TECHNOLOGY

premier football from Germany, Italy, Centralised, France, Brazil, Australia and the USA. BT Sport has developed rapidly as both broadcaster and TV brand. Less tapeless than two years ago the organisation did not exist, but is now a fully- fl edged and respected sports channel workflow boasting viewing fi gures in excess of 1.3 million. It recently acquired ESPN, another dedicated sports channel, at BT Sport which is also broadcast from the IBC. The room manages studios over 150 incoming and outgoing HD vision lines as well as inbound satellite traffi c from BT’s Madley earth station, Steve Montgomery one of Europe’s biggest satellite earth stations, making the BT Sport investigates the Production Hub one of the most highly fl exible and connected buildings in Europe. Timeline , a leading provider effective tapeless of post-production, outside broadcast and studio-based facilities for every workfl ow within major UK network, was selected by BT Sport to lead on the transformation BT Sport’s new programme. The company, in conjunction with a technical installation broadcast complex. team from Megahertz, built and integrated a full broadcast facility in record-breaking period of 8 months to by Steve Montgomery meet the launch deadline: achieving art of the former one of the largest and quickest International broadcast installations in the industry. Broadcast Centre The centre houses three large fl exible P TV studios, sports production galleries, at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London a master control room, 20 edit suites, has been transformed into the new dubbing theatres and an audience home of BT Sport with state-of-the-art holding area. production and systems Paramount to the tapeless workfl ow for BT’s new television broadcast in the centre is the ability to connect operations. BT sport is a broadcasting any user, anywhere in the building to station with 24-7 operational capability any service or application running on so equipment reliability is crucial to machines in the central apparatus ensure instant and reliable delivery of critical digital assets throughout the extensive production facility. An iconic sporting backdrop for BT Sport, BT’s tenancy of the former IBC building is part of the legacy of London’s Olympic Park. The new studios are the production hub for BT Sport 1 and BT Sport 2 transmitting a host of sporting coverage, including live action from the Barclays Premier, FA Cup, Scottish Premier and UEFA Europa Leagues, supplemented by

Images courtesy of the BT Media Image Library

54 | TV-BAY MAGAZINE: ISSUE 88 APRIL 2014 would allow complete fl exibility to Two IHSE Draco tera KVM switches, interconnect hundreds of workstations each with 288 ports, connect editors, throughout the building to banks of designers and production staff to remotely-located electronic equipment; the banks of Avid editing machines, so that edit suites, galleries and Omneon storage devices, EVS offi ce spaces could operate without servers, Chryon production tools and needing to install noisy and heat- the host of other essential broadcast producing equipment locally. Any components physically located in the workstation has to be able to connect central apparatus room. They provide to any source device; under user the required delay-free switching control but subject to administrator between sources and workstations restrictions. This level of connectivity to create an end-to-end tapeless allows production teams to use any workfl ow; 32 ports of ingest allow of the available edit suites by instantly immediate access to incoming feeds connecting the suite’s workstations to in any of the 20 edit suites or on any their specifi c servers. Pre-confi gured of the 200 producer desktops. IP and stored connection paths allow the Director logging stations allow live production teams to move suites from feeds and rushes to be tagged with day-to-day, instantly connecting to appropriate keywords and metadata. their data servers with no interruption Production staff can browse the to their work. With the imminent archive and live feeds, make playlists arrival of 4K broadcasting and with 8K and send the content to a variety of expected in the future the system has destinations including the high end to be ready to handle those formats, edit suites for fi nishing, TX for play- all with no latency; a parameter out, distribution partners or archive. that is crucial within the broadcasting In addition to the edit suites, there are industry.” eight voiceover booths, a dubbing To achieve this objective, IHSE KVM theatre and a QC suite. matrix switches provide the critical NEC P-Series professional monitors central data switching functionality were selected by Timeline to throughout the building. They were complement the switching system selected after extensive technical and are used throughout the complex evaluation by combined engineering to provide the visual interface to teams. “IHSE’s combination of users. Large format LCD displays high video resolution, low latency and desktop screens were installed and instant switching, combined in the edit suites, galleries and the with comprehensive interfacing to engineering support room; they studio control systems and stored are also mounted on the monitor room (CAR). “From the outset of the confi guration capability made it stacks in the master control room project BT Sport was clear on their the ideal choice,” said Ian Martin. where mission-critical performance is overall objectives,” explained Ian “Its modular construction and essential. Martin, Broadcast Solution Consultant upgradability cover the requirement Locating the servers and computers in for AIT partnership group. “The for future growth within the broadcast the CAR yields a number of signifi cant aim was to deploy a system that centre and the adoption of new 4K and 8K formats.” Searching?

