IMG MediaHouse, part of IMG worldwide, the global sports, fashion and media company, used a Hybrid routing system from Miranda Technologies to simplify the signal management for its first major World Feed 3D TV broadcast of a Premiership football match recently, writes David Fox.
Based in west London, the IMG MediaHouse facility recently installed an NVision 8500 Hybrid routing system with integrated audio processing to serve three 3Gbps/HD studios for its live productions. This facility is also used for the BBC’s The Football League Show and by ESPN for Barclays Premier League matches.
“The Miranda system sits as the hub of this very busy live facility, and we’ve been delighted with its performance across our new production studios and galleries. We wanted to build in capability for 3D workflow, and this system has accommodated it seamlessly,” said MediaHouse’s General Manager, Shane Warden.
“We’re using a mix of 3Gbps, HD, SD, ASI, AES and MADI sources for our live sports productions, with all these formats handled by a single router frame. This high level of integration avoids video/audio latency issues, and also saves space and simplifies cable management,” he added.
“By employing Miranda’s modular hybrid technology, we can deliver flexible studio and gallery environments that cater for the next generation of 3Gbps 1080/50p and 3D live sport production.”
Miranda’s NVision 8500 Hybrid router integrates de-embedding, shuffling, break-away and re-embedding within a single frame. This means that signal processing tasks, like swapping programme audio tracks, can be handled within the router. Advanced Hybrid router cards with audio processing can be mixed with regular input and output cards to minimize system costs. It is also claimed to reduce power requirements by about 42% (5,700W vs 9,800W for equivalent systems) compared to traditional video and audio routers with separate embedders and de-embedders.