9th annual Broadcast Engineering Excellence Awards winners
Mar 1, 2010 12:00 PM
More than 30,000 readers voted on this year’s state-of-the-art facilities.
NY1 News
Winner of newsroom technology
Submitted by
Azzurro Systems Integration
Runner-up:
WFTV-DT
Submitted by Grass Valley
NY1 News, Time Warner Cable’s 24-hour news channel in New York City, is one of the most advanced newsgathering operations in the world. The station recently worked with Azzurro Systems Integration to upgrade and consolidate its master control environment. The consolidation allows the broadcaster to provide multiple distribution streams from a single master control area using three master switcher systems. All feeds are distributed in both HD and analog. HD feeds are converted to ASI streams and analog video and audio in the final stage prior to transmission. One feed carries normal NY1 News programming and is distributed to Manhattan, Bronx, Staten Island, Brooklyn and Bergen County, NJ. A second master switcher feeds a local insert to Queens, and the third system provides Spanish programming. Local ad insertion capability has been built into the system. Internal routing and distribution is accomplished via HD-SDI with embedded audio channels.
Azzurro Systems Integration
Programming for each feed is switched with an Evertz QMC-2 HD-SDI master switcher. The master switchers each control an Evertz Topaz 16 x 16 routing switcher, which provides subswitching for the program, preset, bypass and key feeds to the master switcher. Sources feeding the Topaz switchers include Omneon server ports providing inputs and outputs to and from a central storage system. The system has 16 bidirectional channels, 32 playout channels, and storage for 1250 hours of DV50 material and four audio channels. Additionally, an Omneon MediaDeck provides backup, central routing switcher outputs and additional sources. The MediaGrid active storage system provides 126TB of raw capacity using high-bandwidth content servers, 57TB of available storage with a replication factor of 2:2, and storage for 2035 hours of DV50 material and four audio channels. A Dalet Enterprise Edition automation system controls the server systems and switching.
Dome Productions
Winner of post & network production facilities
Submitted by
AZCAR
Runners-up:
Adtext, The Mill
Submitted by Softel
Golf Channel
Submitted by Solid State Logic
AZCAR
Today, for the sports entertainment world, customer demand is for HD. With the commissioning of Thunder, its fifth HD truck, Dome Productions wanted to select the proper mix of equipment to yield the greatest functionality, while keeping the vehicle’s gross weight under control. To achieve the right mix, Thunder used fiber optics to not only carry multiple signals on a single cable but also to reduce the weight. Dome worked with AZCAR, a leader in HD broadcast system integration and production, because it brought complementary management, experience and engineering expertise to the project.
With a 3-D eye to the future, Dome invested in the technologies that could take it to 1080p60, the format necessary for live stereoscopic 3-D productions when its clients see the need. This included the installation of an Evertz EQX 3Gb/s router and a cable infrastructure capable of handling the bandwidth and return loss characteristics of a 4.25GHz signal parameter. Ten switchable Sony HDC-1500R cameras allow for addressing the flexibility that sports and entertainment venue operations require. Sixteen channels provided by an EVS XT[2] LSM server complement Sony HDCAM and Sony SR high-bandwidth digital video recorders. Sound is managed with numerous Dolby E and surround encoder/decoder products, with surround mixing on a Calrec Sigma mixing deck with Bluefin, a 320-channel processor system capable of 8 x 5.1 surround, stereo or mono audio groups. The Grass Valley Kalypso HD 4M/E production switcher, Abekas Dveous/MX dual-channel DVE and Chyron HyperX2 SD/HD graphics CG make up video production. Audio support equipment includes an RTS Adam intercom, Wohler AMP2 audio monitors, Ward Beck AMS8-1AM monitors, Crown CTs-4200 amplifiers and JBL speakers.
The 53ft trailer features a 41ft by 5ft expando section that provides room for the three-deck production center and the 25ft-long transmission and video support area. Thunder’s first production, for MLB, aired May 12, 2009.
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