Bingen, Germany, 7 September 2023: As part of a multi-year contract, and new to the Norwegian market, DMC Production is the technical service provider offering the infrastructure and production capacity for Norwegian broadcaster TV 2. DMC commissioned Broadcast Solutions to plan and install the new DMC remote production hub, which found its new home in the heart of Oslo.
With over 700 matches, from football, handball and ice hockey to field-hockey and many other sports, and to be managed from the hub, the volume of productions is impressive. The hub also serves other purposes, acting as Norway’s central VAR (Video Assistant Referee) hub and housing the complete VAR infrastructure for Norwegian football league, Eliteserien. The result is one of Scandinavia’s most modern remote production facilities, which can also be regarded as the definitive VAR location and training centre in Norway and abroad, recently having realised training for the Finnish football federation.
Eight VAR VOR (Video Assistant Referee Video Operation Rooms) have been set up in the remote production hub, where video referees can monitor up to eight matches simultaneously. EVS’ ZEEBRA solution, implemented by Broadcast Solutions for the VAR installation, is FIFA certified, allowing matches of the Norwegian national football teams to be monitored using the VAR VOR in the DMC hub.
A total of 64 venues throughout Norway, where the matches of the different sports occur, are connected to the DMC remote production hub via a fibre network provided by TV 2 and DMC’s communication partner Telenor. Over 130 In/Out lines are available to provide maximum flexibility.
Mats Berggren, Chief Operation Officer, DMC Norway, is enthusiastic about the installation: “We knew that the challenges realising such a complex production hub were high and the time to implement them was short. We are even more thrilled with the result. We now have a remote production hub in the middle of Oslo, setting new standards in the long term, not only thinking about the quality of the productions but also about new ways of using technology and staff. The flexibility in using the technology and workflows gives our teams greater freedom to leverage their creativity.”
In the planning, all involved emphasised the highest flexibility regarding workflows, multifunctional and multipurpose workstations and the optimal utilisation of resources. For content production, three live production rooms are available (two smaller, one large), equipped with all necessary broadcast technology (video switcher, audio mixer, editing suites, etc.). Using these, the teams can simultaneously utilise up to eight productions (from 2 to 8 cameras). The VAR workplaces’ potential use for production needs is a further result of the installation’s flexibility. The shader positions are also used optimally, with only six people handling the complete shading process. For smaller productions with four cameras, Simplylive’s ViBox systems are used alongside EVS within the hub, each flexibly assigned to any workplace.
DMC relies on the Riedel MediorNet solution for internal routing in the hub, with the overall system being based on SDI. On-site production in the venues is carried out by OB vans from external service providers and, for smaller 4-camera productions, by 10 DMC vans.
The remote production hub’s flexibility in distributing productions, the allocation of signals to different workplaces and the multifunctional use of these workplaces is possible to a large extent by using Broadcast Solutions’ own-breed hi human interface broadcast and media control system. One of the primary aims was to freely assign signals and tasks from any venue to any workplace within the hub, resulting in reduced resources including a massive MCR (Master Control Room). The MCR in the DMC remote production hub comprises just one desk with two workstations.
“The DMC hub was a challenging project because of the short implementation phase, said Peter Lund, Project Manager at Broadcast Solutions. “The excellent cooperation between the Broadcast Solutions teams in Germany, Finland and Norway has paid off all the more. Collectively we have realised another lighthouse project in terms of production hubs, but even further for our hi human interface control tool, providing the needed flexibility, even in such a complex system. In summary, another milestone and reference project allowing the company to grow in Nordics and across Europe.”
For more information on DMC and the DMC remote production hub, please visit https://dmcproduction.com/.
For more about Broadcast Solutions products and services at www.broadcast-solutions.de. The company is exhibiting at IBC 2023, on stand 10.D41 and outside area 0.A01.
