor.
IC485 which is RS485 and Analogue Audio, is also great as these ports can run as RTS Communications Panels or as IFB’s or Sends to the studio floor … or a mixture. The system allows for Gigabit Ethernet and also is conveniently switched on the unit for additional ports.
Nick Parker states that while many fibre systems exist in the market most of them don’t cover as much functionality as the Mux 22 with 8 or even 16 x SDI Video, Fast Ethernet Data, GPIO; with Audio Options (AES, MADI, Analogue, IC485), bandwidth- independent Fibre Pass Though, Ability to run Communications Panels (RTS, Riedel or Clear-Com).The system scales with the SANE Optocore network and the possibilities on your audio capacity grow to a large scale audio network when required.
KEY ADVANTAGES
Transport of multiple 3G/HD/SD SDI video – depending on side of the system 4 up, 12 down or 12/4.
Flexible Intercom ports carrying full intercom connection or only analog or digital audio
GPIO ports transporting trigger signals, e.g. for tally
Auxiliary fibre optic ports for 3rd party protocol transport
Build-in Fast Ethernet interface with guaranteed Quality of Service
Optocore Control software which monitors each video and audio signal
“Always when building a studio, running cable is the biggest issue, and this has given us a new way to keep costs down and still give us the full feature set we require on a constant changing production environment. If you count the amount of I/O that the Mux22 can handle — running the same amount of cables compared to the single fibre cable — this is the biggest way it keeps costs down, with all the feeds that we can run through just two pairs of single mode fibre!” Nick Parker, Technical Manager
The 50th Constitution Day of Kuwait took place along 5km of beach in the heart of Kuwait City on November 10, 2012. The final act of the show lasted almost an hour, lighting up the sky with a total of 77,282 fireworks, which broke the Guinness World Record for the largest fireworks display ever.
French-based rental company, GB4D was contracted to deliver the audio and lighting system as well as video transport for what was one of the largest shows in the Middle East to date. The biggest challenge that GB4D owner, Gilles Bouvard, had to face was signal transmission spanning the 5km length of the beach and the problems posed by a sand/water environment. Production had requested sound and light to be delivered to any point along the beach and the only solution for covering such a distance was OPTOCORE, with its redundant fibre based ring topology. OPTOCORE provided not only sound to each of 52 Line Array towers, but also control of amplifiers and DMX lighting.
The OPTOCORE system was not only used at the beach, but also out at sea. GB4D designed a second ring system to provide audio and Ethernet transport to the five cube-shape platforms (20m x 20m x 20m) which were built especially for this show, 400m offshore. Each cube was equipped with lighting, which created a great visual effect. The only way to reach the cubes with control signals was by using fibre.
A new challenge for GB4D was to provide video transport to the multiple screens – two independent SDI channels transported along the beach. Bouvard did a bit of market research and found that only BroaMan offered a perfect solution for his project – a ring topology, which distributes two channels to all remote locations.
As a result Bouvard needed only a 4-core fibre between each location, which saved not only the cost of classic copper cabling, but also assuring the best quality of sound, control and video.
OPTOCORE system components:
OPTOCORE System Features:
• long distances on single-mode fiber
• 768 audio inputs, unlimited number of outputs • DMX and LAN on the same fiber
• matrix and mic gain controlled from one location
high temperature tolerant
BroaMan system components
BroaMan System Features:
HD-SDI video distribution and routing to multiple distant locations • LAN for IP cameras on the same fiber
fiber power budget monitoring
routing controlled from one location
OPTOCORE Small Ring
The OPTOCORE system for the 50th Constitution Day of Kuwait was based on two rings, running two different protocols. The small ring was used to provide LAN connections to all five platforms on the sea as well as audio signals to the Yamaha 01V96 console which
was placed on the fifth platform. One DD32R-FX was installed in the front of house position and provided a connection to the second, bigger ring. The table below provides a detailed setup of the small ring.
OPTOCORE Big Ring
The bigger OPTOCORE system was installed on the 5km long beach. The main requirement for OPTOCORE was to distribute audio signals to the L-Acoustics loudspeakers from front of house as well as DMX for lights and Ethernet to control L-Acoustics amplifiers. Loudspeakers were installed in the delay towers 100m apart to cover the whole area with sound. OPTOCORE X6R-FX-8MI/8LO units were installed in every third tower – 20 in total, covering the whole distance. Microphone inputs were very useful when the system was tuned; a short microphone cable connection to the measurement microphone enabled a signal from the microphone to be sent back to front of house for very accurate measurements. Line outputs provided program feed to every loudspeaker. The FOH engineer had complete control over OPTOCORE patching and every input from the console could have been sent to any loudspeaker.
OPTOCORE patching and every input from the console could have been sent to any loudspeaker.
Front of house provided multiple signals from two consoles – the main mix from a Midas Pro6 and additional multiple aux outputs from a Soundcraft Vi6 (one aux per each delay group) — with each console integrated into the OPTOCORE network with a DD2FR-FX. For Midas additional Klark Teknik DN9652 format converters had to be used, since Midas consoles do not support standard MADI protocol. The ring was also equipped with one DD32R-FX unit, which provided an AES connection to the smaller OPTOCORE ring.
GB4D took full advantage of the OPTOCORE 2.21 protocol. The Big Ring provided not only around 500 audio inputs, but was also a transport platform for all control protocols – DMX and Ethernet- based loudspeaker management system. Each tower was equipped with steerable lighting controlled from an FOH lighting console (OPTOCORE provided DMX transport through RS485/422 ports on each unit). To monitor and control powered loudspeakers, GB4D used the Ethernet switch which is built into the OPTOCORE platform. As a result the overall cable count was reduced to a minimum with just one fibre between each location.
The table below lists all devices used in the Big Ring setup.
BroaMan Ring
OPTOCORE was not the only transport system delivered by GB4D. Currently such big productions require an HD-SDI signal to be transported to multiple locations. Video design for the 50th Constitution Day of Kuwait was based on BroaMan video and data distribution system. The Belgian branch of production company PRG supplied all video playback equipment providing two different feeds – one to the huge projectors for three 20m high sail-shaped screens and one feed to eight delay towers. The video signal was distributed over the BroaMan fibre transport platform, with 14 new Route33 units. Each BroaMan unit was equipped with an HD-SDI input and HD-SDI output, four LAN ports, RS485/422 and two duplex COM fibre ports. All the devices were connected by fibre, creating a ring topology similar to OPTOCORE system.
The Control Room was equipped with two Route33 units, providing two video inputs to the network. All other units, distributed to the multiple remote locations on the beach received both signals and it was possible to choose which signal should be routed to the HD-SDI output. As a result two different feeds were routed to the desired locations specified by the show producer, while the system provided routing control from one central location. To ensure the best quality of the show, PRG installed IP cameras at each of the three locations with the sail-shaped screens, so the video engineer had a live-time preview of the distant screen in the Control Room. LAN for the IP cameras was also carried by BroaMan devices, and each unit was equipped with an OPTOCORE frame, where all ports in the system were used to create one big 100Mbit virtual switch.
GB4D purchased 4-core fibre cables for the show, which allowed the BroaMan and OPTOCORE rings to share the same cable infrastructure; although the two systems worked independently, the cabling cost was massively reduced.
The table below describes the functions of all BroaMan devices provided for 50th Constitution Day.
