The US Open tennis championship and London Olympics events both saw 4HM’s SAM64 audio interface adding to its list of sporting credits.
Two SAM64 SDI-to-Madi/AES units formed part of a fly-away broadcast system used in the International Broadcast Centre for the US Open tennis championship held at Flushing Meadow in New York. Host broadcaster ESPN used eight SDI feeds routed to the SAM64 units, with de-embedded audio fed to a Yamaha mixing console. SAM64 can simultaneously output up to 64 audio channels in both Madi (optical and coaxial) and unbalanced AES formats.
Multiple SAM64 devices were also used at the International Broadcast Centre for the London Olympics and Paralympics. Here, each unit’s SDI inputs were used as the primary de-embedder within the system, and each of the 64 channel Madi output streams went directly to the router in the core of two Lawo mc²66 audio desks.
‘The SAM64 is an easy and convenient way to get Unilaterial and Host Feeds to Audio as we were receiving all incoming feeds via SDI,’ says Paul Sykes, Project Manager for the Olympics and Paralympics. ‘We use Madi streams because it is the tidiest way to get large amounts of audio into the Lawo desks. As a 1U-high device, it is compact – which is essential on remote operations – and provides the most convenient and simplest way to access the SDI streams. Having two Lawos running from the same core meant that we could split the Madi feeds into both desks. There is also so much choice in ways to clock the units that synchronisation was never an issue.
‘Using the SAM64, we immediately reduced the hardware required to carry out the project and saved cost, while time shortening the broadcast chain and hence reducing the points where problems could arise,’ he adds. ‘There is also significant peace of mind provided by the redundant power supplies and the SDI input LEDs proved to be useful indicators when tracing signal problems.’
SAM64 converters have already seen use at APT Tennis events such as the Australian Open, the UEFA European Football Championships in Poland and Ukraine, and the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
More: www.4hmbroadcast.com
