Archive notice: This article was originally published on June 2, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
“The 29th Summer Olympic Games are open.” More than 90,000 spectators in Beijing’s Grand National Stadium will hear this sentence on August 8—mixed on two AURUS consoles in the 330-meter stadium’s central sound-control room and fed through a NEXUS audio network into the stadium’s 220 line-array sound system.
During the Games, the sound from China’s largest stadium PA system will also reach around 40 billion television viewers across the globe. From the AURUS control room it will be sent via MADI to the International Broadcast Center (IBC), and to around 60 outside-broadcast vehicles or mobile technical centers operated by broadcasters from around the world. Many of them are likewise equipped with high-end audio technology from MEDIAGROUP.
In the “Bird’s Nest”: STAGETEC mixing and audio routing
Two STAGETEC AURUS consoles prevailed over international mixing-console competition in the tender for the National Stadium issued by Chinese system integrator Guangzhou Ruifeng Jianscheng Ltd. The task of the AURUS/NEXUS system installed in March 2008 is to handle sound reinforcement for the extensive stadium while simultaneously providing the signals to the IBC as an international sound feed.
The configuration is correspondingly powerful and flexible. The main console is an AURUS with 40 faders and a capacity of 96 audio channels. The smaller AURUS subsidiary console has eight faders and accesses the same DSP resources as the larger console. It provides sound for special zones of the stadium that receive a different signal from the arena.
Both consoles operate on a NEXUS network comprising eight base devices plus one NEXUS STAR. The advantage of this integrated solution, typical of STAGETEC, is that NEXUS’s own audio-processing capabilities can be used in addition to its format diversity. All delay lines, for example, are preset through NEXUS DSP. This ensures delay-free sound and protects against accidental changes to parameters, including during mixing-console configuration.
A final note: the planners of the Bird’s Nest were so convinced by AURUS and NEXUS that the entire system was permanently installed. Unlike at many international sporting events, Beijing is therefore not using loaned equipment, but equipment that will remain in the stadium.
$$$$
In the OB van: STAGETEC on board
As exciting as the stadium construction is for architecture fans, the fleet of OB vehicles that will supply the world with pictures and sound from Beijing for two weeks is equally exciting for broadcast professionals. Asian, American, and European broadcasters are sending their flagships to the Games. HDTV is standard for video, and at least 5.1 for audio.
At the forefront is the new HDTV truck from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. Equipped with more than 25 cameras, the vehicle features a spacious audio-control room that creates additional space through its own slide-out section. An AURUS/NEXUS system installed here easily meets HDTV’s surround requirements: the console has 48 faders and 96 audio channels and accesses five NEXUS units, two of which can be used as mobile stage boxes outside the truck. The total number of inputs and outputs is 300 x 300—a large performance reserve even for HDTV requirements.
A small TRIAGON mixing console from MEDIAGROUP is optimally integrated into the system architecture. It operates with DSP independent of the NEXUS STAR and can be patched into the audio network via MADI when needed.
The HDTV vehicle, built out by Sony China in the United Kingdom, will be used for the first time at the Olympic Games. After winning the tender, MEDIAGROUP delivered the audio technology to the UK at the end of 2007, where it was integrated into the vehicle.
$$$$
At the end of December 2007, Chinese regional channel Hunan Economic TV also received an HDTV OB vehicle with STAGETEC audio technology. The fast eight-camera reporting vehicle likewise relies on an AURUS in the audio-control room. With 40 faders and 96 audio channels, it is scarcely less powerful than CCTV’s prominent acquisition. Two permanently installed NEXUS base devices are complemented by a mobile, ultra-compact 1U NEXUS developed specifically for sports-broadcast applications.
Through NEXUS, the vehicle has around 250 x 250 inputs and outputs available. The partly privately owned Hunan ECTV broadcasts a full schedule for the Hunan region along the Yangtze River, with more than 64 million residents. The Olympic Games will be the debut for the broadcaster’s first HDTV vehicle.
From Europe, tpc tv productioncenter is shipping an OB vehicle with STAGETEC technology to the Games. The HD-1 operated by the Zurich television producer is one of the pioneers of Europe’s HDTV fleet. The 36-ton vehicle contains an AURUS with 128 audio channels and a NEXUS matrix with 700 x 600 I/Os. The European HDTV OB-vehicle contingent also includes the FÜ 3 from Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), equipped with a 250-channel AURUS, and Italian broadcaster RAI’s “Super OB Van,” which has an AURUS with 40 faders. The NDR truck will provide its material to the entire ARD and ZDF media pool.
$$$$
In the broadcast studio and the IBC: STAGETEC sets the tone
tpc tv productioncenter zürich ag will also equip its main switching room in the International Broadcast Center with STAGETEC audio technology for the duration of the Games. Five NEXUS base devices rented from STAGETEC provide a total of around 1,000 x 1,000 inputs and outputs.
One reason for the powerful NEXUS configuration is that multilingual Switzerland always requires four broadcast audio tracks for each picture: one for each of the four official national languages—German, French, Romansh, and Italian. If surround sound is added under these conditions, the need for audio channels and routing capacity grows quickly, a requirement tpc addresses with NEXUS. Most NEXUS units in the switching room will be fitted with the HDTV-capable XHDI SDI embedder and de-embedder card, followed by the XER and XET AES input and output modules.
Not yet entirely completed, but already being used during the Olympics, is the prestigious new CCTV broadcasting center, China Central Television Headquarters in Beijing. In the gigantic building designed by Dutch-German architects Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, three broadcast control rooms (E14, E15, and E17) will be equipped with AURATUS XL consoles and a corresponding NEXUS audio network. Each of the three consoles provides 84 audio channels; two have 24 faders and one has 32.
A custom modification accommodates the highly flexible use of the studios. To configure the NEXUS network quickly and conveniently from the broadcast-control room, the normally external configuration computer was integrated into the AURATUS consoles. Studio personnel access the NEXUS configuration software through a control module with a trackball and keyboard connection. Settings are displayed on the central TFT, which in this case can be switched between sources.
The NEXUS network and its roughly 200 digital inputs and 80 broadcast outputs can be used very flexibly in this way. Because the extensive logic functions of the AURATUS are also programmed within NEXUS, the system can also exert far-reaching control over broadcast-relevant switching processes.
According to CCTV’s current plans, the broadcast center will go on air for the Games using the AURATUS XL consoles delivered in early March.
