MultiDyne and Neutrik’s opticalCON® DRAGONFLY

Innovative, rugged design and ease-of-cleaning make Neutrik the ideal connector choice

Wed 08, 2020—Charlotte, NC – August 2020… MultiDyne Video & Fiber Optic Systems is an industry leader in signal conversion and fiber-optic-based transport systems for the broadcast, digital cinema, teleconferencing, Pro-AV, and related markets. With a rich assortment of offerings, all of which are designed to address mission critical video and audio applications, it is crucial that the connectors interfacing their products with other equipment provide secure, trouble free performance. This is precisely why MultiDyne recently certified Neutrik’s opticalCON DRAGONFLY connectors for use with its SilverBack camera adapter products.

Neutrik’s opticalCON DRAGONFLY connectors incorporate Fusion splice technology that delivers consistent performance and are field repairable. As they fit into standardized SMPTE cutouts, switching to the opticalCON DRAGONFLY is easy. Compared to other connectors, Neutrik’s opticalCON DRAGONFLY offers easy cleaning with compressed air—resulting in low maintenance intervals with no need for cleaning tools and inspection scopes. Equally important, they offer a superior anti-kink boot design and incorporate a modular form factor that makes it easy to replace parts if damaged.

Recognizing the advantages of Neutrik’s opticalCON DRAGONFLY connectors, MultiDyne’s President and CEO, Frank Jachetta, was eager to incorporate these connectors into his company’s SilverBack product group. “The SilverBack V line provides a robust, full bandwidth fiber optic link between any 12G, Quad-Link, or Dual-Link 4K camera and one’s truck, control room, or ‘video village’ position,” he explained. “The system puts all of the signals needed for multi-camera 4K/UHDTV production onto a single tactical or SMPTE hybrid fiber cable using Neutrik’s opticalCON DRAGONFLY connectors—ensuring robust, trouble-free connectivity for any studio or remote production. Of note, the ease of cleaning the opticalCON DRAGONFLY connectors is another major benefit.”

Neutrik connectors are recognized globally for their innovative design, stellar performance, and reliability. MultiDyne’s SilverBack and the HUT product groups have been available with Neutrik’s opticalCON connectors for quite some time. This prior experience with Neutrik made the decision to offer the company’s opticalCON DRAGONFLY connectors an easy decision. “Like all Neutrik products,” Jachetta reports, “the opticalCON DRAGONFLY is of the highest quality and design. I know from firsthand experience; it will be well supported.”

Before turning his attention to the business of the day, Jachetta offered these parting comments regarding his company’s use of Neutrik connectors, “The ability to offer our customers a variety of options is a crucial element of our business and, in the same way that we strive to always ‘have our customer’s back’ in terms of support, we know that Neutrik always has our back. From design to service, Neutrik is a pleasure to work with. This is precisely why, moving forward, we also intend to offer the opticalCON DRAGONFLY with our SMPTE-HUT product group.”

InBroadcast Q&A with MultiDyne

InB: Can you give us a brief overview of what we can expect in the next 6-12 months within your sector?

We have already seen shifts toward more streaming as a means of consumption with the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond live and on-demand television, we are seeing a stronger hold in surrounding market verticals that MultiDyne sells into. For example, houses of worship have really strengthened their streaming architectures to ensure they can deliver services to parishioners at their homes. Worship facilities have always been broadcast savvy, so this represents a greater step forward in their broadcast capabilities. We are also seeing entertainment companies transition to on-demand models for live performance, including pay-per-view concerts from empty venues and theaters.

InB:Can you explain the benefits in regard to the LATEST product / service announcements?

One common thread across all of these areas is the need for reliable transport and high-quality encoding to ensure quality consumer experiences. As streaming becomes the norm, fiber and compression are core technologies to enable these services. We see those markets as important growth areas for both our businesses. MultiDyne’s SilverBack camera back fiber transport systems will bring great value to entertainment and production companies shooting live streamed events, as well as for producing reality shows and other location-based events.

We have also taken steps to strengthen our product offering in the compression space with our MD9200 Series of encoders and decoders. These products are equally valuable and ideal for linear broadcast/production models and streaming media workflows, including OTT services and on-demand events. These products extend MultiDyne’s reach deeper into the signal processing chain and strengthen our value proposition as a core supplier from the content acquisition stage through to the delivery point.

InB: What challenges did you face when designing / launching the product / services?

