SIS LIVE IMPLEMENTS FIRST OPTOCORE GBIT BROADCAST NETWORK AT MEDIACITYUK

And BroaMan Repeat48 converters boost 24-way fibre video distribution SIS LIVE, Europes largest outside broadcaster and uplink provider, has installed a large Optocore fibre ring on a 2 Gbit network, and BroaMan Repeat48 SDI-to fibre converter at the new MediaCityUK in Salford. This major broadcast project was successfully conducted by the SIS LIVE projects and integration division, under Dave Gill.

SIS LIVE at MediaCityUK, master control room

SIS has now fully occupied three floors of the Blue Tower within the MediaCityUK complex. The 8th and 9th floors now house new broadcast facilities including a master control room, production galleries, studios, voice-over booths, edit suites and data control centres.

Optocores contract required the infrastructural design and installation of seven presentation galleries, two small TV studios, two edit suites, seven VO booths, new central MCR/CAR, new satellite dish farm, IT CAR and new Text Room data centre.

Clouse up, Optocore DD4MR, TV Studio, SIS Live at MediaCityUK

SIS LIVE also installed an IT infrastructure and house monitoring system on the 10th floor Seeking to implement a fully redundant network, SIS LIVE broadcast designer Alan Laird believed that an Optocore audio network would offer the best solution given the lengthy cable runs involved; the fact that his OB colleagues had successfully run an Optocore system at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, underpinned his decision to back this platform.

Once the hardware decisions had been made Alan Laird set out to create a vision routing architecture based on embedded audio distribution, constructed around two 576 x 1152 routers.

The main router is a hybrid design, which generates the MADI audio sources for the Calrec and Yamaha sound desks, while a similar sized monitoring router is used as a back up.

TV Studio, SIS Live at MediaCityUK

I engineered the back-up system so that should the main router need to be taken down for maintenance or any other reason the Optocore system would take over, he explained. I also wanted a network that could be used for ad hoc work so that any microphone or audio sources could be picked up from anywhere within the production facility over the Optocore network.

The Optocore configuration was co-designed by Laird and Chris Payne, in cooperation with Optocore support engineer Maciek Janiszewski.

Says Janiszewski, After spending two years designing and specifying this system with SIS LIVE, we are extremely excited to have delivered a solution based on the brand new 2 Gbit protocol.

The initial plan had been to use Optocores YG2 cards to allow direct connection of the new Yamaha LS9 consoles and DME64 and DME24 mix processors to Optocores optical digital network but the high channel count presented a challenge. As a result the older interfaces made way for Optocores new energy efficient and more powerful RSeries devices while the YG2 and YS2s were replaced with 20 of the new Y3R-TP cards, connected to various FX devices. All Optocore equipment was supplied by Tyrell.

The new Optocore architecure is based around 12 Optocore IDs and uses 648 inputs, realised from 19 Optocore units. The first phase includes five DD4MR-FX MADI converters and eight X6R-FX, a DD32R-FX main interface and 14 x Y3R-TP. In the second phase SIS LIVE will purchase the remaining five DD4MR-FX units and six more Y3R-TPs once the other galleries are built. The Y3R-TP cards are fed from the SANE port on the X6R-FX or DD4MR-FX converters.

SIS LIVE also specified Optocores BroaMan video broadcast routing solutions, having been introduced to Optocores sister company and become aware of the custom solution provided for SVT in Stockholm.

Faced with a reduced timescale to install the galleries (picture on the left) on an HD / 3G backbone and concerned about cable lengths, SIS LIVE were impressed that the companys fibre solutions had extended to video, and noted the smooth operation and cost efficiency. As a result 22 Repeat48 units, which convert up to 24 SDI or MADI coaxial signals to optical fibre within a 1U device (equipped with dual redundant power supplies), were commissioned working within a Miranda vision distribution environment. The multiple 24-way fibres have been installed to each production room with a Repeat48 at each end, and Ethernet multicore cable and PSN 25 for the GPIs.

This topology has more than satisfied the distribution requirements of an installation that will be maintained by SIS LIVEs broadcast engineers.

We are delighted that the SIS system is the first broadcast installation that takes full advantage of the 2 Gbit protocol, summarises Maciek Janiszewski. The nice aspect about it is that it is not only the invisible core that seamlessly runs all audio through the facility, but SIS also uses all software advantages with the matrix and remote control of our interfaces.

The overall project director was Jason Barker while Jenkins Design and ISG were commissioned to complete the building works with Fairbrother installing the electrical and air conditioning systems. Gary Plowman, Senior Associate, Marquis Consulting LLP, acted as consultant on the electrical and air conditioning system.

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