InBroadcast - InReview 2022 - 38

38
www.inbroadcast.com | Vol: 12 - Issue 12 | InReview 2022
InStudio
CT Group UK migrates
to IP with RTS intercoms
Investing heavily in RTS IP-based intercom technology as part of a wider shift to IP and ST-2110...
T
and
he UK arm of Creative Technology
is moving to an IP-based model
upgraded much of its
has
technology to facilitate this. As part
of that move, the rental company
has made a large investment in RTS
equipment to ensure its intercoms
would be IP-based.
" We're making a
very
big
investment in IP this year and are
looking at the next generation of
signal distribution - we have chosen
ST-2110 as a platform for that, "
explains Sid Lobb, Head of Vision
and Integrated Networks at Creative
Technology. " It's part of a direction
of investment that is heavily biased
towards IP. "
Two key reasons were behind this
decision. Firstly, NEP Group's US
operation has a large inventory of
RTS equipment, and secondly the
company
found
solutions
its
existing
RTS
to be extremely flexible
when in use during the pandemic
lockdowns.
" From our experiences over the
pandemic, particularly with large
virtual contribution TV shows and
conferences with massive amounts
of IFBs and returns and everything
else, the Dante workflow that
comes as part of OMNEO with RTS
was a key enabler for us being so
flexible in pulling in lots of virtual
contributions, " recalls Lobb. " When
we were looking at what we were
going to do during our summer
deliveries and what we needed to
invest in, RTS came out as a clear
that is adding value to CT Group's
workflows
is
RVON (RTS
Voice
Over Network) - a proprietary VoIP
technology for RTS intercoms that
uses
standard Ethernet, allowing
users to communicate globally over
the public internet with no distance
limitations or latency issues.
" We hadn't used RVON (RTS Voice
Over Network) very heavily in the
past, but recently it has been a real
problem-solver, and very simple to
work with, adds CT Group's Dallas
McIntosh. " There were issues with
the network
at a recent
winner in terms of flexibility, and also
in terms of group consistency.
" The NEP Group has a massive
Creative Technology Group - Inside the production control room (PCR)
increased, the
our requirements
inventory of RTS kit already; a lot of
that is built into facilities, but there's
also a fair amount - particularly in
America - that can be rented out for
large events, allowing us to scale up
as needed, " he continues. " What we
wanted to do was create a similar
kind of inventory that will be Europebased,
product
that
can support
the rest of the group when they are
delivering large events over here. "
The flexibility
inherent in RTS
products continues to be a major
benefit for Creative Technology. " We
have a number of ODIN matrices
and we initially bought them with
16 ports, because we needed small
matrices
recalls
in different
modules, "
Lobb. " However, when
licensing option made it easy to
upgrade from 16 to 32 or 48-ports -
all in the same hardware platform.
In addition, there are considerations
like additional
redundancy
a direction we're already
and
with both our video and our audio
distribution,
now comms is
being interwoven into that, because
it's such an integral part of every
show we do.
" The new Digital Beltpack is a big
new thing for us. It can serve as a
simple four-channel
beltpack
in
partyline mode or used as what is
essentially a four-channel matrix
panel. It can be connected to a PoE
switch allowing up to six to be daisychained
together. That functionality
in that form factor is really useful. "
Another unique
RTS technology
location
- it's
taking
meaning that we didn't have enough
ports available to work with OMNEO
and then I remembered that I had
16 channels I could use on a matrix
equipped with RVON cards. That
was a real eye-opener and I'm a real
advocate of RVON now. "
The first major use for the new
came with a large
took place
investment
multi-sport event
IP
is
that
over the summer in Birmingham.
" We provided
an
distribution, " says
something that
could
infrastructure for all
ST-2110-based
signal
Lobb. " This
we've been
investing in for a while now and we
were looking for a comms system
that
piggyback
the
different nodes around a
onto that
infrastructure and investment. The
fact that we can now link together
all
venue and have matrix-level comms
interfacing with the broadcast
really important to us. We designed
an ST-2110 network that we had full
control over and transported most
of the media requirements around
venues. "
With a successful first use, Lobb is
RTS ODIN matrices, KP-Series keypanels and DBP digital beltpacks form the backbone of the investment
clearly satisfied with the investment
that has been made. " It's the flexible
ecosystem that's so useful to us in
rental. It's the different form-factors,
it's the four-channel beltpack, it's the
1U 16 panels, the 2U 32 panels - all
of that's really useful, but then you
add on things like the commentary
panels that just all work natively with
OMNEO, it's a really powerful offering
for an ecosystem of products. "
https://rtsintercoms.com
is

http://www.inbroadcast.com https://inbroadcast.com/news/ct-group-uk-migrates-to-ip-with-rts-intercoms https://inbroadcast.com/news/ct-group-uk-migrates-to-ip-with-rts-intercoms https://inbroadcast.com/news/ct-group-uk-migrates-to-ip-with-rts-intercoms https://www.rtsintercoms.com

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