Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI), the largest television company in Italy, has upgraded the signal distribution infrastructure at its facility in Rome to handle 3Gb/s and all types of HD-SDI signals. The newly renovated plant includes a large UTAH-400/XL routing system from Utah Scientific that is configured as a 1000 x 2000 matrix for video and an additional audio router with a 2000 x 2000 I/O capability.
RAI is the Italian state-owned public broadcaster, operating three main television services and additional thematic channels as well as radio stations, WebTV and satellite channels. The broadcaster said Utah engineers work closely with its staff to develop a solution to its unique requirements.
For the installation, Utah Scientific and RAI engineers cooperated to devise a completely new approach for managing audio and video in a large environment. As implemented, the system enables global routing control and full redundancy between RAI’s two facilities, located in Saxa Rubra and in Via Teulada, Rome.
The UTAH-400/XL can be configured as a 1056 x 1056 matrix in a single equipment rack using industry-standard BNC connectors. Because of its unique architecture, the router can be scaled up via a single family of matrix building blocks. Like all UTAH-400 digital routers, it includes redundant power supplies and signal format flexibility — including the ability to handle 3Gb/s progressive-scan HD signal formats.