Following their use at the US Open and PGA Grand Slam of Golf Bermuda, international broadcast service provider Bexel is to call on Lawo audio/video-over-IP networking technology for forthcoming events in Russia and Brazil.
‘Bexel’s flypacks are designed for events where the infrastructure does not allow large OB vans or to provide optimised production facilities,’ explains Project Manager, Johnny Pastor. ‘The smooth transition between the venues was made possible by Lawo’s ability to intertie multiple audio sources and formats across a common network platform using Madi and Ravenna, and to offer console surfaces, routing systems and stageboxes for a range of I/O and routing.’
Bexel has long been involved in the US Open as rental supplier. To support host broadcaster CBS in the worldwide feed for picture and sound, the control rooms for Courts 1 & 2 were equipped with 48-fader Lawo mc²56 MkII mixing consoles to supply the stereo international audio feed. Two additional crowd mic feeds were provided for broadcasters working in surround. The overall system configuration comprised a Lawo mc²56 mixing console and a Dallis (Digital, Analogue, Line Level Interface System) frame with the analogue I/O linked to the console’s HD Core using Ravenna over a single Cat5 line. The Lawo routers were able to supply any signal in AES, analogue or Madi format.
‘Operators were impressed not only with how good the consoles sounded, but also with ease of operation, requiring only a short ramp-up for those who had never worked a Lawo console previously,’ Pastor says. ‘Custom set-ups could also be built on the fly, tailored to each operator’s requirements and preferences.’
In addition to satisfying the audio requirements, two V__pro8 units, Lawo’s newest video product, were used to embed audio streams into the world feed.
At the PGA Grand Slam of Golf in Bermuda, the local infrastructure and geography present significant challenges… the streets are too tight for a TV truck to navigate, so a flypack was designed and built by Bexel. This efficiently re-packaged the Lawo system for the boat ride to Bermuda. In addition, all of the venue’s audio infrastructure equipment was contracted to ABS and was on the cruise to Bermuda as well.
The show was produced in 5.1 surround with a Dolby E transmission. Besides the higher channel count, flexible connectivity was a main reason to go with Lawo for both the audio consoles, as well as the routing and I/O infrastructure. On the operational side, Lawo’s Audio-follow-Video function was used for bringing in sound effects as well as providing automatic delay compensation switching between local and RF cameras. These challenges were easily solved by a combination of A-f-V, a multi-purpose GPC function and an external GPI trigger. All this could be done without special configuration by the operator using Lawo´s custom functions.
The broadcast also used two 48-fader Lawo mc²56-MkII consoles – one console for submixing effect microphones and the second to create an integrated mix of DigiCarts, EVS, announcers and the effects mix. The link between the consoles was via Madi, as well as the connection to the video router and the production monitoring system. Signals in the field were assembled using seven Dallis frames connected to the consoles using Ravenna. Most of the Dallis frames were used in close proximity to the flypack and connected with Cat5, except for the announceers’ booth, which was used a single-mode fibre link.
In addition to the Lawo audio systems, V__pro8 video processors were also part of the flypack. One of these received a Madi feed from the main console for embedding audio into the transmission, while the second one was used to delay the Madi stream feeding the production speakers to maintain sync of audio feeds throughout the venue’s production areas.
The combination of skills and equipment, and the readiness with which new concepts for managing remote sports production has placed all of the companies is a strong position ofr advanced location sports broadcast.
