Luminis Playout, a Hungarian company that provides technical services to the IKO Media Group, is using J_nger Audio’s Level Magic technology for IKO television viewers in Central Europe.
IKO is one of the leading production and new media companies in Hungary and currently owns 6% of M-RTL, Hungary’s largest commercial TV station that broadcasts under the name of RTL Klub. The Group has 20 channels broadcasting to viewers in eight countries across the region. Luminis manages the technical facility for the playout of 15 of these channels, including six sports channels, two documentary channels and seven feature film and series channels.
Tam_s Csik_s, chief engineer at IKO Luminis Playout, said: “We broadcast audio in a number of different languages including Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Croatian and Czech. One of our sports channels features multi-audio with parallel Romanian and Hungarian commentary, while our documentary channels have three parallel audio streams and DVB subtitling.
“We began installing Level Magic C8000 series units in 2006 to balance the audio from all of these different audio sources. We have gradually expanded the system to the point where we now have Level Magic audio processing across the entire transmission chain for all 15 channels.”
J_nger Audio’s Level Magic is an adaptive level control algorithm that is designed to adjust the level from any source at any time, with no pumping, breathing or distortion. It is based on a simultaneous combination of an AGC, a Transient Processor for fast changes and a “look ahead” Peak Limiter for continuous unattended control of any programme material, regardless of its original source.
Capable of using any kind of I/O (analogue and Digital) sources, as well as SDI, HD/SDI, Dolby 5.1 and all its related metadata, Level Magic is available in a variety of configurations to suit different applications.
“We chose Level Magic because it is a sophisticated product that does an excellent job and because it is very compact, making it ideally suited to installation in a multichannel playout facility,” Csik_s said. “The SDI interface is handy for system design and it also meets our requirements for functionality. We are delighted with the performance of these units, which have improved audio quality across all 15 channels.”
Luminis was provided with its Junger Audio Level Magic processors by the company’s Hungarian distributor Rexfilm.
G_bor Csap_, project manager of Rexfilm, said: “Our customers are choosing Level Magic because it provides a safe algorithm for controlling audio levels across a wide range of programme material, without causing distortion or applying severe dynamic processing to the sound. The fact that Level Magic is automated and very easy to use also adds to its appeal.”
