In Broadcast - December 2014 - 50


I N T E R N A T I O N A L

WWW.INBROADCAST.COM | ISSUE 38 - DECEMBER 2014

N E W S

InSTUDIO

VSM System Controls ARD News Studio
T

he ﬁrst transmission from the
new ARD 'Tagesschau' studio
(Germany's most prominent news
programme) took place after
conversion and modernisation work
that had taken a number of months.
The studio sets new standards
in audio-visual communication
of information - with the most
impressive feature being the
18-metre wide back projection
wall onto which video material can
be projected in real-time during
the programmes.
This modernisation also included
converting the whole production to
HD quality. A key component of the
new technology is L-S-B Broadcast
Technologies' VSM System, which
assumes control of several tasks in
the new studio complex.
VSM is the centralised control
system for video and audio routers
and interfaces, IMDs and UMDs,

50

ARD 'Tagesschau' studio

studio automation,
servers as well as
the tally system.
The system was
installed and
conﬁgured in situ
by MCI Hamburg.
The
ARDcomplex consists
of a large studio
and two control
rooms and the
VSM controls all
the background
s w i t c h i n g ,
including both
on-air switching
and the tally
in addition to
switching the audio
and video routers. One of the two ARD control rooms
The VSM also
24 multiviewers, whose UMDs and
controls all the signal routing in
IMDs are controlled by the VSM,
case of critical equipment failure.
are available.
Particular importance was
With regards to video the VSM
attached to the system's
system controls one Sony MVS 7000
redundancy, whereby VSM
production switcher in each control
controls the redundancy
room and has access to, amongst
switchover between the
other things, Tally, Label or aux-bus
two control rooms.
routing. In the case of the Stagetec
For each control room
Nexus audio routers and mixers
an Evertz (288x288
VSM has direct access to DSP
frame) video router is
parameters adjusting microphone
in use. More than 130
input equalisers and switching
Penta displays (control
crosspoints via the Gadget Server
of the input switching
5 which is incorporated in the VSM
and screensaver on/off
system. The Lynx modular system
through VSM) as well as
is also connected via VSM and all

frame synchroniser parameters are
available to the VSM.
The VSM's vLayer function
enables the Mosart automation to
have full access to controlling the
video routers. VSM is also used for
layout design and labelling of the
24 multiviewers.
The news presenters' controls
have been made especially for this
particular studio. They are built into
the desk for the presenters' use and
are controlled by means of 14 VSM
GPI units (19"). They also include
special foot switches for the studio
presenters to preselect the material
to be run in the programme.

ABC TV Melbourne Installs Lawo Console Solutions
A

ustralian national public
broadcaster ABC has taken
delivery of two Lawo mc² consoles
- one Lawo mc²90 and one mc²56 -
for its ABC TV studios in Elsternwick,
Melbourne.
Supply, conﬁguration, installation
and commissioning was carried
out by Lawo's Australian partner
Professional Audio & Television (PAT).
The system, which was
commissioned recently, consists
of one Lawo mc²90 console with
105 faders and a Lawo 48 fader
mc²56 console system. Lawo's
mc²90 ﬂagship console core was
supplied with 27 MADI ports, 96
AES3 inputs and outputs, eight DSP
cards including a redundant standby card, fully redundant controller
cards and power supplies.
Two local DALLIS frames in Control
Room 31 provided access to all
local Control Room I/O, while being
connected to the main console core
in DCAR via MADI. Six mobile stage
boxes with fully redundant DALLIS
frames - each with 48 Mic inputs, 16
Line outputs, four AES3 I/O, as well
as four serial ports - offer maximum

ﬂexibility by easily adding additional
resources to the console's MADI
ﬁbre infrastructure.
In addition to two local DALLIS
I/O frames in Control Room
33, the mc²56 NOVA73 HD core
was equipped with 18 MADI
ports, 64 AES3 I/O channels
and five DSP cards including a
redundant DSP card.
Both console systems provide the
operators with access to hundreds
of VST plugins via two Lawo's plugin
servers located in DCAR, and one
of each connected to the consoles
MADI infrastructure.
PAT worked closely with the Lawo
project team in Germany to ﬁrstly
deliver the mc²56 MKII console in
August 2014, for ABC's studio 33.
Due to tight project deadlines, while
Lawo was building and testing the
new mc²56 system in Germany, PAT
supplied ABC with a comprehensive
ﬁbre network throughout the entire
facility to accommodate the
new Lawo system and provide
maximum flexibility.
Managing Director of PAT Patrick
Salloch commented: "We had to

accommodate TV production
schedules while performing this
major upgrade of the audio facilities
and it was imperative that the PAT
project team worked extremely close
with Lawo in Germany to assure all
timelines were met precisely."
Once the mc²56 system had been
installed and commissioned, PAT's
focus shifted to the install of the
mc²90 from mid-September. As the
console was delivered in various
sections due to its size, specialised

ABC's Lawo mc²90

Lawo factory engineers assembled
and commissioned the 3.2m console
in October this year.
Lawo's CEO and President
Philipp Lawo said: "We are
delighted to have supplied the
ABC with Lawo's proven cutting
edge mc²90 and mc²56 television
production consoles.
"In cooperation with our Australian
partner PAT we are looking forward
to servicing the ABC in their future
broadcasting needs."

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