Fiber transport means something different to every customer, and that can be tricky when it comes to nailing the engineering design for a product. Someone always wants one more video connection, more audio capacity, or wants to drop audio and add more data transport. There is a lot to consider on that part alone, and then you have to weigh the formats and bandwidth. 12G means more high-speed circuits and a great leap in bandwidth, and that brings challenges of its own. Though these are all fairly simple devices on paper, with each new format and transport option comes a new set of engineering challenges. We are increasingly moving to more modular systems that allow users to customize their systems, versus supporting an exponentially growing set of requirements with unending purpose-built products.

InB: Which territories do you think will show particular interest?

We don’t really see major distinctions by region when it comes to transport workflow, but we do see some differences in requests. For example, we have seen an uptick in inquiries for our compression products coming from Asia where we have made aggressive moves over the past year to build our presence and partner network. We have made similar moves in Europe to grow our presence, and as a result there has been greater adoption of our fiber products in both regions. Worldwide, there is growing interest in 12G, and MultiDyne has been very aggressive in adapting our products for 12G transport.

The general point is that the differences are minor by region, and that there is a need for fiber infrastructure in every region. We have strengthened our global presence to serve those needs, along with a continually evolving product line to serve emerging requirements.

InB: Any future product innovations ahead that you can discuss?

Nothing specific that we can talk about yet, but I can say that the industry will see more 12G MultiDyne products coming to market, and that our IP-enabled innovations are on the horizon. IP has been used to move content around studios for some time, and we are beginning to see that transport mechanism as part of the mobile production workflow. The truck companies use a lot of MultiDyne fiber transport equipment, particularly when it comes to signal conversion and field fiber throwdown systems. At some point we will see a greater need for IP compression technologies between studios, trucks, and locations, as well as more GPS-equipped transport systems/

InB:Can you advise on your ideal market for these products/services?

This takes me back to the point that everyone needs fiber, and everyone needs compression when it comes to reliable video transport and high-quality signal encoding. The traditional broadcaster, the mobile truck, and increasingly the emerging OTT and streaming service provider will continue to be our bread and butter. We do think there are interesting scenarios within these markets, such as convergence with IP and NDI that will become more appealing as topologies change and grow.

Baptist Church in Alabama Establishes 12G and 4K Foundation

The ESB Group of Alabama’s comprehensive infrastructure upgrade strengthens technical capacities for in-house AV and live broadcast, including streaming services for the social distancing era and beyond

Claudia Kienzle

The COVID-19 put a temporary halt to AV integration projects across most verticals, with houses of worship among the most affected. As luck would have it, The ESB Group of Alabama wrapped a large installation at a Birmingham-area church just as lockdowns took shape. Furthermore, the key players had an unexpected ace up their sleeves, as the design included technologies to support live streams for worship services.

Located in Hoover, Alabama, Hunter Street Baptist Church is located in a busy suburban neighborhood outside of Alabama’s largest city. The church moved to a 2000-seat worship center in 2000, and purchased a used mobile production truck several years later to support broadcast operations. This truck was gutted and equipment was eventually used to be a on campus control room.

While the technology was in fine shape at the time of purchase, the SD-SDI video systems were already aging at that time. Today, the systems are considered fully antiquated in comparison to the formats and technical infrastructure that drive today’s operations.

Furthermore, equipment was growing harder to maintain. As an example, many of the boards in the circuit-based components were beginning to fail. Every Sunday, personnel would have to white-balance the cameras several times just to maintain the correct image color. Additionally, the image quality was not ideal for image magnification or live streaming.

“This was simply a system that reached end of life,” said Patrick Sobers, Design Engineer for The ESB Group. “They had a very good SD-SDI system with high-end cameras, but it was still an antiquated format with technical limits. They now have a full 1080p system with the ability to unlock 4K capability with a just a few updates.”

Fiber Is The Future

The project required a nearly complete rip-and-replace to modernize the infrastructure. While the layout and furniture was retained, virtually everything else everything went through a wholesale change. This included a new control room, a new camera system in the worship center, and a high-speed fiber-optic backbone to move video and audio through the facility.

“We retained the general ergonomics to simplify matters,” said Sobers. “For example, we kept the layout of the shading area the same, and just made some modifications to the openings. That allowed us to sink the new RCPs into the counter to create more efficient operating environments for the shaders.

