Broadcast system rental specialist Presteigne Charter has selected Evertz to provide core routing and terminal equipment for its broadcasts of the London 2012 Olympics. The company is working with two major rights holders: CTV (Canadian Television) and TOU (The Olympic Unit), a conglomeration of Foxtel and Channel 9 Australia. Presteigne Charter will supply its rights holders with host broadcast signals, which allow its clients to put their own production value on the signals. Presteigne Charter has integrated and upgraded several studios and playout centers for both of its clients. In both of the facilities the company has installed an Evertz large EQX Core Router (540×540) (pictured) along with an Evertz MAGNUM control system to distribute the video signals. “We were one of the original adopters of the EQX and although we’ve tested other products the reliability, flexibility and scalability of the EQX combined with the sheer power and cost-effectiveness of the MAGNUM control system has surpassed all other options. We used the MAGNUM control system for the first time on the French Open as a precursor to the Olympics and our operators found there was more flexibility in the way they could control the router using the MAGNUM control system software,” said Roy Callow, director of projects at Presteigne Charter. The Evertz routing system will enable Presteigne Charter to provide reliable signal distribution of its Olympic signals. Additionally, Evertz 7700 series cards are being used in varying forms throughout the facility. One of the key cards in both projects is the Evertz 7746FSE-EAES8-HD. The 7746FSE-EAES8-HD is a frame synchroniser card that executes de-embedding, track shuffling and re-embedding in order for the rights holders to apply their own commentary on the audio track within the video signal. In the past, several cards would have been used for embedding, de-embedding, distribution amplification and frame synchronisation, and now all these functions can be accomplished using a single Evertz 7746FSE-EAES8-HD card. “Presteigne Charter has a long history of using Evertz equipment to facilitate the broadcast of major sporting events and, for our work during the London 2012 Games, we have again turned to them for their state of the art routers and control systems. With broadcasting requirements diversifying so much between different clients, we can rely on Evertz for an effective and flexible solution: they know the way we work and this synergy is vital during the planning and implementation stages of any project” said Callow. www.evertz.com
