Instant Breakthrough for Optocores Revolutionary Festival Box posted: 14/10/2019
Global success, from Spice Girls and Billie Eilish tours to top European festivals
Optocore's Festival Box looks set to revolutionise big event touring after rental companies around the globe were quick to respond to the launch of the much-anticipated new device this summer. As demo systems were released to targeted dealers and production companies around the world, Optocore Technical Sales Manager, Maciek Janiszewski, said, It is gratifying that customers have trusted us with delivering a completely new device concept and placed it immediately on high-profile tours and festivals.
Early adopters have included the high-flying Billie Eilish and Spice Girls, both with Wigwam, while festivals have ranged from the mighty Sziget in Hungary and KFPP Opole in Poland, to Parklife and Bluedot festivals in the north of England.
What makes Festival Box so special? In essence, it allows any audio protocol as well as video and data to tunnel over the same fiber, making it a hugely efficient solution for multi-act scenarios. Migrating the technology from sister company BroaMan's Repeat48WDM media converter, which uses Repeat48-2Fiber modules at its source, it offers countless conversion options, supporting all fiber protocols as well as Cat5 Ethernet-based standards or even HDMI, since the standard SFP optical module transceivers are hot swappable.
With each sound engineer bringing different consoles to festivals, running different protocols to the stage box, everything can now be transported down Festival Box using just a single duplex fiber, thereby saving a tremendous amount of cabling between FOH and Stage, continued Janiszewski.
Alex Hadjigeorgiou, from Optocore-BroaMan dealer, fac365, had led the charge to put the word into the rental community at the beginning of the year. It's been very well-received and we've had really positive feedback, he said. This year has been all about getting the concept across. In some ways the name Festival Box' restricts it as it is so much more than that: it's perfect for running complete touring infrastructure down it, using just two fibers.
In Poland, GMB Pro Sound have had it out at the Open'er Festival at Gdynia Airport, Krakow Live Festival and Festival Opole, as well as on tour with Meskie Granie. Festival Box also provided an elegant and efficient solution at the Sweden Rock Festival in Solvesborg, supplied by Soundware Sweden, Sziget in Hungary (via Leon Szolgaltato Ltd), while in the north of England fac365 supplied the devices to dbnAudile (for Parklife and Bluedot).
Said GMB Pro Sound Director, Remigiusz Kasztelnik, Festival Box might be a new concept but those who have tried it have immediately found it extremely useful, especially when there are different protocols in place. The big advantage is simplicity-there is no software or configuration necessary; you just plug in the cable onstage and FOH, and pair the stage boxes and consoles whether Cat5, coax or fiber.
We expect Festival Box to become a must-have, and a no-brainer for larger tours and mid-size/large festivals over the next few years.
Wigwam co-founder Chris Hill-another early adopter, and influencer of Optocore solutions over the years-agreed. I have always liked the quality of Optocore products and what they stand for, he confirmed. Festival Box has already dug us out of a couple of holes, and is proving to be a very useful tool.
It made sense to invest for many reasons, he said. When Spice Girls came along we put it on as a data tunnel so we could put comms, video, the support band console and remote aerials through it. It got used heavily, and proved to be very flexible, reducing the number of cables to plug in at front of house.
For Billie Eilish, Festival Box fulfilled an altogether different solution. Production had wanted to run their system over Cat5, since their Allen & Heath console sits on that network, and all available fiber ports had already been used. So instead of wrestling with a system rejig, thanks to Festival Box they were able to carry on as they were, with no issues of distance, no reconfiguration or software changes necessary, said Hadjigeorgiou.
Chris Hill agreed. Their production loved it because they could work the way they wanted to work. Festival Box introduced them to a really simple way of getting out of a problem.
You don't need a laptop and another screen-you can plug in more SFPs and put other formats down it. In fact it is now being specified on another project which will require further investment. Anyone who is initially sceptical only has to see it working to be convinced.
Alex Hadjigeorgiou also believes it offers a great return on investment for mid-sized rental houses who have yet to commit to the substantial investment required in fiber cable. It is generally hard to charge [clients] good money for fiber because it's expected to come with the consoles, he said. But as Festival Box is a separate chargeable item it becomes a chargeable item it makes a lot of sense.
In summary he said, Festival Box is ultimately about efficiency, but it's for the long term. In years to come, once Festival Box is established, people will be saying, In the old days we used to run a network, RF and console loop all on separate cables!'
Most recent headlines
24/12/2025
What is AI good for? Posted by MTI Film on December 24, 2025
What is AI good for?
What is AI good for?
It's been three years since ChatGPT first cap...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
24/12/2025
Back to All News
Love, Fights, and Everything in Between: Badly in Love' Returns for Season 2
Entertainment
24 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied t...
24/12/2025
Scripps Research study links sleep variability with sleep apnea and hypertension How consumers' digital activity trackers could enable personalized health s...
23/12/2025
How guilas Cibae as Dominican Winter League Games Are Locally Produced for Glob...
23/12/2025
BitFire's Jim Akimchuk on Supplying Scalability and Customization in the Clo...
23/12/2025
CAMB.AI Enables European Athletics to Offer Multi-Language SupportPlan is to eventually offer translation into all languages spoken in EuropeBy Ken Kerschbaumer...
23/12/2025
Analysis: As sports media values trend negative, scarcity and quality are king By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Monday, December 22, 2025 - 14:08
Print ...
23/12/2025
ESPN, Disney, and NBA Return to the Animated Altcast Fray With Second Edition of...
23/12/2025
End the Year on a High Note and Donate to the Sports Broadcasting Fund Today! By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Tuesday, December 23, 2025 - 12:25 pm
...
23/12/2025
The year is winding down, the weather outside is frightful, and it's the perfect time to escape into a story that warms the heart. For listeners looking for...
23/12/2025
A Zeus motor is hot fire tested at L3Harris' Camden, Arkansas, solid rocket ...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Lightware will exhibit several major product innovations at ISE 2026, including the new USB-C BOOSTER-V1, Google Meet. integration for various Taurus UCX models...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's The Great Flood and Culinary Class Wars 2 Top Gl...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things By the Numbers: How the Global Phenomenon Shap...
23/12/2025
Experience the power of WO Automation for Radio's newest service, the System Effectiveness Review. Designed to help you achieve more, a System Effectiveness...
23/12/2025
23 Dec 2025
VEON's Beeline Kazakhstan and Rakuten Symphony Collaborate to A...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
How Steamy Can It Get? Single's Inferno' Season 5 Pre...
23/12/2025
Back to All News
33 Million Global Viewers on Netflix Watched Jake Paul vs. Ant...
23/12/2025
New technique lights up where drugs go in the body, cell by cell Scripps Research scientists developed a technique that maps drug binding in individual cells th...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
Instant Breakthrough for Optocores Revolutionary Festival Box posted: 14/10/2019 