“We completely gutted the control room so we could start fresh,” he added. “That meant removing a lot of five-wire and triax. In fact, we replaced all of the existing triax with new fiber.”
The integration team installed 48 pairs of single-mode fiber between the control room and front of house, and 24 pairs of the same between the control room and a pre-existing audio room that houses most of the worship center infrastructure. MultiDyne fiber transport systems are used throughout the church for video, audio, data, genlock/sync, and Ethernet transport.

“Single-mode fiber offers much greater value than triax in a modern AV infrastructure,” said Sobers. “The single-mode fiber is all 12G-ready, which eliminates any bandwidth problems upfront. We also have the 12G transport capability built in with the MultiDyne systems between the cameras, the control room and the worship center.”

The ESB Group, in conjunction with the Production Team from Hunter Street, selected seven Sony cameras for the sanctuary, including four HDC-3100 camera systems and three BRC-X1000 PTZ cameras. The cameras are set up to operate in 1080p for now, and upgradeable to 4K with a simple software update. Those cameras were matched, respectively, with four MultiDyne SMPTE-HUT transceivers, and three MultiDyne VB-3917 LightBrix fiber transport products.

Two of the HDC-3100s are positioned permanently in the FOH booth, pointing dead center at the stage; the other two are positioned at the far left and right wings of the worship center. Two of the PTZs float from week to week to capture the orchestra from varied points of view, while the third retains a permanent position on the balcony’s edge.

“We have a 700-foot run from the HDC-3100s to the control room, and the SMPTE-HUT moves camera signals over fiber,” said Sobers. “These are simpler systems that we basically use to transport live video signals, the HUTs convert the signals as required as they move between the cameras and the CCUs.”

The SMPTE HUT transceivers automatically paired to HDC-3100s with a couple of simple dipswitch settings that were done at the MultiDyne factory. From there it was as simple as rack mounting the HUT, connecting the fiber and powering the camera through the system.

“We like how the HUT allows us to inject power on the remote side of the camera position,” said Sobers. “That way we don’t have to bus power that entire distance, and we can use dry fiber throughout the building. That makes it easy to patch and removes the need to establish a bunch of expensive legacy connectors everywhere. If anyone needs to make a new drop, we just add some inexpensive single-mode fiber, and they move the camera to that position.”

The MultiDyne VB-3917 throwdown units provide more flexibility for the floating PTZ cameras, and in addition to video, they carry all the control signals required for PTZ POV systems. Sobers explains that they transport 12G from the camera, and 3G video back to the camera positions. From there, the operators backfeed video to the sanctuary from the control room.

“The VB-3917 boxes move this entire complement of signals over 12G to an Aja Kumo 6464-12G router, which sends everything to a Ross Carbonite Ultra HD 2ME production switcher,” said Sobers. “They have Genlock back and forth, and when those lights are active we know there is a video flowing. And we can also monitor all this through the connected openGear dashboard.”

Sobers opted for the Ethernet feature on the MultiDyne VB-3917 to maintain simple connectivity with the control room. In the case of a network failure, we’re not relying on a switch to be enabled to maintain control.

“The control signals just comes though the VB-3917 and then move back to the control room,” he added. “There is a great deal of flexibility now for moving high-resolution video content and control data through the facility,” added Sobers.

Ready to Stream

The Carbonite system is one of the elements that Sobers referenced as quite operational for 4K today, though will be with some minor updates.

“They purchased the 4K license, so they can make those updates whenever they want,” said Sobers. “For now, they only needed 1080p HD capability ready to go.”

The Carbonite system includes four multiviewers, with positions for a TV shading position, and two graphics stations in the worship center for front of house and the choir. Sobers explains the latter as a dedicated prompter position used exclusively for a local choir confidence monitor.

“We keep choir graphics fairly separate from the rest of the infrastructure, and centralize that operation to a specific 80-inch monitor.”

The control room also features a new DiGiCo S21 48-channel audio mixer to handle the broadcast remix. That position is located in the back row of the control room, along with a broadcast graphics station running ProPresenter 7 and a workstation with Vimeo Livestream Studio software. The latter is used to transform computers into production control rooms for live streams, and allows the operator to input multiple feeds, graphics and master audio received from other sources in the control room.

The Studio 6 system has established a foundation for streaming direct to Facebook, Vimeo and YouTube – an important service given the multi-week lockdown that is still in place as of press time. Sobers added a Blackmagic Ultra Studio 4K encoders for ingestion to the streaming network.