broadcast cameraman Search with full details of hundreds of GTC accredited Camera Operators, Lighting Cameramen, DoPs and specialist cameramen, why go anywhere else? www.gtc.org.uk/search TV-BAY MAGAZINE: ISSUE 88 APRIL 2014 | 55 TECHNOLOGY

benefi ts. Centralising computers in “The entire tapeless system is a controlled environment maximises mirrored at a standalone BT disaster reliability and security and aids recovery site where another Draco access for IT management as well as tera KVM switch is deployed. Future preventing unauthorised copying of enhancements will include the addition fi les by means of USB fl ash memory of new broadcast equipment as devices. Divorcing the computer necessary and the interconnection from the user workstation means of the switches together using the a computer can be confi gured and new Matrix Grid software to create assigned to a specifi c task and made a single, larger, virtual matrix that will available as needed by a user, rather allow operators to reach across the than providing the same application boundaries of the individual switches.” to several users for intermittent use The Draco tera KVM switch was one alongside other programs. Studios of the crucial elements that enabled and edit suites can be built for general BT Sport to meet the tight timescale purpose use, rather than designated to launch a bouquet of new TV to a specifi c task or project. The broadcast channels; on time and application and content effectively with a complete set of features. The ‘follows’ the user around; which original project specifi cation was met means that a studio or edit suite can in full and additional requirements and be used by any user, allowing the changes to the specifi cation were business to operate more fl exibly and Images courtesy of the BT Media Image Library accommodated with ease. effi ciently. “At the core of our new studio build The tight installation schedule formats, add dual- and triple-head is a spirit of collaboration that brings meant that there was very little equipment in place of single-head and the best of industry working together time to work and absolutely no integrate peripheral devices such as toward a common aim: to make the room for error. Any changes in the touch screen controllers over USB. BT Sport studios a world-class hub specifi cation of the system had to be Single- and dual-link DVI video signals for the best ideas and talent.” Jamie accommodated. “KVM equipment are generally used within the studios Hindhaugh, Chief Operating Offi cer of selection, procurement, confi guration and supported by USB interfaces and BT Sport. and integration to the point of live digital audio; however a special design broadcast was completed in just to handle some specifi c VGA-only seven months,” explains Hugh Pollard, equipment was also completed by Integration partners: Timeline TV. “The route recommended IHSE within the timescale.” by IHSE was to individually confi gure Timeline TV individual components prior to Scene Double, IHSE’s UK distributor, installation in the CAR. Flex-port provided technical and integration Lead partner. Project technology in the Draco tera allowed support to the project teams. Ray management and end-to-end us to set any port as an input or Gordon, managing director of Scene design and build Double highlighted the complexity of output and then disconnect the www.timeline.tv extender cards. When reinstalled the installation: “This is one of the Megahertz later in its fi nal location, the switch largest single-system installations automatically identifi es the equipment of the IHSE Draco tera switch in the Technical design and fi t-out. world. When we were planning the and reconnects. So we were www.megahertz.co.uk effectively integrating the full system system architecture for BT Sport, we AIT Partnership Group whilst the fl oor was still being laid. were confi dent that the tera’s inherent Simple connection between the two scalability and functionality would KVM specifi cation, consultancy Draco tera chassis to form one large, allow us to achieve a solution that and integration. would work immediately and provide virtual matrix also provided additional www.ait-pg.co.uk functionality to the system. a growth path in the future. The excellent system engineering capability Scene Double “As with any large project, devices and commitment of the integration Exclusive UK distributor, support were substituted during the build teams, coupled with the fl exibility phase and we had to respond and consultancy services for IHSE and capability of the Draco tera KVM products. immediately. The modular architecture contributed in equal measure to the and total fl exibility of the Draco tera success of the project. www.scene-double.co.uk allows us to switch between signal

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