“They have an ISP relationship in place to handle the video signal from that point, and there was no in-house network reconfiguration required” said Sobers. “Our work stops at the encoding stage, and the content delivery experts take care of things from there.”

What Lies Ahead

Some equipment from the previous system was retained, including the existing IMAG screens. The church continues to use its existing ProPresenter media and lyric presentation software from Renewed Vision as well.

“It’s ProPresenter all the way for them,” said Sobers. “All three graphics positions – broadcast, front of house and choir – use ProPresenter 7. These stations all interface with Blackmagic Ultra Studio devices and they take advantage of the new alpha channel built into the software for the broadcast feed.”

Lighting was also not touched, for the time being. “The church has a very good theatrical set already,” said Sobers. “Their next stop is a transition to LED, which is a project we are entering the design stage on. We see that as the next major upgrade.

“The spirit of this design and integration project is really about being proactive on their behalf, and helping them futureproof for opportunities that lie ahead,” continued Sobers. “By enabling 12G throughout the facility, establishing a robust fiber backbone and upgrading their streaming capabilities, the Hunter Street Baptist Church is set up for high-quality broadcast and in-house AV capabilities well into the future.”

This article can be viewed in the August issue of Sound & Communications publication – https://edition.pagesuite.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=95ff2288-e6cd-40b7-9b67-23aa2c214183&pnum=40

System73

Meet the KUNO Multi-CDN by System73 – the global turn-key service for content distribution. One contract, one flat price and one integration provides access to the top tier-1 CDNs. Look into the benefits of the intelligently load-balanced network or networks!

In Conversation with Playbox Technology UK Limited

In this IABM TV interview Phillip Neighbour (Chief Operating Officer, Playbox Technology UK Ltd) discusses the impact across the broadcasting industry of the rise in audience figures during the pandemic, the need to make broadcasting more accessible and how PlayBox is innovating as a result of recent events.

Q1: With advertising revenues declining across the broadcasting industry as a result of the Coronavirus, who has been hit hardest? Is there light at the end of the tunnel?
Q2: What has been the impact across the broadcasting industry of the rise in audience figures during the pandemic? Is this sustainable?
Q3: Is there a need to make broadcasting more accessible? How have we seen this take shape recently?
Q4: What’s the outlook on OTT? Has its case been made stronger by recent events?
Q5: Give us a bit of background on PlayBox, for the people who don’t already know. How and when did PlayBox start? Who do you cater towards?
Q6: How is PlayBox innovating as a result of recent events? Is there anything exciting in the pipeline?
Q7: Where can people get in touch with PlayBox?

KitPlus

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MKM is a B2B marketing communications and PR agency with international reach specialising in technology and how it is implemented in the broadcast, pro AV, media and entertainment sectors. We have long-standing and well-established relationships with the international industry media, end-users, vendors and reseller channels.

MKM has a global reach and with our personal approach to account handling and excellent creative and technical writing proficiency, we develop successful, performance-based integrated PR and marketing campaigns that support your goals and engage the people who matter to your business.

Media Technology Group

Media Technology Group, Inc. (MTG) specializes in working with technology organizations trying to establish or grow a presence in North America. MTG has deep experience and expertise in North American sales, marketing and operations. Our team includes direct sales and a strong dealer network. We know one size does not fit all; our solutions are tailored to the requirements and goals of the expanding company. Contact us for a no-obligation discussion about how we might help you expand and grow in the North American market.

Media Production & Technology Show

The Media Production & Technology Show is brought to you by Media Business Insight (MBI), publishers of industry leading multi-channel, subscription-based brands (Broadcast, Broadcast Tech, Broadcast Sport) offering content and insight to the media industries. MPTS is now the only annual show in the UK covering the broad spectrum of media and content creation from production, technology through to distribution across TV & Film. Launched in 2016, The Media Production & Technology Show provides opportunities to meet and network with the UK broadcast and creators market across a very busy two day event in West London at Olympia. You will find many of the world\’s leading brands, manufacturers, resellers, distributors presenting their latest products, services & facilities that vary across pre-production, production, post and content distribution. The two-day event also features a high calibre free seminar programme with some of the biggest names in the industry sharing their valuable insight, knowledge, and creativity. 2020 is not a show to be missed, put the 13/14th May in your diaries!